Ohayocon Prep 22 and Quilting

Things I did not work on that I said I would - my mask and Miss Dashwood's fabric and sketches. I need to take care of those today.

I did however work on my beau's quilt. I have three or four of the seven rows sewn together.

AND I got quite a bit of work done on the Joker this weekend. As previously mentioned, I cut out the corduroy and the lining for the jacket last week. On Friday, I put together the jacket and the lining. I also cut out the lapel facing and sewed it together along the center back seam.

Then he decides that he wants pockets. Which makes sense - obviously he needs to be able to carry a pocket watch and a flower in his lapel. I just wish he'd mentioned it earlier, would have been much easier to put the pockets in before the jacket was sewn together.

Since the pockets must go in before the lining, I obviously did not get around to hand stitching the lining in this weekend. Sadly.

While visiting his family out of town, and without a sewing machine *gasp*, I cut out the pockets for the jacket and also his trousers. Those were interesting. The underlining of white cotton was just fine, normal cutting out. But the outer fabric is so lightweight that I decided to use the underlining as the pattern pieces and cut out each piece separately, on only one layer of the trouser fabric. As you can imagine, this took some time.

Last night after we returned, I tackled the jacket pockets. First of all, let me state that I hate welted pockets. While they look fabulous, they are a pain to sew. I reread the directions before I started and marked where I wanted the pockets to go. Then I stitched the welts on, then the pocket lining, then slashed the pocket and the jacket and pulled the pocket through and -- I had messed up somewhere. Turns out that I had put the welts on backwards, so instead of a nice smooth folded edge showing, it was the raw edges of the welts. Sigh. So I had to take everything out and start all over again. Thankfully, the second time went off without an issue, and the other side of the pocket was sewn on. I showed the beau and he approved of my work which of course pleased me to no end.

So I have one pocket down, two to go on the outside of the jacket. Then there's two more on the inside, but I may just make them patch pockets. I'll have to talk to the beau first.

Now for everyone's favorite part - the to do list!

Harley Quinn
1. Finish mask

Catwoman
1. Prewash fabric
2. Sketches for both the bustle and the utility belt
3. Construct both the bustle and the utility belt
4. Insert zipper into turtleneck

Joker
1. Finish pockets on the jacket, both inside and outside
2. Sew in the jacket lining
3. Sew on the jacket lapels
4. Buttons and buttonholes on the front of the jacket
5. Put the trousers together - zipper or button fly?
6. Cut out and construct the vest
7. Probably need to make a tie

I plan to take turns working on Catwoman and Joker. I'll probably mainly do Catwoman while on the Companions Shuttle and work on the Joker while visiting my beau in his quarters. Today at work, I'm going to work on my mask and try to get those sketches done.

I'm going to try to take enough photos during the next pocket construction that I can do a welted pocket tutorial.

A bientot!

Miss Leah J Wilde