crafty_packrat

I made three masks for greenygal recently -- one without nose wires, two with nose wires made out of 18 gauge jewelry wire.



The prints are from Spoonflower, from their fat quarter sale in April. The fabric is cotton poplin; I used an undyed muslin for the interior side of the masks. The ties are polyester bias tape that I bought in 55 yd spools, because I don't find ear-loops are all comfortable, but ties are pretty adjustable.

Better views of the flying pig mask and the steampunk octopus mask.





I have more fabric and will probably make more masks.

I finished the Contact Spread portion of the MKAL last night -- 2 hours and 20 minutes to knit 10 rows, with 269 stitches on the needles at the end. That's Clue 1 done.

I already have Clue 2, and if I do at least 10 rows a night, I will be finished with that by the time Clue 3 is released on Friday.



I also dug out the sewing machine sanj left with me when she went off to grad school forever ago. It is a Singer Touch and Sew model 636, and weighs a ton. It's probably an all-metal machine from 1960s. I think I can get it operating, and since there was approximately 6 yards of muslin packed with it, along with some fat quarters, my attempts at mask-making will proceed apace. Eventually.

In other words, I've received something of a windfall in that a package from my father showed up on my doorstep this afternoon.

A packaged containing ( two pheasant tails and some extra feathers. )

Unlike the last time Dad tried to give me a pheasant tail, these are nicely dried and clean -- with birds, it's vitally important to get all the fatty tissue, like the oil gland, off the skin. Once that's done, with a bit of care, the skin dries into something rather like parchment without the need for extensive tanning steps.

I'm thinking I'll use them in hat-making, because seriously, some of the feathers are over two feet long.

I finally got to a meeting of the Hat Interest study group of my guild today. It was very neat.

We met at the home of the member who is a professional milliner and has an amazing collection of reference material, equipment, and vintage hats.

She's convinced me that it wouldn't be too hard to make myself more tall hats (maybe using the Margo Anderson pattern), and even branch out into different hats.

The demonstration of how to use millinery grosgrain -- it's openweave, so it can be steamed to curve unlike normal grosgrain -- to edge a brim was interesting.

Also, it looks like I may be able to get help taking apart one of my older Bravissimo shirts to make a pattern from it, and maybe even a sewing buddy out of this group, so it was a lot of fun.

I also got some encouragement on the glove-making. I need to go to G-Street and see if I can find interlock knit fabric to make my first attempt at gloves. And maybe I need to pin down one of my friends so that I can use the glove.org method to make a pattern, give that standard patterns aren't going to deal with the peculiarities of my hands that well.

holli came over this morning, and we made her a short half-circle cape for her costume as Misfit of the Birds of Prey. At first, I looked at Instructables, and while they do have a superhero cape instructable, it's not right for Misfit.

Instead, we used the directions from The Medieval Tailor's Assistant for a half-circle cloak, and just made it short -- partly because the fabric was only 45 inches wide, and not much yardage...

First, we ( pressed the fabric )

Then we laid the two fabrics together and pinned them so that we cut both at the same time( cause we're lazy  )

Then we marked the neck -- 15 cm along one selvedge -- and used that mark to measure radially around the fabric to mark the edge of the cape.( Your geometry class was good for something! Who knew? )

After marking, we pinned and cut the fabric.( Fun with scissors! )

holli sewed the hems using sanj's sewing machine. It is a heavy, nigh-indestructible Singer from the 1960's ( and heavy! )

Then I pressed the fabric ( again )

holli cut notches around the curved hem, and then turned the cape inside out through the ( neck )

I pressed the cape again ( see what I said about using your iron? )

It's a perfectly serviceable cape for Misfit! Very cute!

I kind of want to do another easy project. Maybe another cape, or a Sanuk Jacket from Mekong River Textiles...