2016 Review

Real Clothes
This year I made a lot of normal, relatively plain everyday clothes.  I reused patterns with only minor (or no) variations. And because of the simplicity of the construction I was able to finish some garments in a single sitting. Relevant posts here.

Firstly I made six shirts from Vogue 8328. I’d wanted to make this pattern for years but hadn’t had appropriate fabric. I made two versions of each view after which I decided that I didn’t like the fit very much. I have got a lot of wear out of the light grey one particularly.

I made two skirts from McCalls 6608 which I love. I got fabric at Christmas which will be a third skirt. These nicely replace my standard long skirts that were discontinued last year (just before mine all wore out). I wore mid-length skirts for a while but found that I really wanted to be a long-skirt person.

I developed a maxi-dress pattern which is very comfortable and pretty so I made three of them and, when the weather changed, I adapted the pattern to be a summer dress. I don’t think it works quite as well short as it doesn’t have the weight in the skirt to make everything sit right (although this might just be me being a long-skirt person). Blog posts for the first two here and here.

I made a couple of coats: a gold cardigan to go with one of the maxi-dresses and a fleecy McCalls 7025 to wear around the house when it’s cold.

Also from the McCalls range (which did very well out of me this year) was this dress, McCalls 7091.Posts here and here. While I do really like it I found that the pattern will need a fair bit of adjusting to fit nicely and comfortably. And I don’t think I want to spend the effort, not when making the dress itself is also a lot of effort – so many seams to be sewn and pressed and neatened... The skirt could be longer too.

I made another 40s dress, this time for cooler weather. It’s still in that phase where I am too aware of its problems to be sure I like it but I expect I will warm to it. I have more 40s dresses planned for next year. They have become the staple of my summer wardrobe.

For years people have been introducing me with “she sews all her own clothes” after which I’ve had to clarify that "actually I mostly make costumes and didn’t make anything I’m wearing". But now those introducers will be right.

Lessons
I continued to have sewing lessons this year. Lots of sewing lessons. In April I had a class for every day of every weekend except for one Saturday – and I made up for that by having one lesson on a Friday.

The stretch sewing course I did is largely responsible for my foray into making everyday knit garments. In the performance-wear class I made swimming togs and afterwards used that pattern as the starting point for my maxi-dress pattern.

In two garment making courses, in which I made a skirt and a pattern for a shirt, I learnt lots of finishing techniques and how to adjust patterns for my personal fitting issues. I also learnt that I have a lot of fitting issues – which explains why I have trouble buying clothes. (The reason I always wear skirts is that no-one, including me, makes pants that fit me).

I did an overlocker class because I won an overlocker and had several private patternmaking lessons for a costuming project.

Costumes
I didn’t finish any costumes this year. I am somewhat bewildered by this. I did, however, make a significant amount of progress on a couple of projects.

I started making Elizabeth’s first outfit from BioShock Infinite. I had patternmaking lessons to make the shirt pattern. Still to do are buttons and buttonholes, skirt hems, and accessories.

I continued working on my Assassin’s Creed costume, making a resin cast for the belt buckle. I didn’t expect to be good at sculpting but it worked well, so that was pleasing. I am still discovering how to proceed with the resin but I think it’s all going to turn out fine. I have also worked on the fabric component of the belt.

I did finish one costume-related item: a bag to go with my Misery outfit.

Events
At this year’s Canberra Show I won two first places and three seconds. My Eowyn costume won overall champion of the sewing section. The prize was a sewing machine (which has found a good home) and an overlocker.

In September I had an exhibit of my costumes at GAMMA.CON and entered the costume competition.

My church youth group occasionally holds ‘get to know you’ evenings where people present their interests to the group. It was my turn recently so I put up a display in the lounge room and told them about costuming.

My cousins came to visit at the end of the year and now both of them are sewing costumes! Having had lessons myself I’m more comfortable being a mentor as I now know some ‘right’ things I can tell them. I was pleased to be able to pass on the importance of seam allowances.

Miscellaneous
My favourite new sewing thing of this year has been my electric scissors. I was given them last Christmas and I love them so much. Now cutting out happens really quickly and my hand doesn’t get sore and the edges of the fabric are neater. However –  if you rush out to buy a pair make sure you give them a test drive first as some people find them hard to control and uncomfortable. But I think they’re wonderful!

I have continued to make glacial progress on my Bayeux Tapestry dress.

I spied-a-bag

When I decided to wear my Misery costume to GAMMA.CON this year I also decided that I needed a bag to go with it. I went through an episode of Ruby Gloom (The Last Train to Gloomsville – because they go on holidays and therefore must have bags) and found some options.

I decided on the small maroon bag in the centre which has Misery's spider seal on it. She can be seen carrying it in other episodes.

To get the required size of the bag I put my drink bottle, phone and purse (the intended contents) on a piece of paper and drew a rectangle around them. The skeleton of the bag is buckram with gardening wire around the top and base.

I was making up my method of construction as I went, never quite sure that what I was planning next would work. But it all worked out in the end.

The outer layer is a sample of curtain fabric that's been in the stash for years which I edged with rickrack braid.

The top is all rectangles with wire around the centre edges. (Sorry if that doesn't make sense – I could barely keep the concept in my head when I was doing it). I put a zip in one side to create a pocket to keep small things I wanted to access easily (Lip balm... it's for lip balm. Lip balm is so important to me that it gets specially designed pockets).

I sewed the top and bottom right sides together. The wire made it very difficult to turn it out but I'm not sure how else I could do it. And ta-da:

The spider motif is hand painted onto green fabric that is wrapped over a buckram disc. I had to use purple paint instead of black because purple was the closest thing I had on hand and it was night-time so the shops were shut. The back closes with snaps. The handles stay upright and right angled because the fabric is reasonably stiff and I ironed them that way.

GAMMA.CON

Last month I attended GAMMA.CON which is a small pop-culture convention in Canberra.

Originally I had planned to go with a group of friends but when the time came most of them couldn't make it. I had never been to a con before so I was a bit apprehensive about attending alone – but then I was asked to be part of an exhibition of student costumes as part of the Cardif Collective stall.

I contributed five outfits: Viking, Esther, Ice Goth, Tia Dalma and 1901 Reception Dress. The TARDIS dress was made by another student.

I wore Misery (from Ruby Gloom) on the Saturday. Despite making it four years ago I had never worn it before except to take pictures. I had a hair tie safety-pinned to the end of the train so I could attach it to my wrist and draped the veil over my arm. This protected them from being stepped on but I will think twice before hanging three metres of fabric from my head again (actually I won't – but I ought to think twice). Even though I was carrying most of the veil on my arm, my neck was feeling it by the end of the day.

Because I was wearing and taking costumes I already had, the only thing I needed to make in preparation was a bag. I'm glad I wasn't working on anything more significant because even though I started work a week out, I was still up past midnight the night before to finish it.

On the Sunday I wore my Eowyn costume to compete in the costume competition. I had a good time with the competition which is kind of odd given that it was mostly waiting around, either to be judged or to go onstage, but it's definitely something I want to do again. I didn't get a prize but had a very positive reaction from the audience.

Other than that I didn't find the experience of being 'in costume' particularly noticeable. This might be partly because I was mostly by myself which allowed ample opportunity to forget about what I was wearing. But I also think it is because my focus is so much more on making rather than wearing. I had a friend come to watch the competition and going around the floor with them afterwards was a lot more fun for me than the day before had been. I definitely want to go again – but next time I will drag a few more people along.

The ubiquitous Simplicity 2172

Like every other costumer, it seems, I was quite taken by Simplicity 2172 when it was released. I ordered it at my local sewing shop (where it had already sold out) and decided to make a version of the coat for everyday wear.  

I chose to omit the neck and sleeve ruffles so the coat would look a bit more utilitarian and I raised the neckline. I also left off the back lacing as the line of the coat is so nice without it. Once I had finished the coat I kept noticing that the neckline gaped a bit so I put a pleat on each side.

This coat is lined, which is a technique I struggle with a bit. There are some parts of the coat that don’t sit quite right and I expect the sleeve linings to pull free at any moment but overall I think it turned out okay.

 

The main thing I learned from lining the coat was to not use designated lining fabrics. Putting this coat on actually makes me cold due to the feel of the lining fabric, and it takes a while to warm up. As it is a reasonably light coat, for spring or autumn wear, this does not matter so much, but I will remember this for when I make a winter coat. The lining is also inclined to fray and pull apart around the stitches – hence my fear for the sleeves.

The coat pattern has pockets – and a good technique for making them.

I have made the corset from this pattern several times and have found it to be very comfortable. I can’t speak for the instructions though, as I used the method from Truly Victorian TV110 adapted to include a layer of fashion fabric. All have an inner layer of coutil and are boned with cable-ties (two in each channel).

 This one goes in my everyday wardrobe:

This one is part of my Ice Goth outfit:

And here I adapted the pattern into a bodice for my Misery costume:

Misery

Ruby Gloom is a children’s cartoon that I am unreasonably fond of. My favourite character is Misery who is basically a living bad luck charm, constantly being hit by lightning and the like. I had no occasion to wear a Misery costume but I wanted to make one, so I used the lack of deadline to take my time and make it as good as I wanted it to be. It was also an interesting exercise in interpreting a costume design from 2D animation: the character does not have human proportions, animated fabric doesn’t have to behave like real fabric, and details (like sleeve length) vary between shots.

I decided I wanted to make a costume that looked more like a realistic outfit rather than keep to an animated texture. I was going to do this by adding beading and embroidery, but after I had done the embroidery I thought it was enough. This outfit is Misery’s house dress so it probably wouldn’t be too fancy. The show has a goth-y aesthetic so I did some research of goth fashion before I started my design. I’m not sure that I used anything I found in particular, but it was useful information to keep in the back of my mind.

Bodice adapted from Simplicity 2172

Misery is associated with a spider motif so I embroidered a spiderweb pattern over the bodice. I’ve always liked the look of the non-spiral webs that we get in the backyard so I used a photo of one for my embroidery pattern. To transfer the design to the corset I used an overhead projector to shine the photo on the bodice and traced it on. The web is embroidered using chain stitch and iridescent thread the same colour as the satin. The embroidery alone (without beading) broke up the colour blocking and was subtle enough to add an extra layer of feature to the outfit without deviating too far from the original design.

For Misery’s dress I used the pattern Burda 2484. Because the neck and skirt of Misery’s dress are a different colour from the sleeves I changed the pattern so that the side pieces went all the way to the shoulder line rather than the armhole. That way any visible shoulder fabric would be the same as the sleeves. Finding complementary purples was difficult, but Patchwork On Parker in Cootamundra had the perfect stuff.

Misery wears a spider brooch at her throat – I made mine out of Sculpey.

The neck piece was a lot of work. After I made a couple of failed patterns, my mum draped fabric around my neck to make a pattern. (Draping a pattern on your own neck is difficult!) Misery’s collar has ribbing or some other vertically striped texture. I used flat-felled seams to get the effect.

After much experimentation I came to the conclusion that my real chiffon was never going to drape as well as the animated stuff. To get the right shape I cut the shape of the drapery into the chiffon. To finish the edges of the veil I melted it over a candle. This meant there was no bulky hem (and it seemed appropriate for a character who was always being singed). The flowers are just decorative; the veil is held in place by a comb. I bought 3m of chiffon so that I would have some room to experiment but ended up using all of it.

I am very happy with the finished result. 

 Ruby Gloom® Mighty Fine YTV is a trademark of Corus Entertainment Inc.

2012 review

2012 was a very productive year for me sewing-wise.

I made these costumes:

1950s evening ensemble for a friend's ‘Hollywood Glamour’ party, inspired by an extant outfit worn by Ava Gardner.

Misery, from the TV show Ruby Gloom.

This was a long project as I had nowhere in particular to wear it, so I wanted to take the time to make it just right.