guisemaker

This is what I entertained myself with yesterday evening:




One of my good friends from high school invited me to her baby shower this Sunday. I wanted to get her stuff that would last a while, so I decided to make a blanket, which I planned out yesterday in the 40 minutes I was stuck at Wally World waiting for an oil change. I didn't want *just* pink, and the flannel selection was limited, so I chose a mottled bright green, pink plaid, that crazy striped flannel, and dark pink blanket binding. The backing is a super comfy off-white flannel. It's about 45x35 in. so a perfect size for years to come!! And it's all pre-washed so it's extra fluffy!! And I *really* like that dark pink color for female babies...any future baby accessory endeavors might just have that pink. :D

I also wanted to get her baby a teddy bear, but Wal-Mart had a shit selection, so I hopped over to Target and got a teddy, a pink/white/red striped beanie($1.00), red/white striped tights/pants ($1.00), chocolate for mommy, and baby wash. I decided to get/make things that her girl will use for longer than two months. :) I put it all in a basket I bought for $3.00 which I then spray painted a butter cream color. The total, blanket costs included, was $20.00!!!

I should have remembered that by now.

The corset I'm working on right now for my customer is finally finished...Sunday noontime instead of the anticipated Saturday morning. I ended up having to take apart the Side-side-front panels at the hips cos they flared out too much...even though I went by her measurements. Anywho, yeah, that's over, and I ALSO found out yesterday that she is allergic to nickel, and even though the grommet packaging didn't say whether or not they were nickel, we played it safe and added a modesty panel that covers the grommets. Other than that, we tried it on her this weekend and she looks smashing!! :D So...then I moved on to the skirt, she gave me three yards of stretch velvet...and boyo, do I remember my problems with stretch velvet...because I need the bias of all panels running the same direction, I could only cut two panels (the skirt is going to be FULL), and I need four, so I have to go grab 3 more yards of it...and hope that Wally World has it. -.- I was SO hoping to have the whole costume finished this afternoon :(

Sooo...now to do homework...I have 6 drawings, one painting and a French test to study for by tomorrow morning...YIPPEEEEEEE!!!

So, the costume commissions checklist of what I have done and what I have yet to do...

Ben - robe, tunic, trousers - DONE!
Oran's Cloak - DONE!
The Rachel - custom corset, skirt and blouse - sewing!
Sean - vest, tunic, trousers - starting next week
Suzanne - Civil War-era gown - starting in January

MINE!! - tunic, bodice, cloak - starting next week

And it's all because of this image:




On to costuming news...

One of my customers is actually going to be in my town this weekend, so I don't have to drive to her to give her her costume!! I'm so excited, and the second draft of her custom corset was perfect on Saturday, so all this week I will be constructing the final corset, her skirt and her blouse. :D Thankfully, the skirt and blouse will be SIMPLE. I'm anticipating finishing all of this by Friday...but unfortunately I will also have 7 drawings of faeries due Wednesday for my Printmaking project...soo....yeah, I hope it doesn't get int the way of my grades >< Also, I will be finishing a travelling cloak this weekend for another customer.

I came up with a new design recently (well, the design has been in my head for a while). It is a bodice and tunic that I will wear with my charcoal grey tights. The tunic will be made out of some leftover white cotton gauze, and the bodice's fashion layer will be a heavy duty brown faux suede. I'm also going to add EMBROIDERY!! To the front center panel of the bodice. I also have about two yards of a tan faux suede as well as a dark brown/purple fabric (2 yds) of a similar weight and texture that I will turn into a cloak of alternating color panels. :D





And then...this one I came up with just for a charcoal/black plaid wool I bought the other day:

So, I've been working on a costume for a customer, and it's a tunic, jedi-esque robe and trousers for him to wear to the Renaissance Festival. Well, the tunic has been by far the most trying garment to make. I used one of Simplicity's patterns for the basics, and fixed it up from there, changing the collar and sleeves to my design. Firstly, the effing collar from the printed out pattern was TWICE AS SMALL as the effing neckline on the shirt. So, I made my own, it fit on perfectly and was looking pretty snazzy. Well, I never actually put the finished tunic on a mannequin, and now that I do, the collar is looking a little like it belongs on a sailor boy. It looks fine when the shirt is open, but the tunic will lace up the front, and when it's laced up all the way, it's going to look just PRECIOUS. So...now I have to re-do it. (Don't worry Ben, you'll still have your garb on Sunday) At least now I'm at home with my parents so Mummsie can help me with any last minute problems.

Pictures to come soon...and I'll have to add my McGonagall photos in...it turned out pretty kickass.

My friend Kim came up with a costume that she wants me to make for her. It's a fantasy/gypsy costume composed of yellow, pink, fuschia, grandma pink, and dark purple/burgundy. So, I've been working on it in parts. I wanted to tackle the corset first, just to get it out of the way before I got a job this summer, and I'm scared of making the trousers for her costume >.>

So, to cut down on the cost of her corset, I decided to make it from this one McCall's pattern that I already had cut out, and make adjustments of my own. I took about four inches off of the pattern, and sewed it according to my own directions, not the ones on the pattern. I also minimized the breast definition on the front center and side front panels. We wanted external bone casing out of the cotton, which I doubled for extra strength. There are three-ish layers. Cotton canvas on the inside, and I fused each piece of the fashion layer to a stiff petticoat material. I forget the name. But it's for petticoats. This has taken me about 30 hours, on and off, and some of that is due to unstitching and re-sewing. >< Of course. Fabrics are cotton and crepe-back satin...or was it Windsor satin? Windsor satin. And I used duct ties for the boning.

So, (I've just realised that whenever I type a journal or Deviation Description I tend to start with "So,") since finals are over, the semester is over, and I kind of kicked ass with 3 B's and a C, (B's are a blessing in the backstabbing, bullshitting art department) it's time to finish the Fantastical Pink Gypsy corset for my friend. I brought my leftie scissors and the corset and remaining fabric for the edging home to my parents' house, but left my precious sewing machine at my home near the Uni. Since I'm at mom's right now, I needed to reaccustom myself with her 50 lb. sewing machine on which I have not sewn in 4 years. I even went through threading the machine with the pepto-bismol-pink thread, and then turned around and decided to finish a purse I had started over Winter Break. I'll just complete the corset in the few hours I have tomorrow morning before meeting with the friend to get my monies for it. :P

The purse!

A few months before Christmas in 2008, I was in JoAnn Fabrics with my mom shopping for fabric that was supposed to be for someone else. Well, I ran into this ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE corduroy with the animals on it, and HAD to buy a yard. I decided to make a purse, so I ran frantically to the cotton section, and selected another ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE print of argyle. Is that argyle? I just love that word.

Anywho, I didn't start making it until I was at my cousin's house helping her make a tutu for her niece. When we finished the tutu I was still in a sewing kick and started the purse with the only thread there, which was white. I really don't care about having the thread showing, I actually think it works with this purse. And it's for me so I'm allowed to be lazy I had the purse constructed and then all that was left was attaching the strap and making the applique, which I did tonight in about 30 minutes. This is my first applique and my....4th purse? 4th or 5th. FIFTH! Fifth purse. Yes.

A while back I lent my gold metallic Coats and Clark thread to a friend for a sewing project she was working on. She has since used it for anything but. :D A few months ago, the guard plate on the underneath side of her car fell off, and she tied it back to her car with the thread. It's still holding. On April Fool's Day, she paid back some fellow dorm mates by tying their doorhandles together with the thread. It held until they begged her to cut it. Apparently, they had tried the trick a few times prior with various things from Home Depot, and they always broke. But Coats and Clark Metallic Gold thread does it. :D I think it's hilarious, I still haven't had my thread returned to me, but it is totally worth hearing all these things she can do with my thread XD

Fantastical Pink Gypsy Progress....

The corset....now I'm going to add on the external bone casings...made out of this gloriously grandma floral print...the customer picked it, though I tried to persuade her otherwise...;)



Oh, and the flash actually makes the pinks in these fabrics look DULL. XD

So, being a Studio Art major, I have to put up with a lot of crap from students/faculty that think only contemporary art is the way to go. Being one who aspires to illustrate, this is the wrong place for me, and unfortunately I've realised that all too late. (Just a year left of school). This major has been A LOT of stress on me, and it's not just the workload (which is understandable, seeing as it's college). It's the injustices I have to deal with, and I've realised that maybe art is not a good career choice for me. Most of the people I have met that own galleries are DICKS that just try to squeeze your money out of you, a lot of artists (at least the contemporary/modern art types) are highly snooty, and these plus other factors are just taking the love of art out of me.
A lot of people wonder why I didn't major in Costume Design or Fashion. Well, I feel that the things I would learn in classes for sewing are just as easily learned from my mother or grandmother, or these oh-so-helpful communities on LJ. Plus, by the time I started college, I had been sewing for so many years that I think I would be too ahead of the costuming students. Aside from all that, costuming is a love of mine equal to illustration, and karate, and writing...and so I think I'm going to go into that when I graduate, and just be a freelance illustrator/artist on the side. I've had a few commissions spring up lately that are excellent opportunities to challenge myself in my sewing abilities, and my mother suggested applying for an internship at the Houston Ballet's costume department this summer. I'm not sure how much of a leg-up I'd have on other fashion or costume major students, but I think I have an equal chance at the most. If I get into costume design, it is a career that would enable me to possibly travel (which I LOVE to do), and possibly use the languages I've learned.

Now, out of the deep thinking and on to mindless babble...I created a Zazzle account for myself yesterday! (and spent a wonderfully mindless 5 hours editing artwork in PS and uploading)


buy unique gifts at Zazzle

She is finally complete! I worked on this one on and off for about 2 weeks. I started it before my Fantastical Pink Gypsy commission so that I could "warm up" and get back into my sewing groove. (Not sure if any of you suffer that, but I ALWAYS have to do some warm-up project to get me back into it) Anywho, I had LOTS of fun with the belt and top with all the beading and details. Some things are attached with fabric glue due to laziness, but I really like my results. It is more exact than sewing.

Well...30-45 minutes...but still! I've been researching different pattern ideas for the bellydance costume I want to make this year. I finally settled on making harem pants with slits down the front of the legs, and an overskirt comprised of 4 diamond-shaped pieces, and a top and belt that are more cabaret-design, but tribal-looking. Anywho, so today I found this useful page on how to make simple harem pants. It made me so happy because I was originally going to use a pattern (and I HATE pinning and cutting!!!). So, for this, I bought a 45 in. wide dark purple cotton fabric, basically followed these rules, and the only real cutting I had to do was cut out the crotchular region.

Harem Pants :boogie:

Now, I have them constructed, with the waistband and ankles turned under and sewn...but I'm using mom's sewing machine and have COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN how to take it off of zig-zag mode...so the thing is completely constructed with zig-zag stitch.

I intend to have these things completed this year!! I shortened the list to projects I could finish this year within reason...and I have most or all of the fabrics for these concepts!

Commissions
+Fantastical Pink Gypsy - for a friend.

For Me!

+Moon Goddess: simple design, but there will be lots of beading involved :D



+Eventide: I already have all fabrics aside from the pants



+Wood Elf: all fabrics I own



+Water Goddess: all fabrics I own



+A skirt of patchy black leather to go with a leather bodice I purchased at my local Renaissance Faire

+Bellydance Ensemble: my own design, but it will be a more tribal design. Cabaret-style would be too complicated/flashy for me :D

So, earlier this week I was in my favorite fabric store, and found an absolutely WONDERFUL bolt of fabric! It was like everything I had dreamed of, something I always wanted but never found. This wonderful organza, starting at one selvage with a dark purple color, and fading to gold at the other selvage. It goes through this wonderful, perfect blend of dark purple to red to orange to gold. You can't tell where one color ends and the other begins! So, I bought 2 yards, because the colors are perfectly autumny, and for the past 2 years I've been trying to come up with a good autumn costume design for a faerie. Since then, I've been spending my time dreaming up the perfect design. Sometimes, the perfect design takes months of brainstorming until I find something that makes me go "YES!". This one, however, took me only an hour of serious planning (aside from random day dreams). And now I'm super excited.



I have many scraps of various sizes of the cranberry-colored crushed velvet and the plum-colored velvet. I plan on patching both together to be the top layer of the bodice and yoke around the harem pants. The dark brown/bronze taffeta will be the dark brown pieces; not too much. The light gold textured satin will be the leafy edges. The fading organza will be used for the sleeves and "skirt" of the bodice.

I'm hoping to have at least 4 good original faerie designs to display in one of the galleries on my university's campus this fall. I will be including the Brown and BLue costume design (she needs a name) and the Shadow Fae costume.

So, last week I began to ponder the construction of two pairs of faerie wings that I shall be making this weekend. After last year's pair, which were hand-shaped with my manos and wire cutters, every muscle in my hands were ACHING. So, I decided to try forming my wing structures using many different pieces of wire and attaching them with a saudering iron. I had purchased last year a spool of saudering wire, and I talked to a guy at Home Depot, and he told me that it was compatible with the wire I have for my wing frames. So, going home to the parents' house to work on that, since dad has a saudering iron. I'm so excited!! This will cut my wing forming time in half!

So, the pair for my Shadow Fae will be done with black organza, and decorated with glitter and I'm going to try painting in some veins with a glossy mod podge. The other pair will belong to my Summer Fae, and I will be using an iridescent cellophane wrapping paper I got for 50 cents a roll last year. :D I think I'll be spray-painting some green and brown on it, too. And burning it to warp it.

Here are some wing designs I came up with this week, two of which I will be making this weekend, the others will be completed eventually. :)

I just drafted the pattern for the skirt for my first costume customer.


Tomorrow afternoon I should be pinning and cutting, the sewing shall begin on Wednesday or Thursday, and I plan on finishing by Friday evening. The underskirt shall be just an A-line gathered with the shorter overskirt. Lower layer is black, the over layer is a nice blue...kind of a mix of royal and navy. I like it. They're 98% cotton with 2% nylon...perfect weight and fiber for the outdoors methinks. The only add-ons we've decided on is the customer wanted a strip of fabric underneath the skirt extending from the yoke so that she can hike up her skirts if it gets too hot. Texas Octobers are typically hot during the RenFest season, but I'm thinking this year will be much cooler. :)


Shadow Fae Update:


*I still need to attach my bias tape to the armholes of the corset. Then she will be completed!! (photos to come soon, I pwomise!)
*I have drafted most of the pattern pieces of the 3-layer skirt. The sewing shall begin this Sunday! To make for maximum airiness in the wind (and to cut time in HALF!!!) I am burning the edges of the fabrics for the skirt.
*Those things on her arms are completed except for the grommets to lace them to my arms.
*Wings will be last, and will most likely be worked on the week before I go to RenFest XD Thankfully, though, these wings will be a bit easier and simpler than last year's :D If time allows, I will have made a new set of wings for my Summer Fae Costume, too!

Please? I'm bored and I want to know more about you all!
Got this from Inkibus....I have no idea how to link back to her page >.>

01) Are you currently in a serious relationship?
02) What was your dream growing up?
03) What talent do you wish you had?
04) If I bought you a drink what would it be?
05) Favorite vegetable?
06) What was the last book you read?
07) What zodiac sign are you?
08) Any Tattoos and/or Piercings? Explain where.
09) Worst Habit?
10) If you saw me walking down the street would you offer me a ride?
11) What is your favorite sport?
12) Do you have a Pessimistic or Optimistic attitude?
13) What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me?
14) Worst thing to ever happen to you?
15) Tell me one weird fact about you.
16) Do you have any pets?
17) What if I showed up at your house unexpectedly?
18) What was your first impression of me?
19) Do you think clowns are cute or scary?
20) If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be?
21) Would you be my crime partner or my conscience?
22) What color eyes do you have?
23) Ever been arrested?
24) Bottle or can soda?
25) If you won $10,000 today, what would you do with it?
27) What's your favorite place to hang out at?
28) Do you believe in ghosts?
29) Favorite thing to do in your spare time?
30) Do you swear a lot?
31) Biggest pet peeve?
32) In one word, how would you describe yourself?
33) Do you believe/appreciate romance?
34) Favourite and least favourite food?
35) Do you believe in God?
36) Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same for you?

So, I found some ways around completely re-doing this terrible thing. The seams on the lining and outer layer don't match up, so I did my best with pinning and attaching. There wasn't enough room on one side, so I hand-stitched on a patch of the same fabric. (Ike gave me no electricity for all of these parts, so it's all very terrible and amateur hand-stitching). Then I thought that sewing my boning casing to both layers of fabric was a good idea. Well, this just shows the flaw of my work even more. Though the casings match up with the lining's seams, on the outer layer it shows that everything is shifted slightly to the right. Oh well, I'm going with this bitch. It will have designs painted on it so hopefully no one will notice. :( ...Okay, untrained eyes won't notice. On one of my panels, there was too much puff room for the lining part. It was too big for where it was attached, so I ended up slicing it up, and hand-stitching it back together so it lays flat. This is like, the Frankenstein of corsets. Oh yeah, we now have electricity. So I've been using my sewing machine like power's going to go out in the next day.

Here, you see my snip-snip-stitch technique on the left breast.



What there is so far of my boning channels. (My English sucks today, I think 5 months in a foreign country did that) You can see the hand-stitchings where I attached outer layer to canvas layer.



This is the right side of the corset. See that ripply effect on the right side? I think I'm totally keeping that for the pure joy of rubbing my finger on it. It feels cool. Yes, I have a texture thing.



The canvas side of my patchy stitch technique. This part is right by where my grommets will go.




The right side of the patch. Thankfully this was the suede-y fabric and not the satin-y.



On tap for tomorrow: finish adding in boning channels, grommet, and paint. I'd like to have this done by Sunday. There is a metric shit-ton of German homework in store for me on Sunday.

So, corset coming along smoothly. I've almost handstitched the outer layer to the canvas lining. I miss my sewing machine, but oh well. My corseting supplies are still not here, they are waiting at a post office 30 minutes away, but that fucking hurricane postponed the delivery. :'( Next , I suppose I'm going to stitch on my silver satin ribbon that substitutes my bias tape. (NO ONE sells silver bias tape!!) After that...I wait for the corseting supplies to come in so that I can attach my boning. Actually, I can probably attach my boning casings before that....nice.

I started playing with makeup two days ago to see what will work with my costume. I'll post photos as soon as I remember to bring my camera and cord to the library's computer lab. Still no power from Ike at my house.

Yeah. Have been making progress on my corset for the Shadow Fae. All was going well until my cotton canvas lining decided to be 1 inch wider than my black satin and suede outer shell. SOME of the seams match up. I'm pushing it. And I am too far along and too lazy and too close to my deadline to start over. So, here's to another flawed corset design! I'll just try to make it work. I'm good at cutting corners and fixing things up and such. :D

Also, I ordered my boning, lacing and black grommets yesterday. It all came to a glorious $13.00! But THEN guess what happened?? Corsetmaking.com doesn't use USPS for their shipping service. They use UPS!!! So guess how much my shipping (the cheapest rate) costed? $12.00. Yeah. Almost as much as my effing supplies. I'm pretty sure that with USPS it would have only costed $4.00 or something. Assholes and their bad shipping choises.

Some good news: I am highly stressed at the moment, so that always promises GREAT production in my sewing. At least, I sew A SHITLOAD when stressed.

Alright ladies (and possibly gents), Here is the design I have decided on for the Shadow Fae Costume. The green lines are what I have brainstormed on for where my boning should go. This is going to be more of a fashion corset. I don't need any hardcore tightening, just a couple of inches taken off of the waist, bust and hips...if even that much. The Y part at the top is bothering me though. I know that the panel pieces at the bust are too wide to give my bust (38 C) a flatter look. So, I thought of inserting this Y form of boning. Should I go with the shorter green, or the pink? And I was thinking a flat 1" steel would be best for that area, and the other detached area for the boning. 1/2" for the ones along the seams. Sound right?