Givin' Me Goosebumps

I know the Halloween season is over and the world has thrown itself into the Christmas frenzy but Halloween and I have a hard time letting go of each other and I don't like to even think of Christmas until it's December and Remembrance Day has passed us by. That being said, I had planned on this skirt being finished by the second week of October, but things don't always work out as planned, and it was finished yesterday.

Originally, it wasn't going to end at a skirt. I had a whole dress planned out. I had taken a pattern from I dress I already had and mocked it up, even used the pattern for the bodices of two other dresses! That was until I realized that by adding a bodice to this great print would severely diminish the styling possibilities. I couldn't have that! So it ended up being this:

 

A full circle skirt that I can wear with whatever I like!

 Sewing went pretty quickly. Since I had started the skirt ages ago the seams had all been sewn and all I had to do was finishing really. I eyeballed the evenness of the hem, pinked the center back seam and did cheaters flat felled seams for the side seams. Since the skirt was made out of a bed sheet I just kept the hems on the sides, pressed it over the raw edges and stitched down, simple as pie!

 The waistband is a pretty simple self enclosed thing with hooks and eyes and snaps and a placket. I personally prefer this closure to a zipper on a skirt like this because I think it lies better and is easier to adjust if need be but to each their own. I did end up having to redo the waistband after finishing it. Apparently my measurements and extremely quick try of it on before had were off and it ended up a little uncomfortably tight. It was a quick fix and it fits like a dream now!

Simple but effective 1/2" narrow hem. The first line of stitching makes pressing up on the circle so much easier!

That's all for this week folks!

Be sure to check back next week where, hopefully, I will have an entry into Seamstress Erin's bow-neck blouse sew along!!

M is for MATADOR

Hello everyone, in my last post I mentioned that it is my favorite time of year but I feel I failed to mention that it is also the busiest! Work and commissions have been keeping me away from posting. I know, excuses, excuses.

Well, one of the things I have been working on needs a little help! As I mentioned last time, I worked on an entry for the ABCs of Death 2! The entry was put in a little late, however, and we need as many votes as we can get. So if you get the chance please head on over and click like, maybe even share it with your friends!

WARNING! The video contains graphic violence and gore!

Follow this link to watch!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Hello everyone!

We have now officially entered my most favorite time of year! The weather here has finally gotten a nip to it; although, the rain hasn't quite arrived like I had hoped. Things are starting to get busy!

This post is going to be a little bit different. I am going to talk about a few things that I am working on and a few things that I LOVE about this season.

Now that the Halloween season is here, it is time for me to dedicate myself to the local Haunt, known as Fright Nights. If you live in the Greater Vancouver Area or plan on heading here anytime soon, you should defiantly check out our spooky event. I also did the costuming on the above commercial for them that will be on TV! This is the 30 second version but the 60 should be out soon!

Along the same lines, I have been working with Luchagore Productions on an ABCs of Death entry which will be filming tomorrow! If you don't know who Luchagore is check out their Facebook page!

Wicked Poster for Dia De Los Muertos

With the haunting season upon us, I am getting all of these crazy ideas for more garments (mostly dresses admittedly) based on all of the great prints that come about this time of year! Particularily
Ghastlies Gallery Family by Alexander Henry, Timeless treasures glow-in-the-dark skeleton print and the Robert Kaufman Sleepy Hollow collection! They also may or may not be inspired by certain ModCloth dresses (pictured below).

Nocturnal or Nothing Dress

Rad to the Bone Dress

 

 

 

 

Well, that's all folks! See you again soon for some actual content!

Jessie

Striped Shirts and the Culottes

Hello again,

I have a bunch of projects on the go right now but not so many finished ones. I thought I would share some things that aren't as interesting or complicated. The shirts are something I have been making for about a year now. They started with a boys western shirt pattern from the 70s that I altered to fit a grown human. The culottes are just something I whipped up with some worsted wool I had from a failed pleated skirt. I finished them around the same time as the Raven dress and figured I should post about them sooner rather than later.

 This is the first of the striped western shirts that I have made. It's a printed stripe rayon with a thick, vintage synthetic for the yoke. I have no actual idea what the fabric of the yoke is other than it is thick and bulky an should probably never be used for a collar.

 This version has an unedited length of the collar so it's a bit pointy for my tastes. The fabric and buttons were thrifted at my favorite little thrift shop down the street for less than $5.

 It's not terribly apparent but this shirt is lavender with white buttons. It is all cotton, the body is a striped quilting cotton and the yoke and collar is just a shirting. The collar is not interfaced to keep it soft and somewhat feminine.

  This sucker shrank more than expected in the wash. I had forgotten to pre wash the fabric for the body so it pulls a bit across the chest now.

 The top stitching on the back of the stand makes me sad, maybe someday I will fix it. I made the collar a tad smaller on this version and I think I like it better.

 Finally the green shirt. This I finished right before taking it out for photos! Admittedly, I cheated a bit though. Originally this was a large mens shirt At least the body was large, huge even! The sleeves were taken to be the bodice of the dress and the rest was going to be used for a corset. While digging through my stash the other day I discovered the fabric and changed my mind.

 I kept the stand and the collar and re-cut the body and sleeves out of the body of the shirt. I kept the nifty little back peat to add some fullness to the back so it would puff out of my skirt our trousers. Although, it did make the shape of the yoke have to be less pointed but I like the look of the point leading to a pleat.

I believe the accumulated cost for all four garments is around $30. Most of the fabric is thirifted or a remnant and was barely enough for each garment. The sleeves on the lavender shirt are a bit shorter due to the lack of fabric but I think they turned out rather cute.

All of the shirts have a two part sleeve that I altered to be that way after realizing on the first shirt that I would never be able to make sleeves with the little fabric I had if I kept it in one piece. The yoke is applied on top of the shirt once the shoulders are put together and stitched into the armholes and neckline. The collars are going to take some more practice before they look great but luckily messy stitching on the back stand is covered by the collar anyway.

That's all for now. I should have a bunch more on the way so pictures and postings are imminent!

Check back soon,
Jessie

The Ants Go Marching Two by Two

Alright, finally, I am posting these! I ran in to some complications in actually taking pictures on the first outing of these garments as there was too much fun being had. Luckily not having photos gave me the opportunity to fix a couple things. For instance, the arm holes ended up being way too tight right under the arm. I undid the binding, shaved off about a half an inch and the fit pretty darn well now.

SO, without further ado, here are some photos:

 

                                                   Matchy, matchy!

 

                                                    Oh how scandalous!

                                                    And a little more detailed shot of the petticoat.

                                                   Eli making a sarcastic face.

                                                    And the backs.

                                    It was at about this point we realized it looks like we are doing an engagement shoot (we aren't)

                                                    

                                                   Hands in the pocket

                                                   Eli looking serious.

                                                   Close up of the back (there is a little pulling)

This project stared out looking at this dress and deciding that I needed it in my life. Sadly, my wallet decided that it wasn't going to happen. Luckily Eli suggested that I visit etsy and look for the fabric, that way I could make the dress that I wanted and make a vest to match! And thus the matching outfit was begun! I think they turned out pretty fabulous, although there were a few things I would have done different.

 For instance: the arm holes are currently bias bound but if/when I make this dress in the future I would stitch them before attaching to the bodice. Another thing I learned is that I will never, EVER insert pockets after a dress is finished again. I only put one pocket in because I couldn't handle it. The little slope of the waistband was a happy accident that I didn't realize until I had the yoke attached to the bodice. I really quite like the look of it.

There isn't any photo evidence of the single welt pockets on the vest. Too bad too, I am actually pretty proud of them! The vest front is a little wrinkled due to the damn fusible interfacing which decided to shrink considerably when pressed. I will have to look up how to pre-shrink fusible for future!

All in all, I think it was a pretty successful endeavor! Keep checking by for updates on my newest project!

Cheers,
Jessie

Shoe Give Away (American Duchess)

Alright, this post is a bit of an off shoot from what will usually be here but I just had to. One of my favorite places to oggle at is doing a give away! You can check it out over at http://americanduchess.blogspot.ca/  So, I thought I would share with anyone who would happen across the post! Not to mention, it's a pretty darn good excuse to post about some eye candy! Just look at those darling shoes (not to mention the rest of the styling)!

Back to regular posting soon!

Salutations

Hello there, I want to start things out with a bit of happiness! I just bought myself an ironing board! After living on my own for nearly 5 years and 2 years of university for costuming, I finally own an ironing board! Gone are the days of ironing on my dinning room table or living room floor (using a towel of course)!

Now, I have no projects complete for your viewing pleasure yet; however, I do have a bit of a preview. I am hoping to be completing this project by the end of the week and have pictures up reasonably soon. I will try to keep up with updating once a week, with new projects or some things that are already in existence that I would like to share. Time will tell how that all pans out.

For now, here are some pictures of my new ironing board and the upcoming project:

                                           New ironing board and soon to be new dress
                                               

                                                                  Close up of gathers prior to pressing


Please excuse the less than amazing phone photos and my rather dusty lamp. Check back soon to see the complete (hopefully) project!

Thanks for reading,
Jessie