Half Assed Super Villan

I'm wondering if I can get away with wearing my whole head this color... too bright for the office, eh?

Green n' Black

 So. Stretch velvet over an old corset, man is that thing a piece of junk. Half assed- sewn around the edges. it wrinkled in the middle but eh, who cares? and I hot glued all the leaves on. Surprisingly the poly velvet didn't melt. Go me! You can sorta see the headband that I wired some ivy on to. Sorta. You can't really see my purse but I spray painted it green and slapped some leaves on it too. Spray paint hehe.

Shitty bathroom photo, because I don't have any other photos of the whole thing.

 The best part of the night was definitely the funny looks. Someone actually came up to me and said "I saw you and figured she's either really trashy or cool as fuck, I gotta talk to her." I feel like there might be some sort of life motto or inspirational poster in that quote somewhere.

Party Bus/Traveling Costume Party

So while having brunch with some buddies, someone causally mentioned  all the birthdays coming up, which turned into "let's have one huge combined party". Then a party bus. Of course I had to throw out the idea that we all wear costumes.... and the organizer actually thought that'd be friggen' hilarious. Super hero themed. 12 1/2 days to put something together. Only one full weekend.   Challenge accepted! I'm thinking Poison Ivy, cliche I know but I wanted a villain with red hair, kinda limits things a wee bit. 

Check out this gorgeous Etsy find:

Source

I'm not fooling myself too much, I know that no one will put in half so much effort, and I know I don't have that kind of time.... but. Plan:

green tights: ordered

sacrifice boots, to be painted: check

old corset: check

vines: to be purchased

Red hair, tons of sass, and a hot glue gun: done deal baby.

The plan. Make corset cover from green jersey, tack it to the corset I made for Halloween last year, pictured below. 

All the leaves, glitter, whatever will go on the "cover" so this corset shouldn't be harmed, it's just a base to build onto. Then make green hot pants. Suit up and rock out! 

Sewing ADD

I can't seem to finish anything these days. I broke down and bought myself a new sewing machine for my birthday. This was over a month ago.

True Love. We can grow old together and have matching rocking chairs. Sigh. 

I actually finished the sofa, it spends all it's time under a sheet to keep the fur off of it. ... I need to figure out a better way to keep it clean... how does one slip cover a camel back sofa?   Thoughts? I have made:

• two pairs of PJ's for EZ's mom.
• a throw sized quilt
• two ugly throw pillows
• half a mermaid costume. 
• half a jacket for my sister
• a cocktail dress
• half a pair of drop front pants for the BF 

These were made from left over canvas  from the sofa. I dyed them. ... they were supposed to be mustard and navy. I also thought it'd be a good idea to try to shirr canvas. I'm not the brightest crayon sometimes. These will be re-dyed or scrapped haven't made up my mind yet. 

The pillow was made from a freeby sweater. I most certainly don't wear a size small, but I couldn't pass up the wool/CASHMERE  blend in such a pretty cable knit! 

 Lazy person's quilt. AKA a rag quilt, 5'x5' flannel on the back so cozy, sorry the pictures suck, not like you're reading this right now. hardy-har-har.  Also clipping the fuzzy rag seams, is taking a million years, so another unfinished project.

Detail of cuff

My first machine button holes, I'm stupid proud of these suckers

I can explain!!! a million years ago, when I was a wee lass learning to sew, I lost my buttonhole foot. Never bought another one, and thus never learned how to use this wonderfully simple, magical tool.

Flannel and cotton shirting

 Occasionally I get the urge to make something completely unpractical. It's half Simplicity 4043, half Jenny. Like BurdaStyle high-waisted pencil skirt, Jenny, because I am fat and do not wish to offend anyone with my corpulence. I can't wait for Halloween, can you tell?   

The dress was a plum colored cotton sateen. Another BurdaStyle pattern. Sewed together like a dream, fit like a glove. I put it on an less than an hour before we needed to leave to get to the wedding and the damned zipper decided to separate. I don't think EZ's ever seen someone swear like a sailor and cry at the same time.   I had swore I'd burn the damned-able dress and give up Coats and Clark zippers, but, alas I am weak. Really, find me another brand of zipper that is available locally and I will love you forever. 

A week of two ago I tried on a pair of cigarette pants. I am 5'9" and they looked like Hobbit pants. I bought them anyway, because I am an idiot. The thought of such an Audrey Hepburn esq. garment makes me drool a bit. I wised up and decided to make a pattern from my favorite skinny jeans. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find jeans these days that have a zipper longer than 2" inches in them, I mean like honest to god (or whoever) medium rise jeans? Anyway the fabric for those is in the dryer along with these two beauties:

Rust colored linen/rayon blend and a quilter's cotton print. 

New throw pillows?

Had to share this

Biggest dress ever?. Source.

I have things I *should* be working on, like that dress for the wedding that is less than 2 weeks away.... Instead I've been working on my Halloween costume, It fits great! I made a full bust adjustment and redrafted the pattern to have built in lapels instead of lapels as a separate pattern piece, which is the stupidest thing I've seen in a while. I also reshaped the upper collar since it wouldn't lie right in the back. I hate it. It's so PLAID! too....sigh. Why can I not picture things in my head better? Any suggestions ? maybe I'll scrap the whole thing and make a mermaid outfit instead....

Even the dress dummy looks fat in this thing.

I made this thing last weekend.

I've been on a quest to make work appropriate clothing that feels like pajamas.This little beauty is fleece. Unfortunately it's still too warm to wear it. I also made the ubiquitous BurdaStyle Jenny, it was a breeze to make and is to my surprise extremely comfortable, I can't wait to wear it with patterned tights! Cool weather now, please! 

Please ignore the button gap,
I swear I fixed it before leaving the house!

The best part about this skirt is the finishing inside, wish I had a picture, all the seams are finished with this darling lime green w/ white polka dot bias tape. 

Breakin' Stuff, Fixin' Stuff

The swimsuit didn't work out. I couldn't get the needed um, support out of it, but well summer is all but gone here. I have on the other hand started Halloween costumes! It's my favorite holiday, I guess I'm a bit ridiculous. Unfortunately the BabyLock shit it's self again. Mr. E's' coat was made entirely on HIS old Kenmore. Laugh all you want, my boyfriend owns a sewing machine (I certainly do). Honestly, that thing is a work horse, I mean it's loud and it smells funny, but gets the job done. 

Sorry for the jammie jams!

The coat still needs buttons in the front (the Kenmore doesn't have a buttonfoot), and a helluva pressing, but is other wise done.

Honestly, I miss my BabyLock with all it's quiet speed and stitch options that I never use. Sooooo.................. have you ever wondered what it really looks like under there when you "pop the hood"? Me too. I figured there's no way I'm paying to have this thing fixed AGAIN in less than 18 months. So (naturally) I took it apart to see if I could fix it. 

Does anyone else feel the urge to make something steampunk after looking at this?

Let's be clear on something, when the repair guy mentions "timing", he's talking about the synchronicity of the needle (and feed dogs, which are run by the same gears up top) and the hook part that the bobbin case sits in, you know the piece that brings the bobbin thread around to the needle. To adjust the timing you're going to have to remove the bottom panel on the machine (and in my case the rest of the plastic "skin" to get to the space under the bobbin holder

The above mentioned "hook"

you should be looking at something like this:

This gear is what turns your bobbin holder/hook dealie. If you loosen the teeny tiny screws pointed to in the above picture (they're not actually screws, you'll need the smallest alan wrench ever), mine has three, the gear will stop moving the hook part. Now when you hand crank the machine only the feed dogs and needle are moving.... see where this is going? The hook part can still be moved manually, but is now independent of the other parts. This will take some fiddling with but essentially you'll want the needle to be at it's lowest point as the hook is at about the point in the picture above. Once you have it right tighten those "screws" back down take her out back and take the compressor to her... you wouldn't believe the fabric fluff bunnies that accumulate in there! Now put her back together and pat yourself on the back for saving $90.00; go buy some fabric. Squee! 

Bathing Costume Progress

So. I fiddled around with bra (swimsuit w/ under-wire) making and decided it passed my skill and patience level. 

Looks ok, now try sewing that to a band, without everything rippling horribly. Ha!

I decided I'd really rather have a one piece any way. Enter the Alison Pattern from BurdaStyle that I mentioned last post.

 I've been making mods as I go. I lowered the leg holes and cut one of each "body" piece normally. Like lining. Then took the front piece, cut it in three and  lengthened by say 18"  to give the gathered look. So far, so good. I doubled (DOUBLED!) the size of the chest piece.... this may have been overkill. In the picture below it (the chest bit) is mostly pinned in place I am going to have to sew those pleats on the side in some way to get the under-boob bagginess fixed. I am pleased so far but haven't hit any of the hard stuff yet, like attaching the bra to the suit. I guess that's kind of cheating but....

  Also, I am pleased to learn (don't laugh) that my machine has not one but six (SIX!!!) stretch stitches, not to mention all the fun stetchiness to be had with a double needle!  I guess for as long as I've been sewing I'm still have soooo much to learn.

P.S. Can any one tell me their experience with a ballpoint needle versus the "stretch" needles? Seems to give  the same results, either way, at least no skipped stitches!