You can’t microwave polyester!

One of my husbands coworkers bought one of those microwave heating packs awhile back, but she wasn’t completely happy with it; it wasn't large enough and she said it smelled bad. So he, being the wonderful man he is, pimped out my services and told her I could take care of it.

It took me longer to get around to it than I’d have liked ~ mostly because I’ve been so wrapped up in other projects and partly because it just slipped my mind ~. When he reminded me yesterday, I decided to take care of it this weekend before classes start on Monday.

I ran out to the store and grabbed some really cute pink and purple fleece and was all ready to get started with the cutting when I started wondering, ‘Can you even microwave fleece?’. A quick internet search turns up that you, in fact, CAN NOT microwave fleece. ~ Well at least not the fleece that's mass produced at Hancocks since it's all 100% polyester. ~ There were all kinds of horror stories ranging from melting to fires, but it all boils down to being a serious no-no. I’m really glad I thought to check.

So, it was back to the fabric store. It wasn’t a complete loss because I ended up with a really cute flannel filigree bird pattern ~ in 100% cotton I might add ~.

   
To combat the ‘bad smell’ she complained of I decided to go with flax seed with a few drops of Water Lily scent mixed in. I’m not a flower person myself, preferring citrus scents, so I hope it’s to her liking.

I spent about an hour, or so, putting it together, which wasn't so bad considering I've never made one of these before. And I think it turned out rather well. I put in three chambers to keep the flax seeds from chunking up on one side of the pack which keeps things nice and even. Hopefully she’s happy with the results.

Now to go scrub the evil water lily scent off my hands so I can stop sneezing.

Unruly Bobbin Tails

I have a problem with bobbin tails. They’re a tangled nightmare and there’s no telling how many times I’ve accidently caught the loose string of a bobbin and sent it flying halfway across a room. ~ This is generally followed by much cursing and mumbling ~

About a year back I thought I would outsmart my bobbins and get a cute little organizing caddie for them. Surely this would solve the problem.

Nope! Now I just had organized chaos. No matter what I did the tails would come loose and tangle into a jumbled heap. So yesterday I went on an internet scavenger hunt to try and come up with a solution. That's when I came across this little gem.

Tame Your Bobbin Tails with Plastic Tubing. It was such an ingenious solution I ran to the hardware store right away.

In the plumbing section you can find a roll of different sized clear plastic tubing. Even though the website said they used 7/8ths inch tubing, I had brought a few bobbins with me and deemed it to large, so I went with 5/8ths of an inch instead. It seemed to work out really well.

First things first, measure your bobbin height.

It doesn’t have to be perfect. But you want it to fit snug. My bobbins were just shy of 1/4th of an inch.

Next you’ll want to mark your tubes with a sharpie. I tried cutting a few of these without marks, but it’s not very easy to eyeball such a small increment. I’d recommend just taking the time to measure it all out. You can do a ton at once.

Now you’ll need to get some sharp scissors (But not your fabric sheers!) and cut along your indicated mark. As time went on and my hand started to get tired I found that it was a lot easier to cut out a chunk of tubing and slice it long ways first. Then I could flatten out the tube and only have to cut one ‘layer’ at a time. Plus it’ll save you the time of snipping the rings later.

If you decided not to cut the tube long ways first, you’ll  just need to snip each of the rings so that they can be easily adjusted over your bobbins.

And viola! You’re done!

You may need to trim some of the rings a bit depending on how straight you made your cuts. ~ I was doing this at 2 a.m. so I had a lot of extra trimming to do . ~

Now you can keep your bobbins wherever you like without fear that the tails will end up horribly tangled and unmanageable. After finding three bobbins with the same color thread I’ve decided I’m going to start keeping mine with the spools.

Do you have any good tips for organizing your sewing room?

Pirate Wench - Part 2

Click here for Pirate Wench - Part 1

I am by no means stickler for historical accuracy, but having seen one too many badly elasticized chemise’s in my day I decided to try to make this costume with absolutely no elastic. Silly, I know. I just kept getting horrible flashes of Party City style costumes with their cheap flimsy materials **shudders**. I didn’t want my friends costume to look like that. So I got to work…

I started with the corset. Now, I had never made a corset before. I’d made the renaissance style bodices that were the beginnings of corsets, but never an actual body altering garment. Instead of being intelligent and using a pattern for my first time, I decided to grab the bull by the horns and make a self drafted corset… with only measurements… and no fittings because it was going to be a surprise. Sometimes my brilliance astonishes even me.

Luckily I had a dress mannequin in her size so I wasn’t completely flying blind.

In retrospect the drafting of the corset really wasn’t all that bad. It wasn’t the body altering wonder that I hoped it would be, but it was fairly respectable. Plus, by drafting the pattern myself, I was able to leave enough room for the best part. Pockets!

My friend is obsessed with pockets. While they weren’t terribly practical, I can tell you that they did make her giddy with glee. I think she kept chap stick and cash in them.

Next I moved onto the skirts. There wasn't anything particularly earth shattering about the skirts. I broke out a pattern, (M4090), I’d used before and made a couple of tweaks to it; like adding a few grommet lace ups along the sides.

As for the shirt, I can’t for the life of me remember what pattern I used. I know that there was one, it was just a simple wrap shirt, but I can’t find it anywhere. Alas.

Any who, I added some bias binding to the sleeves to make a drawstring casing. Simple yet effective.

Next came the jacket, which I’ll state up front, I’m still not happy with. I hadn't started this early enough and ran up too close to her birthday so I didn't have time to search out a better fabric. It’s nice, and it worked. It’s just a bit too heavy for my liking. It’ll definitely keep her warm in the fall though. I was aiming for a tighter fit so I used (V1266) in a few sizes down from her measurements without the sleeves.

Finally it was time for the crowning glory. The article of clothing that pulls the entire ensemble together…

Bloomers!

Okay so I cheated a bit here on my no elastic rule. I made drawstring cases for the leg ties, but went ahead and added elastic to the waistband since her waist is so much smaller than her hips. I thought no one would ever see it, so it’d be okay. I was wrong! These turned out to be my friends favorite part of the entire outfit, so they got flashed around quite a bit

I technically used pattern (M6236), but with as much as I altered the simple pattern to fit my friends waist and hips I basically just drafted my own.



So I’d finally finished my first costume for someone else, I’d managed to keep it a secret for an entire month, and surprise her on her birthday weekend. She was thrilled and ran around showing the bloomers to anyone and everyone who would pay attention. And we even went to the KC Ren Fest that weekend so she got to wear her costume right away.



Patterns Used:
     Shirt - Unknown
     Corset - Self Drafted
     Skirts - (M4090)
     Jacket - (V1266) 
     Bloomers -  (M6236)

Lesson Learned:
     - Don't self draft your first corset. Use a pattern to see how they are supposed to work/fit first. Oh and always put boning down the center panel of a corset if you don't use a busk.... that's very important.

Pirate Wench – Part 1

In my hometown there is a huge eight week long Renaissance Festival every fall. My friends and I usually dressed up each year to attend, and though it changed from time to time we generally leaned toward the pirate genre. This was mostly due to one of our friends having an amazing pirate costume he had accumulated over the years. His girlfriend, one of my best friends for years, desperately wanted an outfit to wear whenever he dressed up. So, about a year or so ago, I decided to surprise her with a costume for her birthday.

After scouring the fabric stores and the internet for inspiration I finally came upon this fabric.

It was perfect! I had been toying with the idea of making a patchwork corset, and this design eliminated the need for all that quilting. Plus it’s got just the right amount of shiny. ~ I know you don’t know me very well, but I avoid shiny fabrics at all costs. They show every wrinkle and are so rarely flattering… I just prefer matte. ~

To top it all off it was on clearance for $3/yd!

So after a bit of tinkering I came up with the below design. I was completely happy with it, and thought it would be perfect. Alas, it was not to be. After a few ‘covert’ discussions with my friend, she indicated that she’d much rather a wench style costume with full draped skirts than captain attire. So it was back to the drawing board.

 

The final costume turned out quite similar to this one, which you’ll see in the next post, and she loved it. I just think I’ll always be a bit more partial to this one myself…

Click Here for Pirate Wench - Part 2

Who’s bright idea was this?

I’m going to be honest with you; I’m not a writer. In fact, I’m fairly certain my choice to pursue mathematics in college was at least partially motivated by my severe loathing of term papers. To put it in terms you may understand better, writing the three paragraphs for the “About Me” page amounted to a 4 hour torture session. So why, you may ask, would I even want to write a blog?

To put it simply, I love making costumes, accessories and other crafty stuff. Back when I lived in Kansas City I always had tons of friends that I could share my sewing projects with. I would hang out and talk about how excited I was about a new project, or rant about how frustrating it is when you can’t find the perfect fabric. However since the move to Oklahoma, I’ve found that IM and phone conversations just aren’t the same.

Thus, a blog.

Really my distaste of writing was the only thing keeping me from starting one sooner. I read dozens of these sewing blogs every week, and have always enjoyed following other peoples craft lives. I only hope people would enjoy reading about mine.

I’m going to start this blog by revisiting a few of the projects from the past year and a half or so, but I’m so booked with new upcoming work that I’m sure I’ll have ‘In Progress’ content very soon. So stay tuned…