Mortem's Tricks or Treats: The Franken-Pattern Dress.

It was on a dreary night of June that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. 

With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of fabulousness into the pile of fabric that lay at my feet...

Clearly, I've been spending a lot of time with the tales and films of Frankenstein and his monster.

Forever my favorite story and "monster"-- the one I so closely identify with and obsesses over.

My latest, though not the only project finished, is my favorite creation to date. It has been an idea that has rattled in the back of my head for years, and it was Mary's contribution (from Autumn Moon Enchantement --how awesome that her name ties well with the theme of this post) that pounded the last nail in that coffin. She traded me this Pumpkinheads fabric from Michael Miller; I didn't know such amazing material existed, and it was all too perfect for this dress, I begged her for her scraps and she kindly obliged me haha!

Initially the plan was to make a full dress with some kind of pumpkin material, and the amount that Mary sent me wouldn't have been enough... but as it turned out, it was destiny that brought my creation together.

So, in the beginning of June a sewing with lace contest was announced for Sewing Pattern Review Online Sewing Community. I love lace, but ironically it's a material I am rather short on at any given time. Good lace is tough to stash... but I really wanted to enter and give it a shot, and all I really have is novelty laces-- this spiderweb lace meeting the criteria as best as my muse could muster. It needed to be a project I could quickly finish, given that I would be losing two weeks on account of my in-laws coming for a visit, rendering my room unreachable for the time being: one week to make the room "livable" and one week for them to reside in.

Funny enough, I wasn't even sure what I was going to do or what fabric I was going to use. After a day of pulling fabrics and patterns, it hit me like a bolt of lightning-- I should make the dress I have been wanting to make! It took a little franken-patterning to reach the design that I so dreamed about: the skirt from Simplicity 1194 and the bodice and midriff of New Look 6146 (ironically one of those 'mix & match' patterns).
 One aspect that I had to figure out on my own was the bat wing collar.

I am no stranger to the bat wing collar (throwback to my bat dress), but I must admit that I wasn't entirely sure how this would turn out in faux leather; it's considerably more bulky.

I opted to do one side in the faux leather and the other in cotton, to alleviate the amount of bulk. It worked beautifully.

The skirt used up 4 yards of my spiderweb lace; it's double layered. It was a touch too long, and from the ensuing fabric I made the sash, which looks to be part of the dress.

But it isn't. 

I did this purposely, since I love using waist belts... and some of my own design will be starting to see the light of day soon enough.

I am still not sure this would meet the criteria for the lace contest, though it says the garment must be 75% lace and this uses 4 yards of "lace" including an accessory against a quarter yard of cotton and a bit of faux leather... seems to me like it should, but we shall see. In any case, I do know it meets it for another contest, a little IG contest for a Halloween box. A Halloween spirit contest hosted by Order of the Thinned Veil-- I really dig this particular contest. Even if I don't win it, I shall endeavor to purchase their All Hallows level. Seems kick-ass.

Lastly, I have to say that I am completely obsessed right now with hemming my skirts with ribbon. I can't stop doing it, haha! I did it as an afterthought though, as you can tell from these subsequent shots of me wearing this dress without that hem.

Hmm, I don't know... should I keep or remove the ribbon hem?

Till next time, fiends. Spook you later!

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Bat knit hood knit by yours truly.

Ribcage necklace handmade by yours truly.

Fashioning My Cyber Microcosm: Inside Franken-tailor's Creative Laboratory v3.0

Oh my ghoulish readers, it would appear I am once again packing my creative laboratory after this weeks news; we're moving once more! Except this time is a little different. We're not moving because the mister got a new job at a new park, we're moving because although I much enjoyed having the master bedroom as my lab of creation, the rest of the house was leaving us feeling a little like sardines in a can.
Our new place is definitely an upgrade from our current living situation. More room, newer fixtures, and more importantly-- more sunlight. The only room that received any sunlight in the current home was the master bedroom, and that was the main reason I had my setup there.

The configuration of my lab was my absolute favorite thus far, and it occurred to me that I haven't given a little tour of this version in its peak glory!-- thankfully I took pictures before taking everything down.

When you first walk in, you would have been greeted by the kittles sunbathing and bird-watching/taunting on the ironing station.

My sewing box is a custom paint job
by my friend and artist who runs Myrcury's Toybox

The cutting table is not typically this clean, but it is a bounty of Halloween themed delight in itself! With jack o'lantern note pads, and coffins holding wonderclips, to skeleton hand bowls full of pins-- I love it spooky and cute!

Most of my NBC gear was gifted to me by beloved friends in New Mexico

Turning to the left, we see my book/form corner-- a shelf that is devoted to my sewing and craft related reading material.
On the wall, you see some storage bins where I have placed the overflow of patterns that no longer fit where they're supposed to.
In the middle is a shelf that is meant simply for keeping some of my more decorative items, which works nicely as a prop when taking shots of garments on my form.

Skull painting by yours truly

To the right, skipping over the ironing table (which you can see well enough here-- along with the room as it began coming together), we have plastic bin units which hold the various weights of fusible and non-fusible interfacings on the top 3 tiers. The bottom 3 tiers hold ribbons, and some of the miscellaneous craft tools; those not really sewing related, but don't have a dedicated craft to go into a box, that went into the closet.

The small shelf served to hold my bins of patterns, but since a sudden growth spurt occurred in the subsequent time after this photo, it was roughly half books and half patterns before being packed away.

Heading to the right, again we see another view that's a touch dated, as the pale tv tray is/was no longer there and in its place was a filing cabinet where the bulk of my patterns called home.

I found that large and rather cumbersome wall mounted shelf/cabinet at the thrift store for $3, its former life was to hold mugs and teacups. I found it quite suitable to hold my scissors up and away from traffic and curious paws.
I have plans to hire another artist to custom paint it for me-- I could do it myself, sure, but I consider it a duty to show my love and support to other artists knowing how much I struggled and failed trying to do my own thing.

Finally, we come to the machine corner. Yes, I have a ton of thread as you may have noticed! Clear vinyl covers are in the works to protect them from dust while still maintaining their colorful appeal on display.
The wall shelf isn't holding as much as the first one-- the first tier holds mostly decorative things like my custom MH doll done by Myrcury, my odd sized knitting needles, and a caddy of misc. feet and cams for my singer directly below.
The second tier is more decorations along with two vintage wicker sewing boxes filled with needles and refills for chalks and whatnot.
The very top tier holds my bath and beauty making equipment-- I recently started buying myself the equipment needed to start making soap! I can't wait to do that.

You can also see that I framed the printout made sometime ago. I placed it into a glass frame so that I can write with dry erase markers-- makes it easy to change my ever-changing numbers. One of these days I'll augment the frame to include hooks to hang various things like my measuring tape, and perhaps my sewing queue pattern basket.

A sewing room tour isn't complete without a closeup of the belle of the ball! I am still so crazy proud of this machine-- she's not as pretty as some of her other Singer sisters, but by gods, she's still amazing. She has a cute little pincushion companion that sits so well on her, and never falls off-- it helps that I put a magnet in its bottom after re-stuffing it with sawdust in the process of re-purposing it for a pincushion. Directly next to her is a little coffin caddy I painted myself ; it holds a threader, some snips and the feet I most commonly use, you know, the usual. The little drawer caddy is my own creation, but I hired the talented people over at Geek Goddess Creations to custom paint it. It holds a lot of the little gadgets I have such as bodkins, tracing wheels, and metal templates.

That completes this tour, my ghoulish folks... 

I hope you enjoyed it, as v3.5 is coming soon!