Holiday avoidance sewing, knitting, cosplay - Lisa

In the midst of all the holiday fun with my family I did some avoidance knitting and started a couple of cosplays for 2016.

Also, my Bluebird Dress got a 3rd in the Shear Madness Single Fabric Challenge!  I'm a happy girl.

Avoidance knitting is wonderful.  It's soothing and repetitive, AND you can pretend you're accomplishing something when you're really just avoiding what you are supposed to be doing.  Like bills and laundry and decorating the Xmas tree.  I actually knit an entire sweater. Admittedly, I
started back in September, but I actually DID the whole thing.  I forgot all about negative ease and ended up knitting that baggy sweater that you leave at the office for when the A/C is too high.  I love it.  I also started a large scarf copied from a Xmas gift one of the offspring received last year.  It's practically a mini-blanket.  It's made from fingering weight black yarn with a little sparkle.  I found a comparable yarn and asked the girl for a description of the stitch.  She told me 'basket weave'. There are two kinds.  I did a large sample of both and while the diagonal stitch looks very nice, it's slow and dense.  Traditional basket weave is light and fluffy and makes a more comfortable scarf.  

raglan shoulder seam

both kinds of basket weave

On the sewing front, I'm working on two cosplays.  I love Missy from Dr Who so that's been in planning for a little while.  I plan to put a full construction post up when I get it done.  So far I have the skirt and the blouse and the basic hat.  I'm getting a cameo from a friend who makes them, and I'm thinking hard about how much more I will be doing.  The umbrella/parasol is really calling to me.

And a last minute throw down....  Lady Catherine DeBourgh from Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

petticoat

Someone mentions cosplay for the opening weekend and then next thing I know it's on.  This was a really quick build.  I used the Simplicity Regency pattern in black shirting (super cheap <$3 per yard) for the dress.  I could have just made a skirt but maybe I'll have a use for a black Regency dress someday?  The jacket is too long for a spencer and I made it using a McCalls blouse pattern with the sleeves from the Regency dress.  I bought a couple yards of wide silver metallic lace on eBay and some horrid scratchy polyester lace around the neck.  The only thing particularly difficult was getting the flat silver lace to go over my chest.  I need an eyepatch and a cheap toy katana from Chinatown (spray painted) and I'm ready.

And that is good because Robin and I leaving tonight for Burma.  We are going to the tribal region to do some photography.  It's going to be a very exciting time since they just had a successful election.  So goodbye house men, cats, reliable internet and El Niño!  Back in February