Goals for 2015

After making a review of the things I crafted in 2014, I started thing about what I wanted to make for this next year. There are some goals that I'd like to get done in 2015 specifically, and some to just start making progress toward.

Costumes:

Cinderella (2015):

This is one I'm currently working on, in hopes of attending the movie in costume. Deadline of March 13!
Progress so far:

 

• Cinderella Pinterest Board
• Pattern for Dress - Simplicity 1728
• Bought the fabric for bodice, several layers of skirt

Rapunzel:

One of the main reasons I bought my embroidery machine, I really want to make an accurate version of Rapunzel's dress and learn some new techniques like corset construction, how to digitize files for embroidery, and how to make puff sleeves!
Progress so far:

 

• Rapunzel Dress Pinterest Board
• Pattern for Dress - Simplicity 2757 and McCall's 6420
• Embroidery sketches from threadmaiden and cosplay.com
• Bought the fabric for sleeves
• Found Spoonflower fabric for bodice and skirt

Commissions:

Captain Malcolm Reynolds:

I'm mainly aiming to make his famous brown coat, and can figure out the rest of the ensemble later.
Progress so far:

 

• Mal Costume Pinterest Board
• Trello Board for comparing affordable vs. accurate items
• Fabric for Coat - Faux Suede Tricot Dark Camel, $10/yd
• Pattern for Coat - Simplicity 2581

Personal Projects:

Avatar the Last Airbender Blanket:

Using the pattern from Kimby77, this is my new TV crochet project! Let's hope it takes less time than my Tardis one.

Zergling Plushie:

A gift for Jim, I'll be using a combination of the tutorials posted by Kimothy and Pizoobie, and making half a dozen out of purple plush, so Jim can throw them at people while shouting "Six-pool Rush!" (Apparently it's very funny if you know StarCraft II).


Goals for this year:

• Blog more (Maybe break up the tutorials into different parts? Jim says I tend toward mega-posts)
• Start etsy shop? (LivingByGrace? LivingGracefully? CraftingGracefully? The puns are never-ending!)
• Make Disney dresses for myself!
• Make Disney Prince/Villians Costume Tutorial post. (Resources are very few and far between. If you know some, link them in the comments!)

Do you have any suggestions, or late new year's resolutions about crafting? Let me know!

Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish Costume

I present to you, Lord Petyr Baelish!

(My friend would like to note that he only wore the Hand of the King pin in the picture for party reasons, and he has now acquired the mockingbird pin and so will be a much more accurate version of Littlefinger for any future photos)

For Halloween, one of my friends commissioned me to make him a Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish costume for a Game of Thrones party we were going to. After doing some research, I settled on a long tunic with an overcoat he wears in season one.

While at a fabric warehouse sale, I stumbled upon the perfect material for both the tunic and the overcoat. So for $1 a yard, I snatched up 5ish yards of the lighter leaf-embroidered fabric, and 1ish yard of the heavy woven fabric, for an unbelievable total of $6!

For the tunic, I used the out of print Simplicity 5386 Matrix coat pattern, which I ordered off of Amazon. Butterick Men’s Robe pattern (B6844), which is in stock, would also work.

The pattern came together pretty easily (besides the sleeves. Sleeves are made of evil), and before long, I had a nearly finished tunic on my dress form! My cat also decided that the tunic was her new hiding place, and she was going to live there now.

Look Mommy, I found a tent! Now close the door!

Once assembled, I tried to figure out the best way to join the front pieces together seamlessly. I didn't want to use a zipper, couldn't find a way to make magnets work, and was temporarily stumped until I remembered a handy contraption I had seen online.

Hook and eye tape!

None of the fabric stores around me had hook and eye tape in stock, but I was able to find and order it from Amazon (link here). This worked perfectly, although it took a lot of tiny adjustments to make the two sides meet up, and may take a few minutes to hook together, it achieved the look I was going for.

I ended up sewing the hook side flush against the edge of one side, with the outside of the eyes against the edge of the other side of the fabric. The tape goes from the throat to halfway down the rest of the tunic.

Once the tunic was finished, I moved on to creating the overcoat. I cut the whole section of fabric in half lengthwise, so I had two long, skinny pieces to work with. I sewed the back half together, stopping right at the nape of the neck.

In the actual costume, Petyr has three folds in his overcoat, then gold trim down each of the folds. Since the coat changes size as it comes off the shoulder, this meant I got to do some hand draping to make sure the sections stayed proportional all the way down.

Starting the draping/folding process.

So. Many. Pins.

The middle section is folded in order to make the lower portion hang straight, with more fabric tucked up on the outside edge until it's no longer crooked. Once both sides were folded and straightened, I added one hook and eye to the center of the overcoat so it would stay together.

I didn't have time to add gold trim to the edges, but I might do it in the future if he wears it again. For the belt, I found some brown leather string and attached it to a silver clasp. Put it all together, and it looks amazing!

Please let me know if you have any questions, and happy crafting!

Things I Made in 2014

We're only halfway through January, so it's not too late to do a 2014 review post right?

Right.

Crafts are split up into the following categories (click to jump to that section):

Personal Projects
Costumes
Gifts

I craft a variety of different things for different purposes, but let's start with the one that took me the longest.

Personal Projects:

Tardis Blanket:

Pattern: Blue Police Box Pattern from Ravelry by Sandra Petit

Materials: So many skeins of blue yarn. So. Many. If I had to guess, I'd say 8, maybe more.
1 skein of white yarn (for box and lantern)
1 skein of gray yarn (for windows)
2 skeins of black yarn (for outlines)

Time: 2 years, off and on. (Started November 4, 2012, finished May 18, 2014)

Measuring over six feet tall, I started this way back in November of 2012 and crocheted it off and on ever since. It was my fist big crochet project and established my habit of needing something to work on while watching tv. I might still embroider 'Police Box' and the 'Pull to Open' sign, but I consider it pretty much done.

The finished product!

Book Tree:

Pattern: How to Make a Christmas Tree Out of Your Favorite Books by SamanthaHaeli

Materials: I used a lot of books, so it really depends on how tall you want it. I think I used about 100-150 books and mine was about five feet tall.

Time: 2.5 hours.

We wanted a tree for the Christmas season, but since we were going to be gone, and our cat was going to be by herself, we needed a tree that didn't require watering and that Pepper couldn't knock over.

Voila! The most geeky solution!

Bonus points for adding geeky ornaments!

Costumes:

Steampunk Fem!Indiana Jones:

Pattern: Duct tape whip tutorial from Skip to My Lou

Materials: All thrifted items; Hat, jacket, two brown skirts, my Frankenshirt, whip made of brown duct tape braided over a jump rope, leather bag, plus goggles!

Time: As long as it took to find all the items at thrift stores and con my friend Carissa into braiding the whip for me

Made for the first day of AnomalyCon 2014, I had a lot of fun putting this outfit together.

Steampunk Tinkerbell:

Pattern: Simplicity 1819 for the skirt

Materials: Corset from Corset-Story, 5 yards of green satin for the skirt, 2 yards of bronze contrast fabric, thrifted shirt, belt, boots, and homemade flight pack!

Time: 2 months

My main costume for AnomalyCon 2014 (hosted at the end of March), I started this costume in the beginning of February, although I had been keeping my eye out for steampunk items at thrift stores for quite a while. I made my own wings and flight pack, and collected things to hang on my belt (tinker's tools, a genie's lamp, a spyglass, etc). One of my favorite steampunk outfits. Read the full tutorial here.

 

 Photo Credit for the good pictures goes to tofuSnow Photography

Steampunk Riker:

Pattern: Simplicity 2333 (Mad Hatter, Captian Hook jacket), inspired by citizenkanev on Deviantart

Materials: 4 yards of red wool, 1 yard of black wool

Time: 1 month

Made for Jim to wear for AnomalyCon 2014, I saw citizenkanev's amazing costume on Deviantart and convinced Jim to come with me if I made it for him. I learned a lot about construction and using a muslin, and how evil sleeves are during this project, but enjoyed creating this all the same. You can read the full tutorial here.

   

Pictures from JimtheCactus on Flickr

Eowyn (Lord of the Rings):

Pattern: Simplicity 4940

Material: 7 3/4 yrds of white crepe suiting, 7/8 yrd of brown suede

Time: 4 weeks, more or less

One of my favorite characters from Lord of the Rings, I decided to make Eowyn's iconic dress for the 2014 Denver Comic Con in June. You can read the full tutorial here. I also got to wear it again for a post-Christmas photo shoot with my two nerdiest friends!

Beautiful pictures by Bruce Jenkins Photography

Rose Tyler (Doctor Who):

Pattern: None

Materials: Thrifted blue jacket, shirt, pants, and boots. Nerf Longshot borrowed from my brother Luke and painted by my friend Ian.

Time: However long it took me to find the blue bomber jacket at a thrift store. All the other pieces came together pretty quickly.

Rose Tyler is my favorite companion from Doctor Who, and I knew that I had to dress up as her for the 2014 Denver Comic Con. I must say, I felt pretty awesome! Full costume write up here.

Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish (Game of Thrones):

Pattern: Simplicity 5386 (Matrix Coat pattern, can also use Butterick 6844)

Materials: 5 yards of a jaquard-like fabric, 1 yard of a heavy woven fabric

Time: 3 weeks

A friend of mine commissioned me to make him a Littlefinger costume for a Game of Thrones party we were going to on Halloween. You can read the full costume tutorial here.

Jon Snow (Game of Thrones):

Pattern: None

Materials: Thrifted faux fur sewn on to a robe that was remade into a cape, with a cut up belt going across the chest.

Time: 1 day

Made for the same Game of Thrones party as the Petyr Baelish costume, this was much more haphazard simply done. Jim wore his dwarven shirt (minus the chainmail), and I wore a borrowed Daenerys dress. Overall, I think we look pretty good!

Galadriel (Lord of the Rings):

Pattern: Simplicity 1551

Materials: 3 3/4 yards of white satin, and lots of thrifted sheer fabric (5 yards-ish?)

Time: 2 weeks

Made for our Christmas Lord of the Rings photoshoot for my friend Melaine, I bought a lot of the sheer fabric that hangs behind curtains from thrift stores for $2 a pair, then bought 3.5 yards of white satin and realized it was just short of how much I needed. Nevertheless, I made it work, and I must say it turned out amazing for the amount of time I had! (Mostly due to the fact that Melaine is basically an elf already)

Beautiful pictures by Bruce Jenkins Photography

Gifts:

Fleece Football Pillow:

Pattern: Sporty Pillows from Parents.com

Materials: 1/2 yd of brown fleece, white shoelace

Time: 3 hours

Made for my friend's son's first birthday, I go to experiment with my embroidery machine for the first time! On a related note; always use stabilizer when trying to embroider fleece, or else it will chew right through it. Also, don't bother downloading the template from the website. Just cut out approximate football shapes, measure how long you'd like the laces to be, then make holes where it starts and ends.

Crochet Mr. and Mrs. Octopi:

Pattern: Octopode Pandemonium! from PepperKitty on Craftster

Materials: Less than 1 skein for each color

Time: 3 hours each

Made for a friend's baby shower, I knew they were decorating their baby girl's room in pink and brown, so I decided to make a pair of octopi! Mr. Octopus has a blue bowtie hot-glued to the front, and Mrs. Octopus has a matching hairbow.

Hobbit Meal Clock:

Pattern: Hobbit Clock on Imgur

Materials: $5 Clock from Target, gold leaf pen, Map of the Shire, Aniron Font

Time: 4 hours (it took me a while to realize the face of the clock was attached with two prongs on the top and bottom and to pop it off)

A Christmas gift for my friend Amanda who loves making delicious food. Now, it's always mealtime! (Click here if you'd like to see Pippin recounting the different meals Hobbits observe.)

Baby Groot:

Pattern: A modified version of this stencil from MyRecipes.com

Materials: 1/3 yrd tan fleece, scraps of white fleece for the flowerpot, brown fleece for the 'dirt', green felt for the leaves, plus wire and safety eyes.

Time: 2 days

This was one of my favorite projects, mostly because it's first posable plushie I have ever created, plus when Groot posed next to the Hobbit Meal Clock, my heart nearly exploded with geeky happiness. If you'd like to create your own baby Groot, see the full tutorial here.

TARDIS Baby Blanket:

Pattern: A modified version of Blue Police Box Pattern from Ravelry by Sandra Petit

Materials: 2 skeins of blue, 1 skein of black, less than one skein of white yarn

Time: Around 6 months, off and on

Once I heard that some good friends of mine were having a baby girl named Clara, I knew that the baby needed her own Tardis blanket, until the Doctor could come sweep her away. I was so familiar with Sandra's pattern that I really did this one from memory. I added a black background to make it wider, then embroidered Clara's name on the top left corner.

Ellie-Saurus:

Pattern: T-Rex Softie Tutorial and Pattern by Made by Enginerds

Materials: 1/4 yd argyle fabric, scrap of minky fabric, ric rac, and safety eyes

Time: 5-6 hours

Made for a good friend's daughter's first birthday, I was inspired when Ellie kept roaring at things, and quickly realized she needed her own Ellie-saurus to play with. I modified the pattern slightly to move the arms on the sides of the belly, instead of up by the neck, and used safety eyes for a more complete look.