What I Made In 2015

Hello All! It's once again time to look back over 2015 and see what I made this year!

Costumes
Gifts

Costumes:

Cinderella:

 

Pattern: Simplicity 1728, plus personal modifications

Materials: 1 yard satin for bodice, 1 yard for bodice lining, 2 yards interfacing, 3 yards boning for bodice, 5 yards satin for patterned base skirt, 30 yards organza for 5 circle skirts

Time: A little more than a month! Started February 8th, wore for the movie premiere March 15, finished properly for Denver Comic Con on May 25

This is the project I'm the most proud of. It challenged me on a technical level, and I learned several new skills! Based off of the blue dress Lily James wears in the 2015 live-action Cinderella movie, and made especially for the premiere, it's definitely one of my favorites. See my full tutorial here!

Agent Carter Gold Dress:

 

Pattern: Vogue 8470

Materials: 5 yards of gold lame fabric, 3 5/8 yards of lining

Time: About two weeks, working on it sporadically. Finished August 29th

Inspired by one of the many fabulous dresses Haley Atwell wears in the amazing 1940's style tv show Agent Carter, I thought this would be a great dress to make and wear for our anniversary! There are still some elements I'd like to tweak and add, but overall, I'm really proud of it! You can see my tutorial for it here.

Female Luke Skywalker (A New Hope):

Pattern: None, but inspired by Shorelle's amazing fanart of genderbent Luke

Materials: Thrifted tall suede boots, kahki pants, a blue lightsaber, and a bathrobe with a microfiber lining (much appreciated since the temperature was about 15 degrees that night!)

Time: A few days to pick off all the embroidery on the bathrobe, then one day to modify the robe and complete the costume.

Worn for the premiere of Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens, this outfit was completely thrifted from one trip to my local charity shop! The only things I had to change was removing embroidery from the bathrobe, shortening the overall length and lengthening the sleeves. I cut out pockets from some old purses I had, then attached them to a belt, and voila!

Gifts:

Game of Throne Crochet Plushies:

Pattern: Game of Thrones: Four House Sigils Set by i crochet things on Ravelry

Materials: Less than one skein each of red, grey, brown, bronze, tan, cream, and black yarn

Time: Worked on them on and off over several months, finished October 1st

When we found out that some very dear friends of ours were having a baby, we were overjoyed. I knew that they both loved Game of Thrones (in fact, the dad commissioned the Petyr Baelish costume for Halloween last year!), and wanted to do something special for their baby boy.

I found this pattern online and thought it was perfect. You can see the pattern and my modifications to the plushies here.

Galentine's Day Gifts:

Pattern: None

Materials: One yard of jersey or knit fabric, plus one piece of felt for the heart

Time: 1-2 hours

Made for my sisters in celebration of Galentine's Day, I appliqued felt hearts onto jersey fabric in contrasting colors, then made them into infinity scarves! A super fun and easy project to show my sisters how much I love them. See my full tutorial (and explanation of Galentine's Day) here!

Faux Taxidermied Animals:

  

Pattern: Piggy Lovey Crochet Pattern ($4.50), Crochet Bunny Lovey Pattern, Grace: Crochet Elephant Comfort Blanket Pattern

Materials: One skein each of light pink, dark pink, and grey yarn

Time: Worked on and off for a few months, finished May 22nd

I was commissioned by one of my coworkers to crochet some faux taxidermied animals for her baby's nursery. Since her colors were pink and grey, we went with a pig, a rabbit, and an elephant. The rabbit and pig actually have pipe cleaners built into their ears, so you can move into different positions.

Elephant Lovey:

 

Pattern: Grace: Crochet Elephant Comfort Blanket Pattern

Materials: Less than one skein each of light pink, dark pink, and grey yarn

Time: About a week

This elephant lovey pattern is actually one of my favorites to use. I made one as a gift for my coworker's baby shower, to match with her other animals, and was inspired by this post to add matching pink lines around the blanket. So you can see how versatile this pattern is, I included another lovey I made last year for another friend's baby shower, in different colors and with crochet hearts and a star as decorations, plus a scalloped edge.

Heart Pillow:

Pattern: None, just cut a heart shape out of fleece, and sewed two inches away from the edge so I could cut it for fringe.

Materials: Half a yard of purple fleece, and of pink fleece

Time: Two to three days

Some of you may remember the fleece football pillow I made last year for a little boy, complete with his name embroidered on it (courtesy of my new embroidery machine). Well, his sister loved it so much, she wanted a 'name pillow' of her own for her birthday! You can't quite see the embroidered name in the pictures, but it's there in pink thread on the purple side of her heart pillow. She was really excited about it!

Scrabble Names for Mother's Day:

Pattern: None

Materials: Letter tiles, Shadow box frame

Time: 5 hours

This was actually an idea I'd had for a while, and I thought that it'd be a perfect mother's day gift for my mom, since most of her children are scattered hither and yon. I ordered letter tiles off of Amazon, then played around in Excel to try and find the perfect configuration of names. I bought a shadowbox from Hobby Lobby, hot glued the letters on, then decorated the edge in silver sharpie. In case you can't read the inscription, it says "No matter where we are... we will always be connected."

Handmade Disney Mugs:

 

 

 

 

Pattern: Freehanded Beauty and the Beast Broadway logo, other inspirations collected on Pinterest

Materials: Thrift store mugs, ceramic paint marker or glass paint marker (*do not use regular Sharpies*)

Time: A few hours

One very exciting event from 2015 is that I become one of the officers for the Denver chapter of Geek Girl Brunch! Geek Girl Brunch is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin, it's a bunch of girls who meet about once a month for geeky-themed brunches! There are chapters all over the world, so if you'd like a place to make new friends, I highly recommend looking in your area for one! I made these for our very first brunch, which was Disney themed. Despite the fact that there are 101 thousand pins on Pinterest that just say 'use Sharpies and heat in oven!' this does NOT work. It washes right off. Use ceramic paint pens from a craft store, which will make them dishwasher-safe!

Guardian of the Galaxy Cornhole Bags:

 

Pattern: Cornhole How To

Materials: 1/2 yard orange duckcloth, 1/2 yard blue duckcloth, resin pellets

Time: 3-4 hours

One of the stranger traditions out in Denver is the popularity of lawn games that have migrated over from the Mid-West. Something I would call 'bean bag toss' and consider a children's game is apparently actually called 'cornhole' and is a very serious adult competition during parties. One of my friends commissioned me to make custom cornhole bags that matched the colors of Peter Quill (aka Starlord's) ship, the Milano, to go with the cornhole boards he made. Once I learned all about regulation size and weight they needed to be, as well as the correct fabric to be used, it was a fairly easy project.

Fabric Organizer:

 

 

Pattern: DIY Fabric Storage by Pretty Prudent

Materials: 3 pieces of 6' Slot Angles, 6 wooden 5/16" dowels 48" long cut in half, screws, washers

Time: One day to paint and let dry, then 2 hours to put up

After years of just stuffing my fabric in a variety of bins and bags and hoping I remember what I have, I stumbled upon this diy fabric organizer on Pinterest. I liked it because it was cheap, flat against a wall, easily accessible, and I wouldn't fall into the 'out of sight, out of mind' mentality with my fabric any more. One trip to the hardware store later, we spray painted the slot angles white, then when they were dry, Jim helped me install and assemble my organizer! I count this as a gift to myself. ;)

Waterproof Carseat Cover:

Pattern: DIY Waterproof Car Seat Canopy by Practically Functional

Materials: 1.5 yards of soft fleece for inside, 1.5 yards of polyurethane laminate (PUL) for the waterproof exterior, 1/4 yard cargo netting for the window, 10″-12″ of velcro

Time: 7-8 hours

One thing I wanted to make for the same baby boy who got the Game of Thrones plushies was a waterproof carseat cover, especially since the Denver winter can get very cold and wet! I loved this pattern since it was waterproof, but also had a window to check in on the sleeping baby. I bought PUL with a dinosaur pattern, and then found a super fun matching dinosaur fleece for the inside. Instead of buying cotton for the straps, I simply used some of the leftover fleece. The only thing I would change about the tutorial is fold the fabric in half and then half again, so you're dealing with a much more manageable size than the full 48" by 50".

Manly Apron:

Pattern: Adjustable Unisex Apron by Purl Soho

Materials: 1 1/4 yard of main fabric, 1/2 yard for pocket, 3 yards twill tape

Time: 4-5 hours

My mom let me know that my dad would really enjoy a custom apron to wear when cooking, so I decided to make him one for Christmas! I found some really great fabric with the blue background and white triangle pattern, and some fun belt buckle style fabric for the pocket (perfect for wearing around the ranch!) You can see him modelling it above (I think he has a natural talent for it!)

Bobble Beard Beanie:

 

Jim and I modeling our enviable beards.

Pattern: Crochet Bobble Beard by Ashlee Marie, Crochet Beanie Pattern (minus the stripes)

Materials: One skein beanie color yarn, one skein beard color yarn

Time: 5-6 hours

Earlier this year, I gave one of my friends several crafts to choose from for her Christmas gift. I had a feeling she'd enjoy the bobble beard beanie, and I was right! It was my first time making a beard, but since I had make an entire baby blanket using the bobble stitch years ago, it was pretty fun and easy! It's easy to tuck the beard up into the hat to wear as just a beanie, but also perfect for keeping your face warm!

Agent Carter's Gold Dress

Hello all! I first have to start this post out with a plug for Agent Carter. It's an amazing show, which combines the costumes and style of a 1940's period piece with the fantastic humor and plot of a typical hero/ secret agent show, with a smart, strong, and sassy female lead, complete with a British butler as a sidekick!

Peggy Carter has the distinction of being Captain America's love interest, as well as the original founder of SHIELD. The show follows her adventures post WWII, where she has to help Howard Stark recover his stolen inventions, with help from Stark's butler, Edwin Jarvis. Season 1 only has eight episodes, and you can watch the back half of them on Hulu here. It's been renewed for Season 2, which will air sometime later this year.

In the pilot episode, Agent Peggy Carter goes undercover at a nightclub and wears a stunning gold gown for distraction purposes (plus a blonde wig, for disguising purposes). I saw it and immediately wanted to make it, so I gave myself a deadline - make this fabulous gown for our upcoming anniversary!

 

 

Reference Photos:

The designer, Giovanna "Gigi" Ottobre-Melton, created this dress to have a very Veronica Lake feel to it. From her interview on the ABC Agent Carter website, she says "For her undercover work, the design of evening dresses from the 1930s and 1940s are mysterious and alluring, yet not overly revealing. The slim cut dresses glide over the body. When a woman walks around in one of these dresses, the fabric moves around her with a graceful fluidity. In her undercover mission in the first episode, the script called for a Veronica Lake look. We got to make Peggy into the classic femme fatale, with the blonde waves and gold matelassé fabric. Her cape was made with off white silk Panne velvet."

Photos were hard to come by, simply because she wears the dress primarily in a dark office, and later in her dark apartment. I lightened up several of the screenshots from here, and also have a few display photos (which is why there's some discrepancy between the colors).

Front:

     

 The fabric looks like a metallic gold lamé, and the dress has two dropped sleeves, and some serious support as part of the bodice. There is also an attached sash that creates the illusion of one piece, but is split in the back, with the left side coming around, being tacked in the center, then allowed to drop to the full length of the dress. The right hand piece of the sash likely only comes around to several inches past the center.

Back:

  

Her sleeves are slightly gathered at the top, and the ruched sash looks to be spread out to about six inches wide, then separated by a lapped zipper. The back itself comes up to just below her shoulder blades.

You can see the front and inside of the dress briefly in the video Marvel's Agent Carter - Dress For Success, Part 1, where the designer talks about the undercover dress after the 1:28 mark.

 

The dress and styling, as mentioned, was inspired by Veronica Lake, who was known for playing several femme fatale roles in the 1940's.

Veronica Lake in a gold dress 

 

Gigi Ottobre-Melton shows her inspiration board on a set tour

Pattern:

After looking at several different options, I found Vogue 8470, a pattern that matched nearly exactly with the shape of the dress.

Option B has the ideal shape, minus the attached sash and the detached sleeves, all very easy modifications to make.

Dress:

I looked at both a metallic knit and a gold lame for the fabric, then decided to go with the gold crepe lame fabric from Joann's that I thought matched really well.

 

I also chose a pretty gold lining to go with it and to add some weight to the dress.

While I followed the instructions for the pattern, I honestly would have made the bodice the same way I made my Cinderella one. It avoids adding the armhole facing, has clean and finished edges, and (I think) is much more intuitive. You don't need to make the "midriff section" (pattern piece #5), since it's the modesty panel that goes in front unless you want to.

After hosting my computer hostage in my craft room for a week or so to incentivize me to keep sewing, I finished the base dress just 30 minutes before we left for our anniversary date. I had Jim take a few pictures so I could have proof that I sort of mostly finished it.

I was also super excited about wearing her screen-accurate lip color, Besame's 1946 - Red Velvet Lipstick. I still need to add the dropped sleeves and the sash, so I'll update here when I finally finish those. Thanks for reading, and feel free to ask questions in the comments!