It's My Turn Now

Last year, my biggest accomplishment was sewing a wedding dress for my best friend Elaine. To do so, I used Simplicity 5006, a lingerie pattern that included a corset and a petticoat. It was a long process and I learned a lot, and out of it came a beautiful outfit. I must confess, though, that at the end of it I wished ever so slightly that I had put all that work into something for me. Now before you get all up in arms and call me selfish, let me say that I don't begrudge a single bit of the time I spent on her wedding dress -- after all, it's my favorite make of 2013 -- but I did wish I had an excuse to make an equally elaborate thing for myself. Well, now I have that chance!

One of my classes this semester at Canada College is Bustier Construction with Lynda Maynard, and the pattern we base our garment off of is...Simplicity 5006! So now I have the excuse I need to make myself a piece of gorgeous formalwear: oh, it's for class. That pricey coutil? Oh, it's for class. All the time spent perfecting the fit? Oh, it's for class. All the trips to Lacis in Berkeley? Oh, it's for class. You guys, I'm super excited to have this opportunity! And like the pants-making class last semester, I'm already learning tons. For example, the final garment has four layers of fabric: each piece of coutil is underlined with an actual lining fabric, and each fashion fabric piece is underlined in flannel; the pieces are then sewn together to make two "complete" garments, then sewn right sides together and flipped.

This is my lining+coutil piece. You can kind of see where Lynda drew in boning channel markings. 

It's a little wrinkly without any boning. I also need to take it in more in the chestal area. Of course. I really do like the sweetheart neckline though!

I extended the height of the back by a couple of inches to prevent the hideous back muffin top. 

Class has been in session for a few weeks now, so we've made muslins, fit them, made second muslins, corrected our patterns, and now we've made up the inner lining+coutil part of the garment. In the spirit of stashbusting, I've chosen to line my bustier with this adorable cat-print quilting cotton that I got two summers ago in an exchange with Handmade Jane. It was a scant half meter of fabric, so I'd been saving it for a small but special project...I think this counts! Even so, I didn't have quite enough fabric so the last panel is cut from another small quilting cotton remnant that I actually inherited from another friend's stash. Although I'm posting this in February, I did sew it up while it was still January, so that totally counts for the Itty Bits theme, right?

Tiny polka dots and cats! Does it get any better than that?

I'm pretty sure that I'll end up choosing a black fashion fabric for the outside shell. I thought about making something more fancy or elaborate, but in the end decided that black would be the most versatile. Besides, then I can use it for the Ursula and Maleficent cosplays that I'd like to do eventually. Any suggestions for an actual fabric type though? I don't want it to be super-shiny, but I want it to still be dressy. Help!

Nimona Science Buddies!

Whew! Where to even start fangirling about getting to meet Noelle Stevenson, aka Gingerhaze, at this weekend's AOD con? Maybe let's start with proof:

Aaaah there she is right next to us! She was super nice and possibly just as excited to see us dressed up as we were to see her.

My sister Emily and I have been planning this cosplay ever since we found out Gingerhaze would be in our hood. We both love the webcomic Nimona, and we both love science, so it was only natural that we dress up as Dr. Meredith Blitzmeyer* and Ballister Blackheart as Gregor at the Science Expo.

[source]

How do you think we did? Close enough?

Why hello there! Come check out this Anomalous Energy Enhancer!

I say now, there's a science if there ever was one. 

The tubing on the side had escaped its hot glue by this point. 

As I mentioned before, I started out by making the red cat Nimona to go around Emily's shoulders, and the last couple weeks have been a scramble to make the lab coat, goggles, beard, and cape. The lab coat was fairly easy as costumes go -- I used the back piece from Simplicity 2365 and the front piece and sleeves from Simplicity 2246, then modified them for length and design features -- and of course, I wouldn't be me if I didn't make it from a thrifted sheet. Yay for stashbusting while making fun costumes! It's actually very functional and has good mobility, so I guess there's nothing keeping it from being a "real" lab coat. The red cloak of disguise was another thrifted sheet, but I went out and bought it specifically for this costume. So sue me. It was a bit trickier to design since most of the times we see Ballister wearing it, it 1) manages to still show most of what he's wearing, and 2) has these swathes of fabric that cover the top part of his chest.  The final cape ended up not being totally screen-accurate (panel-accurate?), but I guess it doesn't really matter since the yarn beard hid most of the front...also Emily loved it, so that's always good. The final touch to it all was making the business cards that Dr. Blitzmeyer hands out.

I managed to obscure the goggle lenses by ironing a couple sheets of iridescent cellophane together and then cutting out circles to fit. Visibility was only somewhat obscured; the real challenge, though, was that the goggles kept fogging up. 

I'm pretty pleased with how the yarn beard turned out! I used about half a skein of fairly bulky yarn and loosely followed this tutorial; the main difference was that I secured the beard to a headband.

Is there anything so fun as an excellently swooshy cape? It was so fun walking behind Emily and getting to see it billow dramatically behind her.

I only ended up passing out a few :(

After the initial giddiness of meeting Gingerhaze, we spent another couple hours wandering around looking at all the wares, art, and of course, other cosplayers:

BBC Sherlock! He likes science, right?

And Ms. Frizzle -- she definitely likes science.

Not science-related, but check out this ridiculously awesome Magikarp. I may have screamed a little bit and then went running through the hotel trying to track it down.

Seriously, best use of a sleeping bag ever...

We wrapped up the day by going back to Gingerhaze's booth to pick up the sketch we commissioned:

Science buddies! I was so tempted to ask for Party King Thranduil, but in the end decided there needed to be more Nimona art.

Oops, we're standing in the wrong positions.

It was a very good day for all. Oh, except for the family cats, because when you have a yarn beard, the natural thing to do is to make them try it on:

Poor Gummy. 

Poor Fenxi. Don't worry, they got lots of treats afterward.

*Not a witch.

Manatee Plushie Sewing Pattern

My best friend from college had a baby shower this past weekend, and while I opted for stocking the baby's bookshelf, I still wanted to be able to give her something handmade. I mean, what's the point of knowing how to sew if you can't sew love into every stitch, or some such nonsense, right? Anyway, since manatees are one of her favorite animals, I decided to make her one. Only problem is, I couldn't find any patterns I liked. Obvious solution? Make my own!

Dawww, that face. 

He's quite plump, as befits a manatee. 

I chose to make him in this "pose" because it looks a little bit more like Barbara Manatee.

Want to make your own manatee? I've put my pattern up for download here. Please note that it is meant for personal use only, and not for commercial purposes (i.e. don't make them to sell!), and it goes without saying that you should not put up the pattern on your own site and/or claim it as your own. 

I've added an alternate snout option on the pattern, which is more biologically correct but 1) more difficult, and 2) IMHO, less cute. Then again, that might just be the fact that I sewed it on off-center...

So sad and derpy. 

Anyway, if you've never sewed a plushie before, I actually remembered to take pictures of the process!

Sew the flippers and tail pieces together, right sides together. 

Flip them right side out, then fill the tail with beans or poly beads.

I used a leftover PVC fitting from my Loki staff as a funnel.  

If you use rice or beans, it'll be cheaper, but the poly beads are waterproof.

Sew the center back seam. You should leave a gap in the middle for turning it all right side out at the end, but I forgot to do so here. I had to go back and use my seam ripper. 

I used a narrow zigzag stitch with a very short stitch length to embroider the eyes on the front piece, then I cut a hole for the snout. 

The alternative snout piece was a little tricky to join since it was so small.

After it's stitched, turned, and nostrils are embroidered.

Hand-stitch the snout piece to the front piece, right sides together. I started by just matching up one edge, and slowly bringing the sides together as I worked my way around. 

Here's what it looks like inside. 

At this point I may or may not have screamed a bit because it was off-center. 

Baste the tail and flippers onto the front piece. 

Sew the front to the back pieces, right sides together. 

Flip the manatee right side out! Laugh at how flat he is.

Stuff him up with poly-fil.

I also added some poly beads to the butt area so that he could sit up properly.

Stitch up his butt and you're done! I like using the ladder stitch.

I didn't use stash fabric for this manatee (it being for a friend and all), but I think this pattern would still work well for scrapbusting. I only used a 10"x24" piece of fabric to make each one. If you do use this pattern, let me know how it works for you!

Manatee and Sewasaurus are friends: sounds like a more interesting book than Frog and Toad Are Friends. I know, I was supposed to give away the dinosaur, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. 

January Stashbusting: Nimona Cats

Those of you who saw my ridiculous series of posts about Party King Thranduil may already know about my love for webcomic artist Noelle Stevenson, aka Gingerhaze. Besides LOTR/Hobbit, Avengers, and Hunger Games doodles, she also draws an absolutely fantastic webcomic, Nimona, about a shapeshifting girl in a medieval/futuristic alternative universe. Seriously guys, if you haven't heard of it before, go check it out -- it's won a whole bunch of awards and is simultaneously funny and poignant and thoughtful. Anyway, at one point Nimona turns into a red cat sleeping on Ballister's shoulders.

Pretty sure this isn't giving away any major plot points. [picture source]

I have all these red fleece scraps in my stash leftover from Squidney, and as you know, fleece takes up a lot of room, so following in my own footsteps from last year, I made another fleece thing:

Curled up sleeping cat!

Quick snap proving I can carry the Nimona cat around my shoulders and a hood, like in the comic. This was actually taken before I ripped out some of the stitches in the face to make it cuter. 

And then I made this other cat, based on this panel (not including it here since there are vague spoilers):

This guy was made with an elongated version of my all-purpose plushie pattern, and with a different face, of course. I think I prefer the look of general concern to the original snooty expression. 

I'm glad that January stashbusting always starts out small and easy; somehow it's easier to think about using up scraps than those giant 3+ yard pieces I've got hiding under the guest bed. Each of these cats took about an hour from conception to finish -- much better than the 30+ hours that a full on costume would require. Of course, I only used up one of the seventy pledged yards of stash...

So cat! Much red! Wow! (Is it wrong to use doge-speak to describe felines?)

And of course, no post about cat plushies would be complete without some obligatory Walnut photos!

I couldn't resist; they were both in such similar positions!

Okay, seriously, Mom? You interrupted my nap for this?! Dude doesn't even have a proper mouth. 

If you're wondering about what possible practical purpose all of these plushies could have...well, my sister and I are going to be cosplaying two of the characters from Nimona at the Animation on Display convention in a couple of weeks. Anyone else in the Bay Area going? It's family-friendly anime, video game, and comic-centric; if you're interested in a meetup, let me know!