Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween!

Finally. I've been talking about this post, and I am actually writing it! Mark your calendars!! So earlier I mentioned that I was up-cycling a dress for Diva's Halloween costume (Rapunzel from the movie Tangled). And my plan was to take all these pictures and show you step-by-step how I did it, but...

wait. I know what you are thinking... more empty promises.

Not exactly. You see, I did start with every intention of up-cycling. I took pictures of Diva in the original dress, and started to disassemble it (is that even a word?), and put it on Shirley (or as Diva likes to call her, Charlene), my mother-in-law's slightly scary 3 foot tall replica doll of Shirley Temple. And then I took a look at it and decided with the amount of work I was about to do, I might as well just start from scratch. Please remember these words as you read further:

I've never sewn clothing before in my life.

So here was my plan. I was going to take my fabric, look at a picture, and create. (READ: I had no pattern.) Let me preface by saying that I watch a lot of Project Runway... a lot.

I started with these fabrics-- a chiffon (light pink), a crepe (light purple), and a glitter satin (light purple)-- two of which were the most heinous fabrics I have ever worked with. I also started out with the basic idea that I would make a circle skirt and a country wench style top.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I've never been so grateful to Shirley in my life. She is almost the same size as Diva... slightly chunkier, and a bit shorter... but certainly within the ballpark which was good enough for me. She stood up tall, and never complained about my constantly putting things on her, taking them off, and sticking her with pins. Diva is not nearly as accommodating. 

I wish I could go through and tell you step-by-step what I did, but to be honest, I'm not sure I could replicate it even if I tried. I made bunches of mistakes and pulled out tons of seams. I wanted to use the glue gun a few times but my husband told me to suck it up, so I did. I sewed my first zipper into Diva's costume... slightly crooked, but there. I depended heavily on online tutorials like this one for the sleeve

My plan was to do a circle skirt sewn onto elastic, which I did, but it didn't turn out quite right so I ripped it out, added a waist band and made my attempt at a zipper. It works, but Diva is so skinny that I am going to have to resort to using suspenders (hidden under her top) to keep it up properly. Then for the top, I made a quick template using one of her shirts, as well as the aforementioned tutorial for her sleeves. I'm actually stupified at how well it all came together. I added eyelets for the lacing, lace around the edges, and iron-on flower embroidered appliques for the detail on the overlay skirt.

I decided that for Halloween Little Loo would be Rapunzel's best bud, Pascal, a very small, very green chameleon. I was smart though... I bought a pattern, and only made some slight adjustments. I used green fleece and this crappy metallic fabric for accents-- never again. I added a detachable tail, swapped the ears for giant eyes, added some spines or whatever they are called on her back. 



Here they are together.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Oh man. Talk about neglect. I keep saying to myself, I have soooo much to write about, but I just don't seen to have the time. Tonight Hurricane Sandy is on her way and we are trying to prepare for what could be days without power. Fortunately we have a generator so we'll be good, but we may be housing family and friends who don't which always makes for some added stress. Not to mention that some of the surrounding towns have already cancelled Halloween! Ugh. The thought of another postponed Halloween makes me want to cry considering the work I put into the costumes this year. More on that on Wednesday, Oct. 31, when I post the photos.

Also, I recently got my Babylock Tiara which just makes me giggle to think about. Between getting the machine and realizing that I need to make my sewing area safer now that I will have a crawler within the next couple of months I have redone my "sewing room." I plan to have a reveal on my Let's Get Acquainted blog hop stop on Nov. 12. Before and after photos will be included, so please stop by. I'm even planning on throwing in a giveaway if I can get to the store in time!

And in the Halloween spirit, I thought I would include a photo of this fruit platter I did for my nephew's birthday party this past weekend. It must have been really scary, because no one even touched it!

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

I think I can breathe again... maybe

We will soon be returning to our regularly scheduled posting.

September was an especially crazy month for me. With Diva heading off to school for 5 full days (a first for this family), dealing with Little Loo's own crazy changing schedule, and the annual Oktoberfest our Lions Club does (of which I am a member) I have been overwhelmed-- to put it mildly.

That being said, I did manage to put a deposit on a Babylock Tiara, and am looking forward to getting back to my quilting. After this week I plan on finishing the quilt top from the Beginner's Quilt Along so that I will have something to quilt when my Tiara arrives.

I also have to start working on Halloween costumes for the girls, which I am super excited about. Diva's costume will be an up-cycle from a special occasion dress. I plan on taking pictures of the whole process so that I can share them with you. Little Loo will be a new construction of my own design. Let's hope they work out!

Until next week...