January Sewalong : Accessory Inspiration

So! January’s challenge, due January 31st, 2015 is:

An Accessory
 
I love this challenge because it’s soooo versatile.
I put together some inspirations to get my brain going!



10 Pretty Ruffle Scarf Tutorials!

Found on Babble via Pinterest, I actually like about half of these, and while I don't actually neeeeed anymore scarves... they do make great gifts!

There are actually lots of fun scarf tutorials, and many are grouped in convenient lists!

There's also adorable hair clips/brooches which count, I don't even wear either of those things but I want this:

Source: etsy.com via Mi on Pinterest

And I've seen some lovely pins of people who used fabric to make pretty origami hair clips.
I definitely think bags & clutches count as accessories!
I have boards on pinterest for those, because I love how quick a project they are in general:
Sewy Things - Wallets/Clutches
Sewy Things - Bags
 
I'm still undecided about whether coats count as an accessory, but I guess it doesn't really matter for me because no way can I bust one out by January's end.

But hats! Hats definitely count!

Source: mad-hatting.blogspot.com via Mi on Pinterest

I'm hoping to actually have another hat party in Jan, so that would knock it out super quick!

What else... I've also seen things like glasses cases, checkbook covers, camera cases. All count!

Plus for those of us with a historical bend, it’s an opportunity to make something like… a matching reticule to a planned or existing outfit. Or perhaps a fashionable hat? I could definitely do with a Regency bonnet!
Actually... along those lines, I'm contemplating a set of detachable sleeves for my latest Regency dress.
The possibilities!

2015 Sewalong!

So for 2015 my sewing ladies and I decided to do a monthly(ish) sewalong! Exciting! AJ and I decided more of the themes, and we went with purposely vague topics so everyone can interpret how they choose and to account for various skill levels. But above all, we went for stashbusting!

So, I’m going to post our goals here as an additional “keeping me accountable” measure!  

Jan : An Accessory  

Feb : Make a bag using a new pattern  

Mar - April : Sew something vintage inspired (two months, because we will probably make dresses!)

May : Make a household item

 Jun : Something for your sewing table  

Jul : Refashion an existing item in your wardrobe

Aug : Finish a WIP (work in progress)  

Sep Sew something geek inspired

Oct : Holiday/winter themed  

Nov : Something from a Pinterest tutorial

 Dec : Something quilted


I'll come back here and link the finished projects :D

Life update!

Still too busy to much actual sewing, but that doesn’t mean I can’t plot!

2015 is going to be aaaaall about using up fabric! I’ve been on a self imposed fabric buying ban for so long @.@ Actually, now I stop and think about it, I think it’s been almost 3 years!

When I started I had some exceptions which were basically… Doctor Who costumes. But only ones I’d had in mind for awhile, so basically Jo Grant, TVM!Master, and Survival!Master. Somehow though I ended up buying fabric for three historicals, through some sort of mental loophole, but everything else was stash! You would think I’d have more to show for it!

Anyway, now my only “loophole” is gifted fabric, that’s still acceptable! So this year I’m really going to buckle down and stick to my guns, use up more fabric! To that end, I have a lot of small “crafty” type projects in mind (bags, bags, and more bags. More than I could possibly need, so potential etsy listings there!), some actual Real Clothes, and underthings!

By underthings, I mean historical. First up will be an 18th Century corset, something like this:

 

I think most similar to the far left. I can’t actually remember, I’m just using whatever pattern AJ @ Confused Kitty used! I’ll also have to make some paniers, probably this size?

 

I know nothing of this era, so I’ll be counting on Bunny to guide me through it!

I had planned to make more underthings so that when I can buy fabric again I’ll have the base for everything, but then Bunny went and gifted me some fabric of sizable yardage (something I’m greatly lacking) so a full 18th century outfit will happen. The fabric isn’t remotely similar to this, but I’m quite taken with this dress:

 

From the Kyoto Costume Institute.

So we’ll see, I’m in the beginning stages of my research! It’s exciting branching out.

I also have the fabric for more Regency things, and possibly another late Victorian.

Hopefully blogging more will keep me accountable!

Quick check in

Just a quick pop in to say: Not dead!
Still lots going on life wise, but I'm itching to get back to sewing!

I've also been thinking about this blog a bit, I started it inspired by all the lovely sewing blogs I follow and with the idea that if I had a dedicated sewing blog I'd be more prone to post.
But I'm wondering if I should just use it as a catch all (still primarily sewing)?
Thoughts?

I haven't decided yet, so in the mean time, I'll just link some posts from one of my other blogs:

Thailand Day 1
Thailand Day 2 - Part One
Thailand Day 2 - Part Two
Thailand Day 2 - Part Three
Thailand Day 3 

The Return!

Back from Thailand!

Came back in the evening on Tuesday and was back in the office by Wednesday morning, I didn’t miss this! But until I figure out how to Not Work and still do all the things I want to do, a necessary evil!

I was really inspired to sew while I was gone, but I promised myself that on my return I’d focus on destashing, so I’m resisting for now ;_;

But I have some small projects lined up that I may squeeze in! Some more bags, small crafty things, and a pile of WIPs.

Hopefully my next post will be about destashing or WIPs, if it’s not a backlogged post!

Thailand - go!

Just a quicky, off to Thailand tonight! (well, technically the wee hours of tomorrow morning)

Super jazzed to be traveling again, I wish I was brave enough to take the plunge and travel all the time!

But then, how would I sew?

When I get back, I'm hoping to squeeze LOTS of sewing (and actually posting) in! I'm also going to try to actually comment on all the lovely blogs I follow, so we'll see how this goes!

Country Regency pics

Oh man, life has been busy! A lot of General Life things going on, still, which I will eventually get around to talking about, depending on what comes to fruition!

Anyway, one of the Life Things is cleaning up, going through my closet and soon my fabric stash. So I had some costumes out and steamed them to take pictures, and I realized my country Regency dress was still hanging out on my mannequin, waiting for me to put closures in. So I took some pics of it!

I made this dress for a tea in late June,  it's the same one I talked about working on in May and June.

Destashing musing

July was hectic! As such, I didn’t make ANYTHING new. Not even a cute bag or crafty thing.

In between crazy life things, I really need to buckle down and purge things.

So I’m trying to figure out the best way to do this :/

I’m not sure if I should go through my WIP stuff, and finish or toss, and just get that out of the way first?

Or go through my fabrics and purge what’s realistically not going to be used.

The latter is super hard because I see all these cute things people recycle fabric for. But figuring out what I’m *actually* going to get around to is the hard part!

So maybe go through… and assign things. And then go through everything unassigned and decide from there?

How do other people deal with their stashes?

December Catch Up!

Just back from San Diego Comic Con, but still playing catchup! So for now, way backtracking! Back to December!

Because Doris took such lovely photos, I can’t NOT share them.

I talked a little about the making of this dress way back when, and I thought I had more posts on it, but I can’t find them and I didn’t tag too well back then. Anyway, it was made with Truly Victorian bustle pattern TV101, TV201 for the underskirt, and TV463 for the bodice. I extended the tails and changed the shape on them a bit, added cuffs, and modified the neckline. All the other skirt layers were just draped, but my original inspiration for the whole outfit was Christine’s “Wishing” dress from Phantom of the Opera.

Anyway, so in December the lot of us went to Dicken’s Faire, and only one person took pics so my pics are the exact same as AJ’s, so in the name of laziness… here’s her post.

Then on the last weekend of December, the GBACG had a Victorian Holiday Tea :D I did want to make something new, but… I have forbidden myself from buying fabric until I use up or get rid of more of my stash, and I didn’t have anything on hand that would be suitable for a new Winter Victorian. Instead I made myself a hat to go with my dress :D



All these lovely pics were taken by Doris!

Quilt Pinning!

Okay! So, I said I would document this process better the next time it came around so here goes! This is how my gramma pins her quilts.

We start with a pool table.. well, my grandpa said pool table, but there’s a hinge in the centre (which, actually, is rather annoying) so I think it’s a ping-pong table.

Then the quilt back goes down, right side against the table, and we put binder clips on the edge and make it as taut as possible without stretching it.



More photos and process to follow~

Tea Cozy!

So at the tea we went to a few weeks back (uh, which I’ll post about later, but I think I didn’t take pics…) Judy said she needed a new tea cozy, she bought one but I thought I’d make her one anyway! I haven’t actually handed it over yet, but she doesn’t read this so no worries.

I had a few tea cozy patterns from my gramma (actually I just found another last night!) and I settled on this one, so it’d be different from the one she already bought, "Tea Pockets" from New Leaf Stitches.



Progress, completed item, and notes to follow!

Fabric Box

So when I don’t actively have a costuming project, I’m trying to just… use up fabric and make *stuff.* Soon that will probably result in some misc. etsy things, but for now I’m still just making stuff for friends and for myself.

In an effort to help me organize, I modified this Pockets to Go pattern by Atkinson Designs.



The measurements on the long box were like… 4x8”? Or something like that, and I wanted something like 8x12”. Something that wasn’t a straight up doubling, of course, because that would have been too easy.

Anyway.

Fabrics.



They are so beautiful.

Completed box!

Country Regency Progress

Soooo, I talked about this dress awhile back here, in the plotting stages.
It’s basically done now, and I’ve been a TOTAL space cadet lately, combined with the crunch of getting it done in time means I didn’t take that many pictures. But here’s what I did take! And how I made it.

I started with Sense & Sensibility’s Elegant Lady’s Closet pattern, the gathered variant.



Progress shots!

More Quilts/quilt tops!

I actually have been slowly working on some things (emphasis on slowly), but my picture taking has been lacking, and it’s been so slow it hasn’t been interesting. But since I am trying to post at least once a week, you can thank my gramma for this week.

These are the tops I took pictures of just two weeks ago! She’s way more productive than I am.



Three tops this time!

Even More Bags!

Actually, it’s not really more bags, these are both older but I forgot to post them!



So here’s the 2nd lunch bag I made, that I talked about when posting the 3rd lunch bag.

As well as that Batman Tote I mentioned a bit ago...

Another scrap bag, with bonus quilt

I’m really trying to use up scraps… and just make STUFF. Like I’m at that point where I don’t even care, I just want to use up fabric (but not quite at the stage where I want to actually purge the fabric XD). So, bags. That’s what’s been happening.

Though! My latest costume, Black Canary, was all scrap! I feel a little accomplished for that.

Anyway.

I made a bag in between the owl one I posted earlier and this one, from the same really cute tutorial. I was going to post that bag now, but I didn’t take very good pictures so I’ll need to take some more.

The one step I wasn’t keen on for that lunch bag tutorial is that in order to catch all the seam allowance and create an enclosed seam the top stitching is wider below the brim than it is above it. So for the second bag I left a gap and did the whole flipping it inside out thing, and then top stitched… this will make more sense when I post those pics. Well for the 3rd one I decided to do that again, only this time to also catch the cover in the topstitch, because I like that look better (for all the time anyone spends looking at the inside…).

Yeah okay, that wasn’t explained that well, for my next bag I’ll take pic of the process.



This bag was made for my sister using scraps leftover from a quilt my gramma made her.

Quilt and bag~!

Gramma’s quilts!

I keep meaning to post these. Soooo, my gramma quilts, as you may know. Most of my crafty projects are made from scraps of those quilts.

Anyway, I’m trying to take pics of all her quilts, well, it’s far too late to catch them all but at the very least going forward!



Here are some quilts and quilt top pics I took in January when visiting. She’s been working on some since then, but they’re not done yet. I’m really hoping she didn’t send off a particular quilt already, so I can take pics on Sat!

Upcoming!

Alright, so I have a few more backlogged posts in the pipeline, that all need something (mostly photo resizing and uploading ;_;).
Anyway, in the meantime, I thought I’d just ramble a bit about projects in the works, upcoming things.

Beyond trying to use up fabric with scraps, I have two new Regency dresses planned and another Black Canary variant for SDCC. One of the Regency dresses doesn’t warrant talking about at this time, there was going to be a very fancy tea put on by the Greater Bay Area Costuming Guild but they changed the venue, it will still have very nice tea I’ve been told, but it’s not half so fancy. So I put my fancy plans on the backburner and am working on a country dress!

My country dress is based on one Imogen Poots wears as Fanny in Miss Austen Regrets.

Source: Marie Williams via Mi on Pinterest

More rambling!

Wonder Con 2014!

I was doing so well with posts, I thought I’d get to Wonder Con in a timely manner… but I didn’t.

Anyway, for Wonder Con this year I flew down to LA on Friday afternoon, and stayed the night with my lovely twin-chan, Miss Molly.

We had dinner disappointment, there used to be an AWESOME ramen place by her, which has been closed for some time now, but still makes me sad. So she told me of this other place which was Japanese-Italian fusion and she thought I’d really like… we drove over, and closed!
We did end up with ramen though :D But not as awesome as the other place ;_;

We watched more Witchblade (it was like Gally, redux!) but… I fell asleep on the 2nd episode (okay, maybe it was the first).

For Sat, the plan was to sleep in, have a leisurely breakfast, and head out around 10-11. But since we’re both used to waking up a little early, our “sleep in” was 7:30. So we had an EXTRA leisurely brekkie :D And then we decided to do makeup there, instead of at the hotel room… and omg, makeup always takes longer than expected! So even with getting up early, and being all ready and such, we ended up leaving later than planned 8D

But the hotel was ready for us, and Bon had gotten in about 15-20 minutes before us, so we just went up and started dressing.
I wish I’d thought to take a picture of my makeup without the wig. I need to not doubt Molly, but woooow, it looked like a major drag queen with my own hair (platinum blonde with pink and blue streaks at the time). Once the darker wig was on though, it balanced out :D



The story of this costume!
Maria Hill in the comics is basically modelled after Bon, so it had to happen. I agreed to be Black Widow on the condition I wouldn’t have to do anything but buy a body suit. So all accessories (even the shoes!) and wig and such are Bon’s :D

So Saturday was Marvel day!

More bags!

I have a few half written posts that are waiting for me to upload pics 8D

I’ll get to those shortly! I had a really chill weekend so I puttered with some sewing. AJ put me onto this really cute bag tutorial, and when she made it, it turned out adorable so I thought I’d try my hand! These are the fabrics I used:

 

And done!

Hat post!

Figures, when I actually feel motivated to blog again, I haven’t been doing that much.

I’ve been doing loads of putzy things, trying to tidy, get rid of things, etc.

Anyway, good thing I still have a small backlog of things.

I had two hattings since I last posted about one! For those that don't know, I organize these hatting parties about every three months and we just make as many caps as possible to donate to the chemo ward.

One in January, and one in March. For the one in January, I didn’t realize my camera was out of batteries… or I forgot it, or something like that.



 So I have the one photo my friend took of the pile.

 But I took pics of the hats later!

Gallifrey - Jo Grant Shoot

Last Gallifrey post!

The shoot Oscar did with me for Jo :D I looooove Jo, even though I don’t think I’m that suited for her, I always love being her.

 

The rest of the pics after the break!

Gallifrey - Shalka Doctor Shoot

Wonder Con was last weekend, so gotta finish up these last few Gally posts! Shalka Doctor! Oscar took fabulous photos :D

Gallifrey - Part Three

Sunday!

Last day!

I’ll post the shoots Oscar did for me next though.

This was panel day!
I pretty much sat in the main programming room all day.

I thiiiiink I got into costume straight off, but honestly I don’t remember, I may have changed during a brief break. Anyway, first thing was the Billie Piper interview at 10:00! So with her and Arthur Darvill, since they were the big ticket guests, they did two interviews, one on Sat and one on Sun, and encourage you to go to one or the other but NOT both, which works out pretty well! I went with the Young Justice panel on Sat, which was the same time as the Piper and Darvill interviews on that day.

Anyway, Piper’s was really informative. I didn’t know anything about her really, other than she was a pop star prior to her Rose role, and there was a lot of “Why are you casting a pop star!” negativity when she got the role. So I had no idea she was one of those young manufactured pop stars, who are chosen for their looks and then trained to sing. Sounds like she had a really busy life, and that maybe she’s not too happy about spending her childhood like that, but has come out of it really level headed and a gracious human being. The thing I remember the most about her Who related things was how crazy Smith and Tennant were together, nothing specific, just that the two of them got on like a house on fire, and acted like it. Also she had some very nice things to say about Eccleston, which made me happy since where Who is related I feel like I only hear negative things.

Then Darvill’s interview! Which… he was very zoned out, tired, and possibly hung over during. He said he was out with his LA friends very late the previous night. So basically he just rambled, and it was sort of fun, but made me wish I’d gone to his Saturday panel. Also in the Q&A someone called him Rory and he was just like “Arthur. MY name is Arthur.” Not rude, but very deadpan and firm, like… he was tired of being called Rory and of all this convention malarkey.

Then there was a music demo, and I know I skipped out on this so I either went to go eat or I got into costume here (see, this is exactly why I’m trying to be better about the whole con-report-in-a-timely-manner thing).

I got back about… halfway through Annette Badland’s interview, which I’d wanted to see so boo. I LOVED her in Boomtown. She seems really nice, and seemed very genuine when saying she really enjoyed her time on Doctor Who, and also seemed quite disappointed when answering a question about coming back, about how she was really just a skin suit so she couldn’t come back ;_;

Then there was a classic companion panel with Katy Manning, Nicola Bryant, and then surprise participant Daphne Ashbrook. Honestly they just all talked like old friends, and are all crazy and said random things and made probably everyone in the audience want to be their friends :D

Then was “The Two Doctors,” in which basically Paul McGann and Colin Baker shot the breeze.





How does he sit like that?

More pics and the rest of the day~

Gallifrey - Part Two

Part two! Aka, Saturday! I got semi into costume in the morning then went down to walk around before the Paul McGann interview.

 

THIS KID. So perfect, and then the head tilt. Parents, you’re doing a good job. Adorable, while freaky.

Saturday!

Gallifrey - Part One

No actual sewing in this post, but part one to my Gallifrey report! Better late than never! ;_; I think I say that every year.

Anyway, I came in on Thursday morning, around 10-10:30 and my room was already ready, which was SO nice. I thought I’d chill in the room and read and just relax like a proper vacation, but ended up only doing that for about 20 minutes or so before Molly texted she was off work. We went and had lunch and then chilled in the room watching Witchblade 8D

And then I went and picked up my badge and we went to dinner~ And trolled the mall and omg when she dropped me back at the hotel the lobby was CRAZY. So crazy I called an immediate retreat and read in my room for about 5 minutes before thinking if I wanted to see anyone I should do it before I was too tired, so I texted some people and went back out. It was SO LOUD we were having to shout in each other’s ears to be heard so I stuck it out about 30 minutes and then seriously, I almost lost my voice (then it was all hoarse on Friday :/).

Anyway! Friday!

I wandered the halls a bit in the morning, determined to actually take pictures this time!

And lo, a Romana!

;

Then Aimee pinged me when she came in so I went down to help her set up her artiness, which actually was take the Misses R & J on a walkabout.

More pics from the rest of the day~

Convolution - Forest Fae

Still playing catch up, but hopefully some new projects will make their way in sometime soon. So I posted
this pic in my year cos review, but didn’t really talk about it:



(Photo by Chris Erickson) I talked about progress on the jacket and waistcoat here, and basically did more of the same until it was in a wearable state.

But I never posted about the horns and mask, so I’ll do that! And a few more pics from the event.

Summer Victorian - Write up

I thought before I posted the pictures from the shoot I would do a making of post. So I sifted through my camera pics and found… one in progress shot. I’m 80% sure I took more but I can’t find them :/

Anyway, I started writing this up and it was taking so long, I got impatient and posted the pics 8D

But I figured I’d still do a write up, and supplement with other pictures! So again, the original inspiration for this shoot was a Tissot themed picnic.

Source: marquise.de via Mi on Pinterest

After looking at loads of his paintings I picked some stylings I liked and started looking at extant dresses.

Making of!

Summer Victorian Shoot

Alright, catching up on posts so: Summer Victorian!

So back in July, or maybe August, the GBACG was doing a Tissot themed picnic, which I planned to go to and then decided with Comic Con just a few weeks prior, this just wasn’t going to happen in time. Then my other lovely ladies also decided to bail on the picnic proper, and we arranged a photoshoot with Jeffrey Kuo instead.



I’m just posting the same pictures my other ladies posted 8D Because I figured if I sifted through myself, it would take even longer, and not get posted. But I may post again later 8D I have a few in mind, I just have to find them….

Summer Victorians!

Regency wearing in Bath

End of the day! So after I dropped my gramma off back at the hotel, she was done walking for the day, I changed into my Regency!

I rushed into putting it on, because back at the Assembly Rooms, the ticket was good for one admission, but I talked to the front desk and explained I’d brought this dress could I pleeeease come back? And she said okay. And they close at 5, and it was nearing 4.

WELL. Actually the last admission is at 4, and they’d closed and locked the doors, from the outside, already!

So I wasn’t able to get any pics in the actual assembly room. Which was disappointing, but then I also realized I had no one to take the picture anyway.

So then my sister and I met at our prearranged meeting spot at 5 and headed to the Royal Crescent for pictures!

I thought this dress would cover my shoes, whoops!

More pics!

Jane Austen Centre

Why hello there Jane Austen Centre!

Bath Museum of Costume - Part Two

Still at the Museum of Costume, in Bath~

REGENCY ROOM

I really like the sleeve and bodice detailing on this!

Even More Dress Pics (not just Regency though)

Bath Museum of Costume - Part One

In Bath, I went to The Museum of Costume, which is also the Assembly Rooms.

I took quite a few pictures, though not as many as I thought I did. The lighting indoors was very dim, to preserve the fabrics I’m sure. That, combined with the glass of the display cases and my none-too-steady hands, resulted in some shoddy pictures, alas. I still uploaded most of them to my flickr, but I’ll just post my favourites here.

This is the oldest dress in their collection, from around 1660. It’s silk woven with silver threads. The picture by no means does it justice, it’s quite striking!

Historical dress, hurrah!

Victoria & Albert Museum

More posts from earlier travels~

My friend who I was staying with had exciting per-existing Gilbert and Sullivan plans, so we bussed in to the area and I went to the V&A yaaay.






I think I took this on the way there. Because it screams Why yes, I am in England.

Fashion & Costume posts

So as I've been updating my other blog, it suddenly occurred to me that I might cross-post some of the fashion and costume posts here.

And in related news, I've been catching up on my travel posts, and am aaaaalmost done, so then I'll have more sewing posts to catch up on :D

Anyway!
When I was in England my friends Katy & X took me to the Fashion and Textile Museum, which had (and maybe still has) a Pop design exhibit.

Absolutely loving this sleeve design, and completely intend on ganking it into something soon.

Cos update - Jo Grant

I have been the most terrible at taking pics of this my current project. So. I'll just talk a bit I guess.



So I decided to make this Jo for Gallifrey, I flip flopped on it for awhile because I wanted something new, but didn't know what I might have time for, etc.
But it ended up working out, I found something that looks like wool but isn't wool at the local fabric store, for a reasonable price, so then I had to 8D
Details!

Christmas 2013 in crafts! (part two)

Some more things from Christmas!

So my sister really liked the camera case I made myself in September, so I got out those same fabric scraps and some lace and made one for her camera.



Camera case & kitty bag!

Christmas 2013 in crafts! (part one)

This Christmas I made a lot of handmade gifts.

For my family, but there's a lot of them (so Imma break this post up).

Some things I remembered to take pics of when I finished them, and others I was like "Augh gotta get a pic before I wrap it!" so sorry for blurry, not ironed things for some of them :/




Stuff what I made!

2013 Cos review addendum

I skipped right over CoCo!
That’s because I didn’t wear anything new, not really. But it was still one of my highlights because I got to spend lots of time with Aimee’s little ladies, R & J <3



And I got to meet new people~



(Loren’s photo~ I managed not to get a group one on my camera, boo)

Also underwear & a bonus!

2013 - Cos Review

2013 is over!

Here’s what was new, cos wise:




Suuuuuper scaled back on the production this year, apparently. I didn't necessarily feel like I did less though.

I had planned on doing more Historical in 2013, but I only managed two.
Highlights after the break!