Time for Another Giveaway!

According to Blogger, I've got more than 400 followers, plus it's been a while since my last giveaway, so it's about time to pick a couple people to get free fabric and patterns! I really do appreciate all of you who take the time to read and comment on my little blog, and Walnut especially appreciates all the lavish praise that he thinks is his due. So to thank you all, we're giving two people the chance to win a new outfit! Of course, you have to make it, but you know, we can't do everything for you. Walnut doesn't even have opposable thumbs.

Walnut examines his paws, but finds that his thumbs are not opposable. 

Set #1: Colette Patterns' Crepe Dress and giant blue flower fabric

I got this pattern a long time ago and never made it up. After reading other people's reviews and finally figuring out that Colette Patterns are designed for C-cups, well, let's just say that I still buy bras in the kids' section so the amount of muslining and redrafting required to make this pattern work for me are just more than I feel like dealing with. That said, I think this pattern would look lovely for someone curvier than I. The pattern is uncut, and the instruction booklet's details make this a good beginner sewing pattern.

The fabric is a mystery blend with some stretch, good weight and drape, and probably not a small amount of polyester -- you've been warned! There are 4 yards of 48" wide fabric, so enough for a dress, although maybe not quite enough for the Crepe if you don't use a contrasting fabric for the belt.

Set #2: McCall's 2032, a dress pattern from 1969 in size 14/bust 36, and a cotton poppy print fabric

This is one of the vintage patterns that I picked up in a bundle. I really like the V-neck bodice, but at two sizes up, it's more resizing than I want to do. The pattern is uncut and, as far as I can tell, hasn't even been unfolded. The instructions are all there, although they are a bit scanty, so this might not be the best beginner pattern.

The fabric is a fairly thin cotton, printed with poppies in coral and brown, with lighter patches of mint-green on the background (hard to see in the picture). It's got great body and would be perfect for something with a gathered skirt, but would definitely need to be underlined or lined since it's a bit sheer. There are 3 yards of 54" fabric, enough to make a dress as long as you're not too picky about print-matching.


And because I'm very kind (and also because I had space in my laundry basket), both lengths of fabric have been pre-washed! Mind you, they've also been living in the same house as a cat, so if that's a problem for your sinuses you may want to rewash them.

So there you have it. Two dresses, just waiting to be made up. Here are the rules for entering:

1. Leave a comment, telling me which set you are in contention for. And because it's October, tell me if you're planning to dress up for Halloween, and if so, what costume? Unless it's a surprise. Or you can tell me what was the best costume you ever got to wear. Or you can tell me that dressing up for Halloween is for devil-worshipers, which, by the way, my parents totally cited as the reason why I couldn't go trick-or-treating when I was growing up. How ironic that I now play dress up with oh, my whole life, all year round, whenever I can. 
2. This giveaway is open to all geographic locations. 
3. Same as previous giveaways: it goes without saying, but you really should be a follower of my blog. I'll assume that you're a follower if you leave a comment. Also goes without saying, but I hope you really intend to use your winnings! Please don't win just so you can turn around and sell the prize on Etsy, shred it for hamster bedding, or use it to decoupage a Regretsy-esque wooden plaque. I'll close the giveaway at the end of the week, on Friday, October 19, 2012, at 11:59 PM PST, and announce the winners on Saturday morning. Again, thanks for reading Cation Designs!

Incidentally, I'm having a hard time thinking about Halloween this year. On one hand, I already have so many costumes/dress-up clothes that I'm having a hard time justifying making another one; the guest room closet is already bursting as it is. On the other hand, making costumes is my favorite kind of frosting, and hello if I made a new one it would be all new and shiny and exciting!!! There's also the fact that I'll be traveling on Halloween (it should never be allowed to fall in the middle of the week, when people have work and business trips and such), so that makes costumes difficult. "Hello, TSA, this steampunked Nerf gun is totally fake, so please don't take it away from me; I spent way too much time painting it and gluing things to it..."* I'm undecided, and yet I joined the MPB sewalong...dilemmas, dilemmas. 

Walnut is grumpy that he can't be an active participant in sewing. Darn you, thumbs!

*When I took my gun with me to Tucson for the Zombie Walk last year, I didn't even think about how it might look on the airport scanners. I shoved my suitcase through like I always do, then watched in horror as the plastic gun's outline showed up on the little screen. The TSA dude pulled my suitcase to the side and I watched in horror as he found the gun, pulled it out, gave me a hard stare, then waved over a couple of other security people. To my immense relief, they were just a couple of other young guys and he just wanted to show them how cool my gun looked. He wanted to know if I painted it myself and then told me I was awesome and sent me on my way. ::big sigh of relief:: Although I guess it didn't hurt that the gun was nestled among my goggles and pocketwatch and other steampunky paraphernalia!

"Easy" Chiffon Tunic

Last week at church I saw a a lady wearing a lovely, floaty, black chiffon tunic with rolled up sleeves held in place with buttoned tabs. She looked so classy and cool, I was immediately enamored and wanted to make my own. I still had quite a bit of black chiffon left over from my Girl on Fire dress, so I decided to give it a try. Um, yeah, totally distracted from my knit stashbusting quest. Forgive me, I have the attention span of a cat. That is, incredibly focused at times (usually on a nondescript spot on the wall), but also capable of being distracted by nothing.

No darts, oversized sleeves. 

I didn't really use a pattern -- just sketched out a large, oversized bodice with no darts, and added appropriately oversized sleeves -- since it was such a simple top. Or at least it was in theory. If I had been making this in a nice, well-behaved, non-slippery fabric, it would've gone together in less than an hour. But since chiffon is devilish like that, I took my time and employed a bunch of Andrea's tips for sewing chiffon. French seams everywhere (although I still need to get better at cutting very close to my stitch line so I don't get frayed bits sticking out of my seam!), narrow hems, new needle, and tape on my machine all made things go better than last time. Unfortunately, my chiffon is a weird crinkly kind, so it wouldn't hold a crease and starch didn't really help with the sewing. But! I persevered, went slowly, and in the end, I came out with a very wearable top. And despite the problems it gave me, the nice thing about the crinkly chiffon is that it almost functions as a stretch fabric. All the crinkles, when stretched out, help make this pullover top easy to, well, pull over. But when they're not being stretched, they crinkle back up and make the top look slimmer than it really is.

Besides forgetting what a headache it is to sew with chiffon, I'd also forgotten that setting in sleeves is a pain! And when the already-frustrating setting in process is exacerbated by the slipperiness and fraying of chiffon (and its inability to hold a pin!), well, let's just say that in the future I'll be sewing sleeves in flat if I can. Even after my best efforts, the sleeves are a bit more bubbly than I wanted them to be; let's just say it's a design element again, shall we? Besides, we've got the tabs and buttons on the sleeves as distractions!

You can see what I mean here about the crinkly texture of the chiffon. This made it a beast to work with. 

Summary:
Fabric: 1.5 yards 54" black crinkly polyester chiffon from Michael Levine Loft
Notions: Two gold buttons from one of those giant button grab bins at SAS Fabrics in Tucson
Techniques: Narrow hemming chiffon, French seams
Hours used: About four, curse that chiffon that requires sewing every seam twice, but refuses to hold a crease! And don't even talk to me about making bias tape out of crinkly shifty nightmares.
Will you make it again? If I find the right chiffon, and after I forget about how much work it is to sew with!
Total cost: Less than a dollar, what with leftover fabric and bulk buttons
Final thoughts: Even though I had some curse-worthy moments, I love the resulting look. Chiffon is so lovely and drapey, it almost makes up for itself. And really, what's better than seeing a garment on somebody, then going home and whipping one up yourself for a fraction of the cost? Seriously, the more I sew my own versions of RTW pieces, the more pleased with myself I am.

If we're going to take pictures at this time of the day, we have to go for the backlit sunflare-y shot. 

I realized while I was making this that not only have I not done zippers in forever, I've also not used a real commercial sewing pattern in over a month! Everything I've been making has been more or less pulled out of my head or from existing garments, which is quite fun. When I went to cut out the pattern pieces for the jacket I want to make, I found myself grumbling about the ridiculousness of choosing a size and marking darts and such. Does that ever happen to you, where you forget about what an ordeal it is to prep a new, untested pattern?

Sew Weekly: Into the West

The good thing about unpicking very, very old costumes (circa 2005, before I can even pretend to say I was sewing) is that back then, I had no idea what tension or stitch length were, so I'm essentially picking apart a costume held together with basting stitches.

It's rather wrinkly from being in storage for so long. 

The bad thing about unpicking very, very old costumes is that for some unknown reason, I thought it was a good idea to topstitch seven times in some areas, albeit with a basting stitch.

I would've ironed/steamed it better, except that it's going back into storage to wait for December.
And yes, I'm wearing jeans with it for pictures...not very elven!

The excellent thing about old costumes is apparently, I totally scored on fabric since I picked up 3 yards of very nice 60" wide gray wool in the remnant bin, and probably paid no more than $10 for it.

The hem is longer in the front. I wish I could say it's because I tend to catch hems with my heel and
I took that fact into account, but it's really just because that's how it ended up. 

The sad thing is that I saw fit to cut up that yardage and make into a very poorly constructed and totally unfitted "cape" of three gores. And I mean cape in the loosest sense of the word -- it was really just a large, uneven pentagon that had a necklace sewn to it to make it stay closed. Even then, the weight of the wool was too much for the poor thing and eventually the lobster clasp broke.

Capes are so nice for twirling!

The practical thing about this cape is that since it is wool, it's very warm. And of course, I had the brilliant idea of working on it this week when it was in the eighties. Thank goodness Cecily was available as a body double. As it was, trying the cape on several times was nigh unbearable.

You can kind of see what I mean here about the three triangles sewn together thing. 

The only reason why I brought this cape back out to work on was this week's Sew Weekly challenge: "Worn Out West," i.e. looking to Western wear for inspiration. Well, me being who I am, I had to interpret this in the geekiest way possible: west = sailing across the Sundering Seas = elves in LOTR. So, rather than breaking out the ditsy florals and button-up shirt patterns, I opted to remake my old cape in anticipation of the movie coming out in December. I know, it's The Hobbit, not LOTR, and Galadriel certainly didn't give Thorin's band camouflaging elven cloaks, but I'm going to want something warm to go over my hobbit maid costume (which is done, btw, but I haven't taken any pictures yet) when I line up for the midnight showing.

I think this hood is just the right size for staying on my head, but not looking out of proportion to the rest of the cape.

Like I said before, the first incarnation of this cape was really just three isosceles triangles sewn basted together, with no hem and or collar or anything. It didn't really hang right since, you know, shoulders. It would've worked well had I been, say, a literal beanpole. So, with Cecily's help, I reshaped the top seams and did some creative pleating to help it sit better over my shoulders. I also added on a hood from the remnants that I had thoughtfully saved and carried with me through multiple moves (at least six times, through four cities, over a period of seven years -- that's some serious stashing commitment right there!). I had just enough to squeeze out this hood, and it's not nearly as long and pointy as the ones from the movie, but that's fine. I think those look a little silly, anyway. To close the cape, I cut off the sad necklace and replaced it with a more suitable clasp from Jo-Ann's.

You can see the weird pleat I added to make it sit on my shoulders.
Also, I actually used one of my machine's decorative stitches on the hood!
Annnddd...I just noticed I need to do a better job brushing off that pink chalk. 

Summary:
Fabric: 3 yards of very scratchy, very warm gray wool...maybe I'll get around to lining it one day. Hah! As if, seeing as how this is just a costume cape.
Notions: A clasp
Techniques: None, apparently, since I just winged it the first time around, and even the second time around!
Hours used: The first time I made this, I remember it taking me the better part of a day, probably around eight hours. This time, it took about four hours to undo and fix my mistakes and add a hood.
Will you make it again? No need for more capes like this. But capes not based on isosceles triangles? In all likelihood, if I'm being honest with myself, yes.
Total cost: The clasp raised the price to $13.
Final thoughts: If only it were socially acceptable to wear long, flowing capes on an everyday basis! I love the feeling of having it flapping around and behind me, even if it does make me more susceptible to being sucked into plane engines. And gray goes with everything. And if I were playing hide-and-seek at night on the UCSD campus (which is mostly concrete buildings), this cape would be excellent camouflage.

If only I were standing among the graceful arches of Rivendell, and not just in front of a bay window in my apartment complex!

This cape definitely made for a nice break from knit-stashbusting. Sometimes, you just need to break up the cake-baking with something entirely frivolous! Don't worry, though, I'll be back to real clothing real soon!

FIDM Costume Exhibit + Fabric Scores

On Saturday, my dear friend Shayna came up to TCOCC to visit and we made it a sewing day! That is, as much as a day can be a sewing day when no actual sewing is done. We started off at the FIDM museum's 6th Annual Outstanding Art of Television Costume and Design exhibit, where we were seriously hoping that there would be a costume actually worn by Matthew Crawley. Alas, we were disappointed, as the only male Downton Abbey costume was one worn by Lord Grantham. Still, the ladies' dresses were exquisite, and I continue to be blown away by Lady Mary's beaded dresses.

Photo from here, originally taken by Alex J. Berliner/AB Images.

The rest of the exhibit was mostly for shows I'd never watched or even heard of, but I was still able to enjoy the absolutely gorgeous gowns from Game of Thrones, Once Upon a Time, Pretty Little Liars, Great Expectations, and more. I think being next to the FIDM museum is one of my favorite things about living in TCOCC. I mean, when the Hobbit movie costumes make their way over here next year (because they have to be nominated for Academy Awards, right?!? It would be such a travesty if they weren't!) I am going to be there ASAP! And if/when I move away, I will seriously consider making a trip back just to see the costumes. Seriously, what a rare and totally awesome opportunity to look at real  film costumes!

Photo from here, originally taken by Alex J. Berliner/AB Images. Man, I want to make that gown of Cersei Lannister's. 

Photo from here, originally taken by Alex J. Berliner/AB Images.  I always like the evil villainesses' gowns more. 

After a sufficient time spent swooning, Shayna graciously accompanied me as I shopped for fabric at the scholarship store and Michael Levine Loft. Seriously, anyone who doesn't sew who is willing to come fabric shopping with me, and not only be there, but be an active participant in helping me carry bags and make difficult decisions, is a saint. Thankfully, Shayna is one of the saintliest people I know.

From the scholarship store: a blue plaid cotton shirting for a shirt for Mr. Cation, gray chambray for a shirt for me, and cream-colored jersey with mustard and purple birds on it (!), plus some grosgrain ribbon for waist stays and 30 yards of Venetian lace trim in white and black (no potential use, but it was too good of a deal to pass up!). The fabric was all $1/yd, and the trims significantly less than that. 

From the Loft, where everything averaged out to $1/yd:  unopened 5-yard sample bolts of mint/dark gray jersey and cream-colored jersey, plus a yard each of strawberry/gray striped jersey and rich royal blue sweater knit.  

I can't wait to make a couple of Tiramisu dresses from the jerseys -- can it hurry up and be November already?

Duchess of Cambridge Inspired Baseball Tee?

A great big thank you to all of you who responded so positively to Walnut's announcement about his presidential candidacy! He was pleased to hear that his speech was able to stir up voters, and would like to remind you that it's not to late to register to vote.

[from What Kate Wore]

Stepping away from democracy in the states, though, my next knit stash-busting project was inspired by an outfit that the Duchess of Cambridge wore on her recent royal tour in Southeast Asia. This periwinkle blue Temperley dress with a lacy overlay was one of my favorite dresses of hers from the tour. Well, I just so happened to have a thrifted, oversized, brand new men's tee in that same blue, as well as some sheer overlay leftover from this project. I've been wanting to make more everyday-wearable items, so I decided to make a raglan-sleeve top, using the sheer net on the sleeves. Pretty much, it's the girliest, most impractical baseball tee ever, and while I would never play sports in it (or play sports in general, really), it goes nicely with most of the casual bottoms in my wardrobe.

This is my best calm princess face.

I used my Raglan Sleeve Top pattern (available as a printable pdf!), but brought the sleeves, side seams, and neckline in quite a bit to reduce the swinginess and get the boat-neck of Kate's dress. I had just enough fabric to do the neck binding and the cuffs, but unfortunately ran out of fabric for a bottom hem band. That's what I get for working with just a men's medium that was already cut off-grain. I may take in the sides a bit more to make it more fitted, since it looks a little silly to be that loose without being gathered into a hem band.

Close-up: I didn't have any light blue thread, so I just used white the whole way through. 

The sheer sleeves are definitely my favorite part. 

Summary:
Fabric: 100% organic cotton medium men's tee in light periwinkle blue, some kind of white polyester net
Notions: none
Hours used: Two-ish. I messed up the binding the first time around since this knit is tissue thin and uncooperative, so I had to go back and redo it.
Will you make this again? Maybe? Not sure how I feel about the raglan sleeve in knit.
Total cost: $5
Final thoughts: I don't know how well the inspiration came through in the final garment, but hey, it's a wearable top and I would never have thought to put these fabric together otherwise. I'm really liking that this is slightly more presentable than a plain t-shirt, but not over the top girly, either.

One last ridiculous picture -- my best princess wave!
Oddly enough, it looks like my embroidered Gollum is mimicking me. Or am I mimicking him? 

I still have a few more big knit projects to churn out before I'm done with this round of stash-busting, by which time the weather will hopefully have cooled down so that I can think about my plaids and wools! Right now, the very idea is making me break into a sweat.

Important Announcement

I don't usually talk about politics here at Cation Designs (okay, I never talk about politics), but seeing as how the first presidential debate is tonight, I thought I'd throw this out there:

Yes, that's right. Walnut is running for president (not really). I made him a little bow tie for his campaign poster photos, and with the help of a lot of treats and petting, Mr. Cation and I got him to make a little speech at the podium* about the changes he would like to make if elected president. Please note that his views are not necessarily my views (especially regarding deep sea fishing and corn subsidies). Oh, and he's also anti-plastic bags, but not because of any environmental concern; he just hates the sound of them being "fluffed."

In case you'd like to hear his speech** and see more footage of him on the campaign trail, check out this slideshow:

So if you're dissatisfied with the Republican and Democratic party candidates, please consider Walnut as your write-in candidate, representing the Feline Party.

This is the face of a cat you can trust.

He makes a pretty good Hello Kitty, too.

And in case you're wondering who his running mate is, it's his uncle Fenxi, the common shelter cat, whom I daresay looks even more elegant in his bowtie. I think that's a natural consequence of being a tuxedo cat, though.
But, this way,  Walnut will get both the long-haired cat vote and the short-haired cat vote. 

*Actually, it's a potato storage bin that says "Taters" on the lid.

Somebody was grumpy about having to wear a tie...

**Walnut sounds really angry in this speech, but he was not in pain (unless you count emotional pain). See, every time I leave him for more than 48 hours, he gets really angry about an hour after I come back. After he's properly expressed his affection and happiness at my return, he will follow me around, nipping at my leg and "lecturing" me for several minutes. The harangue above was recorded after we got back from our two-week trip to the UK. So he's not being abused in any way; trust me, no cats were harmed in the making of his campaign video.

Walnut got his armpits scratched after the shoot, so that pretty much made up for having to wear a tie.

Remembering the Battle of Yavin

 

After making my fancy, impractical maxi dress, I had to do something totally different and casual, hence this geeky Star Wars tee. This kind of geeky tee with jeans is the bread and butter of my wardrobe; you know, for the times you don't even feel like cake. My other Star Wars wardrobe item definitely falls into the frosting category, so this tee is for the times I want to just run over to Trader Joe's to grab milk (although I've grabbed milk in the dress, too) while still declaring that I'm a geek at heart.

In my knit stashbusting quest, I rediscovered a brand new size medium men's t-shirt in organic cotton that I had thrifted a while ago. I cut it apart at the seams and used my Not-A-Renfrew pattern to cut out a standard scoop-neck tee, but decided it needed a point of interest. Inspired by this awesome post, I decided to add my own Battle of Yavin remembrance to the shoulder, but with a TeeJuice marker instead of paint. My previous experiments with fabric paint yielded a somewhat stiff, sort of crusty final product, and I wanted to keep the organic cotton feeling buttery soft. The marker also has a very fine point, which meant better control for drawing the spiky things coming out of the X-wing. To draw the actual ships, I employed the most overpriced light box ever:

Yes, that's an iPad on its brightest setting underneath the fabric. I just googled "x wing and tie fighter silhouettes" to find the graphic.

Final design. Also, check out my awesome neck binding!

Isn't it incredible how well it mimics screenprinting?

I didn't actually color the whole thing in on top of the iPad, as I was afraid of the ink bleeding through onto the screen. I just put tiny dots at all the crucial parts of the outline, then replaced the iPad with a piece of cardboard and finished coloring. To add to the feeling of iiinnnn spaaaaace, I made a little meteor field with lots of dots. And on the back piece, I free-handed the Rebel Alliance symbol in red, then cleaned up the edges with a black outline.

After I set the designs with a hot iron, I sewed up the shirt like normal and went to Trader Joe's and got milk. Unfortunately, nobody seemed to notice my awesome BoY graphics. Boooo. Don't you hate it when you make something you think is totally awesome, but nobody else seems to think it's worth commenting on? I know, I know, I just want attention.

Pouty face because no one noticed how awesome I am. Kidding, of course.

Short Summary, since I've already made up this pattern too many times for it to be worth rehashing again: $5 men's tee cut down and resewn, 2 hours of work for a brand new, unique, geek girl tee. Oh man, the possibilities here are endless now that I've discovered how easy it is to 1) make t-shirts, and 2) fake screenprinting. The limiting reagent here is the number of good-quality, larger shirts I can find at the thrift store.

This is what was going on right next to me while my husband snapped pictures. Yup, Walnut's eating a snack.