Catching Up

Mr. Husband left town over the weekend and we had an all lady house (except for one kitty cat man).  We started our weekend by watching Maleficent and then we got crafty and loungey.  The Lady Bean listened to a lot of music and worked on homework (wow).  I decided it was time to pull out old projects and new ones... always new ones.

Let's start with the new!

Pumpkin form

I made progress on the pumpkin mask, but for some reason I don't like using a black bag for the form.  I don't even know why, but it's covered with paper now.

Linoleum block

I finished my first product review for Cut Out + Keep.  A project with a tutorial and final photos will be posted there.  I am not sure when, but I will put a link here when it happens.

I call this "The Louise Pattern".

Miss Bean decided to be Louise Belcher for next Halloween.  I know this seems insanely early, but I enjoy working on the costumes when I'm stuck inside during the winter.  I also realized after years of last minute costumes, it's much more fun to be done with a costume when October hits than it is to be starting one.  The other benefits are better costumes because I'm not rushing and if it's already made, it's harder for her to change her mind 5 times.

Now for the old...

From white to grey.

I pulled out a bag of supplies that I had for a project(s) started two years ago.  I used to feel awful about doing things like this (you know, setting something aside and then just sort of walking away from it), but then I realized that I often end up going back (eventually) and it works better that way.  Sometimes I need to develop a few skills or step away in order to figure something out.  The problem with this method though, is that sometimes you decide you want more of a certain fabric you were using, but you can't find it anymore.  So the photo above is me "making it work" and dying some similar fabric that I already have.  Not what I would liked to have done, but I learned to buy a little extra in the future.

Fancy Bat is back.

That brings us to this, Fancy Bat.  Fancy Bat wears a fancy hat.  Fancy Bat also wears a vest and maybe some sort of a pocket watch, sips drinks with a pinky out, etc. because Fancy Bat is fancy.  FB is inspired by Mary Engelbreit characters, personified animals in children's books, and a bit of the Victorian era.  I drew the original sketches and sewed the hood and cape in 2012.  I was using this piece to challenge myself to sew a complete outfit based on a created character.  At the time, I was planning to purchase a shirt and tights to layer the pieces over, but now I've decided to sew those as well.  If I'm using this as a personal "sew a complete look" challenge, I really should go all the way.  Anyway, the next piece is cut and ready to sew and I've made a few tweaks to the design. I am loving it.  

Does anyone write?  Fancy Bat needs a story.  Maybe someday I'll write one, but that's not really my thing.

xoxo,

b

Currently on the table...

Lumpy and Lady the pumpkin couple

 Currently occupying the dining table is the makings of the Pierrot Pumpkin Family.  This is a three pumpkin family; they have a daughter called The Girl.  I can never stop the costume madness once I start and Mr. Husband brought home hundreds of vintage sewing patterns.  One of the patterns was a 1940's Butterick Pierrot.  That pattern combined with a Yahoo article using this image was the beginning of the Pierrot Pumpkin Family of three.

Lumpy had issues and that's how he became an irregular shape.  My first form was too heavy.

Lady is a bit more refined and had a much lighter form.

First Pierrot dress

2nd Pierrot dress (for The Girl)

I used the '40's pattern to make a dress for my character and a Simplicity pattern from 1980 for my daughter's character.  That Butterick pattern was confusing.  Better pictures to come.  I just located the memory card for my camera, but now I can't find the card reader so I've been Instagrammimg the process.

Before Paint

Mid paint job - roughing out the details.

I really, really love the creative process.  I love to see it documented and I love to hear how it works for other people.  Mine is very plotted, meticulous, and researched.  I still have one mask to build and 1 male costume to sew (Mr. Husband happily offered to be a girl if needed, but I want to try making pants.)

Check out Brother O'Mara.  He makes some great stuff.  Also feel free to check out my pin board for this project.

x's, o's, and pumpkin heads,

b

Lately

Hola,

I've been working on Halloween costumes and the Telephone project.  I also transitioned the porch to fall (it felt too early to do Halloween, but I am so ready) and started the course to become a certified Master Gardener (two classes in and I already feel behind, but I already know so much more about soil).  I've managed to watch a ton of Adventure Time and Regular Show through all of this.  Busy, anyway, here...

The start of my first yarn tail, thank you Deviant Art.  It looks as if Deviant Art is where it's at for cat tutorials.

Almost all the pieces.

Makeup test, but this isn't my costume so this was just kinda' to try it out.  I'm not so great at makeup/face painting.

Trying to find something that works for the lady because it is her costume and she hates face paint... non-committer.

xoxo,

 busy b

The wig is done!

Sewing piles

There was a lot of the above for a few days.  Numerous piles of 12 strands each ready to be lined up and sewn.  This was probably the most un-fun part of yarn wig making, but...  It's over now!

Getting the character involved a bit.

Now there's a big pile of long and luxurious wig.  If my face were blue this might be more convincing...  Anyway, it ended up taking less time than I had anticipated (which is great because I still have the rest of the costume to mend) and less yarn.  The original tutorial used 2 skeins of yarn and although I wasn't using the same kind of yarn, I went with two as well because I was making a long wig for a larger child (my daughter almost the same size as me currently).  I was wrong.  Also, I should add that I did follow the first part of the Jasmine wig tutorial exactly, but I wasn't sure how far onto the wig cap she sewed the yarn.  I started sewing at the front edge of the stalking cap (I put the tag in the back) and I had enough yarn to give full coverage once I got to the end of the crotch seam (which should be roughly in the middle of the cap).  If I had added more yarn past this point, I'm not sure if it would have laid properly and it might have become too heavy.  The point is, you can stop sewing there or a little earlier if you're planning to let the hair hang.

1 skein + is how wrong I was.

Now comes the debate; do I dare attempt a return without a receipt (and to be technical their return policy does say that this can be done for store credit) or do I find a use for all this extra yarn?  I don't know how to knit, but I suppose you can do other things with yarn.

Now that we have the wig, I want to give her a proper Sally blue face.  Also, this doesn't work.  Pinterest fail.

XOXO,

b

Sally Wig

Hello!  Today the Lady Bean is away with a friend so I will be working on her Halloween costume.  She's wearing a costume that I made for myself around 10 years ago.  Although my skills have superimproved since then, the costume is still good enough not to re-make, the wig however, was never what I wanted.  I'm going to mend little bits on the dress and maybe add a few details that I wasn't able to add then.  I'm also adjusting the fit for her, but crazy enough, she's almost the same size I was when I wore it... Creepy.

 

Once upon a time, in a land several hours away, I made a costume based on the original Sally doll.  It was very last minute and super low budget, but it was great (except for the wig).  The wig was awful though.  I was in a hurry and all I could find was a red braided pigtail rag doll wig.  I took the braids out and kept trying to arrange the hair, but it never worked.  So now, I have time and more funds to devote to the project.  I am following the first part of this tutorial and today it's time for sewing.  I'm a little nervous, but I did get one bundle of yarn measured and cut.

 

This is only a test.

 

Anyway, I should do this and quit writing about it or playing in the yarn.

 

XOXO,

The Might B

Gots; The Results

I was so excited that I started the shoe transformation immediately when I got home.  I used acrylic paint; 1 white, 1 blue mixed to match the sweatsuit I purchased.  I'm not sure if you can tell from the photos, but the shoes are now navy and sky blue.  My yellow shoe laces (why can't I find those locally?) should be here in a few days.  The original shoes have white bottoms with a blue stripe, but I think I'll leave these as is.  You'll see the complete costume after the Fright Night Run on October 26th.  Before then though, I should do a post about DIY'ing the upper portion of the Life Aquatic intern costume.  It involves a basic sweatsuit and some iron on transfers.

Here's a sneak peeky from this morning's run.  It was cold, I needed a clean sweatshirt and a hat.

XOXO,

Bbbbbbeeeeeee