Comic Con Recap

Right before I go to comic con, I always get a sense of Why am I doing this? Seriously? You're paying to go to this thing? because as I explain to people who aren't into movies, TV shows, books, comics, games, etc. it sounds :really: stupid. Yeah, you pay to get in the door, get a glimpse of famous people, pay for pictures with them, pay for art and nerd bling, stand shoulder to shoulder with a horde of people, wait in line for anything and everything... blah blah blah. But then I go, join forces with thousands of other nerds, listen to panels of topics that pique our interest, stand shoulder to shoulder with them (literally, the convention center was packed) to celebrate the things we love, soak in the geekyness all around me, and relish every moment. I probably float on that high for a week and then I crash from how much overstimulation the weekend actually is for my adrenal fatigued brain. :P 

My thought this year wasn't so much to participate in the cosplay part of things. It's been a long summer, and my primary goal was comfortable. I didn't want what I was wearing to become a hassle. I just wanted to be. So for the first day, I wore my :favorite: skirt with the map of Middle Earth printed on it. Subtle. Comfy. And I got to meet Karl Urban. 💓 

Sunday was pushing my friend in her Green Lion from Voltron wheel chair (her brother did incredible work on it!) around the convention. I was really glad that it wasn't as crowded on Sunday so that there was room to actually push a wheel chair around. Saturday was so packed, I'm not sure if we would have been able to do much of anything. 

With all that pushing, I was also very glad that I planned a simple outfit for the day which brings me to the sewing part of the post.
Phew that was a long intro. :P 

I found this really cool print last year during my birthday fabric shopping spree, and from the instant I saw it, I knew it was destined to be a skirt. With Comic Con looming on the calendar horizon, I knew I needed to get it done otherwise the project just wouldn't happen. I whipped out my tape measure, elastic, and rotary blade and went to work. 

It was done in less than 30 minutes. 

Granted, it was just a basic A-line with an elastic waist band. 

And it suited the job perfectly. 

But I still want to change it up a bit. 

Instead of just an elastic waistband, I'd like to smooth out the front by gathering the skirt into a flat band and then have elastic around the back with a zipper closure. It'll make it look like I put a little more thought and effort into it and it will look more finished. I just didn't have a zipper on hand that matched the color palette of the fabric.

So that will be on my docket for whenever I feel like it. In the meantime, I have a pretty cool new skirt. 😎

Until next time!

SG

Frozen's Arendelle Flag

One other thing that I sewed up for the Kings and Queens Ball was the flag of Arendelle, the kingdom in Frozen. The decorating coordinator sent out a message to all the quests inviting them to make a crest, flag, or banner to decorate the gymnasium dance hall. It could be a real or fantasy; it didn't matter. It just needed to have something to do with royalty. I pondered and mulled things over until I landed on Arendelle's flag. Not sure where that came from, but that seems to be the way that most of my projects work. :shrugs: 

All the supplies are from my stash. Most were leftovers from other projects. 

The pattern is my own. No one seems to make big flags. ;) 

'Tangled' Bunting

It was an impulse project. While my little brother was entertaining himself with my Marvel encyclopedia (super heroes make excellent baby sitters), I whipped together a bunting from Corona, the kingdom in Disney's movie, 'Tangled.' 

I don't know where the idea came from (good luck following my train of thought), but I eventually found myself printing on fabric. :gasp!: Can you do that? You most certainly can. You can find a tutorial for printing on fabric here: http://thegraphicsfairy.com/how-to-print-on-fabric/ 

I downloaded this printable and went to town.

My little brother thought that it was the weirdest thing to be printing on fabric, but after the first couple of printings, he thought that it was pretty cool. I can only imagine the projects that he's scheming up now.

I cut out the flags with my rotary cutter, pulled out some old purple ribbon/bias tape/seam tape that I have had in the drawer for years and years, pinned everything down, and ran one long seam down the entire length of the bunting. Voila'! 'Tis done.  

I might need to make a bazillion of these now and put them EVERYWHERE! No room is safe from the bunting. 

Until next time!

SG

Fan-Girl Sewing: Bofur Hat

(This could also be part of Throwback Thursday posts, but it seems to fit better under the fan-girl label.)

Can you name all the dwarfs in the Hobbit? Can you tell them apart? Okay, can you at least tell me you know the dwarf that has the hat that looks like it wants to defy gravity and take off flying? Okay, good. That's Bofur, and he's probably my favorite dwarf in Thorin's company (with Fili close behind). But isn't his hat the best? I :had: to have it.

So I started shopping around. Unfortunately, the only ones on the market were either expensive or cheesy. I figured I could make one, I mean, really, how hard could it be to make a hat? Granted, I never recreated something from a movie before or made a hat before. This is going to be an adventure! 

With all the farming craziness of summer all finished, I had more time to dedicate to geeky sewing experiments. ^_^

Looking at the hat, it looks like a bomber hat (I hope you didn't read that as Bombur...) with some serious dramatic dwarf flair to it.  But there's one problem: there aren't any bomber hat patterns. Anywhere. I did find a video tutorial on youtube, but still no pattern to work with. Drats. Being my stereotypical, crazy, crafting self, I jumped right in with making my own. Maybe one of these days, I'll get around to making a tutorial and printable pattern to share with y'all to fill that empty place in the cosplay universe.

 After making up the first draft for the pattern and then making the pre-mock-up mock-up out of some thread-bare, old sheets that I had stashed away for the sole purpose of being a mock-up, I felt comfortable moving on to the mock-up. (Wow, that was a run on sentence with a sad lack of vocabulary diversity. Ahem, anyway.) So I made the daring move to start working with the curly brown faux fur that I had  found at the fabric store.

"Perfect chore hat," says I, "It'll be wonderfully warm for doing those winter tasks."

 The final product certain had a Siberian hobo feel to it because of the fabrics I used. ;)

And that's why they call it a mock-up. It's comfy and that's all that matters.

It was finally time to move on to making Bofur's hat. I sewed up the leather exterior (it looked like a vintage football helmet), embroidered the crown seams, jimmy-rigged a frame/system to use to hold up the ear flaps. But I couldn't find the right kind of fur for the lining. Anywhere. Seeing a trend with this project? I checked the fabric stores in the area. Nada. Etsy? Zilch. Unless you wanted to pay an arm and a leg. Amazon? Same story there. :sigh: Then my brother played the Weird Al song, "eBay." Inspiration can come from anywhere I guess. So I checked the online auction house. Lo-and-behold, FUR! And I had choices too! And it was a 'purchase now' listing. Oh happiness! Guess where my perfect fur came from. South Korea. It was funny seeing my mom's face when she handed me the gray plastic package, 'Uh, what are you getting from South Korea?' 'Oh chill, Mom, it's North Korea that has nukes. It's my fur!' It takes a while to ship things across the great wide Pacific and to my front door step. I finished the rest of the hat that afternoon. 

Good luck trying to convince me to take it off. I LOVE it!

With the recent snow 'storm' that came through, the hat proved its metal (or fur). It's fabulously warm, and the pleather-like material that's on the outside is pretty water resistant. ;) 

My dad was asking about my recent 'obsession' this bomber hats. I shrugged. 

A friend showed me a link to where you can purchase the official movie replica. Guess how much it cost. Just guess. $50? Nope. More. $100?! Nope. It will cost you $200 to own the replica from the movie. That makes the money that I put down for this look like pocket change. (actually, it was, everything was either discount or clearance!) Maybe I could turn it into a business of some sort. Hmm...

Until next time!

SG

Captain America Tote

A few weeks back, I was able to test out a Captain America Lego block, but I was left with a quilt block that I had no idea what to do with. It went into the project pile while I waited for the inspiration to strike. 

I don't know where the thought came from, but I eventually landed on the idea to turn it into a bag. So I consulted my fabric stash to see if I could do this without spending any money or going to the store. I love it when all I have to do for a project is go to my fabric collection and see what's going to jump out at me. 

With patriotic cotton and comic book fabric in tow, I sat down with my sketch book to draw out what I wanted the end product to look like. Rough estimates, undecided measurements, scribbles and lousy drawing skills somehow became this: 

My new favorite tote.

And the lining is onomatopoeia!  

I think my obsession with Captain America is becoming too much. ;) 

Until next time!

SG

Captain America Quilt Block

Have you been over to Quiet Play? Kristy is a paper piecing pattern making queen. Her patterns are easy to follow and they have fun themes. Want Star War Lego blocks? Woodland critters? Australian animals? Retro kitchen? She's has all that and more in her craftsy shop! Recently, she posted on her blog that she's been developing Marvel Lego squares, and she needed testers! I jumped at the opportunity and was able to give Captain America a shot. I love the results: 

And I was able to take out a few pieces in my scrap stash! Not much of a dent since the block is just 10"x10", but it's something. 

Now, I'll admit... I'm still pretty new to the world of paper-pieced quilting and am by no means an expert in that field, so if you look closely you'll find plenty of 'oops.' My biggest nemesis is skinny diagonal seams. They like to torment me and give me grief. Oh well...  The block is finished. ^_^

Now to figure out what I want to do with the block. Hmm...

Until next time!

SG

Throw-back Thursday: Hedgehog Plushie

Sometimes when you see a project, you just have to make it. Thus is the story with this little dude. 

Let me introduce you to Sebastian the Hedgehog Plushie.

I was perusing some handmade toy pattern lists, when I found this little gem here. He was begging to be made. 

And sew him up I did. I had some micro suede left over from a vest, and bunches of little brown and tan scraps laying around. Whipped out the pinking shears and snagged some of the safety eyes from my crocheting sister's stash. I'm debating whether or not to give him legs, attach some ears, or embroider on a nose. :shrugs: He'll probably get those eventually.

Conveniently, it's my sister's b-day, and she was asking for a hedgehog and an otter (it's a BBC Sherlock fandom reference. There's also a hedgehog in 'The Hobbit' which is where his name comes from). Well, dearest, you're getting your hedgehog. I couldn't find any otter patterns.

Fan Girl Sewing: Captain America Dress

Captain America is probably one of my favorite superheroes. Okay, he isn't just 'probably' he is my favorite superhero, and I can't wait until Winter Soldier comes out next spring. In the meantime...

My mostly completed Capt. A outfit.

Dress: An old sheet from my stash that someone gave me. I cut out the pieces, did a couple of seams, painted, painted a second coat, then sewed the rest of the dress together. The belt is a $1 find from the thrift store. Inspiration from here

Shield: It's only duck tape and cardboard. Woot! I found the tutorial on Instructables

Boots and glasses: Purchased at store. Nothing exciting there. 

All I need now is to make some red spats and find some red gloves. 

And my lovely sister made an amigurumi Captain America for me! 

Want one for yourself? You can purchase the pattern and download it instantly on Etsy!

I'll let Loki wrap things up for me: