Tag Archives: Renton

DuckSuit_SnazzyDuck

A Duck Suit

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Two words: Duck Suit

Sometimes opportunities come out of nowhere. This one flapped down next to me while I was at my friend’s house for brunch. As it turned out, there was a little duck who needed a suit. He was going to be a participant in the 2012 Renton River Days Duck Hunt. Never heard of it? Well, I’ll give you a few minutes to read about the 3rd Annual Duck Hunt, here or here.

Back? Awesome.

Ok, so a duck needs a suit. If my friend hadn’t specified what kind of suit (or the character he would be portraying) you can bet he would have been clothed in a tweed jacket, a bow tie, and a fez. Cuz its cool, and that is how I tend to think. Making a mental note for next year…

The formal request was for a black suit over a white shirt and black tie. Simple but classic.

Then I was told, “…and it needs to be done by Friday.” (That really only gave me 4 days from the moment the duck and I met.) Luckily, unemployment provides you the freedom to make your own schedule. A friend needed a favor, and I was happy to oblige.

I am proud of this project for two reasons:

  1. I used pre-existing scraps from my fabric stash (no new materials purchased here!), and
  2. I was able to apply some of the pattern drafting skills I just learned from Pennie Laird.

I turned to one of my pattern making books for collar inspiration, doodled a couple of sketches, and then started taking measurements from a duck I had from the 2011* Duck Hunt. (*This detail will be important later.)

After some trial and error, I had a drafted pattern that resembled  a suit made for a large rubber ducky. It included a back, a front, a wing sleeve, and a collar (not shown).

I traced the pattern pieces onto another sheet of medical exam table paper and added seam allowances. What do you use for tracing paper? Medical exam table paper was a suggestions by Pennie, and seriously, it is affordable and works well.

I’ve learned from my own sewing projects, that muslins are very useful when you are making a particular garment for the first time.

After confirming that the bedsheet muslin fit the duck, I was ready to take the next big step and cut into my black fabric (left over from Greg’s Renaissance costume pants).

I don’t know how you prefer to cut out fabric, but for the last two years I have been pinning the pattern to the fabric and cutting them out. Then my mom reminded me that she prefers to trace around the patterns (she also copies her altered patterns to card stock for durability) and cut along the chalk lines. I think I prefer this method.

I quickly sewed the back to the front (at the shoulder seams), combined the two collar pieces (outside and backside lining) and attached the collar to the front of the jacket and neckline. Remember how I had used a 2011 duck for the muslin fitting? Well, apparently the 2012 ducks are a wee-bit smaller:

The difference wasn’t big enough to force me to restart from scratch, but when it came time to sew on the sleeve pieces, I made the seam allowance bigger than originally planned (3/8″ vs 1/4″). I am glad that Greg’s Assassins Creed costume involved a lot of curved pieces, because this wing sleeve required a lot of pins to set it into place. At this point, I am a pro at this.

And I think the sleeve turned out nicely, don’t you?

I put most of my effort into the suit jacket. The collared shirt, is only a facade piece. I used the back of the bedsheet muslin as the shirt front, trimming the back of the muslin jacket collar to look like a button up shirt. Then I cut the pieces for the tie and glued them in place. Yes, I said glued. I wasn’t about to risk having this  jacket fall off. It has to sit in a Renton-area business for almost a month.

And now….the hero shot:

I am a snazzy duck!

If you live in Renton and will be participating in the Duck Hunt (I think I am speaking to maybe 1% of my audience), keep an eye out for my duck suit. I will not disclose anything about its location or clues related to it. Good luck!

Come one, come all to the auction area!

A haircut and a visit to the Reuse it, Renton Swap

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Two activities that involve getting rid of stuff to kickstart June.

Ready for summer

The day started out a little rainy (at the time of my 8:30am hair cut appointment), so I feared that the recycling event would get soggy. As I was bringing a box of books, the saturation level of the day was important. I thought I would have more stuff to bring with me, but they aren’t accepting textiles and most of what I want to donate is clothing.

I will be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the event. We decided to wait until 11am, in hopes of having more stuff to pick through. As it turns out, the dropped off items have a pretty quick turn around time. Cars pull into the queue and are greeted by attendants who help unload your car. The particularly “good” items are taken to the “auction area.” The rest of the stuff is taken to the “grab bag” areas. Our bbq and a too-small wet suit were carted off directly to the auction area. Our books and backpacks were placed in the house-hold items pen, where visitors could casually (but quickly) browse through the offerings. Folks are intently watching the cars being unloaded. A set of our picture frames found new owners before even touching the pavement.

Come one, come all to the auction area!

The “Auction Area” was somewhat of a misnomer. No money is exchanged, everything is free just like advertised. The auctioneers just give out one item at a time using a lottery. They ask how many people want a particular item (say 30), then select a number between 1-30. You could see some people occasionally hoarding the boxes of books or picture frames or DVDs in the open areas, so I think the lottery system was in place to ensure that these highly sought after items (furniture, BBQs, artwork) were distributed fairly over the course of the day.

I think it is a well-organized event. I would have been interested to stay longer, but parking was tight and we decided we didn’t NEED anything there. We are planning on sharing items with the Renton Community again next year. Greg realized that it is a good way to dispose of extra building materials; there is a very good chance that someone will put the supplies to use.

In my opinion the building materials area is the secret gem of this event. Spare doors, cabinet doors, shelving, wood, scrap carpet were all available. Of course it is wonderful that household items, furniture, books, and toys are available for free. Particularly in a lower-income community during an economic recession. But at the end of the day, similar items can be found at Value Village and Goodwill. I just don’t know of many other places where you can pick up free building materials.

And if you need ideas for ways to use old scrap building materials, look no farther than this functional display at the California Academy of Sciences (full blog post about my visit coming soon):

A young museum-goer examines this creative reuse of a door.

This is an awesome chair in rain or shine, snow or sleet

Photo_May_24,_4_49_45_PM

Reuse it! Renton Swap 2012 is coming!!

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This was by far the most exciting thing I found in my mailbox yesterday:

Apparently next weekend (after Memorial Weekend), the City of Renton, WA will host a free swap and reuse event. The city wants to encourage the reuse of items to keep stuff out of landfills. Community members are invited to bring their unwanted (but still in good condition) items to the Rentom Memorial Stadium on June 2 where they and others can browse the selection and take home new treasures for free.

I see this as a great alternative to Goodwill or garage sales. Sure you won’t get a tax deduction here, but not everything you take to Goodwill ends up on their shelves. And even if you are planning to do a garage sale this year, consider donating a couple items to this Stop and Swap. You may end up helping a non-profit group that works in your community.

I like turning a profit on my old stuff as much as the next person, but the language of the mailing emphasizes SHARING with your neighbors. If you have an old toy, would you rather sell it to the 5-year old across the street or give it to them for free?

There are a few restrictions:

 No garbage, no mattresses, nothing soiled or clearly damaged, no TVs or computer monitor (but some other electronics are ok). Textiles are also not wanted, probably because there is no way to garantee cleanliness. I assume this means clothes as well. So you can still take your clothes to Goodwill or sell this summer.

More [readable] information can be found at the City of Renton’s Website.

Oh yeah, did I mention you can get stuff for FREE?!

I hope I find some sewing or knitting supplies. Or maybe even some canning supplies. Maybe someone will drop off a leatherworking kit that we can use for costuming.