Infinity.... dress

In preparing for a friend's wedding I intended to make my bridesmaid dress. In the course of all things hectic it was suggested that we wear this one type of dress that was found online so we all match. The dress seems very simple so I was wondering why in the world would it cost more than $100.

I think to myself "I can make that!" Lucky for me I had some stretch fabric lying around from a previous binge of $5 bolts. I decided to make a floor length dress. After looking at the ones for sale online I decided it seemed like it was just a skirt with two straps sewed to it. I cut out one rectangle of fabric and split it diagonally to make the skirt then cut 2 strips and tried to make them tapper a bit.

After sewing it all together (only 3 seams necessary) I tried it on to realize the skirt wasn't nearly as full as the picture and the straps were a tad to narrow for me as well as not long enough. Since I had used the entire remaing bolt for this project I figure all I can do is start over. Although I'm not done with this particular dress yet. It makes a nice skirt and I'm thinking of ways to add fabric to it in a pretty way to make the straps wide enough and long enough. (Thinking of just adding a second color to the back of the straps of the first color and that way they'll double up for a bit.

So I set out on the internet to find a pattern for the dress instead of just guessing and I come across a free pattern on this wonderful site . Now I knew why the skirt wasn't nearly as full as I had intended. The skirt uses an full circle. So after a few calculations I figured out where to cut for the waist and hem. I folded a square of fabric in 4 so I would only have to cut out a quarter of a circle. However just before I cut I forgot all my measurements and made the diameter about 2" to large :( This made the skirt portion shorter then I had intended but I guess that's ok. I doubled up the fabric in the straps and made them about 15" wide instead of the 8" wide I originally had in the first dress but more than the 12" I needed since the fabric was 60" wide so that took care of the entire bolt. I didn't put in a waistband because I ran out of fabric.

After sewing the two sides of the strap together, I attached them to the skirt and since I had made a calculation error the skirt was way too wide to wear. In order to fix this, I cut a strip of elastic and folded over the portion of the skirt which wasn't attached to the straps and sewed it into the back making it ruffle quite a bit but I like the result.

I now know why the straps shouldn't be doubled, it makes it bulky and much harder to tie. However I like the additional coverage it gives initially. On my next attempt I plan to only double the fabric for about 30"-45" and then use single layer of fabric for the rest. Maybe this way I won't run out and the straps can be the right length. In order to connect them I'm thinking of sewing the single strip between the two end strips before sewing it to the dress, that way once it's turned right side out there is a single seam.

Shion part 2

I sewed the shoulders together on the top and have come to the conclusion I will need to do quite a bit of fussing with it. There is a bit too much fabric around the arm holes in the front. I think the best way to deal with it would be a dart on each side. I also definitely made it too big so I will have to take in about one or 2 inches on each side. I'm thinking it would be better to do this after fixing the arm holes since that's how most shirts can be sized down.

I bought some black fabric (at least i'm fairly sure it's black) as I mentioned before to make the skirt. Since it's a wrap skirt I need a piece of fabric that was about 56" long and 16" wide. Lucky for me the farbic is about 60" wide so I was able to just cut off a strip of 16". I want to use the serger to hem it so I would need to switch to the black thread for that. I figure while it's running ok I'll get as much of the top done first. Then switch colors to do the skirt.

First I'll hem the bottom using the same technique as the curtains, then I'll cut it to the right 'width' and use the same hemming for each side, although I may just make the hems on the side wide enough to take up the extra fabric, at least on the side that will lay inside. I think i may make a waist band about 1" to 1.5" thick and add in 4 darts or so in the back and sides to decrease the skirt size in the waist. I have a wrap skirt given to me maybe a year ago that I can model this design after. I'm glad I can get use out of it since I rarely wear skirts.

I'm guessing the bulk of this project can be done in under 5 hours, although I'm sure there are quite a bit of tiny things that may get in the way of completion.

The shirt made from a shirt

I've always had trouble cutting fabric. Once you cut you're done no second guessing. I guess it's the permanence of it all. I am rarely decisive unless I absolutely have to be. The down side of this is that I have tons and tons of fabric I haven't cut into because then it would be gone. I've been trying to work on this little by little. Today I took the scissors in hand and just hoped whatever I did would work out in the end.

During a short trip to wal-mart with a friend (their $5 bolt bin is dangerous to my sanity), I was looking around for some $5 white ribbed shirts however all I found were 2 different types. One marked down to $10 and one not on sale for $12. The one marked down had a low neckline and was close to what I wanted but not quite the quality of material. However the $12 one was perfect. In my last post I mentioned buying 2 of the shirts to use the backs as fabric however I was thinking more like a total of $10 not $24. Although apparently $24 for a shirt isn't an unheard of price... I just don't need to spend that much on a costume shirt (especially since I don't know if it will work or not). After walking around for a bit more  I realized the shirts I wanted were small size since the fabric had almost a double stretch, so why not just buy the largest one and then I could use the front and back instead of just the back. I was cutting it up anyway. So for $12 I bought the XXL shirt (granted i walked out of wal-mart spending more than $12 but who doesn't?).

After I got home I decided to start cutting it up. I started by cutting off the sleeves then cutting across the shoulders to separate the front from the back. Then I cut across the top of the front section to make it straight across instead of the scoop neck it originally had. I then cut down one side so I ended up with as close to a rectangle as possible. Since the shirt was so big and stretchy I was able to fit the sleeve over my head so that will be perfect for the turtle neck portion.

Next I measured from my shoulder to under my arm which is about 7 inches and Since the material stretches so much I decided I needed about 16 in across. So I cut out a piece from the front in 16 in width and one from the back for the same width. I then realized the back was longer than the front (since the front had the scoop neck).  So I decided I can just use the front as the back and the back as the front since I need more area in the front anyway. I then sewed the sides together starting from the bottom and stopping about 8 inches from the top edge. In order to have the two sides fit together, I stretched the back portion while sewing on the serger.  I then placed it on the mannequin and pined the tops together to see if i was even close.. and so far it might be ok :).

From how it looks I'm sure I'll have to re-sew the sides once I have the top stitched to make sure it fits properly because as of now it seems a bit big in places but at least I know getting rid of fabric is much easier than adding it.


Lately I've been trying to be careful with my serger and go slow because I broke 2 needles within the span of a day or two. In order not to break anymore I re-threaded the machine, adjusted the tensions back to the settings it came with and moved the plate part further away from the needles in case that was what was hitting. So far my best guess is that one of the threads loops improperly for some reason causing tension on the needle and making it bend just close enough to the plate to hit it and snap it.  Hopefully I've fixed the problem it appears to sew fine without fabric and with fabric, for now at least, I'm just taking it slow.

Hopefully this entire project will be done for under $20 :) I was able to pick up a small bolt of black fabric for $5 to make the skirt with, and I also picked up a few gold buttons for about $1. I may need some interfacing for a waist band on the skirt but we'll see I may be able to just double up the fabric and not worry about stiffening the waist.

Is there time for costumes?

I've been going back and forth with costumes to make. I really would like to be Urd from Aa megamisama! However I run into issues in her actual costume. I'm beginning to think that I really just need to double up on the fabric I'm using and put in a zipper.... maybe.
I still don't have the pattern down for the mandarin neckline and at this point I'm thinking that without someone else who knows how to alter it I may not be able to figure this one out on my own. So that has been put on the back burner.

However, she has several other costumes and I've been thinking of ways of introducing various means of support in the costumes. One possibility is building an actual plaster or paper machete support system to go under the clothes and use tape to keep everything in it's place... This will either work wonderfully or be a horrible disaster, unfortunately I haven't had the time to find out.

Speaking of time I was thinking of 2 simpler costumes. I could be Mion Sonozaki since I have her outfit almost complete, however I don't really like the way I did the wig for her hair and was thinking of maybe just taking it out and being Shion Sonozaki but in that case I'd have to make the outfit which seems fairly simple if I am going with the shirt and wrap skirt.  Seems simple enough. Although finding a turtleneck no sleeve shirt in white rib knit fabric hasn't happened and finding white ribbed knit fabric here hasn't worked either. So my best guess would to be find any 2 of the same shirt in this type of fabric, cut the backs off each and sew them together using the extra fabric as the turtleneck.  So now I'm looking to get 2 of these shirts for under $5 each...

The other idea I had was the adult version of Asahina Mikuru. Her costume is super simple just a dress shirt and a pencil skirt. Although I'm not sure how recognizable it would be. She has an identifiable birthmark in the shape of a star... but it's very very tiny... Without other people dressed up in the same anime I doubt people would know who I was....



Not sure what would be best.

Leather courage

About 2 years ago I decided to buy some leather at the ren faire in order to make a bodice. I see the leather ones they have selling for at least $175! Each piece of leather costs about $20 so I figure for about $40 I can make myself one right?





Then again once I cut the leather there is no going back. So there it sat for about 2 years before I got up the courage to pick up the scissors and just do it. I realized that the size of the piece I had could easily use the one piece for the bodice and just cut it to fit. 

I have the excess strips draped across since I've been thinking about adding the straps to really make it a bodice. To the left is a picture of the back. I have since made slits in the back and on the sides so that the leather will lay over my hips. I'm hoping to make it small enough so there is no need for extra support.

I just punched holes to have it line up although I still may need to make it a bit smaller in the middle. I want to be able to pull it together and not quite have it close. I initially was looking for about a half inch gap between the two sides meeting in the front. 

Crocheting madness!

I've finished the strips of the checkered baby blanket and have sewn them together(pics to come). The next step is to put a border on it, but first I plan to wash it and try to let it dry in a reasonable shape. Not sure if this is the best idea but I'm hoping it would make it more even.

Since that's almost done and I'm no good at finishing one project before starting another one I got more yarn to start the spiral blanket again. This time in purple (caron simply soft grape 9610) and blue(caron simply soft blue mint 9608). 

I think I'm getting it right this time because it hasn't started curling up.  My next step is to find baby yarn that isn't baby colored. I have many more pictures on my camera however they are trapped since I managed to misplace my cable to pull the pictures out.


I haven't done much sewing lately, darn end of the semester got into the way and crocheting is much more portable.

I need to start  working on my outfit for the ren faire which is coming up the end of January beginning of February. I also would like to make a doublet and pants to force my wonderful boyfriend into. Dress-up is so much more fun when you have more 'dolls' to dress :)

Baby blankets

I finished the spiral baby blanket. After I finished with the final skein of yarn I realized why it folds over so much. I misread the pattern and instead of adding 26 extra stitches to each row I was adding 52! So instead of having the frilly border the pattern called for I just decided that I was doing a simple border and leaving it at that. I figure I'll try again but next time increasing much slower...

However I did decide I wanted to start this other checkered pattern. I used Caron's Simply soft  yarn in Orchid(9717) and Off White. It calls for 2 skeins of the main color and 1 of the 'white', however since I'm using a slightly larger hook I think I will most likely go through 3-4 6oz skeins of the main color(Orchid) and at most just over 1 of the off white.
This blanket has gone very fast. I started it just over a week ago I think. Although I did quite a bit over the holiday break.

The left picture has a pencil in the middle for size comparison. These are three of the 5 strips needed to make the blanket. They are all the same. Starting with 10 rows of checkerboard pattern

The next two rows will alternate with these and start with 10 solid rows. 6 oz of the orchid got me through almost 2 of these rows but since the next 2 rows will include more solid blocks then checkered so I expect to use more yarn. I currently have about 3-4 oz of orchid left and I most likely will use at least 3 per row.

Since it's close to the end of the semester I expect work on this to slow down (Or at least I hope so since I have so much work to do!) But even still this is an addictive pattern so I expect it to be done in the next 2-3 weeks :)