Designing

 I spent some time designing today. These are my first steps... print a pattern and draw. I love the outlines Lady Armstrong Designs have, so I used them. I eventually need to make my own so I am not copying.

 The person who is ordering this tunic wants something based on Princess Celestia, but not something that screams it so badly. I'll post more designs as the project progresses!

Gwee Fleece Blanket Part 3

The Gwee blanket is all done. I left his arms, wings, horns, feet and tail free to move.

Most of his embroidery is by machine, but I did his eyes with a stem stitch and added in a couple nose slits.

Close up of the cute little feet.

The blanket itself is rather large... 36x60. I had a hard time deciding where to put the little guy on the blanket and which way to face him. I finally settled on this because I thought it would wourk best for the many ways a person can swaddle or fold.

The baby shower is next Sunday, so hopefully mom and dad love it.

Gwee Part 2

I wasn't feeling well today, so I didn't get as much done as I had hoped. I lightly stuffed and sewed the parts then hand embroidered the eyes and nose. I will likely finish soon. I am having a hard time deciding how to place it... in the corner, the center, facing up or down... too many options, I think!

Gwee Fleece Blanket, Part 1

So, I'll admit that I really don't know what a Gwee is beyond a super cute baby dragon. When I was talking about needing to make something gender neutral for an upcoming baby shower for an Amtgard friend, my cousin suggested a dragon blanket with arms, legs and wings that were free to move. She also suggested that I use a Gwee for the pattern, and after showing a picture to me, I was sold.

I still have a bunch of details to stitch on, and I need to quilt him into place, but I am super happy with houw he is looking so far. I am debating whether or not to add just a bit of stuffing to the parts that are sewn down, but I haven't decided. Likely I will test to see how it looks and then decide.

Anyway, cute little break while I wait for the other special orders to return my messages.

Two Commissions - Owl Belt Favor and Checkered Tabard

So, today was a good day of sewing. I finished both these projects in time to take them to the field and had fun designing a pattern (next post). This owl was a commission, and I believe it is the most complex machine applique I've ever attempted. I was pleased with the outcome.

I hate to admit that I can't tell if this is a boar or a wolf. I did it exactly like the picture, so he was happy with it. The stars made my machine unhappy. so I am glad I was able to fix it rather than needing to start over. The sides crisscross and tie so that  he can slip it on and off over his armor easily and not have to wear a belt.

Since he also ordered the owl, I added a touch of gold to make the heraldry pop a bit more.

That's all for today.

Puppy Fun

My cousin, Nathan, was born when I was in the middle of going back to school and then dealing with breast cancer, so I never made him a baby quilt. This weekend is his 4th birthday, so I asked him to tell me about the things he liked, and I made him a more kid-like quilt.

The colors match his adult-like bedspread, and the puppies sort of look like his dog, Isabeaux. I tried a new quilt pattern, and it was pretty fun. I think it would have worked better with more colors, but I am not unhappy with it.

I really love this green dot fabric. I've been wanting to use it in something for a while. The puppies are super cute too.

Crimson Dawn Tunics (Even More)

This one is may favorite so far. I like the extra Vs in it. My only complaint is that it is a bit more skirted than I intended, but then I also made it rather large XXL for sure and maybe even XXXL.

I enjoyed focusing in on this one. I thought it would be fun to have one that only features the lower half.

I took them to the park this weekend to get some pictures with real people. I was fortunate to have several volunteers. I'll likely use these pictures to advertise custom tunics.

CD Tunic Time

Here is a current finished picture. I have another tunic almost done, but I will wait and post it later.

Top: tabard, tabard, tunic, tunic
Bottom: tabard, tabard, tabard

This tunic has a trial sleeve design.  I love how the bottom half basically turns them into bracers. The top was a bit funky. Over-all, this one had the most mistakes I had to rip out and just gave me a hard time.

This one turned out rather different than the picture I drew. I initially gave it red sleeves.

I was running low on red fabric (given that two more tunics are very red heavy), and I had a lot of gray left. I looked through the designs and decided this one was the best one to add a bit more gray. I had fun with the checkers.I've seen them on many tunics before and I thought it would be fun to do.

Given my background in quilting, it turned out very nice. The biggest difference is that I used a serger-like stitch so they wouldn't ravel. I would never do that in a quilt because of the extra bulk the thread would add. I do like how very different this one looks. After all, I was trying to make them stand out so people calling spells could identify a person by their garb.

More Tabards for Crimson Dawn

Sorry for the lack of posts... I just launched into sewing and didn't blog when i got home. I finished three more tabards.  I still have 5 tunics to make, so I better get cracking.

Just One More...

My local kingdom did a challenge this week to make something with the heraldry. I just finished this little guy, so I thought I'd do one last post before the trip. Amtgard has really forced me to get good at applique. A year ago, I don't think I could have done this anywhere close to this cleanly.

So, now I have an actual coin purse to put my fake coins in... yey!

AFK

I'll be in North Dakota visiting my mom until the 10th of July. In the meantime, I'm doing a sale in my store. If you spend $75, you will get $20 off with the promo code TUNIC7415.

Here is the thing I finished this morning:

I really should have hung it by itself. Oh well. I am making a few more, so I'll explain more later. Have a happy 4th of July!

Bedsheet Tunic

This was a commission from someone without the time to finish the project. He bought the king flat sheet and wanted to make a tunic.  This was an interesting challenge because there was exactly 99 usable inches of trim.

The neck was the biggest challenge because there were so many layers to sew through and so little room for error. Fortunately he wanted the sleeves tapered, or I would not have had the trim to make the keyhole neck.

It would have looked a bit plain without an additional pop of color, and the hem would not have had trim at all . I fortunately found this fabric that was a very close match to the background tan. It was rather sheer, so I simply sewed it on top of the other fabric rather than quilting the fabrics together.

I used steam a seam to help hold everything in place, and I was really pleased with the results. Pins normally shift around a bit with sheer fabric, so the steam a seam helped quite a bit. I will definitely use it again in the future.

Dragon Master at Sun's Haven

Yesterday I entered the dragonmaster competition. I don't know the results yet, but here's what I entered: