So me-made January...

I was doing so well. First run enthusiasm I guess, but January definitely slowed down the making department around here. I feel like I thought I needed a break from everything in December, and as a result the pull of youtube and the internet called me in the evenings after work rather than the sewing machine. Alright, I think that's all the excuses.

I did get a *little bit of sewing done. I had seen many a tutorial for a gathered skirt, and this tutorial for a circle skirt dress by Annika Victoria had been bugging me for a while to be made, I just needed the right fabric. As is the way lately, this gorgeous, fall scene cotton fabric happened to wander past the cutting table back in November. It was also in clearance, and half off, so several yards came home with me with this project in mind. I started to make a gathered skirt and that's where it started to go funky.

First off, I stupidly did not put pockets in it like I should have, because pockets are awesome. I also decided that now was the perfect time to try self-drafting, even though I probably should have realized that my massive rack wasn't going to play nice with Annika's tutorial (this is not a slight to her, her dart instructions were actually super helpful with this one, I just need 18 of them). I also got ahead of myself and started doing top stitching before actually finishing all the adjustments that are needed for the top, because that was a good idea. Now, I have an unfinished skirt, a mostly sewn top that still needs several adjustments, and three pieces of waistband fabric to sew together. I'm at a crossroads now since I'm uninspired to finish the top to be presentable/actually get it fit nicely, but want to do more than just a skirt that I didn't put pockets in. It doesn't help that I'm stubborn and don't like to give up on things too easily when I've payed for them, cheap or not.

I will admit that I'm really pleased with the top stitching, and my actually smart idea to use an old, very thin t-shirt as lining fabric for the top of the dress (woot woot stash raiding!). The pile of pieces has been sitting on the dining room table for a week or two now, so perhaps February will be its month.

Totally unrelated and hopefully on a more positive note, this awesome, purple, stretch lace was in the remnant bin at the store, and became mine for a whopping $1.50. Lace underwear making time! I have actually made a pair of underwear before, which I may work out a way of creatively photographing for the next post, using the self drafted tutorial from Annika Victoria and an old t-shirt that no longer fit. I was really pleased with my final result, but my God are they funky looking. I need to work on sewing with elastic!

Onwards.

Me-Made November Recap

In theory, small pillows are a good starter project for most sewers, much like tote bags, coin purses and pyjama pants. I decided that a straight pillow was too easy (ha), and that I should add cord pipping to make look nicer (ha). I also decided, against most tutorials out there, to not make it an envelope pillow. This was chiefly because the pillow forms I had are super old, so the outer casing has started to give up a bit in places and I didn't want to risk the whole thing shedding through the envelope flap.

Bears!

A little back story to this pillow is needed. Many years ago I moonlighted at the Niagara Falls location of a company I was working for at the time, and down the street from them was a little diner called Dad's Diner. Once every few weeks I would treat myself to a breakfast there (I am a sucker for diner breakfasts), and enjoy a quiet morning with the local paper and a lot of tea. One week I was there, the entire diner had been decorated with many carved wooden statues, predominately animals. A bear was staring at me throughout my meal, and eventually I asked the waitress what the deal was with the new decor. She told me that a local artist and friend of the diner carved them all with a chainsaw and wanted to display them to sell them. I merely ask her the cost of the bear out of curiosity, but since the answer was $40, I left the diner with a full stomach and a heavier bag.


Fred lived in my room in Niagara for a few months before coming back to Toronto with me. His arrival in the Tdot was not met with great enthusiasm by my flatmate, who immediately asked if I planned on leaving him in the living room, especially since the living room was a "dangerous place that had axes in it." Fred moved into my room permanently, but the joke about bear imagery has lived on. With that in mind, one can imagine my first thought when this fabric came up on the cutting table.

Holy crap I did piping.

I am super pleased with how this turned out. The cord piping actually looks really nice, even though the end of it is a bit wonky thanks to me being far too close about my measurements. And there are bears all over it. I mean really.

Awe.

I was also able to photograph my November cheatsy project as well, a Sherlock replica. This little guy is meant to be a small, happy memory of a friend's now departed cat. It's part of a pseudo-quilting panel about cats that was in the clearance aisle at the store. Said friend will be coming back to the city in January, so for now this little kitty lives on top of my laundry basket.

Say hello to Sherlock.

For my next trick, I plan on making a circle skirt, for someone else, which is a bit terrifying. The upshot is that the fabric is amazeballs. I also plan on getting some Christmas on and make a wreath and some stockings that will be gifts for a few people. Let the December sew fest begin!

Celebrating the end of Halloween with snow in November.

Yep, I can post regularly to this blog. Totally.

Despite my insane new schedule (Huzzah for employment!), Halloween was a success! I finished the costume in time and managed to wear it out tot 2 parties! I'm so glad there was a second Halloween party I could go to, I spent to much damn time building that costume.

Everybody remember the stupid, sexy Little Red Riding Hood costume and the awesome T-shirt design from Threadless of "Little Red?" It all culminated in one bad Little Red, who didn't need no Lumberjack to kill that wolf.

Hello ROM camel.

He was warm at least, in death.

I'm quite pleased with how ex-Fluffy came out, even with all the issues he has. I was sewing up his butt by hand about 2 hours before we left for the ROM's Friday Night Live Halloween party, and thankfully I owned everything else already for the costume. I also learned some entertaining things about using fun fur, including that I really should have done some basting stitches along my fur and lining. There was a point around one of the paws where the lining had ridden up do far along the fun fur that I was short by about 6 inches. Also, despite being really careful and using the proper technique for cutting fun fur, there is STILL fun fur all over my apartment. 

1. Ex-Fluffy was made from scratch. I used a few weeks worth of grocery flyers to draft a pattern for all of his pieces. I also spent a fair bit of time looking at wolf stats on wikipedia and pictures of real wolf hides to work out the dimensions and basic shape. Loosely speaking, ex-Fluffy is about the same size as an adult grey wolf. Anatomically wonky, but more or less correct length wise.

Bits and pieces in No Frills' flyers.

2. Cutting the pieces out resulted in some solid blisters along my thumb from the slow, careful cutting that the fun fur required. And my knees were mildly ruined by the amount of floor action I had from tracing this pattern out. Worth it though.

 Trace, cut, repeat.

3. As I mentioned before, sewing ex-Fluffy together was a learning experience. Generally speaking it went very, very well, especially considering I haven't used a machine in a long, long time. It helps that my machine is really awesome.

The tail and ears were hand sewn into the body and head. While annoying, it did create nice seams that needed minimal combing to make then invisible.

4. This awkward bathroom selfie was done about a week after Halloween, when I had time and energy. When posed, this is was the hood looked like with it's slightly uneven ears.

However, when left to it's own devices, the hood proved to be a little too big..

All in all, I am super thrilled with this costume. Ex-Fluffy turned out great, and provided an extra source of warmth on the windy walk home, the dress and petticoat worked out really well to round out the costume, and I received several compliments from people at both parties. Now we just have to find a use for him... other than a wolf skin rug over the foozeball table.

Pricky Pear of a Pincushion!

We're into crunch time for my grad program... we've also been thrown a curve ball waaaaaaay out of left field that changes just about everything for next year. Fun.
To de-stress a bit, I decided to try one of my sewing patterns that has been collecting dust lately. I love cute pincushions, and this seemed perfect! Put some "19th Century Pharmacy" on TVO and away we go!

This is one of Heather Bailey's lovely designs! This pattern also includes an apple, tomato and strawberry! It can be purchased either here, at her online shop, or where I got it here in Toronto, here at The Workroom. I also got the fabric squares that I used to make my Pear from The Workroom! It's a wonderful place, I recommend it highly.

After sewing away for a while, which included accidentally sewing the wrong sides together at one point (possibly going to prove that I shouldn't watch TV while sewing, and that stitch rippers are a worthy investment into a sewing kit), I have this lovely piece of functional fruit.

I think my embroidery needs a little work, but I'm quite pleased with the finished product! I put some old coins in the bottom of it to make sure it would be bottom heavy. I'm glad I did, since while I was stuffing it initially it seemed a bit floppy, especially when the leaves went on. I love how the two toned look came out, although I think I want to make another one with just the green fabric, I've got enough of it left to probably do it.