Princess Peach and the Sock Monkey

Are the only two things I can show you this week.

First up is Sock monkey.  Who has been named 'Missmas Monkey' by his recipient.

Walking in the snow...

He's quite a lot of fun really.  And he has a friend all lined up to go to someone else!

Ready for a larp adventure!

The only item of clothing I've made this week is a very silly dress!  I got asked if I had any dresses suitable for Princess Peach.  Now whilst my wardrobe of princess dresses is large, it didn't contain a pink satin one, so this was a good opportunity, right?

Please excuse the clothing underneath, it really was chilly today...

It's been a lovely pattern to sew, though I think I need to shape it better on the bodice.  It did however, do the trick quite nicely for Princess Peach, Barony style.

So much snow!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go get back to my Christmas sewing...  See you all soon!

Back on track?

Well...  Maybe!  I've borrowed a card reader off Sam so I can at least move pics from the camera to the computer again.  Now, what have I been up to since I more or less disappeared?  Well it's not been a great time for crafting.  My car's been smashed into (fortunately we do have their details, unfortunately it's still a major hassle I could really have done without) and my great uncle has died.  Added to that I've had the usual social whirl that accompanies this time of year making for a very busy Luthaisea!


I don't know how many of you remember but in September I headed up to London and made these and the other day I got around to making a dress to go with the black and white one.

I really like this lace...

It's a vogue pattern and whilst it doesn't look quite like the picture on the pattern envelope I do quite like it.  That said it was a very boring and stressful sew.  If I go to another Fan Makers occasion convention not withstanding I plan to make a more period feel dress.  They're more fun to make and I think they flatter me more.

The back view...

That said, the fabrics (taffeta and lace)  are lovely and I only melted the smallest amount of lace onto my iron...  Plus the advantage of making your own dress is you can make sure it hides your bra...

Anyway, it looks nice (I think), many people were impressed with my skills (no-one else in the room could say they'd made their gown to match their fan...) and I had a lovely evening and met interesting people.

And finally a photo of us all looking dressed up and pretty!

See how well my dress matches my fan?  I was quite pleased with that.  Also, see where I get my sewing skills from... My mum made her outfit and my sisters dress!

I also made some hair clips to match my dress, but I totally failed to get a picture of my hair do so I'll try and photograph them another day.  Not sure if there'll be any more blog this week, it depends how well I do with my Christmas crafting and whether I have a chance to do something with the metres of embroidered taffeta I picked up the other day...

He-Man

So, my best friend Peter is off to a fancy dress party this weekend.  He asked me to make him a costume.  After hearing his request and giggling for ages of the sheer silliness I agreed. 

Only Peter would go as He-Man...

See?

The boots are fake fur sock cover things, made essentially as tube with elasticated tops.  The loincloth is fake fur attached to an old pair of boxers and the belt and wrist cuffs are gold lame and velcro.  The chest strap thing is drill and yet more velcro.

It's all held together by velcro...

It was a fairly quick job, but quite tricky as my image 'brief' as it were, came from googled images.  Still I think it's worked fairly well.  Have fun at the party Peter!

Oh, and in case you are wondering, I didn't take the photos, so I didn't need to upload them onto this computer.  Yay!

Err...

I've just switched to a new (well new to me) computer, so there may be a small lack of updates whilst I figure out how to get photos from my camera onto here...

Still, hopefully it won't be too hard... right?

Sentimental Stuff

So, after a week of standing silent I set the sewing machine in motion again yesterday!  I'm off to a steam punk larp in march and whilst  I'm not making all new kit I'm planning on adding considerably to my wardrobe by making all the little detailed things I didn't have time for last time.

First things first, I made this...

Petticoats are an amazing invention!

I'm planning to use this to bulk my skirts out a little.  It's kind of sentimental to me though, as the fabric is the lining fabric spares from when my mum made my wedding dress (yup my wedding dress was lined in blue) and the lace was given to me by my gran.

Pretty delicate fabric and lace, what more could I want?

This is the 4th time I've made this skirt or a variant of, so it was a reasonably easy sew.  the lace was also easier to add than I was expecting, which was a bonus!

I love how the lace looks like fans

In other crafty type news I'm knitting a scarf to a pattern!  Ok, the pattern is one line long, but it's still a pattern!  It's looking quite pretty and more importantly the intended recipient has given her approval.

Christmas is coming...

And what with my in laws coming for a visit, feeling ill and actually needing to do housework and gardening not a lot of crafting has happened here this week.

One thing I did make though...

Yes, I know my kitchen is as untidy as the rest of my house :P

I love making mincemeat!

Halp?

So, I've been feeling slightly better since teatime meaning I found the energy to knock up a new hat!  Thing is...  I can't decide if I like it or not...  Opinions please?

Excuse how messy my house is, please...

I got the pattern from the Sewing Book, by Alison Smith, which was lent to me by a lovely friend and is so awesome I had to buy my own copy!

The fleece was an off cut in the remnants basket at Fabric Land

It was a lovely simple sew, taking less than an hour, from start to finish!

Really not sure about the tassels though...

So anyway, please leave me a comment or email me or something and tell me if I should leave the house wearing this...