Jade Brocade Formal Dress

Have you ever rage-sewed anything?

Look, I fully intended to keep to my plan of "no more sewing for the fall" since I had such a hectic summer sewing costumes for Dragon Con, however I became very angry with Nordstrom's recently as I was shopping for a dress to wear to our cousin's wedding, and when I become angry, apparently I get shit done become resourceful rather quickly.

Hopefully the rage wasn't too noticeable in the final product

So here's the story.

Crochet Baby Pumpkins

Today I want to share with you these three adorable little crochet pumpkins I made for my niece and two nephews! I was feeling the Fall Spirit a little early, and these were actually complete weeks ago -- but I wanted to be sure the packages had safely arrived before I showed them off on the blog.

Handmaid's Tale Costume

I had the wonderful experience of reading The Handmaid's Tale for the first time earlier this year. While the book was nothing like I expected it to be (somehow I had it in my mind that it was futuristic science-fiction, not near-future post-apocalyptic), it made quite an impression on me. You can read my Goodreads review of the book to hear more about my impressions. I had chosen to read this book finally (after years of hearing nothing but amazing things about it) because I knew Hulu was making an adaptation of the novel for a television show this year. 

While the show struck me completely differently than the novel (the dangers of adaptations...), it was still neat to be able to visualize fully the world Margaret Atwood had created. So when someone presented the idea of doing a Handmaid's Tale costume for Dragon Con this year, I eased into the idea of sewing my own. Because of the popularity of the show and the surprising (or maybe not?) choice of many liberal protesters to wear the iconic red costumes, there was no shortage of costumes out there to buy. But, the guilt of buying something that I could definitely make was too strong, and so I set out to sewing. 

"Blessed Be the Fruit."

Of course, I've been busy making Dolores for most of the summer, so this costume was made over the past two weekends. Probably about 12 hours of sewing all told. At least I was able to re-use Dolores' boots for this one!

"Under His Eye."

Westworld Cosplay: Making the Bodice

While it only seems like a few days to you, it's actually been several weeks for me working on the bodice of Dolores' costume! I am actually so ridiculously impressed with myself by how this turned out. Sure, I can't lift my arms higher than shoulder-height, but if I stand really still it's still gorgeous to behold. 

Are you beholding yet? Reference photos in last post

Because there was quite a lot that could go wrong with this, what with having to improvise on the pattern, having to add ribbon, having to make the shaped hemline, convincing my machine to sew buttonholes, etc... I decided the first thing to do was to create a mock-up using some spare fabric.

Westworld Costume: Planning and Preparing Stages

I'll bet you all were wondering when I was going to start posting Dragon Con costume progress, huh?

Well, while I am definitely procrastinating, I have not been idle! I have been planning my two big costumes (that's right - I SAID TWO) for Dragon Con for months now. In June, I decide to take the plunge and commit to my most complicated costume, Dolores from Westworld.

If you haven't seen Westworld and you like robots in cowboy hats, you need to get on the bandwagon. It does contain a fair amount of gore and naked people though, so you may want to watch it through your fingers scrunched up over your eyes.

"Some people choose to see the ugliness in this world. The disarray. I choose to see the beauty." - Dolores

Chambray Dress (FROM HELL)

OK, it's probably not entirely fair to say this chambray dress was from hell. It was just definitely at a more advanced skill level than I'm used to and as a result, I spent about as much time ripping out stitches as I did putting them in. I think the end result is passable though, don't you?

This is one of the biggest projects I've ever sewed that wasn't made out of a knit. This is big for me. This is a thin chambray I originally bought to make a winter dress, but since winter is long gone I adapted for a spring dress pattern I had.

Crochet Woven Basket

I think we've all been having the "Back to Work Blahs" so I haven't been working on anything big (sewing, etc.). I did cash in the rest of my Christmas gift cards on a few more sewing supplies, some yarn, and a magazine of crochet patterns. I was pretty psyched about the crochet patterns because they were for things besides scarves, hats, and blankets! One of the patterns that caught my eye was this woven basket pattern. I thought this might be a good way to use up some of the yarn I had in my craft closet and learn a few new stitches.

The yarn in the basket is only a *small* sampling of all the yarn I have left in my closet

Busy Sewing Weekend!

What can I say - Christmas was very good to my sewing room this year! Hubby gifted me with a new sewing machine (a Singer Confidence - helloooo, automatic tension and fancy stitches!), my mother-in-law gifted me with a dress form, Mom gave me a new iron and pressing cloth set, and a variety of enablers other people gave me enough gift cards to truly go bananas buying fabric at Jo-Ann's. The result was a whirlwind New Year's weekend spent sewing actual clothes - not costumes - for the first time in my life.

Also please note that dress forms make for the best post-sewing photoshoots. Now you don't have to see my "I've been locked in my sewing machine all weekend" hair :)

As intended without belt

Belt added on a whim

The biggest project of the weekend was this red t-shirt dress. Some of you may be looking at this and thinking "hey, doesn't that look kind of like..." Yes. You are correct. This is the same pattern I modified to make my red Star Trek dress over the summer. The dress was so comfy and the color was so fun that I decided I wanted a "real" version I could actually wear to work without looking crazy very enthusiastic about my fandoms. It uses the McCall's 7122 "Look, Ma, I'm Sewing" basic, basic pattern. The dress is kind of a sack shape which I think they mean to be a "swing dress" or something. I wasn't sure it looked right so I ended up using some extra fabric to make a belt. However now I'm not sure I'll use the belt. ::shrug:: For what the dress lacks in shape, it makes up for in ease to make.