Lopapalooza Creative Fingers: Sewing, Crochet, and More

Socks!

2009-10-29T17:45:00.002-05:00

One of those things happened where I ended up with a million different things to write about and a million different pictures to process and post, and I got so overwhelmed I ended up working on nothing at all. That's my excuse for taking so long between posts. What I'm doing now is working up a backlog of posts, so I can parcel them out as needed and not have to worry about typing up ten major posts in a row. We'll see how this goes.

So the first topic in my massive list is...knitting socks! I'm a crocheter at heart, but I thought it would be a good idea to expand my horizons and learn knitting. As of the end of January, I had exactly two knitting projects completed. One, my Rikku scarf (which still isn't completed by the way...*sigh*), I did circa 2005. The other, the garter stitch scarf, I did in January after completely relearning how to knit. Both of them involved doing the knit stitch over and over and over, except one was on circular needles and one was on straight needles. Neither of them was the most complicated knitting project in the universe. In fact, I'm not sure it would have been possible to knit a simpler project, except maybe one with no color changes whatsoever.

Then, around March or so, I was given a couple of knitting pattern books, including the aptly-named "I Can't Believe I'm Knitting Socks" by Cindy Guggemos. Not only does this book include several sock patterns, but it gives very detailed instructions on the sock knitting process. There's even a section on using circular needles, a section on alternate heels, and so on. The basic pattern uses fairly large yarn (DK weight) and needles (Size 4) for socks -- none of the fingering weight yarn on tiny needles. So I picked up some cheap acrylic yarn and some bamboo double-pointed needles. It's tough to find DK/sport weight acrylic except in the baby section, but amidst all the pastels, I found an interesting striping yarn I liked.

Going from garter stitch rectangles to double-pointed needles, K1P1 ribbing, increases/decreases, short rows, and picking up stitches was a big jump, but less than three weeks after I started, I had my first pair of socks! There are two visible mistakes on them -- one of them is a big loop of yarn on the inside that I never quite figured out. I will count these mistakes under "things only Jeanne would notice."

Here are some photos:

And a link to the Ravelry project page.

After that, I was ready to move on to the next project. I picked up some nicer yarn (Berroco Comfort Sox Metallics) and used one of the more complicated patterns in the book. The cuff had a chevron pattern that involved all sorts of increases, decreases, yarnovers, slipping stitches, and passing stitches over. I finished these socks with no visible mistakes (note that there were still mistakes...just not noticeable ones) and gave them to my mom for Mother's Day.

Photos:

Ravelry link.

Since then, I've spent way too much money on sock yarn. Yes, I can admit that I'm a sock knitting addict. My most recent project, one that's taken me much longer than the other two because I haven't been putting the time in, is the Spring Forward pattern from Knitty magazine. I have one sock complete and the other in progress. Here are the photos so far:

Ravelry link.

I haven't worked on these in a few months, because I felt guilty about all my neglected crochet projects, so I've been concentrating more on crochet again lately. I'm feeling good about getting some of my backlogged projects finished, so I'm sure I'll pick up the socks again soon.

I really want to buy the Sock Innovations book by Cookie A., but I seem to always spend my monthly budget on other stuff like, say, yarn. In the meantime, there are enough free sock patterns online to keep me busy.

NatCroMo Freeform Crochet-a-long 2009 (3/23-3/31)

2009-05-04T19:42:00.000-05:00

Clearly, I am behind on updating my progress. Specifically, I am a month behind on my final NatCroMo Freeform CAL 2009 report. Here are the final parts of the design:

W is for Worm. I made little pink spirally worms along one edge.

X is for Xanadu. I went with the theme of "opulence" here, and crocheted with some beads. This marks my first time doing beaded crochet. I used a design from Crochet on the Edge.

Y is for Yellow. I did a surface crochet chain around the central area using yellow.

Z is for Zest. This loopy stitch made me think of lemon zest.

Your name. I added up the number values of the letters in my first name (A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, etc.). I then turned to that page in my new crochet stitch dictionary and used that stitch (Single Crochet Cluster Stitch I) in the cranberry color I used for J.

Neighbors. Our neighbor in back has a dog that's white with light reddish-brown spots. I used the closest colors I have to that, and crocheted another stitch pattern out of my stitch dictionary.

Partners. I "partnered" up two colors of yarn that had been used earlier in the project (but not together) to make an improvised edging.

Fantasy. This made me think of something lacy and open, so I chose an appropriate stitch from Crochet on the Edge.

Craft. I wanted something that took a fair bit of craftsmanship to create. I ended up trying the lily of the valley sculptural stitch (which includes surface chains for the stems) from Crochet on the Edge. This was a lot more challenging and time consuming than I expected -- I ended up with about a million yarn ends to weave in.

So it's done, and it's pretty wacky, definitely in a good way. I still need to learn how to do the more "traditional" (if such a word can be used) scrumbles that are used for freeform crochet, but I think this is a fun result for my first attempt. Next time: knitting! That's right, knitting!

Lion Brand Crochet-A-Long: Moderne Jacket

2009-04-09T17:21:00.002-05:00

As promised, here is my post on the Lion Brand CAL. The pattern was the Moderne Jacket -- details and purchase information can be found here.

Before March, I'd never done a crochet-a-long, and it was great to read about everyone else's experiences with the pattern and see all the different variations on the same garment. Originally I wasn't going to participate because the yarn specified by the pattern would have cost about $130. That's a bit out of my budget at the moment. Then, when I read the post on the Lion Brand blog about yarn substitution, I decided to go ahead with the project. Instead of the cashmere blend and the wool yarn, I used acrylic -- Vanna's Choice in Dusty Purple and Silver Grey, to be exact.

The pattern uses two yarns held together, which was a new technique to me. The combination of these two yarns was probably a bit bulkier than intended -- the example jacket looks more "meshy" -- but I think my version looks great.

As for the pattern, a lot of people had trouble with it because there were a number of inconsistencies. For example, working the pattern as written ended up with a staggered column effect, whereas the example jacket clearly showed the stitch columns aligned vertically. There was advice on both the Ravelry group and the Lion Brand blog on how to change this. Although I worked the pattern as written for the back, I aligned the pattern on the front (for the most part).

Another issue with the pattern was that the stitch pattern was meant for an odd number of stitches, but most of the front had rows with even numbers of stitches. No instructions were given on how to adapt for this. Also, at one point in the pattern, there was a missing row. I worked an extra row at this spot, with no issues. Others ran into the same problems, so it wasn't just me misreading the pattern. I always try to rule out "user error" first.

Apart from those issues, the project went very smoothly. The larger hook (N) combined with the thicker yarn made it work up quickly as well. When I made the gauge swatch, my row gauge was right on, but my stitch gauge was just a tiny bit too big. This was perfect, because the small size was just a wee bit too small (bust size 34", I'm a 34" or 35") and the medium size was way too big (bust size 40"). For the small size, I didn't need to make the jacket longer but I did need it to be wider. I know the issues that can be caused by using the wrong gauge, but in this case, it worked very well. The jacket fits!

Although the fabric is thick, I still used backstitch for the raglan seams for strength. It didn't seem to add too much bulk to the seams.

That's enough writing. Here are the pictures of the finished piece. It fits a bit tighter on the dress form than on me, due to the pot belly on the form. Still, it looks good on me and on the form. Success!

Next time: the rest of my freeform project.

NatCroMo Freeform Crochet-a-long 2009 (3/10-3/22)

2009-03-23T18:28:00.002-05:00

Whew! I got behind on the Freeform CAL from the last post, but I'm finally caught up through yesterday (V). Time for another picture-fest!

J is for Jam. I went with a berry-colored shape. Since the yarn color was called "Cranberry" I even put little ridges into it, like the canned cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving.

K is for Knowledge. I wanted to include a technique that I didn't previously know, so I did a little rectangle of Tunisian crochet. I don't have the proper kind hook, so I used one of my standard hooks to make it.

L is for Leaves. I added little leaves to the chains between some of the "pebbles."

M is for Mold. This made me think of the mold found in blue cheese, my favorite kind of cheese, so I added a mottled blue-green ruffle on the front.

N is for Night/O is for Orange. Night is represented by the midnight blue shape, created using a star stitch, which I looked up online. Next to that is a little patch of puff stitch oranges.

P is for Peel. I created three yellow banana peel shapes. I haven't yet mastered the art of shaping my crochet to lie flat or curl the way I want it to -- therefore these like to curl oddly. I got them to stand out correctly in the photo.

Q is for Queen. Using a fan type stitch, I made a purple queenly robe, with fuzzy cream-colored yarn as trim.

R is for Russet. I only have one yarn of a russet color, and it's the same variegated yarn I used for some other parts of this piece (the bullions, the antennae, part of the crab body). I used an edging stitch I found in one of my crochet books for this shape.

S is for Stone. Since I already created some grayish/brownish pebbles for Ground, I decided to interpret Stone as gemstones and added a ruby-colored picot border.

T is for Taste/Touch. I've been crocheting for less than a year, so I don't have an impressive yarn stash yet. So it was lucky that I happened to have the perfect yarn for this one. My favorite taste is chocolate and one of my favorite things to touch is velvet. I had a velvety, chocolate-colored yarn (Lion Suede), and I used it to create another interesting stitch from my edging book. The stitch (twisted rib) took me quite a few tries, and I'm proud that I finally got it to work.

U is for Underground. I made the Night section into the top of a little cave/tunnel and added an entrance.

V is for Variety. I went through my stash and cut off lengths of yarns that had different colors, weights, and textures. Then, I tied them together and stitched an edging that uses a variety of stitch heights. I'm not sure how to deal with the knots on the back -- I didn't leave enough yarn to weave in the ends. I may just snip them off at the knots. Still, I like how this one came out. One thing I've noticed about this piece is that by making the lettuce-y ruffle early on, I ended up with a very ruffly item where it really isn't possible to see all the different parts at the same time. At first this annoyed me, since it's kind of difficult to take a picture of something when parts of it are hidden, but then I realized that it's kind of cool to be able to get different looks from the same exact object. I'm proud of myself for sticking with this project, even though I've had some not-so-fun time-sucks in my life this month (like both my bunnies getting sick at the same time). Now we're on the home stretch, and I'm looking forward to seeing what I end up with, as well as everyone else's finished projects! Next time: my progress on the Lion Brand Moderne Jacket crochet-a-long.

NatCroMo Freeform Crochet-a-long 2009 (3/1-3/9)

2009-03-10T16:41:00.001-05:00

Last week was crazier than I expected, but I'm finally back with another post. This might be some kind of record.

March is National Crochet Month (or NatCroMo), and there's a group dedicated to it on Ravelry. In addition, there's a Freeform CAL (Crochet-a-long) project where there's a different inspiration for each day. Despite having no experience in freeform crochet, I've been giving it a try. It's been a great exercise for me. Although I have much to learn (how to make pieces lay flat, how to create the shapes I want without too much ruffling and/or curling, etc.) I'm also discovering that I know more than I realize. The final result (well, the final result so far) is rather crack-induced, but I'm discovering all sorts of ideas for future projects.

Here are the photos of my project in progress:

A is for Apple and B is for Blossom/Bullions. I started out with a reddish color (combined with another yarn containing muted versions of apple-y colors) and a shape that looked like the bottom half of an apple. To that, I added bullion stitches and ended up with a vaguely flowery shape.

C is for Crab. I added crab claws bordered with crab stitch. I also added a crab stitch border above the bullions.

D is for Drop. I interpreted this as drops of water, and added a wave stitch in two shades of blue/aqua.

E is for Eating. Crocheting food is fun, so I added a hyperbolic lettuce edge around the piece.

F is for Fragrance. One of my favorite fragrances is lavender, and the pieces ended up with a lavender spiral.

G is for Ground. I chose a yarn with various grays and browns and crocheted pebbles (bobble stitches) around the lavender spiral.

H is for Honey. That's a honeycomb on the back side of the piece, crocheted in the closest color I had to honey.

I is for Insect. The little crab guy, buried under the lavender and pebbles, gained two moth antennae. They like to droop a bit, but I got them to stand up for the photo.

Today is J for Jam, but I haven't decided what I want to do with that yet.

About the New Layout (plus some crochet)

2009-03-02T15:26:00.001-06:00

Okay! I'm finally sitting down to write an update post. I've been holding off on posting here until I was done with the new layout. I'm going to have to break this into several posts so I don't go crazy. First, here's the story behind the new blog look.

I'm redoing my portfolio, and one of the items on my to-do list is creating custom layouts for my blogs under my new name: Lopapalooza Studios. For my sewing and crafting blog, I am now using the name Lopapalooza Creative Fingers. The old name, "Diary of a Sewing Novice," doesn't really apply anymore. Not only am I no longer a novice (hooray!), but I'm focusing on more than just sewing.

For the layout, I wanted something that incorporates both sewing and crafts with muted colors and a bit of classic charm. And of course, I couldn't resist including my lop logo! The site should be viewable on most browsers and versions, although it will look best on newer browsers. The text is also resizable.

I used brushes and patterns from Obsidian Dawn.

I am still very much into crochet, with the occasional bit of practice knitting. Crochet has become a major focus for me, and the best place to follow my recent progress is my Ravelry page. I encourage anyone who is interested in knitting and/or crochet, even if you don't feel like you're very good yet and even if you don't have any completed projects, to sign up. The number of resources on there are just amazing, including the pattern search and all the groups. At the time of this writing, you need to sign up for an invitation, and it'll take a few days to get it, but it's worth it.

For those who aren't on Ravelry, here are links to my latest completed projects. I'll go more in-depth on these in following posts:

Brown Bunny Purse
Homespun Bunny Purse
Amigurumi Katamari
Another Short 'n' Sweet
Garter Stitch Scarf (my one knitting project!)
Baroque Tabard Tunic
Motif #1
Motif #2
Motif #3
Motif #4
Motif #5
Motif #6
Motif #7
Motif #8
Motif #9
Motif #10

More to come soon!

A New Layout!

2009-02-27T18:49:00.005-06:00

As you may have noticed, I created a new layout for the blog. I still have some issues to work out, so if any of the posts look funny, just be patient...

Stay tuned for more!

Yet another big update post

2008-12-11T19:57:00.002-06:00

Wow, has it been over six months since I posted? I really have to get better about this. It's not that I haven't been working on sewing and other crafts -- I totally have. At least I have that to say for myself.

Anyway, I recently upgraded my Flickr account to pro, so I'm going to try something new: storing my project images on Flickr and linking to them there. Obviously I won't be storing all of my images on Flickr -- just the main project ones. Hopefully I won't have too many technical difficulties.

So what have I done since the last time I posted?

Well, I finished my bunny shirt -- the shorter version of the dress (Simplicity 3867) from my last post.

Bunny shirt front
Bunny shirt side

The chest looks kind of collapsed on the dress form, but that's because I didn't provide the form with the proper...support before I put the dress on it. It looks better on the real thing (me).

Then in September, I was crazy enough to sew up a Renfest costume in one week. I used Simplicity 9966 and sewed just the shirt and the over- and underskirts. I'm glad I was smart enough to use a bodice I already owned -- I just barely finished the three pieces on time.

Full costume (sort of)
Skirts
Neckline detail
Sleeve cuff detail
Skirt trim detail
Skirt clasp detail
Skirt serging/hem detail
Shirt seam detail

I'm proud of how it turned out, especially since the blouse was made out of such challenging material. I used voile, which was so wispy I was afraid I wouldn't be able to sew it. Also, I had to adapt the sleeve pattern since the fabric wasn't wide enough to accommodate it -- the fabric was 36" wide instead of the 45" the pattern required. Since the fabric was so sheer, I used French seams throughout. I also finished the inside of both the skirts, just for that professional touch. I probably would have been finished in half the time if I hadn't put so much effort into serging and whatnot. My only issue with the final costume was the skirt waist -- I didn't make the elastic tight enough. I guess that's the problem with having a dress form with a bigger waist than my own.

At the end of July/beginning of August, I went to a 3-day fashion design course, which was awesome! I learned a lot about the design process, and I have some ideas for a future custom wardrobe.

Then there's my new hobby -- crochet. I posted some pictures of my beginning amigurumi. Since then, I've made quite a few projects. If you're a member of Ravelry, you can see my project page here. Otherwise, here are some pictures of my most recent projects:

Amigurumi cornucopia
Short 'n' Sweet bolero
Camouflage wristwarmers
One-skein scarf

There are a few more projects I haven't yet photographed. I'm really getting into this whole crochet thing. I added a bunch of crochet books to my Amazon wishlist. Knitting books, too! That's just what I need -- a new hobby.

I also crocheted up a couple of cactus amigurumi for John, but of course I forgot to take pictures of them before I sent them to work with John. Whoops!

I'm currently working on a complete site overhaul, including a redesign of this blog. This may take me some time, but stay tuned!

Massively huge update

2008-05-30T13:27:00.002-05:00

Thanks to my friend Mary, the most productive sew-er and crafter I know, I've had a renewed interest in, well, sewing and crafting. During the last several months, I've started and finished a number of projects. While I'd like to say I've recovered from my procrastinating ways, the truth is that I still have roughly a million unfinished projects around my sewing room. Oh well!

Here's an overview of what I've been working on -- complete with pictures!

First, there's my most recent project, which has been on my to-do list for over four years: a custom dress form! I don't recall if I mentioned this in a previous post, but the last attempt at a custom dress form didn't go so well. It involves taping me tightly with duct tape, and as I learned the hard way, I pass out when my entire torso is wrapped up. It makes me all claustrophobic and stuff. I paid for an online class after this fiasco -- this was almost exactly four years ago. This particular taping system leaves the tummy and chest untaped until the end. I guess I didn't have any real reason for putting off making a dress form for so long, but I recently discovered that I couldn't go without one any longer. So I enlisted the help of John and Mary to tape me. Last weekend was the scheduled taping date.

This time, the taping went much better. Until the end. As soon as the tape started going up my neck, I suddenly got that familiar clammy, hyperventilating feeling. Luckily, the form was pretty much done by then, but it definitely was not my finest moment there at the end. I'll just skip over the details.

The good news is that I now have an almost-completed form. I just need to double-check the stuffing, tape up the back, make a cardboard bottom, and make a cover.

The bad news is that the form isn't as exact as it could be. It's about an inch larger than my actual circumference measurements at the waist and hips. And...well, let's just lay that taping during severe PMS and directly following a large meal is not advised when you want an accurate dress form in the stomach area. The belly protrudes out about two inches further than my actual measurements. As John pointed out, at least I'll be able to eat large meals and breathe easily in whatever clothes I make.

Here are the pictures of the form so far:

Front view
Back view
Side view

I can take some comfort in knowing that that's as pregnant as my body will ever look. :P

Next we have some items that I finished in April, but didn't have a spiffy dress form to put them on. The first is the last of three tiered skirts that I bought material for over a year ago. This one was a particularly tricky polyester material that did not want to stay on grain. Luckily, the fabric design, color, and nature of the skirt pattern helped cover up my off-grain cutting. I painstakingly hand-hemmed the skirt to prevent the problems I had with the other two.

Flowered skirt

I bought some material at CraftyPlanet and sewed up Simplicity 3867. I made a test garment from muslin first, and to my great surprise, the pattern fit without any alterations. Which is good, because I didn't have the dress form when I made it. The dress includes pleats at the front shoulder and the skirt. The bodice is lined, and although the pattern instructions have the raw edge of the zipper tape exposed (sewn on top of the lining), I changed the instructions to cover the raw edge of the zipper with the lining. I also finished the inside edges with my serger. I used an invisible zipper instead of a regular zipper (and changed the pattern instructions accordingly) and did a hand hem. I'm finding that I get much better results when hemming by hand, even though it takes a lot longer.

Front view
Back view
Bodice
Back closed with invisible zipper
Lining stitched to zipper
Hand hem and finished inside

The pattern also includes an option for a shirt version, which I'm currently working on. Here is a close-up of the material (it has bunnies!) and lining:

Bunny shirt bodice

Sewing isn't the only thing I've been up to. I bought some earring kits at The Bead Monkey. I put them together last month. One goes with the mauve tiered skirt I sewed a year ago and the other goes with my summer dress.

Mauve chandelier earring
Blue-green waterfall earring

Last but not least, I was inspired by a recent post on the CraftStylish blog and decided to try my hand at Amigurumi. I picked up this book and learned some basic crochet stitches. Having never crocheted before, I'm very, very bad at it, but I still completed a couple of small pieces from the book. I'll post them here for amusement value.

Egg -- my very first attempt at this
Chick in an eggshell -- this one is a little better

Whew! That's quite a lot of stuff. I also finished the bunny decoration for Mary, but stupidly forgot to take pictures of it. Derp!

More updates to come! For real!

Lots of sewing!

2008-01-19T19:14:00.001-06:00

I've been a busy sewer lately! I made another laptop sleeve, this one for John's mom. I made it out of a canvasy home dec fabric instead of corduroy this time. Hopefully it will hold up as well as mine has.

I also finished the bunny that I was making for my friend Mary -- I posted pictures of the work in progress on here a while back. Now I'm sewing the mitten that velcros onto the bunny.

I bought myself this totally awesome book. When I'm finished with my pending projects, I'm going to make some of these as gifts. I love weird stuffed animals!

And last but not least, the beaded ornament pictures I promised. Once again, excuse the terrible flash -- these were taken with my point and shoot camera:

Beaded Ornament
Beaded Ornament (close-up)

Oh, and I got a new Rowenta Advancer iron! It's about a million times better than my old one!

Laptop Case

2007-12-15T19:21:00.001-06:00

Whew! I may be the laziest blogger ever, but I have been sewing. I only have one completed project to share, but it's one that I've used a lot. When I went to Photoshop World at the beginning of September, I needed a laptop sleeve. I decided that instead of spending $35+ on one at the Mac store, I'd look for a pattern and make my own. So I did! I had enough JoAnn's gift cards that I didn't even have to pay for the fabric!

I used Simplicity 3889, view B. The outside is burgundy corduroy with a lop-shaped corduroy applique. The inside is olive green polar fleece. There is also polyester batting, craft foam, and muslin on the inside.

Here is a collage of different views:

I hand sewed the inside binding, which took a long time but looks a lot better than if I tried to sew it on the machine (because of the thickness of the edge).

For the record, the lop applique fabric already had the embroidery on it. That's the first question most people have -- did I do the embroidery myself? Obviously, no.

The laptop sleeve has been through a lot of abuse, spending many hours inside my backpack, and it has held up amazingly well. Plus, it fits my Macbook perfectly!

Now I just need to keep working on my sloper patterns...

Endless Pattern Drafting

2007-03-24T23:21:00.001-05:00

I can't figure this one out, unless it had to do with extreme fabric distortion. But when I sewed up Version 2.0 of my bodice sloper, the armholes didn't fit at all. This is the pattern I traced directly from the altered sloper that I was wearing, so you would think, if there was anything logical about this whole sewing thing, that sewing another one from that pattern would fit. I was wearing a thicker bra when I tried the second sloper on, but I don't think that would really explain it.

It doesn't matter because I opened the armholes way up (and let out the side seams at the chest level, which will hopefully accommodate the thicker bra) and traced a new version.

I drafted some sleeves from the original Version 2.0 sloper measurements, and had some really weird discrepancies. With the new measurements from the armholes that actually FIT, the sleeve measurements worked out almost perfectly. So I have high hopes that the sleeves might have a chance in hell of fitting when I sew them.

So it doesn't make much sense for me to post my original bodice sloper images that I promised. I'll have to take pictures of the new versions.

I sewed up the skirt sloper with minimal issues, thank god. Someday soon I hope to be able to design and sew things (and alter existing patterns!) that actually fit.

I did finish the mauve satin skirt. Like I said in the last post, the fabric was much harder to work with. Overall, the skirt is fine, but the hem -- how to put this politely? -- sucks. Next time I work with this type of fabric I'm either going to hand-sew and/or roll a narrower hem and/or use some kind of basting tape. When I'm feeling less lazy, I'll set up the tripod so that I can get a picture of me wearing the skirt. I don't have a dressform, and for some reason throwing the skirt over the back of a chair doesn't make for fine photography.

I know this is technically my sewing blog, but I'd also like to post pictures of other craft projects as well. I finished a beaded ornament that I've been working on for YEARS. No, it wasn't so complicated that it took me years to finish. To make a long story short, I messed something up and I really didn't feel like redoing it, so I procrastinated like crazy. The sad part is, it was a gift for my mom. A gift that was a few years late. I'm so proud.

Stay tuned for pictures, hopefully before the end of the year.

Catching up...

2007-02-03T19:08:00.001-06:00

I need to find those bodice pattern and skirt prototype images I promised. They're somewhere on my other computer, and I'm way too comfortable to get up and search for them right now.

But I do have some new images of a tiered skirt I made somewhat recently. This pattern was drafted from some instructions in an issue of Threads magazine. Although it was supposed to be one of those "make it in two hours!!!" patterns, it took me much, much longer than two hours to make the first one. And so far I put at least two hours into the second one as well. I admit, I like finishing things off nice and neat, and I'm sure it would have saved me some time not to serge the seams and finish the waist and hem, but I like making the finished details. It still would've taken me over two hours, even without those finishing touches.

The skirt pattern consists of four rectangles, each based on the widest measurement below the waist. For me this is right at my thighs -- I'm kind of oddly shaped. There's lots of gathering involved for each tier of the skirt -- the biggest challenge was getting the gathers distributed evenly.

So without further ado, the pictures!

Me in the fish skirt.

The material I used on this one was a cotton batik. It wasn't particularly difficult to work with, but I did have to draft a special version of the pattern because of the material. The width was 45" rather than 60", and I wanted the fish to be oriented horizontally. Since this would not allow for the bottom tier to be cut out in two pieces (one for the front, one for the back), I had to divide it up. I didn't want the seam to be right in the front, so I divided the front and back into thirds and added the necessary seams. Plus, I had to add special notches in the third tier in order to line up the fourth tier properly.

Although, like I mentioned before, the instructions called for unfinished seams (and waist, and hem), I finished all inner seams with the serger. I also finished the hem and waist with no raw edges. The only issue I ran into by doing this was that I didn't allow for a wide enough waist casing and ended up using a narrower elastic. This doesn't stay up as well as the wider elastic would.

Here are some details on the inside of the skirt:

Hem
Inner construction
Waist

I have material for two more of these skirts, and I've started on the second one. For this one, I drafted a new fourth tier, since the material is 60" and I can cut the tier in two pieces.

The second skirt material is this beautiful mauve washable satin. I've never worked with any sort of satin before, so I can't say how similar this is to "regular" satin. But it's very tricky to work with. For one thing, it seems to snag easily -- there are spots that look almost like runs. I think these must have gotten scratched by the pins or something. Another tricky feature is that the fabric is much more flexible than the cotton batik -- it distorts much more easily. I also noticed, when sewing a test scrap, that when I put any stress on the seam that it will nearly pull apart on its own. I'm not sure how to deal with this type of thing -- I haven't worked with unstable (or somewhat unstable) fabric before. The good news is that there won't be any stress on these seams -- it's a loose fitting skirt.

I did have to work with my serger to come up with a decent setting for this fabric. Because of its instability, it likes to get scalloped edges. I raised the differential feed setting, which seems to help (except at the end of the seam), and I also had to loosen the needle tension to avoid puckers.

I haven't gotten much further than cutting out the pieces on this one, but I have a picture of the fabric. My little camera won't take a picture that will do this fabric justice, but this will give you somewhat of an idea:

Mauve skirt material

I don't know how well this fabric will hold up, since just pinning and cutting seemed to cause problems, but it's so pretty I hope it won't get destroyed after two wearings.

Anyway, I'll see if I can find those other images I meant to post...

Sewing room cleaning and bunny hanger

2006-08-09T23:18:00.001-05:00

I really have no excuse for not updating in the last eight months. It hasn't been for lack of projects. In fact, I received a pattern drafting book for Christmas and I've been (slowly at times) teaching myself how to draft my own patterns. I've also completed a skirt pattern and prototype for my Rikku costume.

My current project, an extremely belated Christmas present for a friend, is a bunny wall hanger (Simplicity 4389). I already made one for another Christmas gift, which allowed me to work out most of the bugs. Here are some pictures of the work in progress:

In pieces
Stitching detail on the wrong side
Stitching detail on the wrong side 2

I took the pictures of the stitching detail (the brown line, not the yellow basting line) because I was particularly proud of it. The first one I made was pretty pitiful at this point. Unfortunately, the ears -- which are basted to the head on the inside at this point -- were much better on the first one. I didn't clip the seam of the ear before I basted it, so when I turned it right side out, the ear was not totally caught in the seam. I had to re-stitch the seam on the top of the head, moving it down farther (and ruining my awesome first-time stitching job...*sigh*). I also had to do some hand-stitching to cover up the ear seam. It was a mess, but it looks fine from the outside.

The other challenge involves the ears as well. The pattern instructions call for floral wire inside the ears to make them stand up. The ends of the wire are taped together inside the ear at the bottom. Since I didn't want to repeat the mistake of the first time where I had to sew over the wire (not good for the machine), I tucked the wire ends far enough up inside the ear that they would not be sticking into the seam. Unfortunately this (or perhaps the heaviness of the wire) doesn't allow for as much support at the seams. When I hold the head in the center (where the plastic loop hanger goes), the sides of the head collapse, making the ears hang forward. To get around this, I'm going to sew a loop hanger to the back of the ears rather than the head. It will be more annoying to hang up, but it's really the only way it'll work at this point.

To be fair, the first iteration, even with its wires in the seam, may also collapse in this way -- when I made it, I couldn't find the plastic loops, so I didn't get to test it properly.

Anyway, those problems are easy enough to fix, so I'll just be happy that I've become more successful at stitching around a curving outline.

In other news, I've been working on cleaning up my sewing room. Not just the usual picking up, but a whole new reorganization. I don't have a good "before" picture, but some of my earlier photos of the room show how I used to store my fabric and such. I did snap some "before" pictures this time around, but only after I'd already pulled a bunch of stuff out of my closet and reorganized the fabric.

Before:
Looking into the room
A look at the partially-organized closet and the not-at-all-organized sewing machine table
Another look into the room

After:
Organized closet
A wider look at the closet and the pattern cabinet
Looking into the room again
Ironing board and bookshelf
Pattern-drafting area
What's behind the door
Clean sewing table
Bulletin board
Bookshelf and sexy entertainment center (with TV, DVD player, stereo, and iPod hookup)

I feel very good about this current organization. It makes me feel more creative for some reason.

I have some more pictures of the skirt prototype and my bodice pattern coming up!

Ginny's new bed

2005-12-11T21:03:00.001-06:00

I finished the dog bed! As always, the pictures are taken with my little camera and very little image correction. Forgive my laziness.

View 1
View 2
View 3

I made it using Simplicity 7014. I used a light yellow minky fabric for the main part of the bed and black polar fleece for the ears and nose. The interior cushion is made from muslin.

I'm planning to write a more detailed pattern review for (duh) Pattern Review, but I'll give a few details here.

First of all, the bed involves sewing opposite curves together -- its own interesting challenge. I've never really done this properly before. I staystitched and clipped the inner curves and ease-stitched the outer curves, which worked really well. The inner cushion muslin was a lot easier to sew this way than the outer minky fabric, since the muslin stretches on the bias and the minky is a one-way knit. Yay for me finally learning how to do this successfully.

The other issue was the stuffed cushion. The pattern called for 120 oz. of fiberfill, some of which went into the nose and ears, but most of which went into the cushion. I only ended up using 4 out of 6 bags, and although this didn't fill the bed "shell" out completely, if I had stuffed it any fuller, I would not have been able to fit it through the velcro opening. As it was, I still had to reinforce some of the bottom seams of the outer part because they ripped out the first time I removed the cushion.

The rest of it went pretty well. I mean, it's really cute!

Rikku costume update!

2005-12-06T23:26:00.001-06:00

I realize I haven't written in here for a while, but it's not for lack of progress. I've just been working on so much sewing stuff, I got overwhelmed. I'm still working on the Rikku costume, of course, and to add extra stress and fun to my holiday season, I'm making several presents for people this year. One of which is another dog bed, this one for my parents' pug, Ginny. It's almost finished, and I should have pictures very soon.

As for the Rikku costume, I have several progress pictures to share. As you might remember, here is the original costume drawing. And in one of my last entries, I talked about working on the top. Well, the top is finished except for the black strap and the front cord. I have supplies for these, but haven't crafted them yet.

BUT! I do have pictures of me wearing the top with some stand-in straps and front cord. They're blurry and quite silly, but they give a good idea of what the top will look like. I debated posting these pictures publicly, but then I realized that I'm going to be wearing this in public anyway. And if I can't feel comfortable posting blurry pictures of me wearing a skimpy bikini top and "Toadily Cool" frog shorts, well, then what kind of cosplayer am I?

So here you go. These pictures contain BOOBS, such as they are. Fear my A-cups!

Jeanne poses goofily in the mirror. Sexy!
Maybe they'll look bigger if I post a close-up shot...

As for detailed shots of the costume thus far sans my chest, here they are:
The main part of the scarf is complete!
Bikini front detail
Bikini back detail

Now, anyone can throw some trim on a yellow underwire bra and call it a Rikku top, but as you can see, my goal is to create something that looks -- and holds together -- like the actual top. I made some mistakes here and there, and had to make some necessary changes because of the way I constructed it (such as the location of the eyelets), but I think it's overall successful. If I made another one, I know what I would do differently, and that's the important part of the learning process, right?

Another thing that is important to me as I work on getting out of this pesky novice category is to make the wrong side of the costume pieces look as good as the right side. It would have been a million times easier to construct that top without making the binding look good on both sides, or by leaving the buckle strap unfinished, but I wanted it to look like...well, if the straight males in the audience will excuse me, I wanted it to look like it would if Rikku took off her top. Meaning, of course, that it is an actual finished garment. I'm sure this at least doubled the time it took me to make that particular piece.

I still have a long way to go on the costume and my sewing/costuming skills in general, but I'm feeling pretty good about this one so far.

New URL!

2005-10-13T19:49:00.001-05:00

I am testing the new URL -- http://sewing.jeannerubbo.com. I have plenty of new content coming soon!

2005-09-25T23:53:00.001-05:00

Whew. Okay. I finished the pumpkin placemats shortly after my last post. They were a lot easier than the napkins because the shapes were bigger so the curves weren't as tight. The placemat fabric, despite its thickness, wasn't difficult to sew at all. I had pretty much no problems with it.

Here are some finished pictures:
Entire placemat
Close-up on applique

I have my sewing salon tomorrow at Treadle Yard Goods. The purpose is to get help with sewing without it being an actual class with the cost and numerous dates that entails. It seems that sewing classes never fit into my schedule, because I always have some sort of conflict. So this kind of thing works out better for me.

I'm bringing my Rikku bikini top along, seeing as how that's my current project. I've been way too busy to even think about stepping in the sewing room in the last week, unfortunately. So I set aside a bunch of time today to prepare. I actually cut into the yellow fabric. I'm such a chicken about cutting my actual fabric, so this was a big step for me. ;) Related note: I took a trip to SR Harris again on Friday and learned that my yellow fabric is poly/lycra. There isn't any info on this in my Fabric Savvy book, but I'm sewing it like nylon/lycra. I did learn (from an online link I found) that poly/lycra has a ribbed side and a wrong side. That was probably too subtle for me to catch on my own, so I'm glad I found that.

I started keeping a sewing journal to record my observations, how I solved certain problems and why I did it that way, and certain settings that I used to sew stuff. I'll probably pick and choose some stuff to put in here. Needless to say, I learned a lot today about cutting, sewing, binding, and putting eyelets into knits. Hopefully I'll have more success stories tomorrow.

2005-09-15T23:13:00.001-05:00

Here's my obligatory "I'm not dead!" post for the month.

I took about a month long break from sewing stuff in preparation for my Arizona trip -- I spent pretty much all my time studying. Now that I'm back and have gone to an anime convention, which always inspires me, I'm back in business.

Before I started my sewing break, I started working on the main parts of my Rikku costume. For those of you unfamiliar with the costume, here's a picture. Yeah. Stop laughing.

So I started work on the top. Here are some of the challenges for a novice such as myself:

1) Making it the right shape to match the costume. (Bonus difficulty: it looks different in every drawing/rendering.)
2) Making a bikini top in the first place -- I've never made one before!
3) Getting the right amount of support.
4) Making it look good on a small-chested person such as myself.
5) Getting that edge binding to look right.

I bought some awesome material for both the top/bottom and their binding at SR Harris. Of course I didn't bother to check what kind of lycra it is, so when I opened up my Fabric Savvy book, I found out that the sewing/prewashing is slightly different for cotton lycra versus nylon lycra. Great. And of course, the difference is that nylon is shiny while cotton is matte. Except that I can't tell which one the base yellow fabric is -- I'm pretty sure the binding is nylon. So yay for me. I found a very similar fabric on one of the shirts in my closet that says it's nylon, so I'm going with that.

For the top, I started with a base pattern and modified the hell out of it. In fact, I did a lot more modifying than I thought I knew how to do -- John was impressed. Now that I have the fabric and it's stretchier than the knits I was using to test, I took some material off the edges of the pattern. We'll see if that works.

And of course I'm hoping to finish the pumpkin placemats soon -- I spent this evening tracing and cutting out the applique. Tomorrow I sew!

2005-07-12T20:21:00.001-05:00

The napkins are done! I still have to do the six placemats, though. That'll be more of a challenge because of the weird fabric.

Here are some pictures. Of course, I didn't realize until I was editing the images that I picked up the very first napkin I did, so it's probably my worst one. Way to go, Jeanne!

Napkin
Closer view
Close-up of pumpkin applique

And just for fun, I snapped a picture of the lovely unraveling threads on the back of the placemat that I mentioned in my last entry.

Awesome work, Jeanne!

I went to JoAnn's today and spent the rest of my gift cards. I picked up a buttload of new bobbins (I ran out) as well as some pattern interfacing and this extremely cool hand embroidery book. I figured that since I'm not going to have an embroidery machine for a while, I may as well learn to embroider by hand. Creative people always find a way around their limitations, right?

With this pattern interfacing, I can start working on pattern alterations. I'm still working my way through the fitting books.

2005-07-11T00:29:00.001-05:00

I'm reading up on some pattern alteration stuff before diving into my next garment project. In the meantime, I'm working on a simple pumpkin applique, once again from Clotilde's Sewing Savvy. What can I say, I'm into making cute stuff lately.

Of course, I've already learned something important. Something that is probably quite obvious to everyone else in the world: check the washing instructions before chucking the fabric into the washing machine. See, I got these placemats and napkins for the project, and washed them according to what kind of fabric they were (cotton) without noticing that the little tag said "hand wash only." Derp. So there are some...problems on the back of the placemats. Namely, some of the weave threads broke and unraveled. It hasn't made its way to the front of the mats, so I may be okay.

I'm still learning to applique corners, but by the time I finish the six placemats and six napkins, I'll probably be a pro.

2005-07-07T22:37:00.001-05:00

Hi there! I'm still alive and still sewing. I've been so busy with my regular website and school in the last year, but now that I'm unemployed, I have time to sew. It's actually a blessing.

Right now, I'm working on finishing up the projects I either started or for which I bought supplies. First on the list was the bunny bib mentioned in the last entry. I finished it up today. Here are some pictures:

Bunny bib front
Bunny bib back
Bunny bib front bias tape detail
Bunny bib back bias tape detail

I could only get so close with the dinky camera. :) Here are some notes from the project:

The Good
*This time around I had no trouble with the applique feed. I used 0.3 for the stitch width and didn't experience any of the issues I discussed before.

*Thanks to a little bit of coaching in a presser foot class (that I took sometime within the last year or so), I was able to go around curves more successfully with the applique. Also, my start and end points matched up better than before.

*The bias tape was a LOT, LOT better this time around. While I haven't been sewing, I've been doing more reading, and I decided to try some of what I read for the bias tape application. I took a lot more time with shaping the curves with the iron, and I hand-stitched the back after machine sewing the front. It's not perfect, but it's such an improvement over the last attempt. And the hand-stitching may be more time consuming but a) I don't have a bias tape application foot, and b) it gave me a lot more control than trying to catch both sides with the machine at once.

The Bad
*I appliqued the center piece first, and quickly learned that it's best to do the outside pieces first. No biggie, but just a thought for next time.

*I haven't yet mastered appliqueing corners -- I have some excess stitching in the yellow. I'll have to figure that one out.

*One of the alignment marks is slightly visible through the bunny. Note to self: material isn't 100% opaque.

*I don't know if I mentioned this before, but the instructions call for sewing the rick-rack on with invisible nylon thread. For the life of me, I could not get this to work last time -- I tried different types of thread in the bobbin, even. So like last time, I just used a regular kind-of-matching thread to sew it on. Plus, even if I wanted to try the nylon again, the top broke off the thread spool. Odd, that.

In all, I would consider this one a success!

I've been working on my scarf as well, and I'm just over six inches to completion. I'll post pictures when it's finished.

2004-04-02T12:10:00.001-06:00

I just finished making a bib for my cousin's baby:

I got the project idea out of Clotilde's Sewing Savvy. I learned some new techniques, which I kind of suck at so far. I did my first satin stitch applique on a project. It turned out pretty well, except for the starting/ending points which are really obvious. I also attached bias tape around the edges, which did not go well. The fold wouldn't stay on the edge of the fabric, and it just did not want to go around curves well. So I'm not extremely pleased with it, but it was my first time with bias tape.

I also need to find some kind of fabric marker that can be removed. I was using a quilting pencil, which would not come off with the eraser or with water. The chalk liner that was recommended to me had the same problem. I'm not sure if this is because I was using white fabric or what. I scrubbed the fabric too hard, but my scrub lines were covered up by the rickrack.

But overall, it was a quick, easy project that helped me learn some new stuff. Hopefully the second one I make (with a bunny applique) will be better.

2004-03-26T09:30:00.001-06:00

Why do I always wait so long between posts? I guess because I hadn't been doing too much sewing stuff, instead focusing on VGR and some video games.

On Saturday, I went to "Sewing Adventures 2004" put on by Husqvarna-Viking. I ended up learning a lot and spending an assload of money on new sewing machine feet and other accessories. I bought the heirloom kit despite not having a sewing machine that can do heirloom type stitches. I will someday, though.

Last night, I went to a sewing machine foot class and ended up buying an open toe foot for my machine. I went home and practiced satin stitch applique. For some reason the fabric doesn't like to feed through my machine when I do 0.2 length stitches, and is a little iffy in certain spots on the 0.3 length stitches. I don't know if the presser foot is slipping on the stabilizer or what.

I've also been working a lot on my scarf:

The thing is, the actual scarf I'm basing it on has a color change gradient rather than bands. But I didn't want to knit a 9 foot single-colored scarf (my first scarf, by the way) and then potentially screw it up in the dye process. So yeah, it won't look exactly like Rikku's scarf, so hopefully other cosplayers won't scoff at it. :P

The other night, when I tried satin stitch applique for the first time, I was a total klutz. I managed to try satin stitching with the wrong stitch (the buttonhole stitch), I ironed the wrong side of the fusible stabilizer, and when I examined the resulting cruddiness on the iron, I managed to spill water everywhere. I don't think I'm cut out for this!

2004-01-25T15:32:00.001-06:00

I know I haven't posted in a while. I just had surgery, so I've been recovering and all that fun stuff. But I started reading my Readers Digest sewing book again. I'm halfway through!

I picked up a couple of other books at the half price bookstore. One is on fitting, and the other one is about fixing sewing screwups.

Oh, and I've been doing a lot of research on the hobbit costumes. Frame-by-frame DVD screenshots. Fun! I know there's a lot of stuff on alleycatscratch.com, but I like doing my own research, too. I don't just want to copy work that other people did!