Battle Skirt

This was an interesting commission. The player had recently gotten custom armor, and he wanted a battle skirt to match it. The LARP he plays has a rule that all armor must be visible to count, so the skirt needed to be something that would show off the leg armor underneath. 

The design is based off of a video game (I don't know which). He wanted the skirt to be random as far as the circular designs and the width of the individual panels.

This is the sketch we settled on, though he wanted the black in front and back rather than the every other as shown here.

This was my first time using the reverse applique technique. All the gold pieces are done in the traditional manner where one cuts out a shape, glues it to the background and then stitches around the edge. In reverse applique, one draws the design, sews through both layers and then cuts the single top layer as close to the stitching as possible.

The back of the reverse applique ends up being very colorful. Since this will show while he fights, I worked to make the back as clean as the front.

This was a very interesting project. I may try reverse applique again, and I may try combining it with an applique lace technique where you cut both layers.

Y - Yoyos

Fabric yoyos are a fun little thing to try. The basic premise is that you take a circle of fabric and hand stitch along the outside, then pull tight. Here is a demo pic I found on the internet:

And another picture of a finished yoyo:

Last year, I attended a camping event for my role-playing group. One of the vendors there held a crafting contest where we had a gallon bag full of crafting supplies and had to make something using only those supplies and tools that you brought with you. I decided to make a belt favor (a decoration to hang off of a belt) by making as many different flowers as possible with the crafting materials.

Yoyos can also have shapes, so I did a flower shaped yoyo, and I pulled the back through the hole to give it more of a center of the flower look. Here is the final favor:

W - White Wolf Tunic

This tunic was an act of love. This is my brother's heraldry for SCA (almost... I goofed up and did purple rather than blue, but the picture I had really looked purple). He hasn't been to an event in a long time, and he is going to a large Alliance event next month.  He was stressing out about what to wear since he didn't have any garb, so I made him this tunic and wrap pants.

The wolf was done with machine applique, and the eye was hand embroidered.

I added some thinner details by triple stitching in some lines on the legs and paws.

I also added a bit of definition to the collar of the shirt.

Back view, mostly of the wrap pants.

I actually found 1" thick cotton twill tape for the pants. I was super happy because making 1" wide fabric ties generally sucks, and twill tape works so much better.

N - Needful Thing

This is a glowforge. It is a 3D laser printer, which I have to say, isn't a really good description of what it does. What it really does is cut and engrave objects with insane precision. So, why is it so needful? I can think of so many applications where it would help save time or help create something beautiful that I could not do or would take ages to cut by hand.

For example, if you saw my post on F - Filigree, then you know that I do some insane applique at times. 

To do this, I had to design and cut each piece by hand. It took at least 5 hours to do that. Then I had to sew, which took another 3 hours. So, a printer that I could draw directly into software then mirror and cut the fabric while changing sizes at a whim would be so time saving. 

Another example... I have gotten into wood cut stamping on fabric. It generally takes me a few hours to carve a block, and that is after the time I take to draw the design in the first place. I get custom orders all the time where people want something complex on their clothing, so being able to carve a woodblock in a matter of minutes would let me pass on the savings to my clients.

I am imagining all sorts of other cool things like embossing velvet and leather, cutting out laser necklaces in wood and shell... I seriously could use this thing every day.

I even applied for a job when I went to their site to find a picture. That is a crazy level of needful thing.

M - Makeup

We did an Alice in Wonderland themed tea part at an event a couple weekends ago, and the person in charge asked me to do makeup for the Mad Hatter. I also did makeup for a witch and painted faces for the masquerade. When I was in college, I took a really awesome theater makeup class. It is fun to get to use the skills again.

L - Linen

Most of my tunics are in cotton because it is less expensive and has more color options without having to use the internet,  so I was super happy to make this one in linen.

It is viking inspired with a horn of Odin symbol appliqued on the front.

Sorry for the blurry back. The sun was at a strange angle when I took the photos.

K - Kilt

Last year I attended a kilt making workshop. When I went to find material, the local plaids bared no resemblance to any of the clan tartans that I wanted. Then I stumbled on this flannel and went for it.

The friend I was making this for has a sister who struggled with breast cancer. He also is one of my fiercest advocates and is always checking that I am healthy after my breast cancer as well.

I added a pink ribbon in case the hot pink kilt was misunderstood.

The pleats in the back. I love how it turned out. I don't have any pictures of him in the full garb, but if I get one, I'll add it in.

I - Ink

Ink printing is a new area that I have been trying. If you read about the ermine or saw the picture of the bunny dress, that was my latest project. I made two other stamps in the last year, the sunflower/sun and the clarinet tree of life.

I found the white stamps at Michael's, and I plan on trying out embellishments on tunics to see how well they work. It is definitely a different way of decorating fabric, but I am really enjoying it.

H- Heraldry

Heraldry, also known as Coat of Arms or Device is the historic way of telling people apart. Think of it like football teams in the Renaissance Era. They had to be distinctive enough from each other so that a person could tell if they were a friend or foe at fifty feet. When it comes to crafting, I use heraldry all the time in my designs. Here are some examples:

These are the ones I have done with my heraldry in Amtgard:

F- Filigree

So, there are a lot of F-based sewing words like fabric, fiber, fleece, flannel, etc. so I thought I would do a word that is less well-known. This is a circle cloak that I made a few months ago with tons of filigree appliqued on.

I began by sketching the filigree on some newsprint paper, then I mirrored the design.

I traced it on to heat-n-bond and ironed it to some crepe backed satin (a.k.a. hammered satin). I love how crepe backed satin in gray or gold looks like real metal.

I carefully cut out each piece and ironed them down to the black linen.

I used gray thread to satin stitch around each piece.

The finished cloak. You may notice that the edges are torn, and that was done very much on purpose.

E - Ermine

I was given a commission to make a heraldic dress for the above Coat of Arms. The overall design is not very challenging, with one exception. The background design is called "ermine" and is meant to duplicate the fur of a spotted ermine. But, as people used this heraldry, it became more designer, so it developed into something that is a cross between a pretty little art symbol and a little ermine footprint.

 

Doing a single ermine would not be all that challenging, but as you can see on the original Coat of Arms, having a repeated ermine greatly increases the complexity of the project.

Since this is for a person in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism), historical accuracy is something that is prized. I chose to use a wood block printing technique to add the ermine to the fabric. I began by carving a woodblock.

I experimented with several types of ink before discovering that there was one specifically made for what I was doing. It takes a long time to dry (a full week to cure and 4-6 hours before I dare try and move it), but it is working nicely.

 

 

 I chose to sew large sections of the dress first so that the ermine would fall exactly in the right spots and would not be cut off in weird ways.

The dress is still in the works, but here is a sneak peek of how it will look. I mixed machine applique with hand embroidery to get a mostly authentic look. I'll post again when this is finished and add a link here.