The Anonymous Blueberry Muffin Thief Sews...

More costume making. I did this from scratch without a pattern, based on a rough idea of an obi belt, and a couple of 'corset' belts I found on Pinterest. The idea for this character is very much a wandering priest; she's an Orc, so rough clothes are the by-word. I wanted a wide belt to draw the rest of the kit together, and to have something with extra pockets in, and something to hang stuff off. This was made from some faux suede that I'd bought about a year ago from Calico Laine, because I wanted to see what type of material it was. I used some fleece as internal padding. I still need to sew some rings onto it so I can tie pouches on to it. (please excuse the bathroom selfie, there's nowhere else in the house with a mirror)

Two dresses in less than a week. That's not mad, right? I did it though. Two linen Simplicity 1347s, following on from the toile shown here .

So, costuming. LARP. That thing I do. I've been fiddling with kit for a couple of weeks, modding a dress into an over-dress kind of thing, and working up the courage to start new kit for Odyssey (which, at under 2 weeks to go, is becoming a priority). It's an ancient worlds LARP, which is awesomely fun, and I play in Greek nation. Sadly, the weather is rarely very Mediterranean, and cloaks are a necessity. I have those sorted. When I started playing, I was playing a combat character, and was bombing around in kit that looked like this... charlottemoss.co.uk  only with armour. Kit that was thrown together out of some scruffy blue fabric I found on the market a day before the event. I love that chiton; it's gorgeous soft chambray and I'm stupidly proud of it. It fits weirdly, tends to show my bra straps, and I have to wear shorts under it for modesty, and it now permanently smells of camp fire smoke, but whatever. Add that shawl (which has a hood, made by the exce...

I've been in a bit of a rut the last week or so. I'm making progress on the Hitchhiker scarf, but my sewing machine is still in it's box and the table and surrounding area is still covered in LARP detritus. I've got a niggling injury and what my friend R calls "brain weasels" which are getting in my way of doing a lot of shit at the moment, and the lack of crafting is driving me round in a vicious circle of "want to craft" - "no space to craft" - "no energy to clear space" - "blah" - "want to craft". My plan this weekend is to try and sort this shit out, because my whole house is suffering. Before this funk hit, I ran an event for which I made many props. This is the kind of thing that I wish I could do more often, but as we run on a weekly basis, I don't usually have time. But as it was the first event of the year, I had the prep time (and as the plot required several maps, it needed to be done or the p...

I'm off to Empire for the long weekend. I have with me my sewing box (for helping fix stuff tomorrow before time in) and my knitting (for the periods of downtime I will probably have). Have a good easter weekend! 8 points down, aiming for 50 Sewing, Shakespeare and the Hobbit. 

Well, you're getting pyrography first, because that's what I have pictures of. This was never just going to be a sewing blog, but if you're not interested in the sweet smell of charred wood, this post is probably not for you. This is a bit of a work in progress, because I'm short 2 discs and I need to make a case for them, but the case is in draft stage, and 2 more discs won't make a lot of odds in photos.   These are for the LARP system I help run, and also a shot at pyrography practice, as I'm a real novice at it.      

I have 3 things to post, and I'm not sure what order to post them in, so I'm currently flailing around like a flailing thing, and will be adding to the list of stuff over the course of the week. Why? Because the LARP season starts in 2 weeks (for me) and I am valiantly making props for our first event of the year. (current list: new Polly top, CrazyDogLady skirt, weapon carry disks for LARP. Forthcoming: lock puzzle props, maps and possibly a gargoyle head)

Over due post time! And two for the price of one! Day off today. Headaches and nosebleeds = no desire to be in an overheated office. So I'm having a day of trying to shift headaches and finish some stuff up. I have people coming over next weekend so I need to clear some space. So, stuff what I've finished of late. This is the LARP shirt I've been working on for a while (way too long). It's view D of Simplicity 3519 , and I would like to say that I am never making this pattern again (unless, possibly, someone pays me).  

 More projects are in the works. I am however suffering from a severe case of winter blues, coupled with LARP starting to pick up again for the year (pre-season planning and stuff) and a general loathing of my job that's infecting pretty much everything I do.   But enough of the blah. I spent the weekend trying to sort my house out, mostly so that I had enough flat surface to get some cutting done. Saturday I cut the pieces for a LARP shirt. It's a Simplicity 3519  in view D, which I know is going to be massive on the sleeves and probably too small on the chest. It's cut in a size XL (to accommodate chest) and the sleeves are only half the size of the back and front (and they're huge). I used about 3 metres of calico for this, which is a pain as that's most of my toile fabric gone in one shot. Oh well. Even if it is huge, I can pass it off onto someone else, or I can modify it to actually fit me. LARP shirts that fit me are a rarity, so making my own is basic...

This was what was called the emergency xmas present. I'd had a vague idea to make these, and possibly even gift one to the recipient at some point, but had mostly been focussing on other people for presents. Then I couldn't find anything in the shops and went and made these in a very short space of time (ok, about a week, but I was working, and had to wait for stuff to show up).

    So I'm currently faffing around at work, waiting for a meeting that might not happen and trying no to go mad with the current project I'm working on (pro tip: don't make the English graduate computerise the electrical drawings. bad things happen) My pretty fabric for my post xmas present sewing showed up at work on Friday (when I was off doing xmas shopping in MK) so I didn't get it until today. It's so pretty! And I managed some impressive colour matching given I was working on my not very well calibrated work monitor! This is going to be tucked away until I'm done, so I'm not tempted before I'm done with presents.   I posted the other night about how much I love my seam ripper (there was an issue with squid, which will be covered in a post later when I can get all the photos in the right order, so, when I get home) and someone asked what it was, so I took this to illustrate the point. It sees a fair amount of use, and this weekend ...

Another mildly panicked xmas present, to be made from this deconstructed suede jacket. Oh charity shops I do love thee sometimes.   Basically I may have failed to find anything for someone for christmas, so they're getting LARP kit, hastily thrown together from a broken down suede jacket and whatever material I can find in my stash that will match. 

The red cloak is finished! I wore it last week to an evening LARP event with the bottom hem still unstitched, but I finally got round to finishing it today (and as sods law dictates, the bobbin ran out with about an inch to go so I had to hand stitch). All in all this was a fairly simple project. I messed up cutting a couple of pieces, but I cut them too large rather than too small, so it was easily fixable (and I realised before I started sewing). The triangular inserts were a bit interesting to stitch in, and the points of them are shakily hand sewn (I will neaten them up if they cause me problems). This was me selfie-ing last week once the collar and buttons were done, along with the hat that would go with the outfit. And this is the collar up close. Someone said it could possibly do with something to stiffen it, but I have real issues with things being tight round my neck at times, and I quite like that it's squishy and soft. The button holes are a little wonky because...

I keep calling this "the fing" on facebook. It's a cloak as detailed as Sewing 2 in this post . It's technically done now. I have some cosmetic things I want to do to it (to hide a seam I botched up) and it needs a third button. I'm also going to make a hood to go with it, but my bobbin has emptied (halfway through sewing a buttonhole) and I need to reload it with a different colour so I can get on with Sewing 3 (the red version of this) and quite frankly it's annoying me. I've been having tension issues with the sewing machine as well. Anyway, a couple of pics...  On a hanger so I could get a vaguely decent shot. I sewed the right hand triangle on the wrong way, so the seam is on the outside, but I'm going to cover it with some more cloth to make it look like it's a rip that's been repaired. It could kind of do with some decent edging, but it's supposed to be a scruffy cloak and I'm lazy. The buttons are silver, but t...

So, current projects. There are plenty of them at the moment... Knitting 1. This is a shawl for me, using this pattern - Less is More from Ravelry. I'm about halfway done I reckon, and I'm really loving the texture that the yarn and pattern is creating. It got put on the back burner for a while as I was working on other things, but now it's getting a bit chilly, so I'm going to start working on it again so I have a scarf thing I can wear (to go with the billion other scarves and shawls I have). Knitting 2. This is a Christmas present for my best friend (he knows about it because he had to pick the colours). I've called it the "Pathfinder Fibonacci" as the colours match the colours we use for Pathfinder LARP, and the pattern is this Fibonacci sequence scarf , although I've added an extra step, so I'm going from 55, as he's a tall lanky bloke (this is causing some issues as I'm burning through wool at a rate of knots). I'm ab...