Mortem's Tricks or Treats: Hurly Burly

My hubby left on Friday, and since then I've kept my mind and hands busy in order to prevent any negative thought from emerging.

Alas, I crafted my hands into a coma...

Yesterday I spent the night nurturing a crippling episode of carpel tunnel, but thankfully it happened only minutes after I finished my intended projects. 

Today isn't so bad, as you can tell from my typing this post, but I'll be taking it easy.

Sunday was my 1st wedding anniversary; it was spent celebrating as well as one could do on her own: sewing, of course.

Finishing the final "piece"

I made an entire outfit to commemorate this somewhat joyous occasion, but its final showcase will have to wait until I can put it on and celebrate my hubby coming home. For now, let me whet your appetite with the reveal of the mock up of the above pictured piece.

I saw this skirt... somewhere. Being unable to locate the original, coupled with having zero money to purchase it, even if I did... I thought it would be a nice piece to recreate from the vague memory I have of the skirt.

The ties are long enough to come forward or stay backwards. The final product will have a lot more lace, and of course it will be black. I might add some white lace to this mock up... then who knows what will happen to it, heh.

I made yet another blouse from the same view I've been using in pattern 6078, but I added a little extra touch to it so it'll match up with the skirt. I know, I keep making these blouses! I'm currently obsessed with them-- this is the last one... I think. Probably not... but hopefully the last one you'll read about.

Anyway, aside from all that, I took a look at my most recent candy find and realized I could upcycle the tin instead of just having it jingle around just for the pleasure of how it looks.

I bought a mini sewing tin from China town during my visit in Vancouver a year a go. I purchased it because it was the only sewing kit I've ever found with a tiny pair of scissors with black handles. I had this sugar skull left over tin of mints that I bought at a place called It's Sugar during my visit to Phoenix last month for my brother-in-law's graduation.

I pulled a switcharo on the tins so that my travel kit now suits my tastes. I added in a couple extras; a tiny wood spool of black thread, a spool of purple thread, and a stitch-remover.

These tins also come in a white skull, or pink-- which I completely intend on buying before too long.

P.S. if you haven't seen Frankie's tattoos, have a closer look in the older post about her here.

Mortem's Tricks or Treats: Working Through The Mock

Well my dear readers, after a long intermission I began sewing again; the New Look blouse patterns to be exact.
...Where to begin...

Firstly, New Look is exactly what rumors say they are; a badly drafted pain in the butt.
Secondly, I'm still very unsatisfied with my alterations... but then, this is a mock up, and as they go, they're meant to highlight the problems.
And finally... this fabric was also playing on my nerves. It refused to stay ironed at the darts; I need a bit of starch.

The blouse isn't technically complete, as you can see I haven't placed in any buttons; the puckering at the plackets is due to the pins in place.
One of the most consistent complaints is that the collar is the most frustrating part to deal with because in all the sizes it is far too awkward-- indeed, I think my blood pressure went up a few digits just dealing with that portion and getting it to lie perfectly.

Of course, having curved rulers makes this process a tad easier than if you were doing it any other way...

I think my own biggest issue was the entire bodice portion; front and back. My figure is heavily pear shaped, so all  the darts needed (and still do) to be tweaked and adjusted quite a bit. In a nutshell, I had to lift the bust dart 2 cm from their original location and increase by 2 cm. I had also taken in some of the bodice at the side seams nearly 4 cm, but as I think and observe on it some more, it seems as though it was still insufficient near the upper portion.

This blouse is also a hell of a lot longer than I expected it to be; as you can see it nearly covers my form entirely! But I think that is purely because I am vertically challenged.

The sleeves were probably the easiest part of this entire endeavor; they needed no alterations. I'm very pleased by how they look!

I am going to be adding some cherry red buttons to this blouse... and then find a home for it; the color isn't exactly my "thing".

In the end I deem this pattern still doable, but you definitely need a little more than the average sewing savvy under your belt to undertake it.

Mortem's Tricks or Treats: Blue Minds Need Busy Hands

In a last ditch effort to rid myself of the post Halloween blues, I decided I better get crafting!

A couple weeks ago I began a sew along with a friend choosing to do a most coveted pattern Simplicity had to offer, but had put off posting pictures until today:

I was going straight for the coat. However, I really wasn't feeling it as much as I wanted... hence the tissue paper; I was going to redraft/ redesign it a little differently; adding a hood and making the sleeves belled.

This is the mock up (in hideous mock fabric)

Craft rooms are always messy; this is fact.

I had procrastinated working on it and had been inspired the little chilly air we're receiving using it to produce some wintery items, and didn't notice that in my arrogance I thought maybe I had enough velvet to complete the coat... but no, in shame I hang my head... I clearly underestimated how much was needed!

As a note, if you're going to make this in stretch velvet there are two things you should consider: the pile (the direction of the velvet) and the bias (the way it stretches-- 4 way it doesn't matter a whole ton). In cases such as these I prefer to cut my pieces on single layer, lest either of those factors go awry-- either way, what this means is that you'll need to buy more fabric than what is initially suggested, and whether you like it or not, there will probably be a lot more scraps then what you're used to. I was off by about 2 yards... not sure how I calculated such a gross error-- maybe my mind was tired at the time...

I've been feeling blue, and Halloween and other such gaiety helped marginally; coupled with a savage streak of insomnia, I've not been at my best... though I try to keep that smile beaming.

The other projects of wintery inspiration were that of knitted goods.

My mother sent me my looms bought months ago and never used, and I figured it was as good a time as any to try.

First up was my french knitter:

It seems like such an easy concept to grab, but the night I was using it I was getting mighty frustrated that I wasn't achieving the result I wanted... so I tore out the project in anger, only to discover a happy accident.

In tearing out the little tube I had unwittingly created a nifty necklace. The stretched loops with single beads made for a delicate web-like adornment for myself. Oh and as a bonus you get to have a looksie at those vintage frames I've been waiting for:

3-tier

4-tier

Grouped

Next I decided to see how quickly and how much of a change from needle to loom knitting would do to a final project.

Left is loom knit: right is needle knit

It is exponentially quicker to knit on a loom than it is needle knit; both of the scarves shown are 6'2". I'd like to point out that I am not very prolific when it comes to knitting, so the needle knit scarf took me about a week to complete; working on it once a day in 2-3 hour increments. The way I loom knit was using the common twisted stockinette, yielding an interesting and bulky criss-cross look; it took me 2 days in the same hourly increments.

However, I would still probably use needles because I much prefer the exercise in the use of both hands working, unless I find a comfortable way to work with one peg side of the looms; which I hear can create the same look of said needle knitted stockinette stitching.