Felt Wallet

I have a gross wallet. It's lumpy, ugly, and it has come into contact with a variety of unpleasant substances. Basically, I need a new wallet. But will I buy one? Never! I have all this felt lying around...

Note: if you try to make your own wallet, don't make it out of felt. It's way too thick, even before you stuff it full of cards. Although felt is nice because you don't have to finish the edges.

Unfolded with three rectangles for cards, a pouch for coins, and a closing strap.

1. Get some money! Seriously. Fold your fabric. Place a bill on your fabric along the fold and measure out a slightly larger rectangle.

2. Get a credit card! Or library card, what have you. Use it to measure out three rectangles of fabric, slightly wider and shorter than the card.

3. For the coin pouch I just eyeballed a long rectangle of fabric and folded it twice. I sewed the edges closed when I sewed the pouch to the wallet, and will put a snap on the flap to keep it closed.

Rectangles sewn on!

4. Stack your card-sized rectangles in a step pattern - each one going a bit further down than the last. Pin in place and sew the bottom edges of each piece to the wallet. 

5. Sew the sides of all the pieces and the bottom edge to the wallet.

6. Cut a strip of fabric for the closing strap and sew it to one side of the wallet.

7. Fold your wallet in half lengthwise and sew the edges.

8. Voilà wallet!

Eventually I'm going to embroider the back (the outside) of the wallet, but I'm busy now!

(If you want to embroider a design, do it before you sew up the sides of the wallet.)

Gatsby

In honour of tomorrow's opening, me and the gals are having a Gatsby party. That means dressing up and going to the movie. Rather obvious, but c'mon! 1920s! Baz Luhrmann! Gotta get excited about something!

Shoulda used a filter! Too much light!

In this one you can see the colour of the dress better...

So! Here is my outfit for the night. Dress made by me for a 1920s museum event - basically two rectangles and a neck facing (the event was later that night, and of course I waited til the last minute, so I skipped my plan for a handkerchief hem and those pesky arm hole facings). The purse is from work (surprise!) and was an awesome find - nicely heavy and beaded on both sides with silk braid and tassels - for $7 and it even matched my fabric!

We all remember Leo and Baz's last outing - Romeo + Juliet - hopefully this one's a bit better :) If not, well, SPARKLES AND GLITTER AND SWOOPY CAMERA MOVES! And I get an excuse to dress up (I need more of those!)

Bloomer Time!

Silky stuff, $8/m

Ribbon, $0.49

Woo woo! Sewing party with the ladies! I'm gonna make these bloomers (but with a higher waist, I hate clothes that sit on your hips - pour moi, I think they are très unflattering!)

http://www.coletterie.com/colette-patterns-news/free-pattern-to-download-the-madeleine-mini-bloomers

And then I'll hunt around for a free bra pattern or just make something up to match!

Two Hour Gloves

I have rather short fingers and pretty small hands overall. I found some stretchy fake leather fabric ($7 for half a metre) at my local sewing store so I decided to make gloves instead of trying to fit into kid's ones. Here's how that went, plus instructions.

Sometimes you just gotta have elbow length gloves. Sometimes you're in a hurry! Here's how to make gloves in two hours and eight steps. Perfect for various costumes (add some claws - Catwoman!) or performances. 

1. Draw your hands! But tuck your thumb under! Try to draw your pattern on thinner paper, 'cause you need to sew through the fabric and the paper together. I used some recycled gift wrap tissue.

2. Pin the tissue paper pattern to your fabric (I got some weird stretchy stuff that kind of looks like leather) and sew through the three layers, making sure the two layers of fabric have the right (shiny) sides together. 

Also, draw a bit of extra space around the tracing of your fingers, with a "u" rather than a "v" at the base of each finger. I didn't leave very much space in my pattern because I'm using a stretchy material and I want the gloves to be pretty tight. You can't really see the "u" shapes in the picture, but you should add them! (This was my first glove so I didn't know better, the second one has "u"s and the fingers turned out much nicer). 

It helps if you turn the sewing machine by hand when you go around the fingers (spin the little wheel on the side) and lift up the machine foot (with the needle still in the material or else the thread will get pulled).

3. Cut around the sewn glove and rip the paper off! Messy! Fun!

4. There is no thumb, only Zool! 

Turn the glove right side out and try it on for size. Line up the side seams where you want and mark where your thumb is.

5. Well, I sort of drew my thumb and the side of my hand, and then an oval about how big I thought the base of my thumb was. I didn't actually end up using the thumb oval, I just put the glove on and cut a hole where my thumb was. Give yourself some extra space around the pattern.

6. Sew the same way as the rest of the glove. Here's the thumb piece, right side out. Again, first try, so I cut out two pieces. What works better is putting the long flat side of the thumb pattern on a fold, so you don't get a seam on one side.

7. Cut out an oval about the same size as the base of your thumb. I just started with a slit and stuck my thumb through, then cut away the excess fabric until I could move my thumb freely. Turn the glove inside out and sew the thumb piece in the thumb opening. I did this part by hand 'cause it was a bit too fiddly to do by machine.

8. Hubba hubba! :)

All in all, a pretty easy and super fun project. I started making these two hours before dress rehearsal and the only thing I had to sew later was the top hem at the elbow. The material didn't fray, so that was just the finishing touch.

Costume Details

This costume was super easy/cheap to make. I got an underbust corset ($10) and a bunch of sequin trim ($2) and sewed it along the boning channels (you can only see two lines of sequins in the picture, but there are more on the sides). For the tutu/bustle I gathered two metres of tulle ($4) and sewed it onto a sequin/elastic bit of trim the size of my waist. I tried to shape the tulle into two parts to keep the fullness mostly at the back and sides.

Finishing touches: heels, fishnets, frilly garter (made out of the same trim as the bustle, can't see it in the picture), black sparkly bow tie, sequin bra, and elbow length gloves (pictures/tutorial to follow)

Costume One of Three

Tulle bustle with underbust corset and sequins

Goings on

Finished sewing my costumes for the show! Took some pictures today while it was a bit sunny, but then I had to go to work. Will upload later and thus begin the Official Blogging! Also thought about not liking cupcakes.