Cloaks Part 3: Actually Done!

So I realized that I never shared what pattern I was using. I picked version C of Simplicity's #5794, opting for a round hood (versus a pointy one) but no capelet thingie (technical terms).

So, the cloak you saw in the previous post was Jim's. (I made his first so that I could make the learner's mistakes on his, not mine. But that didn't work out too well. More on that later.) While starting on mine, I had a brilliant thought. Pockets! Hobbits don't have purses, and I didn't want to go for a clunky bag, so I measured a square of fabric with my giant cell phone and went from there. I used some extra fleece so it would match, sewed the top down a bit, then pinned the rest to the lining before I sewed both lining and shell together.

One pocket...

Two pockets!

Here's what the finished pocket looks like (and what the fabric looks like under real light).

After the pockets were done, I lined the hood, then started preparing to attach the lining to the shell.

 I sewed both sides together, inside out, then trimmed the edges, and pulled it right side through a hole I left in the lining.

So, while trimming the edges with my awesome rotary blade, I accidentally cut two holes in the outer shell. At first I tried using scotch tape to put them back, which didn't look awful, but the cuts were still visible. Then I went online and found out about mending tape, which sounded like it somehow magically healed cuts when ironed. So I bought some, took it home, and felt confident that this would make the results of my carelessness disappear.

Nope.

The scotch tape made the cuts fray like mad when I pulled it off. Hoping that the powers of the mending tape included fraying edges, I ironed it on, and looked at it from the other side.

Ick.

The cuts were still pretty frayed, the tape showed through, and it didn't mend the edges like I hoped it would.  So, after feeling sorry for myself for a while, I moved the hem past the cut and prayed it wouldn't be all cattywompus. Success!

As you can see, it looks fine. So the lesson here is that if you make a mistake that you think might ruin your project, take some time away from it, and come at it from a different angle. It'll all turn out alright.

See?

You can't even tell where the cuts were!

(And look! Pockets!)

Once that was all over with, I sewed on the nice girly clasp I got at Jo-Anns, and voila! An awesome cloak all ready to go for the Hobbit premiere!

So, remember my closure debate for Jim's cloak? I bought some leather string, and liked the look of the curlicue. But how to make it stay? Well, I stuck it on the tape, and painstakingly pushing a needle straight through one way, then perpendicular.

I attached it to the cloak by sewing up through the gap in the circles on one side of the line, then sewing down on the other side.

Finished cloak number 2!

Now! Onto the actual hobbit costume! Stay tuned!

Work Blogging: compiler architecture

About a month ago, f2py quit working on my work laptop.

For those of you who do not know, f2py is a neat little compiler that allows you to compile Fortran code in such a way as to allow it to be called as a function by python scripts. I mostly program in python, because it's an incredibly intuitive language, and it doesn't have a million "gotcha" errors like C/fortran/perl/etc. However, Fortran is really great for numerical computation, because it's very low-level, and, as a result, is very very quick. So, in my current project, I'm using python as a wrapper around a wonderfully chocolaty Fortran center. Like a tootsie pop.

Now, when f2py quit working, all of a sudden I had to update all my compilers and programming tools, which I couldn't do until I updated my operating system (from OSX 10.4.x to 10.7.x; yes, I was that behind). Once the OS was upgraded, I went about re-installing everything: GCC, python and all its modules, etc. So far, so good, everything's installed, says it's working, time to try running f2py, which successfully compiles my fortran code. Yay! Now to run the compiled executable from my python code and get on with my modeling!

FAIL!

Terminal tells me that the two programs have mismatching architecture, and therefore cannot be run together. Google tells me this happens occasionally, and that it has to do with the fortran compiler called by f2py (in this case, gfortran, which is GCC's fortran compiler) compiling to i386 architecture, and python compiling to x86_64 archicture. This is important, since i386 is 32-bt, and x86_64 is 64-bit. Google also gives me a neat little command to verify this.

>>lipo -info /path/to/file


which gives:

>>lipo -info /usr/local/bin/gfortran
Non-fat file: /opt/local/bin/gfortran is architecture: i386
>>lipo -info /opt/local/bin/python
Non-fat file: /opt/local/bin/gfortran is architecture: x86_64


Neat, huh?

As an aside, the history here is actually pretty interesting. Intel's 32-bit chips ran on an i386 architecture (hence the i), whereas AMD's chips ran on a different architecture. When AMD created a 64-bit chip, they had to produce a new architecture, which they called x86_64. As Intel was developing their 64-bit chip, they came to an agreement with AMD to use their architecture as a universal standard. Now, Macbook Pros, like mine, have the new Intel chipset in them, which support both i386 and x86_64, but need to use x86_64 to function as 64-bit machines.

So, at this point, I'm left wondering, why is my gfortran running i386? I installed it through GCC, which should install a x86_64 version of the compiler. I didn't ask for "universal" (read, i386) variants on GCC or python. So, I call over my co-worker Jonathan to take a look at it.

He instantly sees the problem.

>>which gfortran
/usr/local/bin

>>which python
/opt/local/bin


This is a legacy problem from two years ago when I attempted to install python as a package with relative naivete about how linux worked, and ended up with a bunch of crap in my user account, stored now at /usr/local/bin. I had completely forgotten these things existed, and now, when I was calling gfortran, my computer was getting confused about which gfortran I actually wanted, and was sending me to the bad install I did years ago.

A couple simple commands later, I got everything routed to the right places, then spent some time deleting these useless files (general rule of thumb, as I understand it, is that everything in /usr/local/bin can be deleted; in my case, there are some NREL-specific files that I ought to leave, but that's another story). And now, everything works, and I know a great deal more about compilers. More than I ever wanted to, in fact.

Yay!

Cloaks Part 2: Finished! (sort of)

I finished my first cloak! Well, finished sewing anyway, but still!

So this is the outside of the cape, sewn together minus hood.

Speaking of the hood, here it minus the comfy lining.

Then, after lining the hood with fleece, cutting the fleece patterns, sewing them together, and pinning the lining to the cloak inside out, sewing everything and pulling it right side out through a hole in the lining, I learned how to slip stitch so I could hide said hole. Once all that was done, I had a finished cape!

(I'm ignoring the puckering on the edge and hoping I can iron it out. If not... I'll say that it's just well used.)

It's lined with fleece, since the Hobbit comes out December 14, which calls for very snowy and freezing weather.

It even has a lined hood!

My current dilemma lies with how to close it. I could:

A. Sew buttons to both sides and make a flat piece of fabric with two buttonholes to hold it together

B. Sew one button on the right side (since it's Jim's cape and men's garments button from the right side, extending from the days when men dressed themselves, and women had servants to button buttons, thus changing the point of view of the buttons. Just in case you wanted to know.), then sew a leather loop on the other that the button will fit into.

Like so:

Thing is, I'm not sure how I get the curly bit to stay. Sew straight through the side? 

C. Buy a cloak clasp online. These range from simple:

to medium fancy

to very very fancy

(Link here)

D. I'm going to eventually get a elven leaf brooch for my own cloak, like the Fellowship had.

But if I want a pretty functional one, I need lots of money. So! Until I'm rich, my other options will have to do.

Still to do:
- Buy more lining so I can make my own cloak.
- Figure out button loop/ clasp/ closure thing.
- Work on my hobbit costume! More on that once the cloaks are done.
- Find a way to stop the fleece from shocking me every five seconds. Stupid dry air.

Thanks for tuning it!

Cloaks Part 1: The Adventure Begins

So, as an attempt to be creative and awesome, I am currently working on making cloaks for the midnight showing of the Hobbit. Luckily, it's not until December, so I actually have time to finish the cloaks and our costumes. I hope.

This all started with the final organization of my sewing room, and now that I have a sewing machine, fabric, pattern AND a table, I can begin! I'll keep y'all updated as I go, and provide pictures for eternal documentation. =)

F1rst P0sT!!

Hello all. Grace and I will be blogging some of our newly-wed experiences on this site. Look forward to great pictures, humorous anecdotes, and occasional science freak-outs from yours truly.