Hrm...

No time to make the flower thingies up right now, so instead you get a pic of a tabbard I made a while back.

Please excuse my miserable expression.  No idea why I didn't smile!

It's made in white velvet as I happened to have an off cut the right size.  It also features some chain stitch hand embroidery.

I like flowers...

I like this tabbard a lot, but have no use/need/space for it so I may see if any of the newbies want it when they join our larp group.  I wanted a record of it though, so putting it on here will help me remember!

Curly-wurly!

So yeah, that's it from me today!  I might post tomorrow, to make up for last weeks lack of posts, but no guarantees, as life is still a lot busier than I'd like...

Aprons

Just a quick post, as life is still madly busy!

I have recently had an apron making addiction.  I love aprons and having something pretty to wear in the kitchen makes me really want to go cook!  Also aprons make good LARP kit...

Front view

Cute bow!

This apron will be Kelsey's kit, but is also going to be used in my kitchen as I really like it!  A bit of a bargain as the fabric was only £1 a metre as well!  I also have a bag and purse made out of the scraps, but that's a post for another day!

Lace!

And another bow!

This apron is made from the scraps of the robe I showed on here last week with the addition of some lovely lace I found on a browse in Fabric Land (dangerous place that shop...).  I adore this apron, even if I do feel like I should be called 'Alice' whilst wearing it...

Please excuse how crumpled this looks, I didn't get time to iron!

Double bow!

This apron is the first thing I've sewn for myself that was solely intended for use in the house and not as larp kit.  You can't really see in the photo but it' covered in tiny brown polka dots and I think it's absolutely adorable!  Plus it does an excellent job of keeping my clothes clean.

Also, a quick note to say I am so thrilled so many people read this, both the people I do know and those I don't!  Please feel free to leave me a comment and say hi and let me know what sort of crafty stuff you like to do!

Tomorrow if I can find the time there will be a slightly deviant post on knitted hair flowers thingies!

Birthday Skirt :)

An extra post, to make up for last weeks failure!

A while ago a friend was muttering about using some leftover fake leather scraps I had to make himself a kind of armoured belt/skirt thing.  He forgot about the idea for a while, which was his downfall, because he had a birthday so I made it for him!

Taa-daa!

I took a belt so that it would be an adjustable skirt (so he could vary the layers of clothing underneath, vitally important with larp kit) and then measured out many strips of leather to knee length.  I looped them over and sewed them together in a long line, overlapping a little and threaded the belt through.

Next time I think I'll make them more overlapped

I then trimmed all the ends into points.  At this stage I realised I needed some way to cover the buckle, or there was a really unfortunate gap...  So I made an extra wide strip of leather and added a velco fastening to the loop, so that it could be attached after the belt was done up.

A view of the wrong side of the skirt

 And that's about it really.  I like leatherette because it doesn't fray but I also dislike it, because my sewing machine struggles with it.  It was a fairly easy sew and it looks quite effective on.

See?  Scary stuff in battle!

 Thanks to Andy for taking all the pics for me, and sending and resending them when I failed to recieve them the first time...

 

Sorry...

No posts this week, as real life is beyond mad with deadlines and commitments.  I should be sorted by next week and I'll try and do an extra post to make up for it.  Sorry!

Robes...

Sewing has been concentrated on robes this week.  The blue robe to my own design is done.  The black robe to a commercial pattern is a work in progress, which should be completed early next week.  This is good as it means I can go onto the 3 tiered skirt, blouse and waistcoat that are my next project.

The blue robe is modelled on Nessa's robe, but has many more pleats so that it is easier to move in, as the only problem with Nessa's robe is that there isn't a great deal of width when it comes to walking in it.

Pinning pleats was the most time consuming part of making this robe

The sleeves have been made using a cool little trick explained to me by a lovely friend of mine, who also sews kit!  It's possibly not the most elegant solution, but it does away with the need to shape an armhole and means there will be plenty of room under the robe for extra layers of clothing in the winter.

It's a square, folded in half, how awesome is that?!

Aside from that there isn't a lot to say, really.  I've zig-zagged every seam to help it withstand the brutal treatment larp kit gets, and I'm hoping it stands the test of time!  I like it quite a lot and I'm looking forward to seeing it in use!

In all it's glory...

Lace and Ribbons

So, we went down the pub on Saturday for an IC meal.  That meant a new frock for me!

A little while ago I made a draped sleeve over dress pattern and a long chemise to go under it for a murder mystery party.  The dress was lovely and I adore the sleeves, but it gave me an idea for a sleeveless gown for my LARP character.  So I got to work :D

I used a printed poly cotton with tiny flowers all over it for the chemise, which I made with long sleeves and trimmed the cuffs with lace.

I have mentioned how much I adore trim, right?

I then made the dress up, leaving of the sleeves, in brown cotton.  It was pretty but very plain for a party dress, so I put a wide green ribbon around the waist, and then I layered velvet rickrack over the top of that in a fawn colour.

I laced it up with a narrow green cord to match the ribbon.

I then finished it by trimming the hem with lace and adding a band of the velvet rickrack just above it.

I love lace!

It's turned out quite nicely I think, so I'll probably wear it for the next IC meal that character goes to!

Here I am wearing it, at the meal.

Here's a side view, in case you are interested!

So yes, that's what I spent a large part of last week doing!  Now I'm back to robe making for friends, hopefully I'll have one finished to show you all on Thursday!

A brief change of subject

Ok, so this isn't sewing (no fabric, thread or pins involved...) but I had such a lot of fun making these I wanted to share them with you!

On Saturday I went up to London, and I did a course on fan making!  I went to the fan museum (http://www.fan-museum.org/), which incidentally is an awesome museum and you should all go visit! The fan museum runs courses for small groups and so my family filled a course up and we went on a day out.

This was my second go at fan making.  I had my first attempt in 2007, at an evening for the Worshipful Company of Fan Makers (http://www.fanmakers.com/home.aspx?id=1). 

My first fan

This was a pre-pleated leaf and all we had to do was attach it to the sticks.  This isn't as easy as it sounds.  Or at least, it is easy, but only if you've understood the instructions!

This is me showing off at the time

We got to pleat our own leaves on this course from wrapping paper we had chosen ourselves.  The only rule is metallic paper cannot be used.  This is because it doesn't keep the pleat.

We each made a chinese fan and a fontage fan.  Both of these are folding fans, the fontage fan is much simpler to make, as it doesn't have as many pleats.

This is my chinese fan

I love this paper so much!  As you can see though, I cut it a little short, so this fan will be acquiring a ribbon trim, to cover the ends of the sticks.

This is my fontage fan

I love how well this worked!  Many thanks to my Granny, who helped me select the best bit of the paper for the middle of the fan.  I am planning on using this fan at the next dinner I go to, and we discussed what dress I should make.  We as a family thought that cream fabric under black lace could look very striking.  What do you all think?

I will also be adding tassels or wrist straps to each handle.  So yes, not sewing but much fun!

Shock horror!

Another post!  I'm going to try and see if I can keep to twice a week for this blog.  An interesting challenge!

So this week I have been working on two robes, one to my own design one to a commercial pattern.  I'll post pics when they are done.  I'm about to start work on another project, but I can't say what yet, in case I give the game away.  More details on that in a few weeks!

I've also finished up some projects such as a half finished apron and I've made a purse.  The purse is likely to get a remodelling though as I've now decided I'd like to gather the lace.  So again, pics when I'm done!

I'm falling in love with all sorts of trim at the moment.  Ribbons, braiding, rick-rack, you name it I want it!  So I expect once I'm done with this batch of kit making I'll attempt some uber-girly projects for myself, anyone got any good suggestions as to what to make?

I'm also tempted to make another patchwork blanket, though I know the moment I start work on it I'll hate making it.  I can't stand sewing patchwork but I love the end result!

The first patchwork blanket I made.  It took forever!

The squares were ridiculously small on this.  However it does make a very awesome camping blanket, both IC and OOC.

Made for Amy's birthday present

Bigger squares made this a much easier sew, but the repetition of the pattern bored me to tears whilst making it...

Made for Andy's birthday present

This was fun to sew, because I laughed every time I thought about it, so it didn't bore me.  Also having a huge ready made panel in the middle was a great time saver :D