Apologies and a New Project!

My apologies for abandoning the blog for the past 6 months, but I have been up to my armpits in a big project that has finally launched!

 

It all started with a fight against some developers about destroying three historic buildings across the street from where I grew up and replacing them with townhomes. Most of the neighborhood came out to fight, but after months of town council meetings the project was finally allowed, much to our disappointment.

Well, by then I had become so curious about the history of the buildings and, by default, my own town that I threw myself into research mode. Growing up in the town I was shocked by how little I knew of its history. There were so many wonderful stories that needed to be shared! People needed to be reminded of what an amazing little town we have and how it's not too late to preserve what's left.

So, I decided to start a guided walking tour of our historic district and to do it in a costume from the turn-of-the-century when the town was hitting its peak.

Lots of research and sewing later, I finally launched the tour at the end of March 2015 and have had some wonderful tours so far!

 

 

My costume came out pretty wonderfully (although I had to break down and purchase a few pieces). Of course, now that the weather is becoming a bit warmer I need to create a gown that's a little more lightweight (maybe seersucker?). I have fallen in love with the Edwardian style, it's just so beautiful without being over the top.

 

 

I will do my best to keep you updated on the progress of my summer wardrobe!

Dragon*Con 2014!

Oh my goodness did I have fun making some costumes for Dragon*Con 2014!

My step-daughter wanted to do a female version of the 10th Doctor (David Tennant) and my step-son wanted to learn how to sew his own costume for Wizard Whitebeard (to match his friend who dressed up as Waldo).

 

After some Googling and discussion, she and I came up with a pretty cool design based on one of the Doctor's iconic suits and away I went! I am very pleased with the end result and wish I had gotten a better picture!

 

 

(Actually, I completely failed on pics all around this year, but you get the idea.)

 

The Wizard Whitebeard costume worked out great too and was a simple project for a beginning sewer. Of course he needed a beard as well and I found a wonderful tutorial on yarn beards over at Instructables! Had to do one for my other stepson as well for his dwarf costume. They both turned out absolutely fantastic!

 

He even wore the beard again for Halloween, but this time as a pirate!

 

 

Teddy Bear Ears

So, Nia's birthday is in a week and the party theme is a Teddy Bear Picnic. Therefore, I figured I'd make some bear ears for all the kids to wear and take home. This was super easy and only took me an afternoon to make six. Probably could have gone faster with a sewing machine for parts of it, but I love the effect of the hand stitching.

After a bit of searching I found a six-pack of fabric covered headbands for a couple of bucks at RiteAid. I wanted something comfortable enough for a bunch of small children to wear. The oldest child attending is around 4 with the youngest around 15 months. So, a pretty good range.

From there it was just a matter of deciding my ear colors, making a paper pattern for the outside and inside ear pieces, and cutting them all out of felt.

4 outside pieces and 2 inside ear pieces per headband did the job.

Stitch each inside piece to the front of one of the outside pieces and then stitch the front and back outside pieces together. At this point you could add a little bit of stuffing, but I liked the shapeability of the flatter ears so I left that out.

 

 

Then it was just a matter of attaching the ears to the headband. This is where the fabric covered headbands were very helpful, otherwise you could cover the headband with felt or maybe just hot glue them in place.

 

 

And voila! Six different little bears to totter around our party. Don't worry, I'll post pics of the cuteness next weekend!