Posts Tagged ‘sewing’

BronyCon: Cutie Marks

Previously: BronyCon Costumes!!

I know the term “cutie mark” sounds a little silly. Sometimes I even use the term “butt tattoo” because it’s slightly cooler. Even if you’ve never watched any iteration of My Little Pony, you probably know what I’m talking about:

Using Dr. Whooves as an example to head off the question of if there are boy ponies

Every pony has one once they come of age, and they’re supposed to symbolize what makes that pony special. Which… sometimes I buy, but other times seems to just be BS.

There are so many better things you could’ve picked to symbolize “teacher”. Cheerilee is clearly in denial about her gardener-destiny

Anyway, since these cutie marks are an integral part of each character design, we have to include them in our costumes!! Rainbow Dash’s looks like a cloud with a three-colored lightning bolt:

Here are the pieces of it I cut out to trace onto the felt!

Then, after some cutting, one memorable Skype conversation with Steven at work where I told him to “borrow a ruler from [his boss] to measure your butt” (for some reason he wouldn’t do this?? I ended up using the pockets on some of his jeans for reference), and some basic applique, this:

Again, Steven was just not willing to put these on so I could take a picture of his butt for the Internet. Weird.

Because I want to be able to wear my cargo pants after this convention, I decided to embroider it on the back pocket instead of appliqueing. It’ll be less noticeable, but I won’t feel weird wearing them to the grocery store in two months. Daring Do’s cutie mark is a compass rose, and I admit to going a little overboard with trying to make sure it was geometrically accurate. In my defense, I’m terrible at eyeballing things.

So proportions and geometry are two things I like. It’s allowed, I’m a scientist now

Also, yes, that is my family heirloom compass, and yes, it has like an old-fashioned pen nib on one end instead of a pencil. Yeah, that’s kind of annoying, but not an insurmountable challenge.

I own this too, what do you want from me?

Anyway, after much travail, I was able to make a guide for myself exactly fitted to the space I had to work with:

Thanks, Mrs. Branch from 8th grade geometry! I’m sorry I doubted you 11 years ago

Then I ended up watching TV while finishing it, so it turned out a little wobbly anyway:

Oh well

Next: Freezer Paper Stencil Shirts

Things I’ve Made: Jean Bag!

Last week I made a bag or large purse out of an old pair of Steven’s jeans! I offered to let him keep it since they were his, but he graciously declined.

Big enough to carry some books!

I already had a heavy denim needle and thread for my machine from the jean skirt I made, so this was a relatively quick, easy project.

Here's the back

I ended up using almost all of the jeans!

Let MSPaint and I show you how!

I started off following this tutorial with a few changes. For instance, I did a lot less fitting to my flap, and sewed it to the outside instead of the inside. Also, my straps are a lot longer!

I can’t wait for Steven to try to get rid of more clothes!!

Things I’ve Made: Jean Skirt

What are you supposed to do when your jeans suddenly and mysteriously acquire an unflattering rip??

How did that happen? It's possible I'm too bootylicious for ya babe

It’s cool! I just ripped out the inside leg seams and cut off the legs, then used the extra fabric to fill in the gaps to make a skirt!!

Yes, that IS the annotated anniversary edition of The Phantom Tollbooth on the floor!

I had to get a heavier needle and jean thread for my sewing machine, but figuring out how to change the needle was the hardest part of this project! And that was just turning a little knob. Super easy!!

And super stylish!!

Exciting to have a skirt with pockets!!

13 Adventures: #4 Sock Monster

I’ve been looking for an excuse to use my beautiful new sewing machine ever since I got it at Thanksgiving! Today at the library I found this cool book:
Stupid Sock Creatures!
I figured I could not go wrong with trying to make a monster out of old socks. After all, I already have the materials and any mistakes would probably add to its charm!

So I got home and rummaged around in my sock drawer till I found two socks I don’t ever wear anymore:

Those are weird, tiny dogs on the ankles. And obv they don't match since my socks never do

This project definitely took way longer than I thought, even though I was following “one of the easiest monsters”. A lot of the instructions were less clear than I would like, and I ended up making a lot of really dumb mistakes towards the end, like attaching things inside out. I think my main problem was that my socks were too thin and stretchy, they were really hard to hand sew, and a lot of hand sewing was required. So this may actually fall apart in a week, we’ll see. However, all the parts I got to use my sewing machine for were awesome!! It has a bunch of cool settings and features that I am just getting used to, since I learned on my mom’s old machine. Here is the finished product:

I have a bunch of purple tulle randomly, so I gave her hair and a scarf!

Here are where those two dogs ended up:

A leg tattoo...

And a tail tattoo!

Classy.

Sheet Dress: the Height of Classy

After shopping to no avail for something nice to wear to graduation, I decided to make my own dress, using the tutorial for the “Infinity Dress” found on rostitchery. Then, after abortive trips to the fabric store I decided my only option was clearly to make it out of my sheets. When am I going to need a rather worn set of extra long twin sheets again? And they were the right amount of stretchy. The result:

In retrospect, I probably should have washed them BEFORE sewing

In retrospect, I probably should have washed them BEFORE sewing

Oh well.

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Unfortunately, after freaking out that you could actually see through the fabric, I made the top part–already oddly heavy–twice as thick. I’m not sure if it’s the best choice for the blinding desert sun that will be graduation since it IS EXACTLY LIKE wrapping my shoulders in a full sheet.

Although it does mean that for the past two nights I’ve been sleeping on top of my bare mattress in a sleeping bag. Oh, the memories.

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