Top of the mornin'

I've seen these little top hats in lots of Lolita style pictures. I started looking into them and decided I could probably make it. So first I started searching for tiny top hats that I could decorate I was able to find a few online that cost from $3-$4 each. Then I started looking around my apartment.
I realized a little while ago, I have enough stuff in my apt that I can start a brand new project without going to the store first. Back when I was working on my Esmeralda costume I needed coins for the skirt and found a pack of 35 foam circles for about $5-$6. For the coins in costume I only used about 3 circles, so they came in handy when I wanted to make jewelry for my Shion costume. That only took one circle. I have used a few more but still have plenty left. The foam is stiff enough that it will hold it's own shape so I figure perfect for the top hat.

I started by trying to make the entire hat out of two circles. I cut two concentric circles one for the brim of the hat and one for the top of the hat. I tried to use the second circle for the mid section but it wasn't long enough. So another trip to walmart for rectangles of foam for $4. These happened to be the peal and stick kind which wasn't what I intended but all I could find.

So I tried again cutting another two concentric circles, and a two inch wide strip for the mid part. I placed the mid strip on the inside of the brim and used the hot glue gun to secure it.

Having the midsection be slightly sticky was useful for keeping it in place long enough for the hot glue to try. I glued the midsection to the brim then glued the two sides of the midsection together to form a circle.

Next I glued the top to the top of the rest of the hat. In order to be able to later peal away the paper to use the sticky side I used scissors to cut a small strip of the paper from the top. Then I placed a small layer of hot glue and placed the top over it. Since it isn't a perfect circle (I should get a compass like from middle school) I needed to add glue to the sections that weren't aligned well.


After all the glue dried I went back into the craft room and found some black fabric. I cut a small square to first cover the top. I used a thin layer of hot glue to secure the fabric. Then I cut a rectangle for the mid section. I pealed away the sticky section and attached the black fabric around using the hot glue to just attach the two ends of the fabric together. Next I cut out a square of fabric for the brim. I folded it in quarters and cut a small section out of the center. Since the fabric was stretchy I was able to stretch it around the hat and use the hot glue to attach the fabric to the brim.
I then used the glue to attach the fabric to the underside of the brim. After some systematic tugging I was able to get the fabric evenly stretched around the hat. Next time I make it I will do the brim and top first and then attach the midsection fabric to make it more seamless.

I took two tiny scraps of fabric and glued it to the underside of the had in order to hold the clip to keep the hat in my hair. Each rectangle of fabric was glued on each end leaving the middle free.

Now I can insert the clip and attach it to my hair.

The next thing to do will be to decorate the hat. I'm not exactly sure how to start decorating so I will need to do some Internet investigating for ideas as well as look into what I already have lying around. As of now I'm debating just using a little bit of white ribbon around the hat where the mid section attaches to the brim and leaving it at that.

Gift for Lily

So what could I possibly get for a 1yr old girl? My friend Jen's daughter Lily turned 1 and I wasn't able to make the birthday party. But I was able to see them a few months later. So I asked my self what could I get her that would be unique. Then a friend of mine sent me This Link. I figure what kid wouldn't want an internet meme around. (At least it would be an interesting story for later in life).

So I started by searching for plushie patterns for cats. And found this cat pattern. I used the head, tail and legs.

After a trip to Joann's fabric and Walmart I was able to find pick fabric and grey for the strawberry color and the cat. I already had the tan fabric for the rest of the 'body' and I got 6 different ribbons of the various colors.

I cut out the appropriate size head body and strawberry filling and then measured and cut twice the length of ribbon for each color.
Next I went over to a friend's house and borrowed her fabric markers. A pinkish/purple one to make tiny squares on the filling and pink, white, and black to color the face.
I sewed the strawberry filling to the brown portion of the poptart.

Then I loosely followed the pattern to cut 4 tiny legs and a tail. Sewed them all on 3 sides leaving the top open for stuffing.

Next I tackled the rainbow. I sewed all of the strips together first. Second I cut it in half to get the same size and cut into 4 strips of rainbow 'fabric'.  I then sewed the pieces together in such a way that i ended up with two strips of four pieces each that are slightly off center in order to give the wavy appearance. I then sewed the two pieces together and used fray glue on the seams. After using the glue I hung it up so it could dry for a few days. 

 

Next I borrowed stuffing from a friend and stuffed the legs, tail and head. I sewed up the head except for the bottom and stuffed it. I attached the stuffed legs and tail to one side of the poptart body. Next I sewed the rainbow to the poptart body so that the tail is on top of the rainbow.

I had originally stuffed the rainbow part and then un-stuffed it a bit because it was too hard to sew on the sewing machine

Now the body is open only on one the end.

After hand sewing the bottom of the head and the side of the body I then sewed the head to the body by hand. It was difficult with both parts stuffed however secure. Next time I try it I will sew on the head before stuffing the body.

After a trip into the city Lily got the stuffed nyan cat and we found out it's just as long as she is tall! If anything it will be a convenient pillow for years to come :)

Bridesmaids Dress (the real deal)

The only place to get fabric close by is either Joann's fabric or the two walmarts in town. The next closest is a Joann's fabric about an hour away. In an effort to be thorough I took a day trip to the Joann fabric an hour south to look at the fabric there. I managed to find some fabric that was an exact match to the Yale Blue cord that was the sample. However I realized that with the pattern I was hoping to do would mean yards and yards of shiny fabric. So I decided the best bet would be the fabric I saw back at the Joann's at home and thus traveled back without buying any fabric (I did buy some elastic but that's a later post). I picked up the Royal Blue Jersey fabric and a dark blue lining fabric for the mid-rift.


 The main concern I had with my mock-up was the lack of coverage in the bust area. So in order to make this change I decided to enlarge one piece of the pattern. I did this by slicing the pattern down the middle and rotating it and tracing the outside onto another piece of paper.

I realized that I have two pattern pieces that were the exact same shape. One was the bodice the other the lining. The main difference was the markings the bodice had pleats and the lining had darts.


After putting together the bodice and bodice lining, I went onto the mid-rift. The pattern for the mid-rift required a lining and two more pieces one of which was gathered. Since I only intended to gather the front I didn't double up the back as I did in the mock up dress. I made very long ties sewed them together and turned them inside out.


I attached them to the mid-rift as I sewed the sides of it together. Then used a hair tie to keep them out of the way when sewing the rest of the dress together.

Then I had to sew the bodice to the mid-rift. My sewing machine decided at this point it hated the fabric and did not want to sew two layers of it together much less the 5 or so that needed to go together. I had to be very very careful not to catch the ties in the stitching so I used a pin to pin it away from the seam.

 

Next was the skirt. In order to make it a bit more froofy I placed the pieces on the fabric and positioned them so I could use the most fabric possible, keeping the waist the same size.  I used my measuring take to extend the area of the triangles.

I used the lining material to make pockets I made four kidney shaped pieces sewing two to each side of the skirt in the seem (one to each piece on each side). I originally wanted to double it to be more secure but then after have a few 'problems' with my sewing machine I decided it's one day and the pockets will hold with only one layer. 

So I sewed the pockets to the skirt pieces then sewed the skirt pieces together being careful to sew the pockets together as part of the seam.

Then the next step was to sew the skirt to the mid-rift. This also caused problems with my sewing machine since by this time it decided that it no longer needed to sew the fabric together at all. I went very very slowly sometimes just using the turn wheel and not the foot to sew.

After doing this I put in an invisible zipper in the back using the instructions from the package of the zipper. The zipper was causing some concern because it would zip fine except over places where there was an excess of fabric like the seams connecting the bodice to the mid-rift and the mid-rift to the skirt. 

The last part was hemming the end. This was exhausting because I made the bottom wider then the original pattern. I used a blind hem stitch to hem the bottom, this stitch requires the end of the skirt to be basted then folded in such a way that the stitch could just catch bits the skirt and sew mostly on the folded over hem. When I tried the stitch on scrap lining fabric it worked fine. When I went to do it on the skirt, the sewing machine decided the best policy would be to just skip stitches. So after spending lots and lots of time alternating between the presser foot and the manual hand wheel I got around the entire circumference of the skirt with lots of missed stitches.

At this point I went back and hand stitched any stitches that were missed and then looking at the rest of the seems to hand stitch anything that didn't get sew properly.


At this point I thought I was mostly home free. But just in case I packed the remaining fabric and the matching thread. And headed north for my 5 days home with my mom and then the wedding.

After I got home I I found some white shoes to go with the dress. When I went to put them on with the dress I bent over and the zipper split. (I knew it wasn't that strong ) So in a rush my mom took me around to find a way to fasten the back without using a zipper.
I decided to buy some dark blue ribbon for $0.50 that matched the mid-rift. I also got brass colored grommets and the tool to install them. I used the extra fabric I brought with me to make a flap to cover the back. I was able to attach it by using my mom's old sewing machine (which we thought didn't work but I think several years ago I may have mis-threaded it). After about an hour or so of shopping and about half an hour of cutting sewing and grommet placing I had the back of my dress fixed in such a way that no mater what I could close it. I was so happy this happened several days before the wedding at my mom's house instead of at the wedding where I didn't know the area and had other stuff to do.