Tag Archives: Sewing

An impending blog “refashion”

Question for the bloggers in the audience: How often do you change your blog?

I have been blogging for just shy of 2 years, and I am feeling the itch to change my blog’s focus.

I started blogging as part of a new year’s resolution to be more environmentally sustainable. I’ve been pleasantly satisfied with the new habits I have adopted because of that first blogging project (shopping organics section first, buying used clothing instead of new, being more careful about food waste, etc.). Over time, however, this theme has come to feel overly repetitive and too open ended at the same time. I kept trying to interject “sustainable” blog posts, and I remain very concerned about our planet’s environmental future, but at the end of the day it isn’t exciting to tell you about how I turned off the lights when I left a room. Sustainability is a lifestyle that impacts my decisions and actions, but as a blogger it is the actions (like my sewing hobby) that provide me with more engaging stories.

I embraced sewing and knitting in 2010 as alternatives to buying mass produced ready-to-wear clothing. Now these creative outlets are a major part of my life. And I think that by discovering my ability to sew, I also opened the door to a phase of self-discovery as a gaming, cosplaying geek.

Sewing ==> “I can make my own costumes” ==> Attending conventions in costume ==> Meeting new friends ==> Feeling connected to the geek/gamer communities ==> Realizing I haven’t felt this self-assured and comfortable in…ever(?)

I was always a geek, but that aspect of my background has…um…leveled up over the past couple years.

Our guest room is home to hundreds of Dungeons & Dragons miniatures, dungeon tiles, and maps. Our closet’s “Costume Section” continues to grow with every passing convention. When I am on hikes I may or may not be silently writing a D&D adventure in my head as I scramble over rocks and keep a watchful eye out for traps or monsters. In addition to costumes, increasingly I find that my craft ideas have been geek-inspired (an ipad case decorated with dragons, a shoe accessory tied to Dungeons & Dragons, or greeting cards with fantasy or sci-fi images).

I think this blog is heading in a direction of crafts, costuming, and thoughts on geek culture. Sewing will remain a big part of that, and I will keep refashioning used clothing instead of buying new clothes.

Thank you for following me this far. I hope you will continue to find enjoyment in my future blog posts.

Fabric Alchemy: a denim skirt

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Sewing is like a puzzle. No. Wait. Sewing is like putting together a LEGO set.

You can follow the instructions to build the pirate ship or the castle pictured on the front of the box. Or, you can take creative liberties and construct something a little different. Or you can take apart the castle and the pirate ship and combine the pieces into something COMPLETELY unique.

I think this is why I enjoy sewing so much. Each project is a problem that needs solving.

Problem: I needed (yes, needed) a denim skirt that fit and could be paired with either casual or slightly ”nicer” outfits.

But despite there being a plethora of denim skirts available from most major retailers, I try not to buy *new* clothes anymore, remember? Instead I periodically perused the racks at Goodwill, Buffalo Exchange, and Crossroads Trading Co. Even though I found a decent number of used denim skirts for sale, I always felt a little bit like Goldilocks.

This one is too big…
This one is too small…
This one is too edgy/deconstructed/wrong color…
This one…is not worth $30 (used)

Solution: Buy a skirt that is *close* and alter it.

On a trip to Crossroads in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, I found this:

Decent enough, but did not look good on me.

The denim fabric (more accurately a chambray) was a thickness and weight that would lend itself well to a business-casual pencil skirt style. The gray knit shirt that was attached to this dress, well, I was willing to look past it. In its original form, the waist band of the denim skirt[dress] rested at my natural waist. When I bought this for $7, I imagined that it would be an easy alternation (1. remove the top, 2. wear the skirt).

With my trusty seam ripper, I dispatched with the gray top and tried the skirt on as-was. The gathered aspect of the skirt at the waist looked nice on the dress form, but it had too much volume for my body type and did not pair well with my existing wardrobe.

After brainstorming, I settled on a pencil skirt design, based on the skirt sloper I made during my summer sewing class.

Process: Seam rip, cut, and resew.

I detached the waistband, ironed out the gathers at the top of the skirt. With the skirt side seams still in place, I cut a panel from the front and the back. The lines were determined by the placement of the dart/princess seams on my skirt sloper, in order for the skirt to fit my hips and waist. Based on a skirt made from this sloper, I wanted the hem to have a 19-inch circumference.

(Secret: I opted for the princess seams because this particular alteration would be faster than ripping out the side seams, darts would have been needed to adjust the waist line anyway, and the seams add variation. Also, the side seams already had a place for the side zipper.)

The newly cut panels were re-sewn along the cut lines. Some adjustments were made to the princess seams and side seams at the waist until the skirt fit better. The length of the skirt was not altered.

I wanted a thinner waistband, so I folded it in half. Now that the skirt sit at my hips, rather than at my natural waist, the waistband came up a bit short. To hide this, I stitched some of the scraps together to create a chevron design for a button tab at the left hip. This also hides the bright red zipper (I lost track of the gray zipper that came with the dress).

All done!

Now I own a denim skirt that meets my overly-specific criteria.

Designing the Assassin (Ezio Series Part 2)

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Once I had identified the components of Ezio Auditore’s costume, it was time to create the patterns.

At the time I began my work on Ezio I was not ready to draft my own patterns from scratch. Thankfully, I already owned a couple of Renaissance and Fantasy themed sewing patterns (Simplicity Patterns #4059 and #9887), which formed the basis of the Ezio costume.

The following descriptions are in need of illustrations, but without a scanner I am unable to share my sketches and pattern alterations. I hope to add these down the road.

Sewing Tip! Sew a dummy garment, also known as a muslin to check that the pattern fits. If not, adjust. I took an old bedsheet and sewed a quick version of the tunic and the doublet. This helped me get the right shape and size for Greg.

Simplicity 4059

Simplicity 9887

Undertunic

[UPDATE: for an illustration of how I modified the tunic pattern, look here.]

The Undertunic = A (modified) sleeveless tunic (9887) + sleeves of a puffy renaissance shrt (Simplicty 4059)

To modify the sleeveless tunic pattern I did 3 things:

I extended and curved the hem to match the Ezio screen caps. The front and back center points of the hem extend to mid-calf/shin, but the sides of the tunic hem only extend as far down as his knees.
I opened up the front. Normally the front and back pattern pieces are cut “on the fold.” For Ezio, I cut the back piece on the fold (normal) but for the front piece I added a seam allowance (for a center hem) and cut out 2 front halves. Now, Ezio can don his tunic like a button up shirt. (See Post 3 for details on the buttons.)
I made it skinnier. The width of a “small” (34-36 chest) tunic is 58 inches…not circumference, width. This width ensures that the original tunic can be taken on and off (over the head) easily. As you can see in the image above, the tunic looks fine, if it has a belt. I interpreted Ezio’s tunic as a long button-up shirt. As such it required a slimmer fit, which also helped it fit under the doublet.

A hemed (but sleeveless) tunic

Trial and Error was the name of the game when I attempted to add sleeves to the tunic. I took the sleeve pattern from Simplicity 4059 and reduced its width so it would not be outrageously poofy. Even though the tunic armhole and the sleeve were not a perfect match in terms of circumference, the extra fabric on the sleeve did fit with the Renaissance era of Assassins Creed 2: Brotherhood.

Cape

The Cape = HALF (one front and one back piece) of a short cape pattern (Simplicity 9887)

This was the easiest “adjustment” in the entire costume. I took the short cape (seen in the lower right of the pattern image) and only cut out one of the front and back pieces in the main fabric and the red lining. TA-DA! A half cape. Although this cape does not have the same drape and flow that Ezio’s cape does, I am satisfied with it.

Be aware of “right” and “wrong” sides of fabric when you are only cutting out half of a pattern. I accidentally cut out a right front and a left back because I had not place the patterns on the fabric correctly. If it helps, cut out one side at a time. This was a variation on the “measure twice, cut once” lesson.

Doublet

[UPDATE: for an illustration of how I modified the doublet pattern, look here.]

Ezio’s doublet was built on the bones of the Renaissance doublet I already made in summer of 2011 (Simplicity 4059). The first doublet ended up being too loose, so I used a smaller size to imitate the snug fit of Ezio’s doublet.

I traced all pattern pieces onto plastic sheeting (the kind you use to insulate your windows in the wintertime). You can use any kind of paper for patterns. But I really like the transparency and the durability of the plastic. I did a lot of retracing, recutting, folding, and taping. Tissue paper would have torn.

Once I had the doublet outline, I created the sections to imitate the screen cap. I then traced over these lines and added a ½ inch seam allowance for each individual piece. The doublet ultimately included a dozen pattern pieces including the bodice, the collar, the shoulder flanges, and the hem.

Doublet in progress.

(Another method you might consider, draft the pattern to allow for pin tucks—show example image—and then sew the pintucks down as if they were separate pieces. I am not sure sewing-wise this saves you any time. BUT it might save time cutting fabric, AND it might save you from the error of accidently sewing the seam allowance too much or too little and having the shape change because the size has changed.)

An example of pintucks from another project

Ezio has a pretty large and flared-open doublet collar. The existing neckline of the Simplicity 4059 doublet needed some extra umph. Following instructions in a pattern design book, I cut out a rectangle that matched in length the circumference of the existing pattern neckline. Now I had a stand-up collar to work with.

If you have a background in sewing, I recommend picking up a book on pattern adjustments and design. I currently own and use: How to Use, Adapt, and Design Sewing Patterns by Lee Hollahan. When it came to adding the sleeves for the tunic and the collar for the doublet I referred to these books a lot. Admittedly this book is focused on women’s patterns, but many of the core techniques are the same for men’s garments.

Flaps

Based on where these fall on Ezio (brushing the knees) I estimated that the white and red ribbon flaps were 4 inches by 2 feet, and 6 inches by 2.5 or 3 feet, respectively. I used grid paper to draw these geometric patterns. I ultimately attached these to the interior doublet lining with large snaps.

Flaps, cape, and incomplete undertunic

The hood…

There is a hood pattern in the Simplicity pattern 9887 but it is a very loose hood with a pointy end. If you curve this, it makes the hood more fitted. I used a variation of Mueldex’s hood design. But rather than just sewing the lines, I made the front section from separate pieces. For this, I turned to forcebewitya to see the shape he used for his hood.

Ezio’s costume has a lot of curved pattern pieces, including the double hem and hood. Sewing curves requires a lot of pins to hold the pieces in place and patience. It might seem like the piece don’t fit, but trust yourself. I had to pause sewing to rotate the fabric and adjust the top fabric to keep from puckering.

Pinned hood, ready to sew

Check back soon for Part 3: Constructing the Assassin (fabrics, sewing techniques, and details).

Interpreting the Assassin (Ezio Costume Series, Part 1)

Inspiration and Interpreting the Costume

Screen-caps are my savior. A quick Google (or Bing) image search for “Ezio Assassins Creed Brotherhood” returns a multitude of screen-caps, drawings, and a few cosplayers.

I printed out a number of screen cap images from the game (particularly the opening cinematic from Brotherhood because the resolution is higher) to identify the components of the costume. How many layers did I see? What did those translate to in real apparel terms? Occasionally I needed to see parts of the attire that weren’t visible in the screen caps, so I asked Greg to move around a bit in-game to let me see how the cape moved and exactly how low the doublet hung.

Then I decided how detailed I was going to be. You COULD make this as one piece (sew sleeves into the outer tunic/doublet and sew a “skirt” to the waist of the doublet instead of a full undertunic). I chose to break it into individual garments for 2 reasons:

1. Ian McKellen—in a behind the scenes costume featurette from the Lord of the Rings DVDs, while discussing discussing Gandalf’s costume Ian McKellen shows us the under tunic he wears. Movie audiences never see this under tunic beneath Gandalf’s outer robes, but the layered garments made the costume feel like real clothing to Sir Ian, which likely assisted with his embodiment of Gandalf. I wanted Greg to feel like he was wearing “real” clothing.

2. We also wanted this costume to be multifunctional. Based on the level of detail Greg wanted, this costume was going to require substantial time and money, so I wanted Greg to be able to use the various components of Ezio’s costume for other things. For example, he might wear the under tunic with a different doublet to a Renaissance fair. Or wear the doublet (with the hood detached) with other medieval or renaissance garb.

Before I continue, let me direct you to two of the internet sources that provided a great deal of guidance and inspiration:

I am particularly impressed with Muledex and Forcebewitya. Forcebewitya (deviant art) has made an AMAZING Ezio costume, in fact he has done a couple iterations of Ezio. Take a look through his gallery at all of his cosplay among others. Last I checked, he is willing to sell his pattern of Ezio’s hood and doublet. And Muledex provides video tutorials for all costume components including accessories. He also provides guidelines to build a pattern template from your own measurements. He has created these tutorials for multiple Assassins Creed costumes.

Each cosplayer takes a different approach to the costume construction. Before you start, decide how much time do you have, how much money and effort to you want (are you able) to put into it.

The Components

NOTE: there are a few variations between the opening cinematic, the initial promo images of Ezio (presumably before the game was finished), and the in-game play. For example, Ezio’s undertunic is split in the back in some illustrations and unsplit in others.

When I look at Ezio, this is what I see:

A longer undertunic with baggy sleeves.

sleeves have spiral black trim (it looks gray at times, but I think this is an optical illusion)
ruffled cuffs
ruffled collar lining

A structured doublet (with red lining):

shoulder flanges are sawtooth, made of angled rectangles (the shape of this differd between the pre-game cinematic and the “official” marketing shot of Ezio). I ultimately fell somewhere in the middle, guided mostly by what was easiest to sew.
that had a lot of detailed topstitching…if you are familiar with corsets, the structure of the doublet reminded me of that. It was not one solid piece, it was made of sections.
tall collar
sections at the chest that have some ornate design (possibly this was silk brocade)

“Flaps” (I seriously don’t know what to call these things that extend from his waist, under the doublet)— 4 red with white trim and 2 smaller white flaps.

A half-cape with red lining

A hood (which may or may not be directly attached to the doublet), but nevertheless has to be drafted separate from the rest of the doublet

A red sash beneath the belt.

(Additional hardware accessories are obvious, but not discussed right now. Part of my agreement in making this for Greg was that he would take responsibility for the hardware.)

That adds up to 6 individual garments, each made of mulitiple pattern pieces.

Next installment I’ll discuss my pattern design process.

UPDATE on the Ezio Costume

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Greg as Ezio, perching above the con.

Remember my mishap with bleeding taffeta?

UPDATE (7/8/12): Today I finally finished ripping out the seams and removing the red lining of the vest and cape. I hand washed the white components with a bar of fels-naptha and then tossed them into the wash (cold water, medium cycle).

Result? IT WORKED! The costume is white again! (Ok there are a couple tiny pink stains, but I had to stare at the costume for about 5 minutes before I saw them all.) I doubt the casual observe will notice. And if they do…well I challenge them to point it out (see, I’ll be dressing as one of Ezio’s assassin apprentices).

A friend sent me information on colorfasting fabrics. I’ll be sending the taffeta through this process, but I won’t reuse it for Ezio. (I’m thinking maybe a “Number 6″ red dress from Battlestar Galactica down the line.) I will look for another red fabric that is less likely to rub off (and colorfast it anyway).

PAX is just under 2 months away. QUICK, hurry, sew!

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:

I used pre-existing scraps from my fabric stash (no new materials purchased here!), and
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!

As a duck takes to water

adventures in self-sufficiency and sustainability