August round-up, and a stashbusting update

How is it September already? This summer's been kind of a sleep-deprived blur for me, I guess for obvious reasons. But it's still weird to think that soon I'm going to be having to start layering up for colder weather.

Before I get into this post, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who commented on my last post! It was really interesting and encouraging to hear your thoughts on creativity when interpreting vs. designing/composing.

So, all factors considered, this was actually a pretty productive month for me as far as sewing goes! And I do have a couple of projects that I haven't shown on here yet. I did finish up a second Rae skirt yesterday, but I haven't had a chance to photograph it yet, so I'll save that for a later post. But aside from that, and the first Rae skirt and the flamingo skirt, here's what I've been up to:

My in-laws have been bringing a lot of stuff over lately. They recently came for lunch with three boxes of kids' books and a few toys that they picked up at a yard sale for $1/box. I didn't keep everything--there were a lot of things like coloring books that were already colored, and they ended up taking the girlier stuff for when our niece is over there. But there were some excellent book finds, too. Somehow, several puzzles ended up in the bottom of the basket of things I kept. Since Hobbit is still a few years too young for even these simple ones, I made a bag to keep everything together until he's old enough. It only took one naptime, I recycled a zipper and effectively used up the largest piece left over from the diaper bag, and my label worked. So I'm happy with this spontaneous project.



The other thing I spent a good chunk of the month on was a costume for my best friend, who is going to DragonCon again this year. She gave me permission to post this photo. She wanted to do a Disney princess this year, and chose Merida. We actually started this back in the winter, with a plan that I'd work through it with her so she could learn a little sewing along the way. But life and mostly my pregnancy meant that there was still a good chunk to do with the deadline approaching, so I finished it. The pattern is McCall  , and while she bought the main green fabric and trims, I happily donated part of my stash to the cause--the sleeve lining bits and the white brocade was my contribution. (Now if I could just figure out what to do with the other polyester brocades that have been hanging around!) I'm happy that, although I can't go with her this time, and I'm ok with that because the baby needs me here, some of my sewing will still be there.

Stash used: Not counting the skirt I finished yesterday, mostly because it was half a refashion and I have no idea how much I used on top of that, this leaves me with a total of 8 yards used up, and 6 that were straight out of the stash. I counted the flamingos, even though I broke habit and used it almost immediately.

Stash added: I bought 2 1/2 yards of chambray with a gift card that had been sitting around, because I felt that I needed a denim skirt for the fall. Then I made the happy discovery that my TARDIS skirt really is bigger on the inside, and I can squeeze myself into it again! So now I need to figure out what to use it for, since there's a LOT of options. A shirt? A dress? A shirtdress? Augh! And then remember what I said about my in-laws? Someone they knew, I think one of Doug's aunts, was getting rid of fabric, so they brought it here. Again, I didn't keep everything, because I don't have much use for upholstery fabric. But the potentially useable stuff still totaled 18 1/2 yards! Yikes!

The best find in there, hands-down, was this. It's large scale and crazy bright and I must use it. But not until I start next summer's clothes, I'm sure. I have more pressing wardrobe needs. And Sarah is hosting my favorite annual sewalong again, so of course I want in!

Since we're starting the last third of the year, I thought this would be a good time to give an overall stashbusting update. I started off the year with about 375 yards of fabric, and according to my records, I've used close to 79! (Thank you, diapers.) The best news to me, though, is that even with the additions, my current tally runs around 351 yards.  So as of now, I have about 24 yards less than I started with. I still feel like I have a ridiculous amount of fabric, especially now that I just ended up with over 20 extra yards in a month. But every project gets me one piece closer to my goal of a manageable-to-store, better-curated stash.

(Quick question-- is anyone else having trouble with Blogger's layout of photos lately? I really hate that it keeps separating the text and photos like this, but I've triple-checked that photo alignment option, so I don't know what else to do!)

a little owl cape

The nice thing about sewing on Saturdays is that I can instantly post! I literally just finished this project about 10 minutes ago, minus photography/writing time.

Anyway, as I mentioned in the last post, a friend of mine emailed me while I was on the Paris trip to ask if I'd be willing to help her out with a Halloween costume for her foster son. I've made some capes for her before, for her own boys and her nieces/nephews, and the idea was pretty cute, so it was hard to say no! The boy loves owls, and really wanted to dress up as one. This was the inspiration link she sent me. And she bought the owl mask herself, so my only responsibility was the cape.

And this is what I came up with. I made this one a little differently than the others, mostly in that it involved a half-circle rather than a rectangle. The bottom-most level of feathers is the cut edge of the cape, but all of the others were cut and sewn on. I was also able to use all stash fabrics! The boy's favorite color is green, so I was glad to find a piece of cotton that didn't have a girly-looking print on it.


And here's a view of the back, as best as Donna could model it. I'm sure her shoulders are wider than a little boy's! I left all the edges of the feathers raw, because it would have taken forever to make this otherwise, though I stitched the edges about 1/4" away from the edge to prevent too much fraying as it gets washed and worn. I figured a little fraying would actually be ok for this one, to soften the feather edges! The rows of feathers are just zigzagged on, so I did add the lining that you can see above in order to hide that. The rows got pretty crooked in some spots! I know there's this huge span of tan at the top, but honestly, I ran out of the green so I had to improvise!
One more detail my friend requested was some "handles" so he could use that to spread his wings. I made them pretty wide in order to accommodate growth, but it's just two pieces of ribbon stitched on so that the feathers above it were left free (minus the hem feathers, of course.)

I sent her some pictures in progress and she was excited about how it was turning out, so I'm hoping the boy loves it! This was more of a fabric hog than I thought, too-- I only have scraps left of the tan leaf print and the darker brown. So all in all, about 3.75 yards of fabric. I've been remiss in keeping track of the numbers on my spreadsheet lately--I still have some subtracting to do for the DragonCon projects and my TARDIS bag. So I'll have to catch up on that soon so I can at least see how I'm doing on my Stash Diet at the end of the month!

Are you doing any Halloween costumes this year? Or are you all too busy sewing your fall and winter stuff, like I need to start doing?

the slowest of sewing

I figure I'll have to do a few more in-progress posts for awhile, since I'm not speedy enough to whip out a winter coat in no time! Also, I've gotten a little sidetracked by a sewing request from a friend that I couldn't pass up. (Because it's costume-related and for a little kid--how could I say no?)

All I've managed to get done on my coat so far is to cut the outside and underline the pieces. My fabric doesn't look like a loose weave on the table, but when you hold it up to the light, it tells a different story!

If that much light gets through, it seems reasonable that winter winds could do the same! I had a large piece of silk organza left over from making this dress, because I seriously overestimated how much I would need to underline it. I also ruined the light color of it back when I made that dress, because I threw all of the fabrics in the wash together and it turned sort of an uneven, hand-dyed-looking grey. So I didn't want to use it as a press cloth, and I couldn't use it for any interfacing-type roles on lighter colored fabrics. However, I did have just enough to squeeze most of the outer pieces of this coat onto it, minus the two front pieces. (They were supposed to be interfaced anyway, and overlap when the coat is buttoned, so I was ok with making an exception there.)

The grain may be wonky on a few pieces here and there, because if you've ever worked with silk organza, you know how it shifts. At first, I tried cutting out the pieces and then basting it onto the main coat pieces, but of course things were shifting like crazy. So since the fabric itself has a bit more grabbing power than the usual things I underline, I tried a different approach: laying the pieces directly on the organza, basting them on, and then cutting them out. The other advantage to this was that I could tweak the layout to fit as many pieces of the coat on as possible, since I was working with leftovers!

The pieces are all cut out and ready to go, including the two interfaced front pieces. I'm hoping to finish my friend's project--an owl cape for her foster son to wear for Halloween/his early November birthday--before the weekend is over, so I can give it to her on Sunday. I do have a little sneak peek of that, aside from what I've been posting on Instagram here and there, because Doug got bored while I was working on this last weekend and started goofing off with my camera. I guess a good side effect of our Paris trip is he's a lot less nervous about using it now!
So many feathers. But the good thing is that I was able to completely bust a few pieces of quilt cotton from my stash!

And a little peek at me in my sewing room. It had been awhile since I had a nice chunk of weekend time to sew, so I was a happy girl!

The feathers didn't go quite as far when I pinned them on for real after edge-finishing, so I cut out what I hope is the last of those last night. The only work I have today is teaching a couple of lessons, so I'm hoping to get those edges done so I can finish up the sewing ASAP!

DragonCon, and what I wore!

Well, I'm back.

The trip to my very first fan convention was a ton of fun, despite the lines and sleep deprivation. I got to hang out with a friend who I'd previously only met in the real world once (hi, Faith!), I met several actors from favorite tv shows and movies, and got a couple of books signed by one of my favorite living authors. Oh, yeah, and it was basically one giant 4-day costume party, so of course I was all over that!

Several of the things I wore were me-mades that I just ran out of time to blog, so I'm sharing them now. (This will probably be a fairly picture-heavy post, so consider yourself warned.)

For Thursday, we decided to do a Despicable Me theme-- Cassie went as Gru, and Faith and I as her minions! We even found bananas to carry! I went the cheap/lame way out for my goggles and just wore my glasses, partially because I ran out of time to make more accessories, and partially because I had to get up at 3:30 AM to make it to the airport. My me-made for this one was the yellow hoodie. I'd originally planned to take this opportunity to try out the Disparate Disciplines Avocado Hoodie. But due to time/thrift shop constraints, I decided to keep it simple and short-sleeved.  The result is a Renfrew with an Avocado hood. The "hair" on top is just basted-on scraps of black leftover from my recent dress, so I can remove that anytime.I'm actually really happy with how this quasi-hack turned out, and could definitely see more hooded Renfrews in my future! But I'd still like to try the Avocado for real at some point.

As for the overalls, they're just horrendous shorts I found at the thrift store. I should be nice, since some other sewist took the time to resize the legs and turn them into shorts. (The inside seams are basically raw and obviously home-sewn, while the hem was hand-stitched.) But it ended up fitting me really oddly--almost too-tight around the thighs, with the torso and straps being too long and baggy. The original overalls were XL, which probably explains it. And if I ever do this costume again, I'd definitely try for different overalls, but  they were literally the only ones I could find that weren't made for toddlers! I added a hand-painted patch with the Gru logo on it. You can see it a little better in this photo. And look, we found a monster minion!

I started Friday off with a Firefly t-shirt, but changed into my old Eowyn costume partway through the day, because one of our main activities that we all wanted to do in the evening was the Tolkien track's "Evening in Bree" party. (Which was SO fun.) I don't have much to say about this costume, since I've mentioned it here and there on the blog before--the only new addition was the blonde wig. Which did get a little snarly in the back by the end of the party, so I need to figure out how to untangle it without ripping all of that fake plastic hair out. The only other thing I'll say is that the costumes in the contest were amazing, and I felt very out of my league. But I did have a kid come up to me at the end of the party and hand me a sketch that she'd made of my costume, which I thought was really sweet.




Saturday was Belle day for me, and easily the crowd favorite! I've talked about the blue dress and the top here recently. Since then, I added an apron made from an old bedsheet in my muslin pile, and a bow made from scraps of the blue dress. (Just a tube, stuffed with some leftover tulle from my wedding dress to keep it perky, sewn around a hair elastic with another scrap of knit.) I also carried around a basket, which I swapped with Faith, who was doing Red from Once Upon A Time that day because all she needed was a stuffed wolf, and my book didn't fit in mine. I got lots of compliments from passers-by on how "cute" my Belle was, and several people asked to take my picture. But the two best moments were when I was getting a couple books signed by Jim Butcher, who saw me coming up and sang a line from her intro song in Beauty and the Beast ("Look there she goes, that girl is so peculiar..."), and the little girl I passed in the skybridge between hotels whose face lit up as she squealed, "Belle!" Making a kid happy made me feel rather good about my life that day.

I did have a couple people ask me where the Beast was. I told them that he was back at home, taking care of the library. (Sorry, Doug.)

Sadly, I didn't make it to any Doctor Who-related activities, but Cassie, Faith and I did go around dressed as companions on Sunday. I don't have any pictures at the moment of Cassie as Oswin/Clara, since that's on another girl's phone, but we ran into a couple of Weeping Angels (yikes!), so this is Faith as River Song and me as Amy Pond. This costume was super-easy-- just the zipper-leg jeans from earlier in the spring, (because after all of that time sewing the skinny jeans, I saw a picture where the cropped jeans she was wearing in my chosen outfit had that detail!) and a thrifted and slightly modified plaid shirt. Also, tally marks on my arms with liquid eyeliner, because as one person I met put it, "Amy without the hashmarks is just a girl in a plaid shirt".

This was an easy recon overall, though I guess "regeneration" would be a more appropriate term here! I shortened it to get rid of a tear, took in the sides and sleeves a bit, and cropped the sleeves to more of a 3/4" length before sewing the cuffs back on. And since one of my costuming goals was clothes I can wear in the real world, I can quite confidently say that I will be wearing this one over the fall.

I saw so many amazing, creative costumes, and it really makes me want to step up my costuming game! Sadly, not all of my pictures are the clearest-- they looked fine on my camera, but the ones from the first day or so, while I was still trying to adjust my settings, ended up slightly blurred. But I did go ahead and make a Flickr album of ones that I wasn't just passing in the hallways and therefore couldn't stop, and thought were funny, creative, or just plain amazing, along with the pictures I've already shared here. (I'll admit there's a disproportionate amount of Lord of the Rings-related costumes, and Disney costumes. But I have an excuse for the Disney, since I'm co-hosting the Sewcialists' sewalong in November!) I'd definitely love to go back again sometime if circumstances/money allows, especially if I have time to do some real costuming beforehand!

Sneak peeks and foiled plans

Does anyone else feel like the summer just got away from them? How the heck is it the end of August?

I've been quiet on the blog front, but I've actually been sewing quite a bit, and now have a backlog of about 3 larger projects and some accessories to write about, all DragonCon related in some way or another. So for the most part, I figure that by this point, it's better to just wait and show them off in the context of their respective costumes. I shouldn't have any trouble getting some photographs there! But I have been posting little bits here and there on Instagram, so I figured I'd share a few previews.

 #1: I refashioned a shirt for an Amy Pond costume (from Doctor Who). The shirt I found was almost perfect in its plaid pattern, but I had to pick off this embroidery. Amy's way too proud to be Scottish to walk around with a US Polo tag on her shirt.













#2: I made a bag to carry around, too, because I've been wanting to make myself a bag to use for carrying on airplanes and day trips with Doug anyway. Also, I had TARDIS fabric, thanks to Doug's Christmas present to me last year, and wanted to make sure it got used! This is just the flap and a piece of the lining, but hopefully I can get a few decent pics of the bag while I'm there.

#3: One costume I haven't been able to show any pieces of yet is my minion costume (from Despicable Me). These overall shorts are bloody awful and completely unflattering on me, but they were also the only ones I could find at the local thrift shops that weren't made for toddlers. And I was NOT going to take the time to sew overalls from scratch. But I did create this patch for the front.









And for my foiled plan: I was actually pretty much done with major costume stuff by last week, so I decided to see if I could squeeze out a project that would work for both the Sewcialists' Tribute Month and The Monthly Stitch's birthday "cake" month. My plan was to convert the Cake Patterns Red Velvet into a tunic top that I could wear with my skinny jeans. I still think the idea has merit, but after I traced the pattern pieces out, I discovered that the knit I intended for the bodice is too narrow, by a lot if I wanted to have any chance of matching the stripes. So I guess I'll have to use this piece for something more sleeveless. That idea's been put on the shelf for now, though I may revisit it with some of my knit stash when I feel less crunched for time.

For now, I'm in the middle of knocking out a Sorbetto that I'd had on my original summer sewing list anyway, so I can add that to my list of clothes to take to Paris. (I need to get on that!) And I also need to start working on my next big project pretty much right away, because a winter coat could take awhile, especially given that I'll be away a good chunk of September. But DragonCon is only two days away now, and so I need to finish packing! After work, anyway.

I want much more than this provincial life

Let's be honest here: pattern hacking is not my strongest sewing skill. Given enough time and the amount of stubbornness I'm willing to throw at a project, I can sometimes make it work, like the three-muslin wedding dress bodice. Sometimes I get lucky and things turn out as planned right away, like the TARDIS skirt (aside from my occasionally wonky reverse applique.) But most of the time, I end up with something patched-together and not very pretty, like the last major Franken-shirt I attempted. And then I just wonder where my math went wrong (somewhere around the 6th grade, probably) and envy Heather's mad hacking skills.

This project is somewhere between the two extremes. I think I may have had better luck with it because it's a knit and those are generally more forgiving.

In true mad scientist fashion, I mashed together three patterns, from three different companies. The collar and the general shape of the front came from New Look 6922, the sleeves were a narrowed-out-of-necessity version of Simplicity 2852, and the back/reshaping of the front and sleeve caps/cuffs came from my Sewaholic Renfrew. I knew I wanted a slim fit for the top, because the only reason I made this shirt at all was for my Belle costume for DragonCon, and I needed it to fit smoothly under my Monetta-Tiramisu mashup from June.

This wasn't without its drafting issues, for sure. I picked the New Look pattern for the general shape of the collar, because I had no idea how to get something that looked like the shape of what's on her shirt. And I did things like hold the pattern pieces up to myself and measure and everything, but it still ended up being a much lower-cut neckline than I intended. I also ended up having to rip off one of the cuffs and resize it, because it wasn't nearly as fitted as I wanted. I think I ended up cutting about 2" off of it.

You can see the sleeves a little better here, as well as the general shape of the collar. I was originally thinking of making this a cardigan, but when I realized the collar was way too long, I just sewed it down the center front instead to give it a little more shaping. Draping it over myself didn't help here, either. Like I said. My franken-patterning needs work.

You can probably also see that greyish dot on the collar... I ended up sewing two sets of hooks and eyes on there to close it up some so that the collar comes together where I want it to for costume purposes.

I did bust an entire piece of fabric for this one! I had a tube of rib knit that was pretty useless for t-shirt making, because I'd have to dye tiny little pieces to match whatever shirts I was making, and who wants to do that? So I just managed to squeeze the whole thing out of it. The fabric was free anyway, in the category of things that people gave my mom that she couldn't use for quilts, so no loss on my end except to the yardage tally on my stash. I'll take it.



And here's the costume so far! I still need to make a half-apron and a hair bow, but the two major components of this outfit are done, at least. I think this one will be a pretty comfortable one to wear all day, too, given that it's all knit.




















And of course I had to do a pose with a book, given that I was in a library and it is Belle.

So I think the costume end is shaping up nicely, though unlike the dress, I'm not sure I'm ever going to wear this shirt outside of this weekend. It just doesn't feel like me, you know? Maybe if I dye it or something. I don't know...what do you think?

get the skinnies

Despite last weekend's difficulties, I'm proud to say that the jeans are DONE!
So here are my new skinny jeans. I paired it with my Hummingbird shirt, because it was the most Oona-esque print I had clean that wasn't a dress and wouldn't kill me from heat. (It's supposed to get up to 90, so between that and the fact that town workers are currently outside digging up our yard, because all those recent power outages apparently broke a line in just our yard, it's an indoor photo day!) That's right-- I didn't think I'd get to do it because I have SO much to do before DragonCon, but Oona herself said on twitter that shiny skinny jeans totally count for Oonapalooza!

Which makes sense. I stayed away from skinny jeans for a long time, because I'm definitely more of a curvy girl. And shiny metallic on my backside is definitely a little out of my comfort zone--at least when not in the context of a TARDIS skirt. But that isn't quite so figure-hugging, you know?



Case in point. But I'm pretty proud of those pockets, darnit!! Even though they will be covered up most of the time, because I tend to pair the skinny jeans with the longer, flowy tops. I'm only wearing them with a shirt this short for the sake of pictures.

So, obviously, I can get the jeans on now. I ended up just removing the stitching from the lower waistband, then making lots of clips in the twill tape from both sides of the stitching so that it's now in lots of little pieces instead of one big piece, and therefore the waistband has some stretch again. I asked about it in the Craftsy class, and the instructor clarified that the twill tape is only supposed to be in the back. So that's where I went wrong, because I did it for the entire waistband.

It really is a good class overall, and I'd like to go through it again the next time I make jeans. I didn't do any of the distressing this time, just because the nature of the fabric was screaming dressy denim at me. Also, as much as the metallic threads in particular fray, I figured that would extend this pair's life if I just let it distress itself naturally. But hammering and sandpapering look like a lot of fun, so there will be distressed jeans in my future somewhere. Oh yes.

I had to show off the insides, because the fabric is fun! I had this scrap of cotton left over from covering a photo album, and thought the metallic gold suns and stars would be a good pairing with the metallic silver insides. I had to cut the waistband in two pieces to make it work, but I just squeezed it out. The inside is a little wonky just under the fly, so I do need to work out how to finish that more cleanly for the next pair.

Aside from that, here's what I'd change the next time:
-Checking the zipper more carefully before sewing the waistband on. I thought I had it lined up, but obviously, I didn't, because this happened.

-Make the waistband wider. I mostly used my self-drafted pattern from the last pair, and just made the legs skinnier, but I took the curved waistband from a J. Stern jeans pattern. I like the fit, but the width looks a little narrow for the average belt. Not that I do wear belts with my jeans often, because I rarely tuck shirts in, but it would be nice to know I could if I wanted to!

-Work on my rivet skills. I got impatient and bought rivets and buttons from Joann's, even though I have some on order, because they have those now and the others haven't arrived in the mail yet. I broke two button screws trying to hammer this in, because I kept doing it crookedly. I'm not 100% sure I got these rivets and the button right here either, and am fervently hoping that they don't fall out the first time I wash this. My dad basically ended up doing this part for me the last time I made jeans, so I need to learn to wield that hammer properly myself!
One last picture. Overall, though there are some minor issues here and there, I'm quite happy with how these turned out. It's nice to have the look of skinny jeans without the feeling of my thighs being poured into sausage casings! Taking my already-drafted pattern and using it for stretch denim worked beautifully, too. I initially cut this with extra-wide seam allowances to allow for any fitting tweaks, but when I basted it together, it was fine as is. I do have one piece of stretch denim to make a future pair out of, and will probably go back to my beloved bootcuts for that. But that won't happen for awhile, since I have several other things I need to finish first!

I'm also laughing at myself, because after all that, I'm not sure if I use these for my DragonCon Amy Pond outfit after all! In most of the pictures I've seen, they focus on Amy's shirt. But I was looking yesterday to see what shoes she's wearing, so I could figure out if I possibly have anything that would work, and I saw this picture and realized her jeans are cropped, and the jeans I was wearing for work at the time were actually a much better length! But these are much less faded, so I have to think about what would be the greater crime against cosplay. Hmm.

Also, despite having used this for two projects now, I still have fabric left! It's a full yard, plus rather large remnants on either end from pieces I had to cut single-layer. So any ideas of what I can do with more stretchy silvery denim?

Mone-misu? Tir-etta?

This dress wasn't in my original summer plan, but it was a nice quick make. I cut it out and sewed most of the bodice together on Sunday, sewed the neckline and armholes on Monday, made and attached the skirt on Wednesday, and hemmed it yesterday. It's also nice and comfortable--the fabric is some rayon knit from Mood that I bought specifically for this project. Not so great for the stashbusting, but at least I used it quickly!



This week's Indie Pattern Month contest on The Monthly Stitch is Franken-patterning, so that was part of my inspiration.  The top is based on the Colette Monetta dress, and the bottom is based on the Cake Tiramisu dress, though I modified both parts. For the Monetta top, I squared off the neckline and added seams down the center of both the front and back of the outside pieces. Since I wasn't doing the collar, but I still wanted to line the top, I also had to tweak the clean finish directions a bit--I did that around the neckline, and the lower half of the armholes, but I had to hand-stitch the top of the armholes closed. For the skirt, I cut both halves on the fold instead of seaming it down the middle like the original pattern. It's a pretty plain and simple dress overall, but I think it'll be a good one to play with accessories. Especially since the color is much brighter and cheerier than the average neutral solid knit dress!


So if you've been reading this blog for awhile, you know I'm a fan of secretly geeky clothes. Now that I've got you thinking this is just a normal knit dress, it's time to ruin the illusion by revealing that this is also going to be a part of one of my DragonCon costumes! I still have a couple components to make for that, but I'll give you a clue: Think Disney bookworm who's fond of teacups.

I'm having trouble with the picture insert, so you can find the picture here. So did I get the gist of it? The idea is to make as many costume bits that can be worn as everyday clothes as possible, so I'm not spending my entire summer sewing things that I'm only going to wear once. And Belle was my favorite when I was a kid--she loved books, she was a fellow brownI'm having trouble inserting the picture, so click here.-eyed girl, and she wasn't afraid to use her head to help her get out of sticky situations. And whack at the wolves with a big stick, even if she wasn't very good at it. What's not to love?
I still need to make a top, apron, and hair bow for this, but I think this dress is a pretty good start.

Speaking of DragonCon, I've recently made the difficult decision to set the Tauriel costume aside. It's been going so slowly, and I've been racking my brains unsuccessfully for 3 months to come up with a good way to sew that armor bodice without making the vinyl tear apart the second I put it on, since I never was able to find a closure for it. Given how much I still need to make for multiple costumes, even though they're more everyday-clothes, and that I'm also going to need to help my best friend with some of hers, it just doesn't make sense to continue when I have a perfectly good Eowyn costume that only needs a blonde wig. Besides, as surprisingly much as I enjoyed Tauriel in the latest Hobbit movie, Eowyn is still cooler. And, you know, actually in the books.

Costume progress

I've been meaning to write this post for ages, but life kept getting in the way. But I have made some actual progress on my Tauriel costume from Shieldmaiden March (ha!), so I thought I'd share how my dyeing experiment in particular went.

The short answer:  the right side is the before, and the left side is the after. Much improved!

The longer answer:I started off with an old green bedsheet set that my mom had passed on to me for muslin purposes. It's a good thing I had both the fitted and the flat sheet, because I ended up needing the fitted sheet to cut the last two pieces of the coat out of. I went ahead and roughly sewed the outside pieces together, too, minus the sleeves, because I wasn't sure how much the dyeing and washing process would make things fray. (Good thing, because it was a LOT. Fortunately, the costume ended up being huge on me anyway, so I was able to take it in enough to compensate.)

This was my first time experimenting with iDye-- as a reminder, I already tried dyeing the bedsheets once with regular RIT dye, and it didn't make much difference due to the partial polyester content of the fabric. So I bought one specifically for poly in green, and also an olive for natural fibers, just so both types would be covered.I bought a huge cheap pot at Walmart, which I normally avoid whenever possible, but for a pot I'd never want to cook food in, I figured it would be ok. And I went to work.

The pot turned out to be a pretty good size for all of the fabric. I realized as I was looking at their website just now that I did mess up the directions a little by cutting open the packets and dumping the dye powder in. Apparently, you just throw the whole packet in and it dissolves. Oops. I let it simmer for about an hour, while stirring it with a big stick and reading a book. Then I threw it right in the washer, as soon as I'd gotten enough cold water into the pot that I could handle the hot fabric.

A few tips for working with the iDye, since I'd never done stovetop dyeing before, and I'm sure I'm not the only one:

• Wear old clothes. I did end up splashing some dye on myself at one point when the stick slipped, and if Doug hadn't advised me beforehand to change into my painting shirt, I would have ruined a perfectly good band t-shirt. (Thanks, Doug!)
•  Turn on the stove vent and open a window. The poly stuff in particular smells pretty bad.
• So far, I've washed this three times, because it still smells, and the fumes are permeating my sewing room! I ended up tweeting Dharma Trading Company (where I bought it from) to ask for some advice, and they suggested washing it in vinegar and warm water, and letting it air dry. Doug was kind enough to do this for me, since we finally had a warm, sunny day and I was at a rehearsal for most of it. It reduced the odor, but it hasn't gone away entirely. (Though thankfully, it is starting to fade-- I only notice it now when I'm bent close to the fabric.) But the edges were getting very, very ragged, and all of the washing actually tore some of the lower seams open, so I think I'm going to wait until this is actually more finished before washing this again.
 

Now that I know how to dye on the stovetop, I think it will come in handy for smaller batches, like one piece of clothing or whatever.   

Here's where I'm at now. (Sorry for the not-great photos. Between extra rehearsals for multiple concerts--yay! and 6-day workweeks at the garden center again--boo! I've barely been home for a couple of weeks now. And when I am, it's usually dark.)
Here's the front, sans sleeves. Obviously I need to give this a good pressing--it's more to show the length of the front angles and all. I may need to shorten these a bit. I'm also still trying to figure out how to handle the collar. After all of that frankenpatterning, I watched the movie again, and the collar was stitched on as a separate piece. It wasn't really working anyway, so I chopped it off and will tweak it and the facing to lay a little better. I'm thinking I'm just going to do some hooks and eyes as the front closure, since this has a leather-looking bodice over top anyway. I also need to figure out exactly where to stitch the shoulder seams, which are currently just pin-basted closed.











Here's the back, and a lot more splits. I'm also trying to figure out how to hem these. Since I'm trying to fake suede with a bedsheet, it will probably look the best if I blind hem it by hand. But then, a really huge part of me is wondering if I want to spend all of that time hemming all of those split seams for a costume that I'm more likely than not only going to wear once. It's not like this is my wedding dress, you know?




















In the meantime, one of my projects lately has been this detailing over the seams. I still have several more to do this initial stitching, which is just one of the decorative stitches that Bernadette has, slightly overlapping the seams. (The added perk is that this will strengthen the seams a bit, since the last round through the washer to try to get rid of the dye smell made several of them tear at the bottom. It's a good thing that this thing turned out huge, because all of those tears are now mended and  will be confined to the hems.)

I'm also going to do one more pass on either side of them once the initial embroidery is done, as a satin stitch with the shinier machine embroidery thread.  Basically, I'm trying to replicate this look:





Honestly, considering their material vs. mine, I think it's pretty close!

I really need to get my butt in gear and try to finish this coat up. I had to pause because I was running out of thread, but I bought more. I still also need make a bodice, gauntlets, leggings, and fake weaponry. I was going to make some faux boot tops, but since I ended up replacing my old brown boots recently, I think the ones I bought will be close enough.  Oh, and did I mention that I need to make about 3 other costumes for this event? And all those other clothes I want to make? But I have a plan to make as many of these costume components real-world wearable as possible. In fact, one is already on my capsule wardrobe list, and the other will fit right in, if I can find the right fabric!

a post of small things, part 1

None of these are really the sort of thing that warrant an entire post by itself, so this is going to be more of a round-up. Which I'm actually going to do in 2 parts, because otherwise it's going to be super-long. So I'm going to start with what I've actually been working on or finishing up lately, and then move to the things I have to think through a little more tomorrow.

1. First off, my most recent completed sewing project. I've used this bib pattern before, though I think this may unintentionally be the last time-- I left it on the kitchen table and now it's not there, so I'm thinking that the dogs ate it. (Our dogs are the type who would have legitimately eaten my homework when I was a kid. They recently ate our checkbook, as evidenced by the fact that we recently found a quarter of one check with a chewed-up edge on the floor....and we haven't found any other remnants of it!) I hope I can find it or something similar again. It was an online freebie, though I can't remember from where since I downloaded it years ago. I like that it's a larger size to keep clothes cleaner, and this has become my go-to for the homemade portion of any baby shower gifts. And I have another friend who recently found out she's pregnant, so I know I'm going to need it again in the next few months!

I made this set for one of my oldest friends, who is expecting a baby girl in May. It's kind of neat when you unintentionally choose perfect fabric--I needed a little more on a recent order to get free shipping when I picked up something for my Tauriel costume, and knew this was coming up, so I ordered half a yard each of this owl fabric and some coordinating flannel to back it with. The owls were cute and on sale, and I figured the colors were neutral enough that she could continue to use them if she has a boy somewhere down the road. Then I found out that she's decorating the nursery in an owl theme! So there was a lot of owl-themed stuff at her shower. (And a lot of pink. So yellow is probably a nice change!)

2. My mom and I are working through a Craftsy knitting class together. We agreed that it's probably a little too easy for us, though I have still learned some useful things. This was the main scarf from the class, which I finally finished a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't sure how it would turn out since I used a more textured yarn and the ends were lacy, but I kind of like the funky look of it. Also, I managed to knit the entire thing continental-style, and I'm pretty proud of that since continental purling is the weirdest hand motion. I still don't really feel like I have the hang of it, but the ability to switch back and forth from my usual English-style might be useful with my carpal tunnel issues.

The yarn is Chacabuco from Araucania, which Ravelry says is now discontinued. I found it mostly ok to work with, though pulling the puffier bits through the loops was sometimes difficult, particularly when binding off. I'll have to keep that in mind when choosing a future project, because I do still have one skein of this in a different colorway. I actually got to this particular skein pretty quickly as far as stashing goes, since I bought it back in August specifically for this class, and I mostly used it up. (There's about 20 yards left. What do you do with 20 yards of bulky yarn? Seriously. There really weren't that many options on Ravelry.)

3. My costume for the Shieldmaiden Sewalong continues to go slowly, but I did get a little further, at least.

Hey, look, actual #shieldmaidenmarch progress. pic.twitter.com/u0bG4714SE
— Becky (@sew_and_so) March 21, 2014

I have two more pieces to cut out, plus any other little decorative overlay bits I may want to do. It's a good thing I'm making this out of bedsheets, because it's a bit of a fabric hog!

shieldmaiden slowness

So you know my not-so-inner geek was super-excited about the Sewcialist sewalong theme for this month, right?


 But my progress has been a little bit slower than battle-ready this month. Partially due to the Robson, partially due to needing to finish up some sewing for others, partially due to starting back up at work, and partially due to a few other life things that have sucked up the bulk of my weekends. But since it's almost 2/3 of the way through the month, I'd like to show that I am, in fact, working on it.

My first thought when I hear "shieldmaiden" is inevitably Eowyn. But I've already made costumes inspired by her garb in the movies. Twice. But I still can't resist Middle-earth, so my plan is to make this.





I mean, kick-butt red-headed Elf? Yes, please! I know she wasn't in the books or anything, but I do like the way she's turning out so far. This is a pretty complicated costume with lots of components, so I was never planning on fully finishing this month. I am hoping that I can get the bulk of one of the main pieces done, though--in this case, the green coat thing that she wears all the time in the movie.





(My final costume will probably end up being closer to this, though I like that green bodice hoodie thing that she wears, too. I did buy a curtain at the thrift store with a similar color/texture just in case, but I can always use it to make pillows or something if I don't use it.)

So here's my progress so far:
I dyed some bedsheets. The left is before, and the right is after. This is not the final color. I'm trying to do this as much on a budget as I can, since I'm stashbusting anyway and probably have a few more costumes to make this year. I didn't count this in my yardage totals, but I already had the bedsheets--my parents were getting rid of them anyway, so my mom gave them to me awhile back for muslins or whatever. Yay, free costume fabric! This was after one round in the washer with a bottle of RIT dye, and it's definitely darker than it started, as you can see. But I'm pretty sure there must be some polyester in the fabric, because it didn't get nearly as dark as I'd hoped.(Incidentally, that more textured green fabric is the curtain I found at the thrift store for the hoodie bodice, if I make it.)

My new plan is to try the iDye Poly out, mixed with a fairly dark regular iDye. This needs to be done on the stovetop, so since I'm a little limited in my size of pots on hand that I'll never, ever use to cook food in again, I'm going to cut out and sew the bulk of the costume together first in order to cut down on the amount of fabric that I need to stuff in there. (I say the bulk, because that will enable me to match threads better for stitching that will show on the outside, like hemming. Also, since I need to shape that collar, I don't want to melt my interfacing in boiling water, right?)


I've also traced out my Frankenpattern, using all costume patterns that I already had on hand!

And yes, I'm totally counting both of these as patterns used for Stash Diet purposes. So there.

I've made the dress on the right before, though I had to modify it by adding a central panel because this was about the time that I realized my chest got bigger since I'd started college and Big 4 size 12 wasn't going to work anymore. (I realized this after I had already cut and sewn the bulk of it together and I couldn't zip it up.) If you want to see the finished product, it's the second dress down in my pre-blog costume roundup post. I've never used the pattern on the left, I just liked the look of the coat in particular, and thought maybe I could adapt it for real life wear. Which I never have. But I'm basically doing that, modified for things like hem shaping, and mashing it up with the collar from the grey dress with the obi belt, because it's the perfect shape.

I'm hoping the collar works out ok, since the largest size on the collar was a size 12, my coat starts at size 14, and I'm not entirely sure how the shoulder seams will line up with the modifications I made. So my plan is to cut extra-large seam allowances and tweak as needed as I go. I'm not muslining a costume made of bedsheets. No one has time for that!

I have to kill some time at my parents' after the garden center job tomorrow, since I'm meeting up with a couple of good friends to go to a book signing and driving home is pointless for the amount of time I'd need to stay. My mom said I can use their pool table--or, as she dubs it, the quilt pinning table--to cut the fabric out. Which is great, since bedsheets are a little wide for my little IKEA cutting table. So at least I will make some progress before the end of the month. I hope.

February Stash Diet update

Here's my totals for the month!

For sewing, I finished a whopping 6 projects! Three pairs of Thurlows, a Plantain tee, plus an infinity scarf and a tablet case. I love the months off from my retail job. I only used up two pieces of fabric completely, though I made nice dents in the fabrics I used for the pants. I did also buy several pieces of fabric this month--there was my travel exception that I made for Mood, plus I used my regular allowance to buy a piece of faux leather for my March of the Shieldmaidens project. I also bought two half yards of fabric to make a baby gift for a friend, since I needed a little more to get free shipping anyway and I really don't have baby-friendly stuff on hand.

Total fabric out: 7 1/2 yards
Total fabric in: 10 yards
Difference: + 2.5 yards
Total stash left: approximately 327 1/4 yards
Pieces of fabric completely used up: 2 (the cherry print cotton for the charcoal Thurlow pockets, and the paisley knit for the Plantain/scarf)
Patterns used: 2. I believe I have one more to go for my pattern buying allowance.


For knitting, I finally managed to start the sleeves on my cardigan! I also finished up a scarf for the Craftsy class that my mom and I have been working through together, aside from sewing the two halves together and weaving in the ends.. I am so, so close to finishing up that skein of yarn-- if the method for figuring out yardage from weight that I found is correct, I only have about 20 yards of this particular yarn left. Seriously, what do you do with 20 yards of yarn?

I didn't do so well on the yarn in vs out this time. Since I was sharing my beginner knitting Craftsy class with my mom, she decided to buy another one for us to work through together--the "Improve Your Knitting" one, which is probably what I would have gone for in the first case if it had been available at the time. I did check my stash, but unfortunately didn't have anything on hand in the right weights and amounts for the three projects that we'll be making for this class. So I ended up buying another 8 skeins of yarn! Hopefully these will get entirely used up during the course of this class, but I will not be counting these towards my yarn purchase allowance when I do use them up.

On the plus side, aside from my cardigan, I can make my totals a little more accurate now. I was finally able to give one secret project to its recipient--I made these dishcloths for my bestie, who recently bought her first place! So this was part of her housewarming gift, which had a geeky-but-practical theme going. So these have the Earth symbol from Stargate, a TARDIS, the Golden Snitch from Harry Potter, and the Starfleet Academy symbol from Star Trek. (I also bought her this apron--it references both Lord of the Rings and the Big Bang Theory, and is a favorite quote to throw at each other on a regular basis--a cookbook, and a cast-iron skillet--also known as Samwise Gamgee's/Rapunzel's security system!) I basically used up both skeins of yarn on these dishcloths.

I didn't quite finish my Robson coat in time for the end of #bluefebruary, so I'm going to count that yardage total towards March. I also did some dyeing to prepare for my costume yesterday--I'm trying to do my costume on a pretty tight budget, so I dyed some bedsheets that my parents were getting rid of. They did get darker, though not quite dark enough for my intended costume. So I think I might sew the main part of the costume up anyway, and then try the one dye I know works for polyester. (You have to boil it on a stovetop, so I need a smaller quantity than queen-sized bedsheets!)

spring dress tease

Blame the weather around here, because it gave us a major tease yesterday. First day in weeks I'd actually been able to wear spring clothes, and I wished I'd had this done because it would have been a perfect day to debut it. And then today it goes and gets cold again! *sigh* So I'm going to tease you with some in-progress pictures.

I was glad to find out that the new buttonhole foot works just fine. I did have a bit of a gripe with the pattern I'm using (Simplicity 2248), as far as this particular piece goes. The piece has no interfacing, and yet it has a buttonhole. Which would make for a pretty horrid buttonhole, with just 2 pieces of cotton and nothing to stabilize it. So what I ended up doing was taking a scrap of the silk organza that I have left from the LBD (I have at least a couple of yards left, since I ended up underlining the skirt with the lining crepe de chine instead), doubling it, and stuffing it into that corner. Worked like a charm.

A shot of the back. Which needs some fixing, as you can see. I tried it on today, and it mostly fits very well. Except the back gaps at the top, so I'll have to undo that invisible zipper a bit and take it in about 3/4" on each side. Guess it's a good thing I haven't done anything with that facing yet. (The button placement is off, too, as a result. But I may just have it be asymmetric. Or sew on a second button off-center to balance it out. Definitely better than ripping out the buttonhole, even though I haven't cut it yet!)

The top of the bodice. I don't know if it's the combination of this neckline with the fabric, or the colors, or the corset-y topstitching or what, but for some reason, this dress is making me think of Georgian-era France. Kind of like Marie Antoinette without all of the scandals and guillotines and the terrible movie. (Seriously--I couldn't even like this one for the costumes. All I could think at the end was that it was two hours of my life I'd never get back.)

One comment about my sewing that has stuck with me is one that a one of my long-time friends made a couple of years ago. She said that she could always tell when I'd made something, because it had unique and interesting buttons. I guess that's one of my trademarks now? I was really excited to find this one, though. I'd almost resigned myself to going with a cream-colored button, because I knew the blue and green in the fabric would be hard to match. And then I found this one, which looks like mother-of-pearl and has the perfect blend of greens and that purple-ish periwinkle! The size is a bit smaller than the pattern called for, but the coloring was so perfect that I don't care. (And now that I'm looking at the button package again to check the size, I just found out that apparently these buttons were made in France. Maybe it's a sign...)

(Also, random geek fact-- I was checking one of my favorite movie costume sites to see if there were any comparable Marie Antoinette dresses, and found out that one of the dresses used in the movie was apparently also used in an episode of Doctor Who! Hee!)

A beautiful blogger is me!

...That's what the award says, anyway. ;-)

I never made it through the entire link list of Self-Stitched September participants' blogs-- I only made it up to the L's or so. And so I completely missed noticing that Scruffy Badger had nominated me for that Beautiful Blogger award that's been going around-- sorry! I think these awards that ask for information about you are kind of fun-- I know I'm never going to be one of those people that gets a ton of comments on my posts, but it's always a nice feeling to think that someone thinks your writing is interesting enough to want to learn more about you. (That, and it's gratifying to know that someone is reading this blog besides my mom! ;-)

So here we go...10 random things about me.

1. I have this paradoxical personality quirk where I kind of like organizing things, but I'm really a terribly disorganized person on the whole. If I'm in the right mood for it, I can quite happily spend an afternoon sorting through a pile of recipes, putting my overstuffed bookshelf in order, organizing the photos on my hard drive into folders that make sense instead of all the date-labeled ones...and yet, I get easily overwhelmed because I'm generally in the middle of at least 4 of these projects at any given time. And I constantly misplace things. Especially stuff like seam rippers, sewing gauges, my phone (usually while it's either on silent or completely dead), and the car keys that I just had in my hand two minutes ago. (True story-- the latter happened just last week.)

2. I really wish I was better at cooking. I think I can follow a recipe pretty well by this point, but I do wish that I was better at improvising with it. You know, like those people on Iron Chef who can just get a big table full of bacon thrown at them and whip out a five-course meal, complete with dessert, in an hour or so. (Did I mention that the Food Network is kind of a guilty pleasure of mine?) I think I have this secret dream of being the woman who all her friends think is an amazing cook and always wants her recipes. I also wish I had time to cook more regularly, but that's another story.

3. I love the flute. Really. And it's a good thing, since teaching that is a pretty huge part of how I make a living. But sometimes I really wish I'd played the guitar instead, because I'm really much more of a rock chick than a classical girl at heart.

4. I have a scar on my left pointer fingertip from crafting. When I was 15, I was making a stack of paper beads for a necklace I wanted to make. And I decided the beads were too big, so I was slicing them in half with a pair of scissors. I think you can figure out what happened next....the worst part of it was, my dad was going to take me out for driving practice that night, and since my finger wouldn't stop bleeding, he took my then-not-quite-13-year-old brother instead! (I also discovered that my fingerprint now has a hole in it, when I had to get them on file before I started doing the band job a couple of years ago. That was kind of weird.)

5. Though I don't have time to do it as often as I'd like to, I read really fast. I always have. (Good thing, too, or I wouldn't get through nearly as many books.) And when I have the time to just sit and read, I can pull off ridiculous stunts like read the entire last book of the Harry Potter series, in all of its 750+ page glory, in one day at the beach.

6. I never really played with my (very few) Barbie dolls....I was more of a My Little Pony girl, really. What I did use them for was as a sewing dummy. I still remember one of my very first sewing projects-- it was a full-length Barbie gown made from, of all things, scraps of white felt hand-sewn together with seafoam green yarn. With big ruffly straps at the shoulders. And in true Project Runway style, I sewed it directly onto the doll-- I think I had to cut it off later.

7. I enjoy playing video games. I have ever since I was a kid, in the days of the good old 8-bit Nintendo (when my brother and I could get it, since we'd often have to fight Dad for it) and the original greenish-screened Game Boy. I had to ride the bus for about 2 hours a day during the last few years of elementary school, and sadly, I can't read in vehicles without getting carsick. So I played Game Boy instead. I also remember playing a lot of computer games when I was a kid, like Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?, Prince of Persia, Sim City and related games, and (my favorite) Civilization. These days, I tend to go for the Guitar Hero-type games, or the occasional attempts to play old-school games on my Wii. More often, at the risk of sounding like a complete nerd, my game of choice is Lord of the Rings Online.  (Kind of like World of Warcraft, but in Middle-earth. Which was definitely the suck-me-in factor.) Though I did recently get Civilization V, after trying it out at a friend's house, so that might be bad for my limited free time...

8. Another random non-crafty hobby of mine: making playlists on my iPod. I'm especially fond of themed ones-- like I have one that's all songs that have colors in their titles, a sunny day mix that's all songs about sunshine, sunlight, and other related things (and the opposing one, of course, which is all rain songs), a "literary" mix that's all songs that reference books, etc. Oddly, I still have yet to make a decent workout mix...that one keeps eluding me for some reason. I also tend to be a little picky on my playlists, in that I have to make sure that the songs flow together musically, or that the titles work next to each other in the list, or things like that. (I guess I should include finding new music in that, because no matter how much I have, I always want more!)

9. I'm really good at coming up with grand, lofty schemes for longer-term projects, and really bad at the follow-through. I think it's just that I tend to get easily sidetracked and want to move on to something else. (Either that, or I'm just lazy...I'm pretty sure it's the former, though. It's certainly not a fear of commitment issue, because I'm still actively friends with some of the same girls that I've been friends with since preschool/kindergarten. And I mean "talk in person and hang out" friends, not just Facebook friends.) You know....things like my mini-wardrobe project that I never actually made all of the pieces for. (Though a huge part of the burnout on that was that nothing was actually going together like it should have.) And the fact that I've been in my room for about a year now and I'm still not completely done putting it together-- still need to hang stuff on the walls, refinish a dresser, make a bunch of pillows, put away some of the piles that have been sitting on the floor since I moved in here... I think there's hope for me, though, because I did finish that quilt. And my long-term project, which took me 9 months, of listening/writing through every song on my iPod. All 9000+ of them. (Though I'm still picking at that one as I add new stuff.)

Really, I think when it comes down to it, is that a part of me doesn't like being boxed into rules.

10. I think I'm literally addicted to craftiness-- during times like now, when I've been really busy with work and (especially as of late) my new-found social life and don't have time to do much, I go through withdrawal symptoms. Like I get really irritable and feel more stressed out.

The rules say I'm supposed to tag 10 people. But since this one's been floating around for awhile and I honestly don't know who I follow that hasn't done it already (and don't have time to dig through everyone's blog to look), I'm going to go with my last statement of #9 and say that if you want it, tag, you're it. ;-)

And speaking of #10.... I haven't been completely uncrafty. I have managed to get my next jacket pattern muslined and altered, finally. (Hopefully it'll work-- I still have a definite lack of confidence in my pattern alteration abilities.) And I've been picking at jewelry here and there, and will be doing a lot more of it tomorrow while hanging out with Cassie. Craft fair coming up and all. And I have even done a little bit of sewing, for a costume party I went to last weekend. Pics to come. I have another party tonight, which I was going to try to throw a costume together for, but the original theme idea fell through so I'm just going to recycle my fairy costume for tonight since it's an entirely different crowd. And another one next weekend, with a 1920s theme, but I'm going to just borrow a dress from a friend for that one since I don't find that decade particularly inspiring to sew from. I have to admit that the idea of making 3 costumes in 3 weeks with limited time was kind of stressing me out, so I've never been so happy to not make a costume in my life!

Though I do need to replace the grosgrain ribbon on my fairy wings with some wide black elastic, which I don't have. And Joann's is also having a Vogue pattern sale. And guess what-- I know what I want to do for my black dress now! (Still trying to figure out how it works for both silk jersey and silk crepe--you know, that knit vs. woven thing--but isn't it lovely? Though I'm planning on making mine more of a knee length.) So to the fabric store with me!

the best-laid plans...

I was hoping that this post would be more in terms of action shots...the plan was to go to the Renaissance Faire yesterday. But the weather was a little less than cooperative, and now we're hoping to go at the end of September. In which case I will post some action shots. But in the interest of keeping up with this blog (and getting my dummy back), here is my almost-entirely recycled gypsy costume.

In its entirety, minus the thrifted boots and bangles.


This is the back of the corset-- I found a $5 formal dress at Goodwill that was a two-piece looking corset top--with boning! and skirt. So all I had to do was remove the zipper and detach the skirt from the corset lining, sew the lining down, and add the grommets and lacing.


This blouse was free-- a former sewing project in my recon pile, because the cut of the empire waist was just a little too high and the gathering a little too much to be flattering on me. But under a corset I figured it would be ok. It was originally long-sleeved, so I shortened and added elastic to the bottom of the sleeves.

The hip scarf was the teaser from the last post, as I'm sure you've figured out. This was a thrifted curtain panel, and the trim was a beaded coin thing that I've had in my stash for awhile and just didn't know what to do with. I didn't have enough to cover the entire edge, but since I'm stashbusting and it coordinated and I didn't have to buy anything else, I can't complain. I do have a good bit of this panel back, and will probably use part of it to tie around my head.

The bag was made from a thrifted tablecloth-- I originally got two almost-matching tablecloths to make my skirt out of, but couldn't get enough length that way. So instead, I figured a hands-free way to stash my money/camera/etc. would be a good use of it. It's just a basic drawstring bag, self-lined in the same fabric, with a loop sewn into the back drawstring casing to string it on the hip sash, which will (hopefully) hide under my corset.
The skirt, of course, is the second tablecloth. When I realized I wouldn't be able to get a long enough skirt with the two, I found a linen-looking (and surprisingly sheer) bedsheet set at a different Goodwill (where the boots also came from). I used the circle skirt tutorial from Wipster as a starting point for my skirt, though I think I did a bad job on my geometry since the hips weren't quite snug. Which turned out to be an ok thing--rather than use a zipper, I decided to go slightly closer to authentic looking and rigged up a closure with an on-hand button and a hook-and-eye set.

So there you have it. Two other things:

1. Since I didn't go to the Ren Faire yesterday, one of my friends that I was supposed to go with and I hung out anyway. She crocheted while I sewed and we watched the loooong version of Pride & Prejudice. Good stuff. I thought I finished this top, which is the last bit of summer wardrobe that I'm finishing this summer. Except then I put it on the dummy and began to suspect there might be a problem, and tried it on and realized that there is definitely a problem-- you see that reverse batwing thing going on in the armpits? I know it's probably my fault, because I didn't exactly follow the BWOF instructions and just sewed the straps on without making them adjustable, and bound the edges with no facing. (Pattern Review suggestion.) But I need to figure out how to fix that. Seam ripping will probably be involved. Also pondering how to use this as a transitional piece-- maybe with a cropped jacket? Say, maybe this one?

2. In the last post, I mentioned frustration with Joann's at their not shipping my special order fabric. I found out yesterday after talking to one of the employees in person that the fabric had actually been backordered until August 21 (which I was originally not told-- I was simply told "August"), and should come in within the next couple of days. Went home, and I swear that only 2 or 3 hours later, I got a call saying it was in! So I went back today to pick it up. That's a relief. I also went a little crazy on fabric purchases-- though some of them are justified. So here's the rundown with my stashbusting project (which I am not counting any of my bedroom makeover purchases for, btw. I am primarily a clothing seamstress, after all, and this was not in the cards when I started!)

• If I estimated right from the last time I actually marked it, I was at 6/8 of stash fabric used to new fabric bought. Most of this being from the miniwardrobe, and now being used up so no longer sitting in the stash. Good for me. Except for the shorts. I don't think I previously counted the velvet that I had to buy for the wrap for my brother's wedding, or the fabric I bought to line it. (both of which were hand-dyed by me, and the lining will not be used because despite being in the same dye bath as the silk velvet, the silk lining actually turned rose pink instead of chocolate brown. Therefore, I need to re-dye it and use it for something else, because I refuse to wear rose pink.) I also didn't count the red knit I pretty much used up as a muslin, and I'm pretty sure I didn't count the fabric I used up for my weekender bag. Or any of the fabrics I gave away via Freecycle. If I don't count the Freecyclees, that puts me at 8/10. (If I do count the Freecyclees, then I'm at 20/10....hmmm, maybe I should go with that!)
• Two of the new fabric purchases today: a satin to use to line the wrap, since the aforementioned silk lining would give it the effect of a chocolate-covered strawberry candy...not exactly the look I was going for. Need by October, also didn't know when I started this plan that my brother would be getting married this year, totally justified purchase. Also, a brown knit that I'm using as binding to make one of my stash fabrics into a dress.
• The others can't be so easily justified. The first two came as a result of the Pattern Review class I'm going to be taking-- figured if I'm going to go to all of the trouble of getting a very-nice fitting straight skirt muslin, I should probably use it to make an actual skirt. So I found two lovely pieces of suedecloth. I also found a sheer fabric that I fell in love with instantly and it perfectly matches one of the future skirts. So that puts me at 9/15 (counting the knit for the dress, but not the Freecycles), or 21/15 (with Freecycles and knit.) I think I still like counting the Freecycles better...
  

6/10