Tag: paprika patterns

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Want some cake with that Frosting?

As usual I’m about a month behind on my posts, nearing a month and a half any day now…

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(Sorry for those curious about what I made for Christmas… Check in closer to February… I hope)

So in the beginning of October, Heather from Closet Case Files and Kelli from True Bias put on a challenge to bring frosting back to the online sewing community.

Basically frosting is the stuff like party dresses and bright green coats and silk pajamas and stuff. Cake, on the other hand, is black t-shirts and jeans and workwear.

On a side note, frosting is so much more fun to post about… its pretty, the details are memorable, and you don’t have to blow out the picture to see any design details on your black on black on denim garment… Whew, I did not know I had that many feelings about the three or four black t-shirts I’ve made.

This came around about the same time that I told myself that I was definitely this time going to finish my latest costume… Which was also a long tabled costume. And I did! Not by the deadline, but eh… Only like two days afterwards?

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I’m hoping to get a post on my Cinderella dress sometime in the next month or so…

So I knew that I had a whole bolt of tulle that I wasn’t going to use, and then I made a plan, in theory to help motivate myself to finish the Cinderella dress… It didn’t help.

I would use the tulle to make an awesome poufy skirt, then either make a woven T-shirt out of a gorgeous fabric or a camisole out of something pretty, and then a lace shirt on top!

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Knowing this, I got around to finishing up my Cinderella dress, then nearly immediately got to cutting out the tulle circle skirts… I got up to about 15 before I was happy with the opacity. Now, I didn’t finish the skirt… I just left it out on my dress form for about the next 3.5 weeks…

At some point in early November I made a trip to my local fabric store and picked up a yard of this lovely (and practically neon) lime green silk cotton twill. And proceeded to use it for an unintended purpose, and made a camisole out of it.

This was definitely after I’d written a post about not making Ogdens out of anything very stiff… Maybe not posted, but definitely written. So I made one out of twill. Not my finest moment.

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Overall the camisole turned out nice. It’s not one I’d wear on its own in summer, but when worn with a black sweater, or with an overshirt, it looks quite pretty. I lined it with scraps of some undyed rayon lawn from these projects.

But then I remembered it was winter, and I had been making most of these pieces while completely covered in blankets… at my sewing machine.

So I decided to continue on and make the lace shirt? When I really wore this outfit in the real world, I definitely wore a sweater.

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I used my trusty Onyx top as the pattern, and used up the very last of this lace. I did have to piece the lace together on the back (and maybe the sleeve?) in order to complete the top.

Basically I laid one scrap on top of the other, lined up the pattern so it matched on the top and the bottom, pinned them until they wouldn’t shift in an earthquake, and then carefully sewed the pieces together.

Then I finally realized that I’d not finished up the skirt, so I cut out the waistband from some old stone colored mystery fabric (on the Sunday I used in my previous post) and the next week I sewed up the waistband and attached it to the skirt.

I had a quick photoshoot before work one day (though I only wore the camisole with a sweater to work… Not the skirt), and froze while I was trying to show off the garments. So there wasn’t a lot of smiling, because I was cold and rushing, but I do love the garments.

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The next week I wore this entire outfit to a ballroom dance, and though I looked and felt cute, I discovered one incredibly important thing.

The skirt is ridiculously itchy and uncomfortable. So itchy, even over top of a slip. My refrain for the night was “So itchy!!!” and I also found that it takes up the entire seat area in the car and spills over into part of the console… But can I repeat, itchy?

It’s possible I’ll make some kind of underskirt, but it’ll be in time out for now…

The other two pieces are awesome, and I’m enjoying pulling them into my wardrobe.

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So that’s my #sewfrosting outfit! It’s very bright, and not something I’d wear regularly, but it also is quite a cute little gumdrop ensemble! I’m glad I have pieces that I can wear in real life that’ll remind me fondly of this challenge.

Sometimes you need a little frosting to make you appreciate cake!

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Alanna the Lioness

Happy Halloween everyone!

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Let me start by telling you a story of young Jess…

Once upon a time, there was a house down the road that was for rent, the only house in the neighborhood that was. This house throughout the years contained some of Jess’s most unusual friends, but most of that is fodder for another time.

One year a family moved in with two kids, and one of them was Alison. Alison was three years older, and had done and read so many more things, but still wanted to be friends with Jess (even though in elementary school years three years is a decade). She introduced Jess to Tamora Pierce’s books on Halloween (by dressing up as Alanna, if I remember correctly). And changed her life.

The Song of the Lioness quartet was not the first I read… I think Kel was first since I was closer to her age, then Daine, but the character that I got attached to deeply was Alanna.

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She’s a warrior who’s also magical and has a cat who’s also a bit of a god… and she goes on cool adventures in far off lands… And I was a quiet kid that cried a lot and got bullied to varying degrees emotionally, to the point that I’m pretty sure some of it was imagined (which is essentially me bullying myself). Reading all of Tamora Pierce, but especially Alanna, got me through my child and teen-hood.

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So I decided to show this love as a costume.

As with many of my costumes, I looked to make part of it so I could wear it in real life, which were the trousers I showed you last week. They’re on heavy rotation…

 

And I teased my prop sword and shield as well, though those aren’t real life applicable.

But I realized that I will not be able to use much more of this costume in my real life, so when I recognised it I felt free to just make. It also helps that the shirt fabric and all the bias tape was in my stash. The red linen was a purchase from Joann’s.

Both the shirt and the tunic are based on the Onyx top by Paprika Patterns (yay for TNTs!).

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For the shirt, I added length to the sleeves and added cuffs, and raised the neckline plus added a “v” split for easy pulling on and off. The neckline is finished with yellow-gold bias tape, which was mostly applied by hand (because I didn’t have any matching thread. And didn’t want to buy more). Lots of pick stitching.

The sleeves were just lengthened straight from the armpit down, so I could get some volume at the cuffs, which I mostly just eyeballed. To match the cuff width with the sleeve width I pleated in the sleeve volume. The buttons… the buttons don’t work. I put snaps on the inside, and the buttons on the outside… Just in case I couldn’t actually button the cuffs myself. So… Convenience?

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The tunic was basically the original top, just sleeveless and with the neckline raised a smidge. I lengthened the top until it hit “somewhere between hips and knees” but left slits on either side so I could get to my pockets (highly important at a con) and for movement.

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I used an embroidery machine to make a patch for the “breast pocket” area, which was so fun to watch. I love watching needles stab into the fabric… Maybe that’s too much.

Two more finishing touches rounded off the costume: the ember stone and Faithful.

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I’ve carried around this pendant for years and years now, not really sure what I wanted to use it for, so it was just something fun that I was able to incorporate.

And finally, Faithful. My companion. He is the reason why I was recognized, most of all. And no one was able to tell that his eyes were purple!

Faithful

First I bought this plushie once I realized I didn’t have the time or bandwidth to make a realistic cat. I made him a little “platform” out of denim and a mustard fabric, which I would then safety pin to my tunic. Then I put wire up his leg and tail so it would stay up. And then I painted his eyes so the irises would be purple, which mildly worked. Not well, but if you’re looking for it.

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And that’s my ode to Alanna. It’s been a long time coming, but I think this is the best time for me to portray her. I need a little of her spunk in my life right now.

(On a semi-related note, Sara Bareilles released a new song recently, and I have been listening to it on repeat.)

((Also, if you really like Tamora Pierce’s Tortall universe, but want to hear a discussion about it from a group of well read friends who are picking it apart from a 2017/2018 point of view, I’d highly suggest listening to the Tortall Recall podcast. While I don’t always agree with their takes, it’s fun and sometimes enlightening to listen to people discuss some of my favorite books in new to me ways. I’m not affiliated with them in any way, I just enjoy listening to them!))

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Aqua Wedding Guest Outfit

Hey everyone! I’m going to try to post my backlog of projects, so this is the start… this isn’t quite a year old yet, but I do have pictures of it (unlike many of my other projects), so here it is!

Last spring I was invited to my cousin’s wedding. He’s the first of my cousins on my dad’s side to get married, so it was a big deal for the family. So I made a full outfit.

Aqua Wedding Guest Outfit

I had intended to make a dress, but I didn’t end up with that. I made a Onyx top and a Fumeterre skirt. My rationale was that I had two days to make this, and I wanted to make the pieces wearable in real life too… If I had made it this year, I’d probably have replaced the Onyx top with the Ogden cami (more on those in a future post), but I had just made a lot of Onyx’s and I knew they’d fit me well.

So, it started with scouring the Fabric.com website for suitable fabrics, and I ended up getting three yards of this lovely seafoam rayon sateen by Telio, which is sadly not stocked anymore.

I cut out the same size of Fumeterre that I had for my two tone version that I posted last year, but when I was sewing it up I realized I didn’t really need to put in a closure, that I could just use elastic in the waistband, so I decided to make it as simply as possible so no pockets and no closure. I did add a half lining, so that there would be some amount of protection. I think I hemmed it by machine, which was messy, but its also on the floor, so no one is gonna see it.

Then I cut out the Onyx top. And this is when I realized that I did not have enough fabric left to come out with a standard version. I made alterations so that it had a yoke on the front and the back, which solved the problem, and made an easy way to use facings , which I then burrito’d into the yoke. I used the same lining fabric from the skirt as the yoke fabric. Sewing it together occurred when I was super hungry and dying, since it was the day before I left for a work trip, but it was all put together!

So then the painting. While I was on the work trip, I painted suns and dots onto the skirt and the top, using Jacquard Lumiere copper paint, which is my favorite paint in the history of ever… Then I let them dry and I ironed it, which is supposed to set the paint and also keep the fabric supple.

The wedding was lovely, and I still love both pieces. I wear the skirt more than the top, but I think its because I love flowy skirts sooooooo much!

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All the Onyx Shirts

Never has a pattern become tried and true in my library than with Paprika Patterns’ Onyx Top.

My first version was made out of a lace in November, and altogether was too big. I thought I had made the recommended size, and it was mostly fine in the front, but the back was really drooping, and the sleeves were way too big. (Let me interject here that I don’t quite remember, but probably chose the size based on my bust size, which tends to throw off the rest of the fitting. Because I’m lazy, and my fitting adventures are a work in progress. So don’t take this as an actual review of the sizing…)

So I took the pattern in at the shoulders, raised the armscye, and shrunk the width of the back a bit.

Then in very early January I used the Ariel skirt made of rayon (which was way too lightweight for a skirt) to make a slightly cropped version. Not the actually cropped version in the pattern, since I needed this for work-appropriate events, but an inch shorter than I’d like. I made a facing for it out of the same fabric, and unfortunately didn’t finish the facing edge (which I should do one of these days) which can cause the neckline to hang funnily, and I didn’t interface it, which I think contributed. It quickly became my favorite shirt!

Incredibly happy with this success, I also made one out of this polyester suiting with a diagonal stripe pattern… It works. I wish that I had made the facing out of a different fabric, as the neck really doesn’t lay correctly, though I did interface it, so perhaps it was just stiffer?. Maybe I can fix it later?

And then I tried to use this stone colored poly/cotton blend (I think), which had no drape. That version did not work out well. It felt very frumpy and baggy. I don’t know if it can be salvaged, but maybe with a dart of some kind. For right now its in the alteration pile, which is why I didn’t bother to iron it for the pictures here…

So that’s where I had to leave it before a big conference in Seattle in the end of January. Then I had a making drought in early February as I adjusted back to normal life, and then I made an awesome version in black rayon. In fact the same rayon from the Ariel skirt version, but in a black. I tried to remove some neckline gaping with a pattern alteration, and made the shoulders even slightly less wide. This time I interfaced the facing again, but I also made the facing the entire yoke of the shirt wide. It ended with a fantastically fit shirt, but the yoke of the shirt felt and looked a little stiff. So I embroidered it. I haven’t done embroidery in a while, but it came back pretty quick, though I’ve never done anything quite like this. I really enjoyed the vines and leaves, and the couple flowers on the back were quite fun.

I’ve got another one of the black rayon versions cut out, since the rayon had enough for another, and I think I’ll embroider it too, but I’ll get to that one soon!