Starting to Think of 2013 Sewing Plans...

First up is the Ohayocon sewing I need to finish:

1. Suicide Squad Harley Quinn.for Ohayocon - The corset is done. The shorts are almost done, just need to do the waistband. I need to order the socks, buy the temp color for my hair and make the neck ruff and gauntlets. 
2. Suspenders for my femme Joker - I realized I have purple elastic and I finally bought suspender clips. Supplies in hand, just need to make the suspenders!

Now for my other unfinished projects...

1. Keeper of the Keys underbust corset
2. Embroidered quilt.
3. Quilt and pillowcases for Soldiers Angels.

2013 Costuming Goals:

1. 1884 Wash Overskirt.
2. Sari inspired head to toe Victorian ensemble.
3. Natural form Victorian costume.
4. 18th century costume.
5. French Huguenot costume. 
6. A Victorian bathing suit. 
7. At some point, I really need to make a Snow Queen costume... 
8. Something Regency. Maybe a dress and a spencer...
9. A lobster tail bustle 

2013 sewing goals:

1. More retro dresses
2. Finish my concert t shirt throw.
3. Quilt for my cousin's little girl that's due in April
4. If I end up going to Warped Tour, I need some more bikini tops to wear...

What I Did on my Christmas Vacation

One: Made a hat. (see previous post for hat-porn pictures!)

Two: Pretty much finished my SSHarleyQuinn corset. I'm thinking that safety pinning the bra cups in is the way to go... Other than the bra cups its DONE

Three: Worked on my embroidered quilt. Block #11 is done except for the border!

Four: Fixed the buttons on my dearest brother's coat. I am in fact quite incapable of telling my 'big' brother "no"

Five: Wore my Christmas nightgown on Christmas Eve. Also wore my "Wilde Side" and "Christmas Elf" leggings that I made. :)

Six: Bought fabric to make a baby quilt for my cousin.

Finished Steampunk Hat! (aka Hat Porn)

The completed hat frame, from the bottom. Most of the brim and the crown were reinforced with some Pellon.

Starting to cover the hat with some gray satin.

Close up of some of the stitching

The crown is covered!

The underneath of the brim, covered with a pleated piece of plaid taffeta.

The back of the brim (the un-reinforced section) will be turned up when I'm done.

The covered hat!

The covered hat with the brim flipped up

Layers of trim were added to the top brim -- silver lace, black lace, black ribbon, red ribbon and some braid...

The same braid that was added the underneath of the brim to cover the edges of the satin

Please excuse the sideways photo, but here's the completed hat with lace, ribbon tails, a few fabric flowers and some feathers.

And a close up of the finished hat. The big flower has a button and a gear holding it in place

Making a Hat Frame

I've been contemplating making a new hat for my new silver and black steampunk suit (I need to think of a name for it...) so last night I sat down with some cardboard, buckram and other supplies to start working on building a hat frame.

I realize now that pictures would have been helpful...

Step one was to use my seam gauge and a marker to draw a circle that was about 11 inches in circumference onto some cardboard. Which I cut out and tried on to make sure I liked the size. Happy with it, the next step was to cut out the center, giving myself the pattern for a brim and a crown. Step three was to cut a strip of buckram about two inches wide for the side band, then to trace and cut out the brim and crown.

Then came the fun part - sewing together these pieces. I tried glue at first but it didn't want to hold so I just started stitching. The brim was clipped so it would attach to the side band better and I ran into some issues with the crown (it ended up being too big for the side band which I didn't realize until too late) but I think it went together well enough. I reinforced the brim with some heavy interfacing, but only in part because I plan to flip the back of the hat up. I also cut a circle of the same interfacing to reinforce the crown but it hasn't been stitched together yet.

Then I tried the hat on. I'm not entirely happy with the size of the brim, I think its a little large. My current plan is to do some research and then if necessary trim down the brim and re-stitch the interfacing and buckram together before starting the covering and decorating stage.

2012 Completed Projects!

1. Miss Fletcher's Bodice. All materials provided by Miss Fletcher. (Finished 1/16/2012)
2. Steampunk Gypsy Corset: stash fabric, trim, thread, eyelets, D rings, and zipper; purchased eyelets, trim and buckles (Finished 1/17/2012 except for the D rings)
3. Stage One of Steampunk Gypsy Crazy Quilt Skirt aka Piecing (Finished 1/5/2012)
4. Black and Silver Plaid 1875 Square Overskirt and matching hat: Pattern (Truly Victorian 304) purchased by Beau as a gift for me. Plaid fabric, black broadcloth, silver lace trim, hook and eye closure and thread (black and metallic silver) from stash. Purchased black ribbon, hat (on clearance), silver crepe backed satin and petticoat net. (Finished 1/14/2012 except for decorative pocket)
5. Harley Quinn collar and cuffs (Finished 1/21/2012)
6. Star Wars pillowcases: no pattern, stash thread, purchased fabric (Finished 1/21/2012)
7. Star Wars nightgown: stash thread and snaps, purchased fabric and pattern (Finished 1/21/2012)
8. Spiderman pajama pants: stash and purchased fabric, stash thread and pattern (Finished 1/21/2012)
9. Finally finished the gypsy steampunk corset with two D rings. (March)
10. 1886 Asymmetrical Overkirt for my Paris 1880s steampunk. (March)
11. Roma inspired steampunk crazy quilt skirt. (April)
12. Petticoat of Doom to be worn under the Roma inspired steampunk crazy quilt skirt. (April)
13. Decorated a clip on pouch to wear with the Roma inspired steampunk costume. (April)
14. Mask for the SES masquerade (that I never wore) (April)
15. Muppets fleece blanket for Nick Wheeler of the All American Rejects (he loved it, btw) (April)
16. Playsuit. Stash fabric, purchased pattern.(Finished 6/5/2012)
17. Paris 1880s steampunk bodice. (Finished around 7/5/2012)
18. Shorts for the summer - red knit, pink and black knit and black gauze. All purchased fabrics, one purchased pattern, the other was a stash pattern, stash thread and I don't remember if I bought or had the elastic already.
19. Green and white sundress. Stash fabric and pattern. (Finished around 7/5/2012) and made a petticoat (Finished before 8/2/2012)
20. Commission for my friend Kevy Kev. (Finished by 8/20/2012)
21. Halloween skirt. Stash fabric and pattern. (Basically done by 8/27/2012)
22. Bunting (Finished around 7/15/2012) and nursing cover (Finished around 9/10/2012) for my nephew. 
23. Cream tour wear leggings. Purchased fabric and pattern. (Finished 9/10/2012)
24. Femme Joker suit, blouse and tie. Purchased fabric and dye. Stash patterns and thread. (Pretty much done by 9/17/2012)
25.  Helped finish an embroidered baby quilt that my cousin is making for my nephew. (Finished by 9/17/2012)
26. "I Believe in Pink" tour wear tunic. Purchased fabric and zipper, stash pattern. (Finished by 9/24/2012)
27. "Wilde Side" tour wear leggings. Purchased fabric and pattern. (Finished before 10/13/2012)
28. Christmas nightgown. Stash nativity print fabric that was a gift from my mom, purchased burgundy broadcloth, stash thread, stash pattern that was purchased within recent memory (Finished 10/27/2012)
29. Leggings for Pepper. Stash pattern (kinda) and thread, purchased fabric (Finished by 11/5/2012)
30. Harley Quinn pajama pants. Stash pattern, thread and elastic, purchased fabric (Finished by 11/5/2012)
31. Wings for airship stewardess. Not really a sewing project, but considering they complete the costume I'm counting it! (Finished by 11/13/2012)
32. New steampunk outfit of silver satin trimmed in silver and black plaid. Pretty much all from the stash, I think all I bought were D rings and black elastic cord for lacing. (Bodice finished by 12/1/2012, skirt finished 12/15/2012)
33. "Naughty Christmas Elf" tour wear leggings. Stash pattern, thread and elastic; purchased fabric. (Finished 12/1/2012)

Thirty three projects in a year. Wow!

Update on 2012 To Do List!

Since it's approaching the end of the year, let's take a look at my year long to do list!


Costuming sewing goals:

1. Finish my gypsy steampunk ensemble. DONE
2. 1875 Square Overskirt (Truly Victorian) in black and silver plaid. DONE
3. Pink and black steampunk ensemble. DONE
4. An underbust corset out of left over key print flannel to wear with my Keeper of the Keys skirt and a blouse for steam casual events - Getting there.
5. 1884 Wash Overskirt. Nope.
6. I do want to do a sari inspired head to toe Victorian ensemble. This hasn't happened either.
7. Female Joker. DONE
8. I'd love to a natural form Victorian costume. Also hasn't happened.
9. I'd still like to do an 18th century costume. Not necessarily a 2012 project. Nor has this.
10. And I also have a desire to do a French Huguenot costume. Or this
11. A Victorian bathing suit. Or this

Costuming goals - only 4 out of 11 are finished

Other sewing goals:

1. My two retro sundresses from my free patterns. One of these is DONE
2. I'd still like to make a playsuit with removable skirt, the project that never happened last summer. DONE
3. I have a throw I made from concert tshirts that I'd like to enlarge. Not done.
4. I have some flannel I'd like to make into a quilt. I actually do have a quilt top DONE
5. I have some Spiderman flannel that wants to be pajama pants. DONE
6. And some nativity printed cotton that wants to be a dress. DONE except it became a nightgown
7. A circle skirt out of Halloween pin up fabric. DONE
8. A high waisted skirt from my retro jumper pattern. DONE (part of my femme Joker costume)

Other sewing goals: 6 out of 8 (kinda).


Other things NOT on my 2012 list that I've done:

1. Commission for a friend.
2. Summer shorts to wear around the house.
3. Lots of embroidery.
4. Sewing for my nephew.

To finish before the end of the year:

1. My embroidered quilt. I'm about halfway finished w the second to last block
2. Suicide Squad Harley Quinn.for Ohayocon - Getting there.
3. New collar and cuffs for my Harley Quinn bodysuit for Ohayocon - probably not going to happen
4. Keeper of the Keys corset - Getting there
5. Leggings for Pepper DONE
6. Maybe some new steamy awesomeness for Ohayocon, like that wash overskirt... Made a new skirt so we'll count this as DONE
7. Harley Quinn pajama pants for Ohayocon DONE
8. Suspenders for my femme Joker
9. New bodice for my black and silver steampunk DONE
10. Wings for my airship stewardess costume for Ohayocon DONE

Not doing too bad, am I? Now to work on a completed projects post...

Tour Wear DC In Action!

With Pepper and Sayre rocking my Christmas leggings with a black tank and white tshirt that says "Be Naughty: Save Santa a Trip".

It's Almost Christmas!

1. Embroidered quilt: Still working on block #11. *cue sigh* I don't think it's going to be done before I go home for the holidays.
2.  Keeper of the Keys corset: Still pinned and not put together
3. Suspenders for my femme Joker. - Still not done.
4. Suicide Squad Harley Quinn hasn't been worked on either.... I don't know if I'll be able to get this done on time, not because of the costume construction but because the company I get my tights etc from is out of what I need.
5. New bodice for my black and silver steampunk is DONE
6. And I decided that I needed a new skirt to match ... Also DONE. Had a sewing day at my friends' house and pretty much pounded this out. It has a silver plaid waistband and bias hem. I couldn't find my horsehair braid so it has around a 4 inch wide hem facing of the same red taffeta I used to line the bodice. And some decorative stitching, courtesy of my friends fancy sewing machine.
7. New Tour Wear leggings: DONE

Now I really want a hat to go with my new steampunk...

And it's a Build Day tomorrow! I plan to work on: embroidery, maybe hat construction, maybe scrapbooking. Pretty much anything that doesn't need a sewing machine because I want to be upstairs with my friends and not buried in the sewing room (basement).

On the scrapbooking topic -- I just printed the last three shows of AAR pictures. Time to start volume 2 of my scrapbook! It was decided that volume 1 was big enough already lol

Tour Wear for DC - Pictures!

Here's the leggings I made for DC. They're a crushed panne / stretch velvet with an embossed holly pattern. Total Christmas elf, right?

Updates!!

Guess I've been too busy sewing to update...Or maybe just too lazy / absent minded... lol

Okay, here's where I stand:

1. Embroidered quilt: Still working on block #11. I've hit that point of not really wanting to work on it anymore...
2.  Keeper of the Keys corset: The boning is done and it's pinned for the next step of construction.
3. Suspenders for my femme Joker. - Still not done.
4. Suicide Squad Harley Quinn hasn't been worked on either....
5. New bodice for my black and silver steampunk is DONE
6. And I decided that I needed a new skirt to match ... That's been cut out. Should be pretty easy (I hope) construction-wise. I just really love the idea of a 'suit', with the silvery grey satin head to toe...
7. Soldiers Angels pillowcases and blankets still need worked on.
8. New Tour Wear leggings: Bought the velvet, cut out the leggings and started putting them together. Next step is taking them in to fit perfectly.

I'm having a sewing day over at a friend's house today while the majority of Archon members are attending a gathering on the moon (aka Teslacon). I've got my embroidery, the new corset, spandex for the arm bracers for SSHQ, the new skirt, and the leggings all packed. First on the list is finishing the leggings since I leave for DC in a week!