Progress on January 2012 Sewing To Do List 3

I made a lot of progress this weekend.

Saturday, at the Build Day:

I finished my steampunk gypsy corset, except for my little D ring decoration. I found another D ring that I may add as well. I laced it using an interesting lacing technique I found via Diary of a Renaissance Seamstress.

I sewed a closure on my new plaid square overskirt and decorated a little hat to go with that outfit. Plain doll hat found on clearance + silver lace + black lace veil + black elastic cord + a plaid fabric flower = awesome new tiny hat! I didn't work on the pocket though.


The hat to wear with my new plaid overskirt.

Speaking of the plaid overskirt...


The apron spread out, pre-assembly.


A close up of the trim.

I didn't work on the Harley Quinn cuffs.

I did get Miss Fletcher's bodice cut out, all three layers (outer, interlining, lining) plus neckline alterations. I also cut out a pair of Spiderman pajama pants for myself, had to cut them a little short due to lack of fabric. I did not cut anything from the Star Wars fabric yet.

Saturday, post Build Day:

I worked on Miss Fletcher's bodice: I ironed the lining pieces, spray starched and ironed the satin outer layer. Then I put the lining together and flatlined the satin with the interlining, a heavy purple cotton (from what I can tell).


Miss Fletcher's bodice, with heavy alteration of the neckline plus a zipper instead of the laces.

Yesterday (Sunday):

I put together the outside of Miss Fletcher's bodice, set up a fitting then headed to the fabric store.

At the fabric store: A zipper for Miss Fletcher's bodice. Three yards of black Paris print calico for my pink satin costume (I decided on a Paris theme). Almost seven yards of the same Star Wars flannel I picked up from another store last week. A little over a yard of black flannel, to use with the Star Wars flannel and to lengthen my Spiderman pajama pants if necessary. And two Simplicity nightgown patterns because I've been wanting to make some old fashioned sleepwear.


Nightgown pattern 1.


Nightgown pattern 2

I'm planning a Star Wars nightgown, probably the first pattern, and hopefully before Ohayocon. I'm also planning some Victorian-esque nightgowns.

Miss Fletcher came over for a fitting. The neckline needed altered a little more and a couple seams needed taken in. After she left, I took in the seams, finished altering the neckline and stitched the lining to the outer bodice along the sides and bottom. All that's left is hand stitching the rest in place.

Current State of the January To Do List:

• Finish the steampunk gypsy corset: This is pretty much done except for the D rings I want to add. - Deadline: ASAP
  
• Make a bodice for Gemma Fletcher of the Archon: All that's left is hand sewing. - Deadline: January 20
  
• Harley Quinn collar and cuffs: Collar's DONE, just need to add velcro and elastic to the cuffs - Deadline: January 27 (Ohayocon)
  
• Make Beau a bag for his closet to keep his unmentionables in: Haven't started this yet. - Whenever it gets done.
  
• Make Beau and I both pajamas for Ohayocon: Spiderman pajama pants have been cut out for myself, but they may be set aside in favor of a Star Wars nightgown and pajama pants for Beau. He's also requesting pillowcases asap. - Deadline: January 27 (Ohayocon)
• Make my plaid square overskirt: This is DONE (except for the decorative pocket, but its currently wearable). And I decorated the hat. - Deadline: January 27 (Ohayocon)
• Concert tshirts throw: Started, still needs a lot of work. - Deadline: February 4

That's all for now!

A bientot!

Miss Leah J Wilde

Ohayocon Prep 20

I finished my mini top hat yesterday! It was pretty quick and easy to sew on the hair comb and the elastic -- I'm using both because I want to ensure it stays on my head. I also started working on my mask. The outside layer is almost covered, just need to finish stitching around one of the eyeholes. Then I'll cover the inside pieces and sew the two together. I need to get a dowel rod for the stick portion of the mask. And paint it.

Miss Von Stoup and I went shopping yesterday. We picked up ribbon and beads for her Poison Ivy costume. I'm definitely starting to feel the crunch, with Ohayocon swiftly approaching.

Non sewing related crafting alert!

I worked on my beau's Christmas gift yesterday as well. Its mostly done, just need to finish it which I'll probably do today. And then I need to fill a stocking for him. No clue what to get as stocking stuffers.

Ohayocon Prep 18 and Quilting 2

Ohayocon

On Friday, I went to the fabric market with the Misses Dashwood and Von Stoup. We purchased items for Miss Dashwood's Catwoman costume - zipper, snaps, fabric - and I also picked up a hair comb for my HQ mini top hat.

I was planning on purchasing some crinoline or buckram to use as the base for my HQ mask, but thankfully found the left over scraps from the previous masquerade masks that I have made. Needless to say, I was very happy. With crinoline in hand, I used an old mask to cut out the basic shape and tweaked it a little bit to suit my purposes. I also cut out another mask (although it's divided in two down the middle) for stabilization purposes. I plan to use a dowel rod so that I have an old fashioned on a stick masquerade mask so I decided that extra stability would be a very good idea. In my sewing bag today is -- my mini top hat with hair comb and elastic and my mask base with black satin. I'm planning for an undecorated mask, since Harley's is unadorned in the comics.

Last night, I finally measured my beau for his costume! I started cutting out the muslin for the jacket, but didn't finish it. Finishing the cutting and basting together the mock up will probably be my evening project. Then of course comes getting him to call so that he can try it on, but at least I now have Miss Dashwood's costume to work on if I cannot work on his!

To do list (cuz you know I love them)

My beau's Joker costume
1. Jacket - finish cutting out muslin, baste together and have a fitting. Then comes making the actual jacket.
2. Vest
3. Pants

Miss Dashwood's Catwoman
1. Utility belt - design and construct. Its going to have lots of snaps and pockets, I know that much for sure.
2. Bustle
3. Shirt - modify turtleneck by inserting zipper (this may be the first bit that I tackle actually)


Quilting

I spent Saturday evening and yesterday afternoon working on my quilt. I had to make some more squares, which got sewn into twos and then together into four square blocks. It was a vicious sew, iron, sew, iron, etc cycle. I think I should have enough blocks now to make the quilt top. Then comes figuring out the actual quilting.

But at least I did not burn myself this time.

A bientot!

Miss Leah J Wilde

Ohayocon Prep 16 and Quilting EDITED

Okay readers, my dearest darling readers, my Harley Quinn outfit is (mainly) complete!

I made the pattern and started the purse cover yesterday at work, and finished putting it together last evening. I folded the bottom ends up (kinda like if I was wrapping a present) and secured them with buttons today. Silver with fleur de lis to echo the design in the black taffeta. I sewed the ribbons on and also trimmed it in some black lace. The cover itself is made out of the red taffeta from my costume. EDIT Pictures!


The purse cover.


A close up of the button on the ends.

I also put the grommets in my jacket (5 on each side) so all that's left to do is test out the outfit and see how it looks!

Oh and while the hat is pretty much done, I still need to either put an elastic band on or a hair comb. I also need to work on the mask, but I don't have the necessary materials.

But overall, except for those few teeny tiny things, its DONE!

As you know, my next project is a Joker costume for my beau. Unfortunately, I did not think to measure him last weekend, so I'm at his mercy for him to come over for said measuring. Until he's measured, I cannot do anything on his costume. Nor can I start on Miss Dashwood's Catwoman because we don't have the supplies.

As you can imagine, the utter inability to work on anything led to sheer boredom. So I decided to start a quilt that has been waiting for me to work on it. Readers, please note this is my first quilt. I'm working with 8" squares (VERY easy was the idea here). All of the patterned fabric was cut, but I had some solid to use (black and red) so I cut those into squares, then started sewing. After the sewing came the snipping apart and the ironing of the seams.

The ironing didn't go well. I retract that statement. The actual ironing went perfectly well. Its the 'my arm coming into contact with the iron' that didn't go well. I have about an inch and a half long burn on the inside of my right arm, approaching the elbow. Its been treated with aloe (with lidocaine!) and bandaged. My mother worries about it becoming infected and ordered me to keep it covered. It looked much better this morning when I re-bandaged it than it did last evening, but its still giving me a little bit of pain.

The moral of this story? Miss Wilde should not quilt.

Today at work, I counted up my squares, decided that I'm going to need more (thankfully I have more fabric) and started pinning pieces together for the next stage of sewing. Tonight when I get home, I'll make up a few more squares and start putting them all together. Unless Miss Von Stoup comes over for assistance with her Poison Ivy costume. But that may not happen as she also injured herself last evening -- a nasty cut on her right thumb.

A bientot!

Miss Leah J Wilde

Christmas and Ohayocon Prep 15 EDITED

First of all, I finished my brother's pajama pants last evening. I stitched the waistband casing and threaded the elastic through. Now he needs to try them on for elastic and pant leg length.

And my HQ jacket is almost complete. Yesterday at work I hand stitched in the lining and pinned the sleeve hems. Last night I machine stitched the sleeve hems and top stitched around the jacket opening and all the peplums with a white straight stitch. We decided that lacing from underneath the breasts to the waist would be lovely. I picked out small grommets for the lacing, mainly because I have a lot of them already so there's no need to purchase larger ones. I'm unsure what color lacing I'll use, I have some red cord and some black ribbon that I could use, but I lean towards using white which necessitates a purchase. EDIT Pictures!


A shot of me sewing in the lining. I used black thread because I like contrast.

I personally think it needs more, but Miss Dashwood likes the subtle touch. I'll see what I think once the whole outfit is put together I think. I may add another row of stitching or a little zig zag in addition to the straight stitch or I may just leave it as is. We'll see.

I also worked on my hat. I decided to use the plastic cup technique that I read about online (I think it was on cutoutandkeep.com). First I made it shorter because it was a rather tall cup. Then I traced the top and cut it out of cardboard for the top of the hat. I traced the top again and added to the circumference for the hat brim, and cut that out of cardboard as well. I used scotch tape and clear packing tape to put the hat together.

With the base constructed, it was time to start adding fabric. I used an uncut plastic cup to gauge the fabric to cover the body of the hat and cut it out. I wrapped it around the hat, trimmed it then used a gathering stitch along the bottom to make it fit. The top was notched and stitched with long stitches across the top of the hat to hold it in place. Next up was covering the brim. I cut out a large circle of fabric and first tried a gathering stitch. That didn't work so well. So I took out the gathering stitch and decided to pin it in place and stitch it. Around this time, I remembered that I have double sided tape (usually used to hold costumes in place). So I used a large X of that on the bottom of the brim to hold the fabric in place while I pinned and stitched it in place along the top of the brim. With the brim covered, I trimmed off the excess and turned my attention to the top of the hat. The brim and the body of the hat were covered in the diamond print cotton. Once again, I used double stick tape to hold it in place. I cut out a square of fabric (black taffeta) large enough to cover the top of the hat and taped it in place. I then trimmed off the extra and treated the edges with fray check so that they wouldn't fray (obviously :) ). Next was a double stitch in red thread to hold the top in place and add a bit of red to the hat.

Now it was time to trim the hat. I made a hat band out of a length of black taffeta and added white lace to one edge. I then stitched white lace into place on the brim. A piece of my narrow red ribbon was stitched along the center of the hat band. Now all I have to do is stitch the hat band in place. I'm planning to either add a hair comb to the bottom or elastic to hold it on my head. I am unsure at this moment. EDIT -- hat band has been stitched on. EDIT TWO Here's a couple shots of the hat at this stage of construction.




I want to add more to my hat, perhaps a plume of feathers or something sparkly, but Miss Dashwood thinks the hat is fine how it is. She actually thinks my outfit is rather over the top and keeps telling me to dial it back a notch. And while I think she's right, I also think that's the point. After all, if you can't be over the top with Harley Quinn, when can you?

Today I have my hat with me, as well as materials for the mask and purse. I plan to trace another mask that I've made and cut it out of black taffeta. I need to check my stash for buckrum like I used the last time or purchase a bit of it. Maybe I can use netting for the inside of the mask, but I doubt it'll be enough. I'll have to see. As for the purse, I've decided to make a cover for an old purse that I don't carry much anymore. Its going to be red taffeta with black diamonds and tie on with black ribbons. I may trim it in black and or white lace, that decision will be made after the construction of the purse.

Harley Quinn
1. Petticoat - DONE!
2. Bustle - DONE!
3. Corset - DONE!
4. Underskirt - DONE!
5. Jacket - put in grommets and laces
6. Top Hat - DONE!
7. Purse - pattern needs to be made and cover needs to be constructed and trimmed
8. Mask - pattern needs to be made and mask constructed and trimmed. I need to purchase and paint a dowel rod for the stick to hold the mask by.

I'm anticipating that I'll be finished with Harley Quinn either today or tomorrow. Or at least mostly finished. Next up is the Joker! My first step of that will be the mock up of the jacket for fitting and measuring my beau so I can start on the other items.

A bientot!

Miss Leah J Wilde