Books!

A Christmas present from a good friend were 2 sewing books. One was 201 Quilt Blocks: Motifs, Projects, and Ideas by Louise Bell and another was Making Your House a Home by Lynette Jensen.

These came right in time for my almost MIL to teach me a simple block quilt, which will be my first. When I started sewing I said to myself that I wouldn't do quilts, that it was too cliche and that I didn't have the room.

This, of course, was before I fell in love with sewing and when Ed and I were living with 2 other roommates in a tiny 2 bedroom condo. 5 sewing machines later to add to the collection and a nice fabric stash and I'm ready to tackle quilting. Plus I just love those little darning/embroidery feet and need a reason to buy one.

A Splurge!

I know I have pictures due, but right now I've caught a cold after a long week of flying to and from Oregon to pick up my MIL (she sews too). She and I went shopping yesterday, with Ed in tow and split the 26 pack of Gutermann thread. In addition it was half off and she had a 10% off your entire purchase coupon, so we made out of there like bandits. We divvied up the contents since she sews a lot of brights and I don't and I stuck all my other Gutermann threads in the box.

And to my surprise...she bought me a brand spankin' new sewing machine! Nothing fancy, but it's new and isn't as temperamental as my old Babylock. My recent used Babylock died on me and no longer will pick up the bobbin thread no matter what I do. Very sad, since I was so happy to find a nice one for so cheap. I'm sure once I get it serviced that it will be fine again, although who knows when I will get around to doing that. I have a ton more to service before that one. But the new one is my primary machine for the moment. It's just a little Brother machine, but straight out of the box it was sewing perfect stitches with no hang ups like I have with my others. I love it!

Everything I Touch Turns To Garbage - A Rant

I have had two duds in a row recently! I first made Simplicity 3990 for Halloween. It was the one with the pleats in the front and it turned out pretty well, so I thought that I would make another in a different version. I went for the plain button down with the slit sleeves and altered it for my formidable arms. Ok, they are fat but formidable sounds much cooler. That shirt came out ok but was still a bit tight when I stretched my arms forward.

I decided to cut out the next size and blend it to fit. I chose this pretty silky black and silver/gray leaf patterned fabric that I've been saving for something special. It's one of my favorite fabric pieces in my small stash. After cutting it out I sewed it up to the point before attaching the sleeves and tried it on. I LOOKED LIKE AN OLD LADY. Yep, my favorite fabric that I loved so much would have been better suited for a skirt because as a shirt it made me look like I shopped in the old lady section of Ross or Marshalls. Bleh. Into the trash it went.

Then I started on a muslin of Simplicity 5914 version A I believe (the long bell shaped skirt) and made a few alterations because a pin fit showed that it may or may not fit. After cutting the ugly fabric I sewed it up and tried it on, just cinching it to me without a zipper or anything. Horrid! I was trying to convert it to an elastic waist rather than a zipper (but not a really bulky waist) and I cut the pattern far too big. I thought that adding the elastic may make it better. Oh how wrong I was! This time rather than an old lady I looked like one of those poor women in those scary Mormon Fundamentalist compounds. It didn't help that I chose such a drab color for the muslin, which happened to be the only fabric I have on hand other than my *final* choice that was enough yardage.

So, bleh. I'm really rather over all these duds!

Handbags

I was recently sent a link to this CraftBits project that uses old silk ties to make a handbag. Since we have ties coming out of our ears from buying them by bag at the thrift store (which they don't always have, you have to be there at the right time I think). After we sorted the one's that Ed liked, which weren't many, I had a lot of ties left. So, I made this bag:

Front



Back


Top/Flap

I'm not completely happy with the way it gapes open at the top, and will try another to fix this issues, especially since we just got 2 more bags of ties this past weekend. The project does take a lot of ties, and you have about half of each tie leftover. So what to do with those pieces?

I also made myself a larger messenger bag that acts as my purse. I'm one of those people who have a lot to carry around, so a large bag is what suits my needs. Since I'm not into the fancier types of bags, this one is simple.

Front


Topstitching


Pocket and Lining

The outside is made with thrifted home dec weight fabric in a neat stripe and dot pattern. The inside is lined with simple quilters cotton, and I even went so fancy as to give myself a pocket. The first one I ever made, which was one of the first projects I ever made, had no pocket and was made of beige corduroy and lined in a white heavy weight canvas. Pretty boring! I needed a little more oomph, although this one is still pretty mild in comparison to others I see.

So, as I type this I'm sitting in my newly sewn jammie pants that I just made out of a thin knit that feels so soft! I probably won't post pictures about these since they are pretty standard and boring. Nothing cute or fancy about them, just plain blue but I tried to recreate a pair I wore and loved to death until the holes I sewed closed started to have their own holes. Yeah, they were pretty ratty, but they were so soft it was like wearing nothing and I just couldn't let them go until I wore every seam out. Ah, I still miss those jammie pants!

Small sewing slump

I've been in a small sewing slump. I think I burned myself out a bit with the huge Halloween costume projects. I've been doing some other stuff lately and am in an ornament swap that I need to start working on since the deadline is approaching. Not sewing related, but something to keep myself occupied. I did make a couple handbags that I have yet to upload the pictures on, but rest assured, another post is coming soon!

And speaking of handbags, a friend sent me this link to an adorable (free) pattern for a bag that I hope to make soon, by Oh Fransson called the Margaret Sling Bag. I love the fabric she uses, and it really just showcases the cuteness of the bag even more!

A Word About Thread

Image by Edward Ellsworth

I never have said yet, how I feel about thread. I started out with the cheapo stuff and constantly had problems with thread breaking, or bunching up at the needle hole because of a slub and then breaking. It's extremely frustrating to a beginner to have thread break constantly, even though you know the tension is correct and it's the right needle for the job. You start to second guess your abilities and think maybe you suck at sewing.

Don't think that. I swear, it's the thread!

But, lately I've been taking advantage of the 50% off thread sales at JoAnns.

Yes, I know some hate JoAnns, but when you are sewing on a budget you don't really have a choice of ordering good thread on the internet as opposed to a 50% off sale. The sale is just too good.

So, as I was saying, lately I've been using the better stuff like Gutermann for the plain thread, top stitching and such. Boy can I tell a difference! It's like night and day. Coats and Clark Dual Duty XP is better than the Dual Duty Plus (found at Walmart often), but I am just blown away with how Gutermann handles. I haven't yet tried the fun metallics and specialty threads, although I do eye them often, but those will be my next step when I'm confident that I won't waste my money because I am not skilled enough to work with those thread types.

There comes a time, when on a budget when the cheapest isn't always the best. You might save a pocketful of money buying a lesser brand, but in terms of ease of use, and quality, stepping up to the "little more expensive" item can be a better choice. I think that I will still use the lesser brands for my practice pieces and muslins, but for the final piece I will be going with the good stuff, provided I can afford it and...it stays within the budget I allow myself.

Halloween Costumes - Details Part 4 - The Accessories

While not technically sewing, I am dying to show off the cool little accessories that we made for the halloween costumes. People got quite a kick out of them!

First, the man accessories, one of which I already gave a sneak peek of before anything else:

The top hat

Top Hat Accessory on the Band

And to show you that this isn't a fancy, store bought hat, I will show the insides of it and give you and idea as to how it was created:

Inside the Top Hat, Construction Details

The other major man accessory, for any Victorian gentleman is the cane:

The cane

The cane was made out of a large copper painted wooden dowel, a copper painted wooden door knob for the head and was studded with copper upholstery nails that were outlined in permanent marker. The end was one of those feet you put on the legs of chairs to keep them from skidding across the floor.

Copper Painted Wooden Door Knob


Cane Details: Copper Nails Outlined in Black Marker

Now, the ladies accessories, which are a lot more of, so if you bore easily you may want to step away. We'll start from the top down.

While I don't have the greatest picture of how my hair was done, on the opposite side I had a hair fascinator that I made out of feathers, a gear, a vintage ruby colored glass gem, and a brass floral stamping that I got from the hardware store that is used for a decorative touch in the hardware for holding up a mirror. Also in my hair was a hair clip that I made with gears, a washer, a vintage brass stamping and swarovski crystals. Unfortunately by the time I got home and took it out, the rush glue job I did stopped holding and it's now in two pieces, but you get the idea:

Hair Fascinator


Hair Clip

The earrings I accumulated somehow, probably something my grandmother or mother gave me at one point, long ago:

Earrings of Unknown Origin

Next is a vintage rhinestone necklace from the 1930's that came all the way from England that an old friend sent me ages ago:

Vintage Rhinestone Necklace, circa 1930


Vintage Rhinestone Necklace, circa 1930, detail

The next item down was a brooch that I made to coordinate with the hair fascinator, using again the floral brass stamping, a gear and a vintage ruby colored glass gem. Nesting the gem is another vintage brass stamping that I just adore, of a flower. The gem rests so perfectly in there:

Feminine Gear Brooch

The last on my body was a gorgeous bracelet that I got from Carol of Beaded Baubles. She does absolutely amazing chain maille. This is in copper which went fabulously well with my whole attire.

Copper Chain Maille Bracelet by Carol of BeadedBaubles.com

And that completes the costumes! The accessories are the last part and I must say that we had a blast creating these babies, in addition to the party that gave us the ideas for everything. Once given a theme we just ran with it.

Halloween Costumes - Details Part 3 - The Vogue Vest

Vogue Vest 7488

The Vogue vest 7488, version B. I made mine out of a home dec weight velvet, or velour (I'm ignorant of the differences). The fabric was pretty thick at the seams and gave me a couple problems. One was that the instructions want you to line the vest and pull it through the shoulder seams and then fold over the lining and stitch it closed by hand. Since my seams were so thick, I didn't have enough lining fabric to do this. So, what I did instead was to sew the seams as normal and then trim them down. I then covered them with ribbon to hide the exposed seams.

Shoulder seam covering

The double breast is supposed to have buttons for the closure but I found a very cool washer "thing" at the hardware store that I painted copper that I wanted to use instead. So since I couldn't make buttons or buttonholes I decided to use snaps as the closure. Each washer had a single stitch on each side to hold it on, using the matching topstitching thread. It matched perfectly was was very hard to tell that it was stitched on. Behind each washer I stitched a snap that corresponded with the opposite side.

Front of vest

Copper painted washer

Snaps

And finally instead of using a buckle for the back, I ended up using a large hook and eye, leftover from another project, stitched on with the matching topstitching thread.

Back closure

The vest, is a rather involved pattern, but the result is wonderful. I will make this again, for another Steampunk event, or just for a fancy shindig.

Halloween Costumes - Details Part 2 - The Vest and Shirt

The Vest

The vest is a vintage 1979 McCalls 5297. It came in a smaller size than what I am, but being the industrious gal I am, I decided to try grading it. Scary eh? It was to me at first as well. But, following a few online tutorials, I was able to find that I needed to add more to the bust (since a woman's body has the most area there) rather than the back and/or sides. Doing so brought it up to my size, but I still had to do a full bust adjustment to it for it to fit right. It took even more pinning after I sewed the FBA to get it just right, since it had to be pretty much a perfect fit because of how fitted it actually needed to be. The vest is unlined, but does have a facing around the whole edge. I did make a muslin first to see where I needed to take in seams or add them and found that I had mismeasured somewhere in the grading for the bottom facing. I had to re-draft the bottom facing to fit, but it wasn't a terrible setback. Just an extra few hours.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the vest was made out of some $1 fabric. Now that I think about it, I may have gotten it from a thrift store rather than Wal-Mart since I found a piece that is identical a few weeks ago in a thift store. Sometimes I don't know where all this fabric comes from! But anyways, it's made from the wrong side of some lovely twill. I chose the wrong side because it was a shade darker than the right side and I wasn't too worried about doing things the "right way" for a costume.

The black lace on the bottom edge was actually one of the most expensive items I bought for the outfit. I did use a coupon for it, but it was still pretty expensive for my way of life. But, I do think it was worth every penny and am very happy that I chose to add it. I think it lent an air of "old time" to it that was perfect for a Victorian aristocrat.

The Shirt

The shirt is made from Simplicity 3990 and is the version that the model is wearing. This was one of the very cool B, C, D cup options that Simplicity has come out with. The fitting wasn't even an issue in the bust area and other than the pleating (which did take a while), this shirt was quick to make up since I didn't have to do an FBA on it. There are some minor fitting issues that I will tweak in future garments made from this pattern, but it's nothing I can't fiddle with and try and change.

Halloween Costumes - Details Part 1 - The Skirt

So, as promised here are some detail pictures.

The Skirt

This is made from these instructions. There are measurements on there, but to get my own waist size I took my own waist measurement and divided it between all of the pieces. I then made a pattern out of plastic sheeting since I really don't like tissue paper for pattern making. It's cheap, and you can cut it as huge as you want. The only drawback is that you can't iron it and all you can really do is run your hands over it to get the wrinkles out. I also made myself a large graph board with 1 inch increments marked on it to help with accuracy, which I pinned the pattern to as I created it.

The front is one large piece cut on the fold and the back has 4 gores (I think!) to make it sweeping and froofy. I measured from hip to hip to start the construction and then divided the remaining inches into the gores, since it really didn't matter to me where those ended up in relation to my body.

The pattern doesn't include a waist, so what I used was some black fabric and interfacing cut in a rectangle to my waist size, doubled it over lenghtwise and sewed it to the skirt. I left one seam open for a zipper which is on my side since the skirt doesn't have a back seam.

I winged the lining. I really had no idea what to do with the lining since I had never lined a skirt (or dress) with a zipper before. My attire doesn't tend towards lined skirts, so I haven't ever made one. The skirt is lined with a thrifted sateen bedsheet, which is thick and luxurious and which also added a lot of weight.

The skirt had some serious body and weight to it from all the layers and the thickness of both fabrics.

The hem took me over 3 hours to do! The skirt itself took a few weeks working on it on and off, although I didn't time myself. It was a large job considering the amount of fabric I had to work with and I don't envy those thrifty Victorian women that had to sew skirts and clothes either by hand or with a treadle.

The Halloween Costumes

And we have pictures!

A Victorian Steampunk Halloween Costume

The details of the costume will come later. For now, I'll tell you what each piece is. Ed's vest is Vogue 7488, view B the double-breasted version, and his shirt and pants are store bought and something he already owned. My shirt is Simplicity 3990 the pleated version, while the vest is a vintage 1979 McCalls 5297. The skirt is a repro of an actual Victorian/Edwardian walking skirt made from instructions here. I decided not to use a bustle since I had plenty of rear end once I tried it on!

The hat and cane I made. The hat went over extremely well at the party! People couldn't believe it was made out of poster board (and fabric of course). Overall, we were very happy with the way our costumes turned out. More details to come...

A sneak peek - The Top Hat

I thought I would show a sneak peek of Ed's top hat. Since we're running behind on everything costume wise I doubt I will get a picture of us both before Halloween, all dressed up. So, I'll show one of the coolest items other than the cane that is in Ed's costume:

And here is a close up of the cool little doo-hickey on the side:

Ed chose both the fabric and helped me put together the accessory for the hat. The fabric is a spiderweb design that was on sale at JoAnns the other day. We had decided on a plain black satin but he fell in love with this fabric some time ago. Since it was on sale he splurged a bit and bought a yard for the hat.

So last night I had him sit down and I measured his head using a piece of black posterboard and marked where it stopped. It took 3 pieces of posterboard and fabric; one for the top of the hat, one for the middle/sides and one for the brim. All I did was eyeball everything, and it went ok except that I screwed up on the middle part and didn't cut enough fabric. At least, I did originally but I measured the middle and it bent inward a bit when I measured, so there is a small patch on the other side, which I won't show you, that covers my boo boo. But it's hardly noticable since the fabric is pretty busy and the accessory is on the opposite side which draws the eye there.

Just for reference the "top hat" part, that starts at the top part of the brim, is 5 inches high. It seemed like a reasonable height, since neither of us had ever seen a real top hat before. There was no sewing involved though because I hot glued everything on the hat.

Halloween Costume Update

I've been pretty quiet the past few days, but it's only because I've been busy! I have completed my own costume that consists of a Victorian walking skirt that I found here, a 70's Simplicity vest and the pleated shirt from Simplicity 3990 that the model is wearing.

The Simplicity shirt was pretty easy to make and I didn't have to do a bust alteration since this is one of the patterns that come in B, C, and D sizes. I love that feature and actually wrote the company to say so. Hopefully they will continue to make them. The only fitting issue I have is that the upper arms, in the cap of the sleeve is a little tight, but that's from my own large upper arms. If I make the shirt again I'll have to figure out how to alter that. I always seem to have issues with sleeves since my arms seem to gain most of my weight! But that shirt is very pretty. I did it in some kind of bridal satin that was in the red tag section of JoAnns, but it works for the costume. It's now awaiting a wash to get the marks out.

Right now I'm working on Ed's fancy Vogue 7488 (view B) double-breasted vest. I'm using a home dec weight velvet or velour (I have no idea which is which) since I found it in a thrift store for cheap. The back of the vest is done in crepe backed satin and it's lined in some kind of poly. The pattern is probably an intermediate level and since it has things like welt pockets and interesting lapels, facings and collar it's a little complicated. I'm "getting it" as I go along but I do have to read the directions closely and heaven forbid I work on it while I'm tired. I already screwed up a pocket from doing that. Thankfully I saved it, but it could have been worse.

Once everything is finished I will show pics of us both. I may even do my hair the way I plan to for Halloween; I need to do a test run anyways. I have waist length hair, so figuring out a way to contain it all in a fancy 'do has been a little hard, without having to go to a salon to get a good look. I think I'm going to go with a fancy chignon of sorts; similar to this YouTube video from Johnny Lavoy.

Oh What a Haul!

I haven't been sewing a lot lately because I've been recovering from a medical procedure. It's had me pretty sore and not wanting to move about much. But, to lift my spirits, Ed and I went to a thrift store that isn't that close to our place, one we don't get to go to a lot but one that usually yields something cool, even if it's only a book. This time I went in search of these bags of mens ties they sometimes have for a few bucks. Instead Ed once again spotted a sewing machine!

This time it was a Babylock BL6600, all fancy and electronic sans manual of course. It has the same amount of stitches as my other babylock, but this one is much newer and in better shape. The price tag was a little steep for our budget, which is pretty non-exsistent right now, but how could we pass up a $$$ sewing machine for under $40? Yes, under $40. To top that they were having a deal where if you spent $50 or over you got a coupon for $5 off your next purchase. So I had to go find something else to round out the total. There were no ties to be found that weren't priced singly, but I found yet another bag of fabric that looked like it had a few neat and colorful items in it for $3. And of course we had to get some books. Always books.

Once home, I opened up the bag and whoa what a haul! All of the fabric in the photo was crammed into a bag about the size of a brown shopping bag. Yards and yards of gorgeous fabric (and a few scary ones too)! Usually there are a few good choices in these grab bags, and a lot of "eh" scraps and such. This one had only one print of scraps. The rest was between one yard and 6! 6 yards of a lining fabric was the big yardage but most averaged about 2 yards per piece.

In with the bag were a couple, obviously, vintage pieces. The white, orange and green piece in the lower right is one, along with the burgandy/brown and white elephant home dec weight fabric. There is also a curious white, blue and gold toile-like fabric of Japanese scenes with little Mickey and Minnie dotted throughout. Ed actually spotted that one when I showed it to him; I completely missed it! I'd love to find out where it originates from, or when it was made but alas, there is nothing similar online that I can find or perhaps I'm not searching right.

The green fabric in the upper right is an adorable border print with little people holding umbrellas, or newspapers over their heads and walking around. There is 4 yards of this fabric.

Boy, talk about a good haul! This just goes to show that you can find some remarkable sewing items in thrift stores for not a lot of money. The one's I frequent aren't the smokey, antiquey type either but modern places like Goodwill and Savers, with the occassional independent thrown in there when I can find them.

Sure, you have to "make do" with what you have (and supplement it with new/on sale fabric) sometimes, but once you build up your thirft store fabric stash, usually you have a nice little selection to work from.

A Tiny Serger, New Fabric

A while ago (more like months) I came across a Singer Tiny Serger and snatched it up. I found it in Savers, a local thrift store for $10. It was a little splurge, but I had been wanting to try using a serger to see if I wanted to save the money to buy one. This little thing was the perfect solution! Really, it only does the overlock stitching and not the cutting. You have to trim the fabric back yourself. Now, I'm addicted to the machine and have decided that when this one stops working, because how long will a Mini Serger last when I give it the workout of a lifetime each week, I will invest in a real serger! I suppose I should start saving now...

I also hit upon Goodwill's 50% off Saturday this past weekend and got a bag of fabric for the princely sum of $4. In it is 4 yards of some lightweight black twill, which could be something like chino but I am so ignorant in fabric types I'm not sure. Also a few yards of black crepe backed satin that I may use for Ed's Halloween vest if there is enough, some scraps of some purple polyester junk and some cotton print that is pretty, but totally not my style. Those will probably get made into jammie pants since I'll never leave the house with them anyways. There may be about 2-3 yards of that.

So, overall a nice haul!

I've also been working on my Victorian skirt and have finished the vest. I want to take a picture of them both together, because otherwise the vest would ride way too high on me with normal clothes on, so patience my dear readers. The skirt is heavy to begin with since it requires so many yards, but I'm also lining it so I don't have to have my body touch the icky polyester feel, which just adds onto the weight. I can't imagine what the ladies of long ago had to endure when they got dressed. I mean, I'm only going to be wearing this thing for a few hours; they had to wear it all the time! With all the layers, it's like you are wearing armor.

Thrift Store Find - Book

I found in a thrift store the other day, Better Homes and Gardens Sewing Book from 1970. I'm sure this little gem sat there for some time before I came across it. It is actually a binder book, similar to what you use in school, with pages that come out. But it is filled with a ton of useful information that I couldn't find in my other (admittedly a limited selection) sewing books.

It talks about things like how to make a ribbon waistline so that your dress doesn't pull out of shape, and how to line a garment, which I really needed to know! I've been looking for a book about lining for some time now.

The illustrations and explantions are great and put across their point. I haven't even finished reading it yet and in love with it. I think I'll be referring back to it quite often, as I do with "Fit for Real People". Plus, the little line drawings of the ladies are just too cute, aren't they?

Steampunk Halloween - a long post

This Halloween Ed and I have been invited to a steampunk Halloween by one of our Browncoat buddies. A few Saturdays ago the invitee and I went on a thrifting and craft store hunt for pieces of the steampunk costumes. She walked away with gorgeous dupioni silk (albiet from JoAnns) and some pretty red tag sari fabric. We also hit some of the local thrift stores and found some tablecloth things that were edged in scalloped eyelet, which was just perfect for the bloomers she had in mind. This Sunday she came over for a fitting and walked home with the things that just needed a waistband put in or something.

The silk has been turned into a skirt that has been pulled up in front to come above the bloomers so 'er knickers show, and has been bustled in the back. The hook and eye's we chose are large and brass and probably belong in something home decor but she though they were steampunkish so we're adding them to the back. Since we only have 6 of them and there are 8 points in the back that are pulled up, some of the bottom row will have regular, smaller hook and eyes.

I've planned for Ed and I to dress in shades of gray and black. Not the most exciting, but I think I can make some fun things using that palette. It also happens to be that I have found more fabric in gray and black that will suit our Halloween needs than any other...

My costume will consist of a 70's vest, a skirt with a bustle I'll make that ties around the waist to floof out the tush area and some kind of shirt (I haven't decided on the shirt yet but am thinking Simplicity 3990 with the pleated front). The vest is one that I graded! My first time grading anything actually. I got a tutorial from here to help me muddle through things. The original vest pattern is McCall 5297 from 1979. It contains, among the very dated pants, a princess seam close fitting vest that was perfect for my idea. The vest comes to points at the hem in the front and back. The weird thing I found was that the facings (yes, I graded and changed those too) connected neck to front to back, so all around the edge is a facing. Perhaps this is common with unlined vests since I've never made one before and I just don't know.




I went out and bought a tummy tucker thing, almost like a corset except that I have to pull it over my head (and isn't that a sight; I got stuck in the fitting rooms with nobody to help me when I first tried it on). I almost bought a corset type thing but the price just drew me off; this whole Halloween needs to be done as cheaply as possible but without looking cheap. This isn't a piece of undergarment that I will use repeatedly. My style of clothing does not consist of me wearing uncomfortable underclothes. Like ever. So, my hourglass figure (yes, I have one of those, although a little curvier than most) will be sucked in, although my ample busom won't be. I'm going for the tiny waisted Victorian look, but...not so tiny waisted that I need armor under my clothing like the days of old.

The skirt I already have material for and I found it of all places at WalMart for $1 per yard. I bought the whole bolt which was only a little over 7 yards. It's some icky polyester but the fabric pattern is perfect for something a little steampunk.



The fabric has a large black grid that is filled in with kind of a puffy gray fabric. As a skirt, it should do fine. As a short lived costume it should do even better since the fabric really is kind of polyester-y to the touch. If I'm feeling ambitious enough I may even line it, but I may not have the time.

The fabric for the vest is another $1 per yard beauty and I'm still not sure which side I want to use since they both would work for my needs:



Ed's costume will be a Vogue vest pattern for men. Vogue 7488 has a doublebreasted vest pattern that suits the need for him:



It will be done in black with a copper top stitching, which will be my first time top stitching with actual top stitching thread, which will probably be much different than the "top stitching" I do with regular thread. I know there is some adjustment of tensions with top stitiching thread. In any case, we'll just do a fancy dress shirt for him (perhaps in gray, which he already has in his closet) and some black pants (which too he already has). Ed will be sporting a handmade walking cane and a top hat.

The top hat, frankly, was kind of hard to research. There aren't many good tutorials for making a top hat in real size and all the old ones are very expensive. What we're going to do is make a base in poster board, like this link. After we finish the base we will glue or adhere a satiny fabric to it to mimic a real silk top hat. I think for a night of Halloween fun, which I may add is our favorite day of the year that supasses even Christmas, it should hold up fine.

I won, I won!

I won free patterns from The Hem Line that is. Lisa at The Hem Line has a weekly pattern drawing for free patterns. If you are in the US you pay nothing in postage, if you live in Canada or in other parts of the world all she asks is postage costs (which are mentioned each week in the post). I was the lucky winner of this:

What I wanted the most was that pattern without the envelope of the ponchos and capes! Those just rock my socks. But, how can you resist that look on the fella's face in the hat pattern pictures? It looks like he was eyeing some juicy morsel out of sight of the camera. I can only guess what kind of juicy morsel it was!

Lisa also has an etsy shop of fabric and notions and an extensive ebay store full of patterns. A very serious temptress!

Here There Be Pirates!

This is the pirate costume from Simplicity 5446, the adult size, medium. I had nobody to model the children's pattern for me, so it will go unphotographed until I get pics back from my family. It is a tad big on Ed, but we were able to pin the pants so they fit. The vest is supposed to be the correct size for him though, had we made this for Ed instead of my brother for whom it is intended.

You can see our little picture pal Lily in the background of the second photo. She just wanted to get in on that attention!

Anyways, the pants are made of some cotton/poly blend that really could stand a few more washes to make it a little softer. I have no idea what it's original purpose was since I found it in the thrift store, but the pattern sure makes good pirate pants (or prison pants if you were going for that look!). The floofy pirate shirt is made of a recycled queen sized bed sheet and the vest is some faux suede fabric, again found at a thrift store.

The vest material was actually a huge pain to work with because the minute you touched the fabric your hands turned brown! It practically oozed dye. I gave it a soak 3 times in the bathtub with some Woolite before I judged it had released enough dye that it could stand a turn through the washing machine.

After it came out there were white spots (probably from the fabric softener that was in the detergent) that I had to scrub out with a brush before I was satisfied of it's appearance. Definitely something I do not want to work with again if I have to, which is a pity since the fabric itself is so pretty and suede soft.

All in all, the pattern was pretty easy to work with. I had some trouble with the vest lining, and I do blame that on the vague instructions. If I had lined more things I probably wouldn't have been so confused I think. But, other than that one mishap, the pattern was very fun and quick to work with. I would recommend this pattern if you are looking for something piratey, or even to use as a Ren Faire costume since the pants and shirt could easily be from that time period. They are pretty versatile!

I know, I know, I owe some pics

But, I don't have them yet. I have finished the tops and bottoms, both man and child for the pirate costume. AND I still haven't posted a final photo of the Superman jacket (which I still haven't sent off because of that reason). I also have made a pair of cargo pocket capri's that I need to show, and...no wait, that's it. ;) I haven't started on anything else yet.

I was asked to make bloomers and wide legged shorts for a Halloween costume. Ed and I will be attending a "Steampunk Halloween" with some Browncoats we know. Browncoats being fans of anything Serenity, Firelfy or Joss Whedon; you know, they guy who created Buffy the Vampire Slayer and more recently Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog. Ok, so I'm a fan... Anyways, a gal I know has asked me to do the culottes and bloomers so that the bloomers peek out at the bottom. I'll be adapting Simplicity 9871, which is a pj bottom pattern that I use for myself.

Pics to come!

Ahoy me mateys!

My nephew, who is 6, is in love with pirates and everything pirate related. Ed and I were in Hobby Lobby looking at patterns. Yes, Ed looks at pattern books! I send him in search of guy stuff that I can make for him. He was flipping through McCalls costume section when he came across 5446, a pirate costume. We called my brother to see if he and his son would like to be matching pirates for Halloween, and of course he said yes. We're doing the more ruffian type of pirate (the larger image in the pic) than the tailored type, as per my brothers wishes, although I would have liked to make them the fancy coat.


So, we bought the pattern and the next day I went to the thrift store (I go to the thrift stores around here a LOT, as in I think it's another hobby of mine, but I refuse to admit it) and found this great length of black and white, jagged striped fabric that would be perfect for pants. So I've sewn the pants already and they look great, and started onto the shirt in the boy size last night.

I must have picked the wrong fabric to work with. It's some poly blend that is really soft, but a little slinky. I should have known from previous experiences with similar fabric. I just couldn't get this stuff to stay put. The seams were puckered and wavy, when I tired to attach the collar I got little pleats from the fabric straying from it's position, no matter how careful I was. I spent 6 hours between cutting and sewing this thing before I just chucked it in the trash and went to bed. I have another, more losely woven white cotton, similar to the faux linen they sell at JoAnns that I think I'll use instead. It should behave a lot better.

I will keep updated on the costumes and have some pictures to show once Ed gets his new camera up and running. He even bought a macro lens to take close up pictures of the beads I make, for me! What a guy. Of course he too wants to do macro photography, but the bead thing was what sealed the deal for him I think.

Baby Shorts

I don't have kids, but my brother has 2 little ones that are 3 and 6 and they just had another not too long ago. If my sister-in-law ever gets me the measurements for the bigger kids (it's going on a month now...ahem) I can make them some cute clothes and I have a pirate costume planned for my nephew. But, I digress...I picked up a kids pattern at the thrift store for 69 cents and it has a cute and very simple pair of baby shorts or panties, depending on what material you make them out of I guess. So far I've made 2:

One in a scrap of floral fabric that I got in a grab bag that was too small for anything else and another in a light weight denim. I hemmed and hawwed (or is that hawed?) about the denim thinking it may be a little too rough, but I'll let mommy decide that. These are sized to a small since I got the baby's weight and the pattern thankfully wasn't in measurements, which is a little bigger than my neice but babies grow fast, so I figure by the time I have these in the mail she'll fit into them.

And an update to the Superman Project...it's done! I just need to get it washed since it has picked up every since piece of thread it touched, and then photographed. Stay tuned for the grand finale!

Superman Progress Pt 3

The hood is attached! It took a while for me to get it just right. After the buttonhole mishap and having to recut another hood in both the red fabric and lining, I was a little discouraged and needed a small break. But, I pulled the jacket out again tonight and attached the hood. And my thanks to Ed for being a good sport about modelling it for me.

Since the two layers are pretty thick, I needed to use double wide bias tape, rather than regular bias tape, where it said to use it as the neck facing. Since I didn't have the light blue I originally had bought for it, in double wide, I ended up just using black. But that matches too since the Superman fabric has enough black in it, and a lot of the top stitching was done in black. Which brings me to the details that I promised a few posts ago.




The first image is the top stitching I achieved using a twin needle. I am in LOVE with my twin needle! And it makes such a nice finish on the inside as well, which you can see in the second photo. Since I didn't plan well about pocket placement and the hem, I started the hem stitching further towards the back of the pocket, though I did hand stitch to the lining on the inside. Basically it looks like the pocket is placed over the hem stitching, though it's not. I saved myself by that idea! I really didn't want to have to rip apart half the zipper and place the pockets higher up so that I could make a hem.

I realized too late to go out for it, but I didn't have nearly enough elastic. So, the project waits on hold, again, until I can get both more elastic for the hem and cuffs and a drawstring for the hood. I made a point NOT to photograph the buttonholes because those are pretty bad. My idea to put in the buttonholes after the hood was stitched in place wasn't a good one.