sewingoflove

I noticed a couple of people who have come here looking for a tutorial on sew-on snaps. Well, I did link to one when I discussed how to make the bands for cuffs, but I think I’ll write a bit of one on here. I took these pictures as I worked on my Garnet til Alexandros (FF9) shoe covers. As always, right click and choose “View Image” to see it bigger.

 First, take a look at your snaps. You’re going to have two sides, one that’s flat and another that’s sort of “bubbly”. The flat one will go with the bulb of the snap facing OUT. The bubbly one will go with the bulb facing IN. In other words, the flat on will be convex, and the bubbly one concave to the fabric, so the flat one will go IN the bubbly one to make the snap! The flat one is to the left here, and the bubbly to the right.

The first thing you’ll need to do is choose where your’ll start your snaps. Since snaps are usually hidden, there are various ways to mark it. I used washable markers since I’m working with vinyl. It’s a pretty ambiguous decision, but I chose to do this because I didn’t want much flapping. Try to keep at least one of your snaps more than 6mm from the edge of the fabric, otherwise you can end up just ripping through it due to the stress on the snaps. You can either sew both snaps at once, or do each individually. I would recommend sewing them together–so you’ll sew one half of one snap, the same half of the other, and then switch to the other side.

Starting a snap is always the hardest. You need to center the hole of the bulb over top of your marking. Knot your thread several times, since you’ll be pulling on both the snap and the thread a lot in sewing and using your piece. Start on top by putting your needle through the mark you made. Place your snap over top of this knot  so you can sort of see it through the hole in the middle of the bulb. If you’re using the bubbly piece like I am here, you can even get the knot through the hole to secure it lightly in place. With your needle on the bottom of the fabric, push up through the right side of one of the holes around the edge of a snap. I find it much easier to work these clockwise. Go back through the fabric outside of the snap, but don’t pull the thread tight. Come back up close to  the left of your other stitch in the hole. Thread your needle through the loose thread you didn’t pull tight just a moment ago. Now you can tighten it up! This is a buttonhole stitch. Keep doing this, until you have about 4-5 buttonhole stitches in that opening.

The next time you come up (after 4-5 stitches) do so in the next opening clockwise from where you were just working. Continue this all the way around the snap. It is best if you can attach all openings, but if you must, missing one or two will not hurt as badly on a bigger snap. To continue onto the other half of the snap, hold the two pieces you want to snap together in the proper position. Starting from the opposite side of the fabric, take an un-knotted needle & thread and go ahead and push it through the center of the bulb, right through the hole and through the other piece of fabric. When the thread is out of the other snap, knot it and pull it tight, continuing the same way as you did the other snap.

That’s it! It’s pretty easy once you get used to it, and can be kind of calming. Tell you what though–it’s saved several costume pieces of mine. No zippers and no velcro risks. Yay! Questions? Comments? Post ‘em!

 Happy Stitching!

My Harley Quinn costume (v1.5) came out AWESOME, and debuted at Baltimore Comic Convention very well! People really enjoyed her, and I did more child and baby hugging and kissing than I’ve ever done before. I did meet a child whose middle name is Quinzel!! It’s been said I have no choice now, I have to run for President. Think about it–Harley Quinn, President of the United States of America. Oh I shudder…. xD

Anyway. The main improvements I made between Harl 1 and Harl 1.5 are the wrist cuffs, black glove, cowl, shoe tails, sewing the diamonds onto the suit and adding little “shoe-tails”. Overall, I felt really great about it! The white makeup still isn’t down right, but I’m almost out of it anyway. I heard there’s a face powder at Hot Topic that gives a nice, clean white so I might check that out for Harl 2.

Well, when I find good Harley fabric for what I want to do with the next suit, I will definitely keep it updated through here. Until then, I’m back to work on Garnet and a new corset I’m making.

Happy stitching!

This is really an awkward part of the cowl. How do you make them…poof out like that?! Oh Paul Dini, PHYSICS! She defies the laws of PHYSICS! Awwhh oh well, I suppose we have to be cannon, eh?

How to do this is TOTALLY up to you. Here are the options I’ve heard/done/seen.

1.    Stuff it using fabric scraps. Make sure you’re using SMALL scraps, so chop ‘em up if you have to. Use a chopstick to get the scraps down to the bottom of the curve.

2.    Stuff it using cotton stuffing, like in a stuffed animal.

3.    Hand sew horsehair braid into the curves so you can adjust its size. Stuff in some way if you must.

4.    Slip pipe cleaners or a short metal rod into the curve so you can adjust it.

5.    Construct a metal spiral that will hold size/shape.

Honestly, I stuff mine using fabric scraps because I’m a cheap-ass. xD Cotton makes the  most sense to me, because its soft and will bounce back to shape if its moved or pressured, stays stuffed nicely, doesn’t make unattractive bumps and ripples in your curves, and doesn’t need special care during transportation.

That’s all! You’ve finished your Harley cowl!!! Questions? Post ‘em! Comments? I’d love to hear ‘em! Pictures? Please!

Happy Stitching!

So you’ve got your cowl all done, but it doesn’t fit quite right. Honestly, this is the EASIEST part! Even stuffing the ear pieces is more difficult

 Ever make a dart before? Yes? No? Well it’s what we’ll do here. Turn your cowl inside out and put it on again. By each temple, pinch the fabric and pin it together so it creates a triangle whose base is the side by your face. Do this again around the jawline. Adjust the amount of fabric and length of each dart until the cowl fits properly. This is something that’s easily done with a friend, but totally possible to do alone.  Sew each dart, making sure you use a straight stitch (even though this is stretchy fabric!) and that the end of your stitches is right alongside the fold of the fabric. A pretty good introduction to darts can be found here (will open in a new window.)

 That’s it! Try your cowl on again and make sure the darts are right. If something bunches or bags somewhere, adjust your darts or the fabric with your fingers before pinning it back and re-sewing the dart. It’s worth the time because then it won’t slide around on your face when you’re wearing it.

You can see the darts in my the cowl nicely here on the black one. I used red thread, and then colored over it with Sharpie to give it a redblack look ;)  I ended up darting even further back on the black under the jaw, and up by the earbit on the red.

 Any questions? Post ‘em!

 Happy stitching!

Back again! Here’s how you’ll construct your cowl using the pattern you made with the last tutorial

 Cut out each piece of your main pattern in black and red, as well as the forehead pieces. Take close note of your reference pictures–the BLACK goes on HARLEY’S LEFT side. The RED is on HARLEY’S RIGHT. The reference picture here is the Harley from Gotham Public Works. Keep this in mind as you’re making the piece!! It’s really embarrassing for me to spot Harl cosplayers who’ve switched up the colors at one place or another >.<;; Make sure your red is cut opposite from your black basically

The forehead piece is the easiest—just sew the pieces together to create a half-circle that will fit across your forehead. Pin the left and right head pieces together along the back of the head, the back of the neck, and the front of the neck. Sew these. Go ahead and take the pins out and try the cowl on inside out. Have a friend pin the back of the cowl closer to your head so you don’t have folds or too much fabric back there. I noted on my cowl here with chalk so you can clearly see where I sewed and cut. Sew along these pins. Make SURE that you sew forward and reverse securely over where your first seams meet the ones you’re sewing now to prevent unraveling. Cut off the excess fabric. Try it on again and make sure it fits. Trim triangles out of your curve on the head to smooth the seam.

 Next is time to make the ear bits. I really need to find something new to call these! Make sure you cut two black, two red. As with the rest of the costume, be sure your red is cut opposite from your back. Pin the two black pieces together and sew along the curved edges. Do NOT sew the half-circle that fits into the cowl. Take this piece (inside out) and the cowl (right-side out) and pin them together like a shirtsleeve. Make sure that when you flip the ear right side out that the curve is in the right direction and the seams are on the inside. I generally put the seams facing up and down, so I know for sure the curve is what I saw when I drew it out. Sew the opening like a shirtsleeve, and then flip it over and do the same for the red. It’ll look kind of depressed, but yes, it’s right!

Now you can pin the forehead piece in to where it belongs. It can be kind of difficult, but just stretch the fabrics and be patient until you can fit it. Here’s where it can get difficult—make SURE your forehead piece will NOT slide down or connect to the cowl on the sides so far that it will interfere with the mask. What I ended up doing was folding up the bottom of this piece by about half an inch and sewing it to the cowl this way. You’ll have to fuss with the sides if you pin the half circle before fitting the straight edge.  You can see here that I made mine much longer than it needed to be, so I just turned the end up and sewed a small seam Sew these pieces right onto the rest of the cowl.

 Now you can try this on properly. Turn the cowl right side out and use a chopstick to get the points of the earbits all pointy and such. Make sure the general fit is right. If it’s a little loose around the face, don’t worry-we’ll fix that in the next tutorial.  Stretch material does that! Turn in the hems all around the face and sew these into place. I didn’t do more than a centimeter here. When you get to the right angles, cut a small indent in towards the neck so you’ll end up with a right-angled shape OUT of the hem on the inside. You can see it the picture here. Do a couple of straight or hand stitches across this gap to secure it and prevent unraveling.

 That’s it! Next post is how to tailor your Harley cowl As always, any questions, leave a comment!

 Happy stitching!

(OM NOM NOM!)

My computer is fixed! Horray!!

 Anyway, right down to it! Making Harley’s cowl is a bit of a trial-and-error approach for me. You might want to have a friend with you to help your measurements. Remember that for this technique to work, you MUST use stretch fabric. If you do not have stretch fabric, you’ll have to be a WHOLE lot more careful on your measurements and placements, and will have to install a zipper on the back seam of the cowl. My pattern is designed to be pulled over the top of your head. Oftentimes, I pull mine on and let the ear thingies dangle in front of my chest while I do my makeup. Then I spin it around and pull it up over my hair, which is in two buns right underneath the ear bits. As always, right click and choose “View Image” to see the pictures bigger

 I started by taping together four pieces of paper to be around the size of my head. Half the head anyway. I measured from the center of the head down the side to approximately where the opening for the face ends, and drew a line that length down the middle of my paper. Try to tape (or hold) this measuring tape in place on your head. I called this Line 1 on my diagram. Make a note as to where this line ends. Add on two or three inches for the neck piece. Using a second tape, measure several times from the middle of the back of your head to the measuring tape and draw these lines on your paper in accordance to the first measurement. You’ll end up with a shape that looks like half a face, with a pointed back. Go ahead and use this, cuz you’ll cut the point off when you fit it on your head. Measure the circumference of your neck, and draw this piece on the bottom. Remember to measure and note carefully the distance from the front of the line (your stabilized measuring tape) and what is behind it. You can see what the shape should resemble in the picture to the side. Right click to view it bigger. Add your seam allowances.  When you cut the right angle from the head meeting the neck, make sure you cut an additional Cut this pattern out and hold it up to your head, and have your friend note where the “ear” pieces come off. Approximate a circle there, about two inches in diameter. Cut the circle out, but keep half the circle in good condition.

Go back to your measuring tape, and, keeping the harlequin mask in mind, measure halfway across your forehead (Line 2), and the length from the beginning of the first measuring tape to the measurement you made across your forehead (2b). Draw these measurements out. It will be a quarter-circle shape. Add seam allowances and cut the pattern.

Using the circle that you kept from cutting out of the main cowl piece, trace it onto your paper and draw out how you want your ear tails to look. Make sure you add seam allowance. You’re using the circle to make sure the tails will fit the cowl properly when you get there. Think of looking at it in profile view.  You’re going to cut two of each color of this piece, so you only have to make it look how you want it to from the front. The longer these are, the more “droopy” they’ll be.

 That’s it for the pattern! Tune in next post for construction and fitting woes Any questions? Leave me a comment!

 Happy stitching!

Hey guys,

My computer COMPLETELY putzed, right when I was about to type up my tutorial on Harley Quinn’s hatpiece D: Hopefully it’ll get restored by Wednesday, but until then I don’t have access to a computer that will take my camera memory card for the pictures I’ll write out the tutorial itself, so whenever my computer is back up and running I will be able to post just about right away. So…hopefully that’ll be soon! Thanks to everybody whose come by. <3

As always, let me know if you have any questions or want to know how to make something ^^

Happy stitching!

Sewing with friends—seems like it’ll be kind of cumbersome to do, doesn’t it? I thought it would be interesting, so I gave it a shot. I sat down to sew yesterday with my friends Lauren and Alice. Unfortunately the sewing machines that were available….actually didn’t work. Two were from the 50’s, the kind that are half table, half machine, with a skull-sized motor underneath. One was an 80’s Baby Lock, but the pedal was missing! And the last…was a serger. I have never used a serger. I spent most of our time cleaning out and rethreading the machine. Alice ripped apart Lauren’s dress and re-marked the lines for the new seam locations so the front panel can be made to work right for her costume.

More than anything, we just had a FUN time. We were there for an hour and a half and it honestly felt like not even half an hour. We were joking and making fun of each other as well as using one another’s bodies for sizing, fitting, drawing on seam lines…it was really productive! If you can find a sewing buddy, it’s so fun and makes the time really go by faster. The best part about it was that we each were able to fit our garments that we were working on to ourselves, and rather than pinning and drawing on ourselves, we were able to have a friend do it for us. We’ve already made plans to do it every week (though I’m bringing my own machine) because it was so productive!

All is well and good when it comes to crocheting a single color blanket or scarf, and even striping is easy. It’s totally different however, when you begin blocking colors and designs. I’ve crocheted an American Flag as well as my newest project, a scarf with zig-zags. I’ve gotten pretty good at this design. It took a me a while to find a way to work it though; I couldn’t find a tutorial or video online. So, here’s mine!

Start by making your chain, or whatever your crochet pattern is up to where your design changes colors. Drop the loose end of the color you’re working and pick up the new end. Continue the pattern, making sure the first color is actually INSIDE the crochets in the pattern of the new color. Do the same thing to switch back, and if you don’t need the second color again, you can drop it completely.

Now, the second row is where things can get kind of funky. You CAN do it the same way, but you’ll end up with some color bleed. What will happen is that one string of yarn of each color will end up “in” the other color block. It won’t be really noticeable in a zig-zag pattern, but very specific patterns (such as stars, lines, circles and letters) need to be done differently. You can see in the top row of my American flag that I hadn’t discovered the technique I’m about to teach you. And then I figure it out in the middle of the stars, and the rest looks great. Go figure, right?!

Just for reference–when I crochet, I end up with a horizontal texture because I onlyuse half the stitch on the row below rather than the whole thing. If you use the whole thing, you can utilize what I described above.

As you finish the first color block and get to the second color section, drop your first color, but lay it over your crochet hook. Push you hook through the stitch below and wrap it in the second color, then finish your stitch. That’s it!! Nice and completely simple If you’re doing a double crochet, you wrap your hook using the second color before going through the lower stitch. Any questions? Let me know!

Happy stitching!

So this here is my favorite part of making these cuffs–cartridge pleating! It’s a form of pleating that was done in the 16th century European styles of dress. Even the Queen Elizabeth is seen in some portraits wearing a gown with cartridge pleating. If you need to see a picture bigger, right click and choose “View Picture”. Anyway, onward!!

First, I just want to mention something. You’ll need to make sure you have a good, study thread for the pleating. You’ll be yanking on this thread some, so you need to make sure it won’t break whilst you do. Trust me, it’s frustrating when it does! In fact, using the sturdier thread in all the handsewing for this is probably a good idea. I’ve had pretty good luck with Gütermann All Purpose Polyester thread. I honestly love all their threads! (The embroidery is soo pretty.) Let’s get started!

The ruffles start similarly to the wrist band. Actually almost exactly the same. xD You’re going to make a LONG tube of fabric. Make your cut twice as wide as you want your cuffs, plus about half an inch for seam allowances. Mine was about four inches wide, and the finished cuffs are approximately an inch and a half long. If you want your cuffs much higher than two inches (or particularly stiff/crisp) you’re going to want to sew in some interfacing, so when you press the cuffs they’ll stay straight and pretteh.

Honestly, I’m sure there’s a way to determine exactly how much fabric you’ll need if you want the pleats to run from one side of the band right to the edge of the other. Personally, I didn’t care so much. I used 44 inches of fabric for my tubing. I could probably have made that do the entire width of the wristband, but I wanted shallow pleats rather than particularly full ones.

Like before, pin closed two of the edges. Since this tube is significantly longer and much easier to drift on when you’re sewing, I turned back and forth and trimmed off any overhanging material. Sew closed the short and long end, and trim the corners. Turn your tube inside out and use your chopstick on the corners. Press the entire tube (it’ll be much easier to work with). Turn the edges of the open end inside and pin them into place. Either hand or machine baste this opening closed and take the pin out.

Time for the pillow closure! Get your needle and double-thread it. Angle your tube end so you can see the inside of the opening. Catch a little bit of fabric from one side and bring the thread through the other side, being careful to only take the inner layer. Continue this whipstitch from the same side until you’ve closed the end. Take out your baste stitches and press the edge. Congratulations, you’ve got a new tube!

Now, you’ve got a couple of options. Well, two really. It’s time to mark the pleats, but how do you know at what intervals? Option number one is to mathematically calculate the optimal pleat depth. To do so, take the length of the tube and subtract the length of the band. Divide this number by the band length. In my case, I have 44 inch tube and 6 inch wrist. The 44″ bang minus the 6″ wrist piece is 38″. 38 divided by 6 is 6.3. I could then mark the pleats 6.3 inches apart, but the pleats would be like three inches deep. You can divide this number then in half, or in half again. Then you’d have 1.58 inches between each marking. However, I’m lazy and only just worked it out for this tutorial. I used the width of my thumb. You can make markings on an index or business card if you decide to use the mathematical method to help you keep things in line. Keep your markings about half a centimeter from the end. Make SURE that you begin and end your markings on the very ends of the fabric, or you’ll have this weird loose piece flapping around in the middle of your cuff. Not very attractive.

Once you’ve done this, take your sturdy thread and double thread your needle once again using about twice the length of the piece this ruffle is going onto. I just wrap my wrist with the thread five times for good measure. Since this is also going to be straining a bit, I knotted the end about four times. Starting at one end, make a running stitch along the length of your tube on your markings. I ran my stitch about a half centimeter from the edge so it’d be pretty well hidden by the pleats when sewn into place. When you get about halfway through your thread, you’re going to bunch up the fabric by sliding it together down towards the knot at the end of your thread. Continue on through your markings until you reach the end. What I usually do then is to leave an additional maybe three or four inches of thread on the end and knot off. Pleating! Yay!

This next part can be a little more difficult. you’re going to take your wrist band and adjust the pleated section so it’s the same length. Line it up against the side, so when you wear the band, it’ll stand straight up. Now, you can pin it in place, but I always have trouble with the pin slipping around and pulling out and ending up back where I started. So I used safety pins. As you stitch the ruffles on, they’ll migrate a bit, and the safety pins will allow that to happen without losing your place. I pinned mine on each end, in the center, and in between those three places. You’re going to start under the wrist band, come up through the marking you made on the edge/corner of the ruffle, and pull it tight. Whipstitch it down, using two stitches per pleat right on the edges of the pleats. You may have to readjust the spacing of your pleats along the way, but it’s not a big deal at all. Tie off at the end, and then tighten up the loose end of your pleating thread. That’s it! You’re done! If you’re afraid of the ruffles flapping about, you can go along the other side and stitch down those pleats as well. I didn’t bother. So far it seems secure. Let me know if you’ve got any questions!

Happy stitching!