Saturday, November 14, 2009

Sewing again..

Today, found me in the sewing room. I washed/dried the fabrics for Christmas napkins. When this was going on, I decided to play with my serger. I realized that I although I use it and I do not use much of the capabilities on it. Generally, I finish edges and sew knits. That's it. So, today, I decided to test the 2 thread capabilities. I decided to attempt a blanket stitch and started testing scrap fleece. The longest stitch my machine will do is 5mm. I couldn't get the serger to make a consistence stitch length. So, I changed increased the tension on the looper and changed to a heavy water soluble stabilizer. Amazingly, it worked. Tomorrow, I hope to add the edge of a piece of fleece.

Happy Sewing!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Here's the long awaited Halloween costume

Well, here it is. The long awaited Halloween costume:

In this picture, you can see all of the items that were made. From top to bottom - the mask, the shirt, the belt, the gloves, the pants, and the moccasins. The inspiration for this costume is the Gorshin version of the Riddler from Batman. He was from Pittsburgh. So, it seemed like an appropriate costume.

For the mask, I used a freebie pattern from http://www.scarletfig.com/ and modified it. Making it narrower to fit a child's face.

For the shirt and pants, I used the basic t-shirt and pant from Kwik Sew's Sewing with Children pattern book. My DS is tall and thin. So, to get a little bit closer fit, I made a size Medium in width and made the length to fit him. I also added a mock turtle neck to the top. This is the first time that I can remember painting on fabric. I needed to come up with a stencil as there are many "?" marks down the legs and on the sleeves. Using a font on the computer, I enlarged it until I had a sizes that I was happy with. Then, made many copies and cut them out. The large "?" on the chest is freehand. Yes, I used paper as stencils. I used a spray glue to attach each set to the pant and painted using a sponge brush. It worked.

For the gloves, I used a Vogue pattern (8608, view D). This was a very strange pattern. I did end up with a pair of gloves that were usable but thumb was weird. The was only one pattern piece for all sizes. The thumb seemed to big for glove.

For the belt, I drew a rectangle using measurements taken from my son. It was approximately 12 1/2" x 5". Then, I took a curve and made the little point at the center front. I used simple ties in the back.

The moccasins pattern was from the http://www.nativetech.org/ . This pattern had you draft for the person foot which I managed to do and they actually fit the little guy's foot. He did start his evening wearing the moccasins but return home for another pair of shoes.

Here's a pose with the questions marks on the leg and a little on the sleeve.

In the end, all adults recognized that he was the Riddler but none of the other children seemed to know who the Riddler was. My son didn't care. He was very happy with his costume. It has now been adopted as PJs.

Hope someone finds some inspiration from this costume.

Happy Sewing!