I'm back and I've been busy - L

I wrote a nice post right before I left for Paris and Morroco.  I never published it.  Just plain forgot.  When I got back I had a full plate of costumes for the local kids improv group and cosplay for me and my son plus an assist with my daughter's costume.  Been going all out since the day after I got back. Jet lag and all.    Cosplay does amazing things to your hands!

Young Actors Worshop

This year I tried to scale back expectations and thought I only had 6 or 7 costumes to make.  It turned into 18.  The kids are encouraged to be creative and always toss me a challenge.  Here are some of the fun

Two boys wanted to be churros.  Their super-power?  Lick them and you have 5 minutes of super sugar energy.  They beat the evil psychic spy because she couldn't read their minds.  They don't have brains.

There was also an evil alien and and evil sunflower.  I have no idea why.

And reincarnation girl.  She wanted a victorian dress with Egyptian jewelry.

And a kid with his own owl costume that hadn't actually fit him in years.  I cut it horizontally below the zipper and added a 6 inch panel.  Then I cut it open on each side and added a 4 inch panel on each side.  The panels were muslin.  The rest of the costume was fun fur.  A little splatter with spray paint and you could hardly tell (from stage, anyway).  I wasn't even sure it would work.  I didn't get any pictures because i did it all the night before dress rehearsal when the kid told me about his problem (the ole' 'I can't actually fit in my costume' excuse)

My dining room table was a pile of animal costumes, kilts, superhero logos, robes, and I can't even remember anymore.

This is my last year working for them,  Next year I will be a stitcher for another theater group and get paid.  Paid poorly, but paid.  And no more dealing with parents.  Huzzah.




Then there was cosplay.  This year we decided to all dress from Naruto.  It's like the gateway drug of anime.  Very comfortable.  This is an important thing.  We also reprised Attack on Titan because my son loves getting flattered by 'older' women (20 year olds).

All the Jiriaya and Tsunade clothes were based on traditional Japanese clothing which is mostly rectangles.  I used the picture of a traditional haori as my inspiration.  Kakashi was a t-shirt and leggings with ivory knit tacked over for the design.  The bardes part was the wigs, with my son's shoes being the second hardest.  They are boots with no toes.  Also his legging wraps aren't wrapped.  They are pleated fabric made into leggings.  In Naruto, many characters have wide mesh on parts of their costumes.  I couldn't find the fabric so I had to buy wide mesh stockings and cut them apart,  That was very much NOT fun.

Mine is the Kakashi kneeling center front.

Arm bands - craft foam and scrapbooking brads on knit fabric, spray painted elastic at wrist

Cosplay hair.  Bane of my existence.

And finally, mesh over tights for leggings.  Had to do this for my arms, legs and chest.

And some really bad reference pictures that I ripped off the internet.                                                                                                                                                                                                       So now I'm back working on my 18th century court dress and the Lowell Mill Dress.  No spray paint or hot glue required.

HSF/HSM April and May challenges all together - L

The April challenge was War and Peace.  I was going to just skip it since I ways traveling for most of the month but I really wanted to do each challenge, even if I was late.  The very first thing that came to mind was socks.  How often in novels have I read of women knitting socks for 'the men'.  Specifically, I was thinking about the Civil Way, WW1 and WW2.  And, of course, I knew I wouldn't be able to do anything big or complicated because of travel and other costuming commitments.  I'd never knit toe-up socks so I chose that.  This would give me a chance to make the leg part as tall as my yarn allowed.  Of course I screwed them up.  Sort of.  I didn't watch the video tutorial about casting on that came with the pattern.  So I didn't do the proper closed toe cast on.  I ended up just sewing them closed.  I knit them in a week, though I wasn't actually knitting every waking moment.  Partly because of....

The May challenge was practicality. I didn't think I'd get it done.  I figured the socks were practical and would have to make do.  But I also really wanted to try a drawn thread hem (is that the right description?) for a handkerchief.  I love the look of drawn and pulled thread embroidery and want to use it in an early 20th century summer dress someday.  But I clearly didn't have time for a project that complex with a week left in May.  Plus, I figured I should start on something small.  A simple 14 inch square handkerchief seemed perfect.  I pulled out 4 threads on each side.  Each about 1/2 inch from the edge.  Then I folded the hem twice and pressed it a LOT.  Then it's simple but time consuming.  Pull the thread thru the hem edge, wrap it thru around 4 threads at least twice.  Put the thread thru about 4 threads of the hem edge and repeat.  I was a little sloppy.  Even though it isn't complicated it is incredibly fussy.

Next month is 'Outside your comfort zone'.  So looks like it's time to get back to my 18th century masquerade court gown.  Long overdue.

HSF/HSM - stash busting - L

OK.  I did it.  I made the hand-woven thing wider.  I'm still not ecstatic with it, but at least it looks like what it is.  A shawl.  I will it was about two feet longer but I didn't really calculate properly when I started.  And, candidly, since this was some yarn that I got with a knitting machine about 6 years ago, I'm not sure I'd have had enough yarn.  It's only about 6 feet long so it would be perfect for a 4th grader.

I am not a skilled weaver.  I know I need to practice to get better.  I am now realizing my epic hubris in choosing a novice project to show in the interwebs.  C'est la vie.

weaving two pieces at once

I made the shawl wider than the loom allows by weaving two additional strips and crocheting them to the main body.  The join didn't come nearly as 'clever' as I'd hoped (ergo no close-up).

I learned some interesting things.  Use different weight yarns intentionally, and know what the effect will be.  The cream colored yarn was slightly lighter and more stretchy than the blue.  The result was an uneven fabric  It was also very fuzzy.  Weaving fuzzy yarn leads to broken yarn.  Fixing a broken warp is difficult and tedious.  Fuzzy yarn requires a different heddle.  Shoving the heddle into the weave out of frustration isn't a good idea.  Kick something instead.  Weaving two pieces simultaneously was slower than I thought it would be but made matching the white strip a tiny bit easier.  Trying to match plaids WHILE you are making cloth is just a BAD IDEA.

uneven edge at bottom

done!

 I do want to point out that wiggly edges are the mark of a novice weaver.  I managed to make some very wiggly edges.  The crochet did a great job of disguising it.  I tried to take pictures with the tripod but my exposure was utter crap.

Ultimately I folded it and hung it over a door.

Now I need a reason to wear it.  It's actually pretty soft and comfortable.  And not too warm.

Nereid - or stash busting monstress - L

I had an urge to try out some of the new things I learned at Costume College so I'm making a Nereid costume.  This meant a corset, a 'wave' skirt, a lacy shift, fish scale arm covers, a crab crown and ass-kraken 2.0 (maybe).   This is where I should show a picture of what I had in mind but I REALLY cannot draw.  So I will just keep adding things when I have something to show.

First, the shift.  I decided to use the last of some very fine cotton lawn and make a simple 'peasant blouse' type of shift with long lace at the end of the sleeves.  It would be fun to have the lace around the neck too, but would make gathering the neckline nearly impossible without treading into clown territory.  (no offense to clowns)  The lace was from last year's LA fashion and fabric district field trip.  I bought it because it was cheap.  I still have lots and lots.  I expect I will find myself wearing this shift and watching costume dramas in bed simply because it is fluffy and frilly.  And yes, those are hand stitched eyelets.

Upper arm armor is cadged together based on a post Alisa Kester put on the Shear Madness Facebook page.  One day I will learn to keep notes when knitting the first of two matching objects.  That day I will become an adult.....   

The scale is to go under shoulder armor.  The armor is made of painted craft foam and a chopped up juice bottle.  Decorated with wire, moss, shells and scrapbooking brads.

I have straps that are supposed to buckle in front and keep the armor on my shoulder.  Sadly my shoulders really ARE too small.  I will need to move the d-rings on the corset to keep the shoulders up.  This is will done later.  About the same time I finally make the holes in the straps to allow them to buckle.  I can't do that until its all fixed.  Despite a few problems, I still really like how it came out.

My corset is made based on the Truly Victorian 1880's corset pattern.   I really want to do some beading after learning the basics in a Costume College class.  The plan is to make creatures found on rocky shores as decoration.  Except crabs.  Because I have plans to add crabs elsewhere.  I'm using up some duck canvas remnants from JoAnns.  My store always has canvas remnants that are at least 3/4 yard.  I'm using two layers of canvas for the main structure with no lining (laziness) and a pleather remnant for the two front and back panels.  This is my first Victorian corset and I'm being shockingly lazy about good fit.  I want to make a good quality Victorian corset some day and I figured it was about time to give it a try and get my mistakes behind me.  First mistake - the corset shrinks as you add boning channels and boning.  Modesty panel will be needed.  All in, I thought it was pretty straight forward.  January will be my 'real' corset month.  I am really long forward to having a corset made to fit ME.  Short waist, small back, big boobs.

Octopus beading in progress

Beading.  I will do beading.  On the corset.  An octopus and some sea stars.  Sea stars have been gone from the California west coast for over a year because they all got a virus and died.  They are trying to make a comeback.  I miss them.  (gratuitous science comment)  Update - sea stars are NOT gonna happen.  At least not anytime soon.  I overbooked my brain.  i beaded onto brown broadcloth and then stitched that onto the corset.  I also decided to make something fishy for my hands.  the pieces are made of beads and sequins on muslin with net covered elastic to hold it on.

And now the skirt.  It will be the death of logic.  I had a great idea in my head.  Organdy waves.  I could try a fishing line hem, use up some fabric that was a non-starter for it's original purpose.  Here is my 'curl the fishing line' anti-tutorial.  When the internet says you can wrap the line around toilet paper rolls and nuke it...  no.  Just no.  Do yourself a favor, wrap it around PVC pipe and dip it in boiling water.  In the microwave, you have about one second between 'hot enough to curl the plastic' and melty disaster.  Also, the 1/2 inch pipe makes the curls tighter which is good.  When you zig zag it to fabric that curl stretches out a lot.

NO!

NOT this either!

 My first fishing line hem!  It worked!  But it doesn't look like I want it to.  I added trim underneath it.  Still not working.  So now I'm re-thinking my plan.  I have some new ideas along the line of natural form era skirts.  

Front

Back

After two months of noodling around in my spare time, I'm finally getting to something I kind of like

Left long pleats 

Polyester organza is the devil itself.  It is stiff and stubborn and frays if you even look at it.  I'm still finding long strands of it stuck to my clothes.  It does look amazingly shiny and ripple-y in flash photos.   All the front pleats had to be hand tacked because they are on the bias and no amount of pressing (including vinegar and rajah cloth) would make those pleats stay put.  The side pleating was just slightly more cooperative.  I haven't decided about the back.  It's love/hate.


I also added some 'netting' made of gold cotton crochet thread.  It's macrame.  I haven't done THAT since the 70's.





Hat - Crab molts, melted plastic, sculpey and some seaweed.  This hat has been stewing in my brain for quite a while.   I've got the armature with sculpey bones done and baked.  The crab is an actual crab molt (shed) with spray foam inside for support.  I also sprayed some foam in molted claws.  And I made seaweed out of plastic.  Melting didn't work like I expected despite being enormously fun.  I used strips of medium weight plastic and stretched it at the edges.  Then I used glass paint of make a little detail and spray painted over it.  I also used glass paint on some bright green plastic (shopping bag).  The detail shows thru on the clear side.  The next step required Robin to help me pin it all together.  After that, I just tacked and glued until it all stayed together.

Parts

Pinned

This is the part where I admit that I have better pictures.  They are trapped in a machine with no power.  The power cord is in the mail because I left it in Los Angeles.  I has a stupid.

Following are a bunch of pictures of the costume in action.  We hurried down to the beach to get pics before the sun blasted thru the marine layer.  And it just isn't easy to get things 'just right' when you're in a hurry.  And joggers have stopped to watch.

Thetis, nereid, queen of the shore and mother of Achilles.

Costumed in a Victorian style (you can call it steampunk but I'm not feeling love for the local steampunk community right now).