The Other Group, Dandilion Fluff & Foam Feet

I got a commission to make a mascot, and it has introduced me to a whole new sub culture. I did tons of research before starting the project, including attending a fur convention. I was a bit unsure to start, but the more I get involved with the community, the more I learn how fun it all is. Forget CSI and other social media's portrayal and think more about Disney's Robin Hood or Lion King. It's all about people who want to be cute and fluffy.

For those interested in the topic, I will label the posts with Dandilion Fluff (yes, the spelling is on purpose) and fursuit. I created an account on Fur Affinity (which happens to be the best place to discuss the craft and find business in the community), and Sew Honeybee just didn't sound like a fursuit maker's name. I decided that Dandilion Fluff would be more fun. I am planing on making a logo with the i as a dandelion. The above lion is my mascot, drawn by the talented Amanda. She also made a cute face shot for my avatar and business cards as well.

One of the first things I tried was the feet. I did both sets of shoes at the same time (one for outdoors and one for inside). I began with plank foam.

Then I added in high density upholstery foam.

Then I spent time carving, mostly with scissors and a bread knife.

At this point, I thought they looked pretty good and posted them on FA, but then someone suggested I try a different approach to make it easier to walk in and a bit less clompy.

So I redid the carving and ended up with a lot narrower feet. I did have to make them a bit longer to hide the shoe in the toe crack.

The next step is creating a pattern and gluing on the fur. I also have some claws to add. But I changed my tactic and moved to the head while there was already foam all over my craft room. More on the project later.

Pintuck Smocking Wave

Trying new techniques is fun. I've been wanting to try smocking, so for my first project, I figured the fast method of using the machine would be better than trying the craziness of hand smocking (I do plan on doing it on another project)

I began with a one inch grid in pencil (more about the pencil later).

Then I sewed vertical lines with a 1/4 seam allowance.

To get the wave, I sewed all the tucks on the line first one direction than the other.

Then I had a bunch of blasted pencil lines I had to wash out. I really don't recommend using pencil on yellow. My white chalk would have come out easier, but I think it would have killed my eyes. I will go ahead and do it again to the other side, but only because the store is closed and I want to keep going. This project is going to be a cross between an amtgard tunic and a sun dress, based on my park's heraldry.

I was inspired by Lady Armstrong's Designs, which are very impressive. Anyway, more work to do, off to sew!

Tunics! GoT and Butterfly

I finished the GoT/ Empire of the Iron Mountains tunic. It's a big one... likely fits a men's XXL or XXXL.It is the traditional T-tunic shape, so it may be snug in the middle. I did do slits in the sides for the first 6" to help with snugness. Tunic sizes don't seam to matter much, so I am not too worried about making it so large. The person who buys this would likely wear it with a belt anyway. Though I intended to make field wear, this did turn out nice enough to be called court garb.

I hadn't intended on making this one so nice. I found the broadcloth and brocade at the store and thought it would make a nice accent. I had some left over when I finished, so I started to think about what would go well on a teal tunic. I hadn't intended in making it so feminine, but butterflies sounded like they would match the paisley brocade without looking strange, so I went for it.

Surprisingly, adding the butterflies did not add much to my over-all time, and I think they really make it go from a normal T-tunic into something special. For the wings, I used a feather stitch rather than a satin stitch, because I was bored and I thought it would look nice. On the black, I kept to my narrow zig-zag so I wouldn't make the butterfly antenna and body look strange.

I will have both of these at the Phoenix Comic Con and Rakas to sell. If you are interested, please e-mail me for a price quote.

Songtailor's Studio

   I really need to blog more. I craft almost every day, so I just need to take the 15 minutes to do a photo, upload it and write. I am also going to start tagging things a bit differently. I'll keep up the tags for the quilts and such, but I have two groups I sew for commonly that aren't interested in quilts. One is a fantasy based historic reenactment group (LARP for those in the know) called Amtgard. It is tons of fun and gives me excuses to sew many costumes and other crafty things. I will tag these items with my persona's name... Melody Songtailor.

I will talk about the second group in another post.

Today I was appliqueing this heraldry.  I am still torn between tunic or tabard, so I stopped. It is a cross between the Lannister lion from Game of Thrones and the Empire of the Iron Mountain's. They just did a reign based on the Game of Thrones, so I started this project and never finished.

With Rakas coming up, I figured I should finish it and hopefully sell it to someone who enjoyed the reign. I must admit, being in amtgard has greatly improved my machine applique work!

Crafting Studio

 I am trying to be better at marketing, so that means writing more often. I just up and moved to Mesa, AZ, and the first room unpacked and looking good is my crafting studio. I had about the same size room before, but this one has a better layout. My dad left the huge desk for me, so it will be a fun addition to have a massive sewing desk.

 I love having a cutting table in the center of the room. It makes so many projects so much easier. Note the tea... I almost always have a cup of hot tea when I craft (yes, even when it is 80 outside)

Evidence of my tea drinking/// I actually decided to set up an electric kettle and tea making station in my craft studio so I wouldn't have to leave as often and wouldn't forget the kettle on the stove as often. Note as well the lovely Rarity painting my friend, Jade, made me for Christmas last year.  I think even rarity would love my sewing space.

Another new addition is the huge cork board. I am hoping that it will help me to keep my projects organized.

Now off to sew. I want to make a kimono and hakama before tomorrow at 12pm. Let's see if I can get it done. I may not post again until Monday as I am going camping this weekend.

Pony Tales

This barnyard quilt was intended for a little boy from the beginning. The mom was very into horses, so my aunt wanted a quilt that had a horse theme. I found the pattern, Pony Tales on the internet and suggested that she look at it. She loved it, so I got to work.

I picked fabrics that were a bit more horse-like  than the ones in the pattern. I actually took the time to look up horse coloring so that I wasn't making a horse of a color that didn't exist.

I combined machine and hand embroidery in the applique. I did the machine embroidery around the outside edges and did the smile, nose and eye by hand.

The original pattern was a bit on the small size for a crib quilt, so I added black sashing between the blocks to bring it up to a more standard size.

I used the same cream fabric for all three horses and used it again for the star in the corner. I was looking for bandanna fabric for both the blue and red, but only found it in red. Rather than just doing a denim-colored fabric, I found a light-weight denim  that was a nice shade of blue.

For the plaid, I used a homespun cotton.

Overall, it turned out super cute and durable for the next little rodeo star.

Lemon-Lime Lamb Quilt

Baby time in my aunt's office. Two quilts, both with a barn-yard theme. The first didn't want to know what they were having, so my aunt asked me to make a quilt with yellow, lime green, and light orange. I showed her the pattern for this quilt, and she fell in love with it.

I was super happy when I found a green that had flowers that were the right shade of orange and also had yellow. I also had fun with the fluffy lamb fabric. The pattern had suggested felt, but I used novelty fleece instead. I also used a plushy fabric for the face and legs. This picture was taken before all the hand embroidery. 

I don't like using buttons and ribbons on baby quilts because of the choking hazard, but that's what this pattern suggested, so I went along with it. I sewed them down very well and super tight, so with proper supervision, all should be fine. (I should mention that this is the third child for the mom).

The original design called for a rose in the center block, but since the baby might have been a boy, I opted for these cute little iron-on lambs instead. I was glad to hear that the baby was a girl, and the mom loved the quilt.

Overnight / Laundry Bags

This was a fun scrap project for my friend's nieces and nephew.  The often go on sleepovers, so we thought they would enjoy having a good-sized bag to use for overnights now and for laundry when they go off to college. I let my friend raid my scrap collection, so she picked the fabrics for the bags. Since it was so close to Christmas, I went ahead and did all the sewing to save time.

The first bag was for a mature 12-year old. I actually had used these fabrics together before for my own laundry bag  (which I apparently never posted). We added in a few more teals and golds to make enough scraps for the bag.

This bag was also for a 12-year old girl, but she likes cats and everything princess.

I didn't have any scraps of pink long enough for a strap and the top drawstring, so I used a glittery batik that had mostly the right colors.

The last bag was for a 7-year-old boy. He loves monkeying around, so it seemed natural to give him a monkey bag.

With all three bags, I did different sized patches for the majority of the bag. I used one piece of fabric for the top drawstring so that it would be stronger and less likely to rip out with opening and closing all the time.

All three have the same interior, an unbleached muslin.  I am a fan of light colored linings for bags because it makes it easier to see what is inside.

Once I finished, I wanted one for me. It was a fun project, and I smile every time the kids are visiting their Auntie and they have their bags.

Netbook Bag

 This is a new design I tried for a friend for Christmas last year. She had a netbook bag she used as both a purse and a computer bag that she loved, but it was falling apart. I actually repaired it a few months before a mutual friend suggested that I simply make her a new one.

She is a huge coffee fan, so I picked a coffee themed cotton for the interior, and a red microsuede for the exterior. Just like her old bag, I used velcro to fasten all the little pockets.

 I put a compartment in front for all the little accessories that come with having a computer.

And a long thin pocket in back for papers and other such things.

Overall, it turned out nice, and is only as big as a netbook. I am thinking of making one for me, so I can stop putting my netbook into a huge laptop bag.

Amanda's Baby Quilt

 

I think I will always be working on a baby quilt. And I have to say, I love it. This one was a self-imposed challenge. I don't have much extra cash, and I wanted to make a nice quilt for my cousin's new baby, who was just born and needs a name. Anyway, my challenge was to make a new quilt unlike any I have done using only scraps.

I love this lamb fabric for a boy, and I had a fair bit left from this quilt, so I was looking for fabric to match. The green was an accident. I happened to have some fabric from a bear quilt out as well and was seeing if I could make a match, when I noticed that the blue, aqua and green were all the same fabric print and looked rather nice together. On the down side, I had less than a quarter yard of each, so I needed something else to go with it. I found the fluffy white material left over from a lamb quilt I made a few months ago, and it seemed to be perfect. I like making quilts that have some texture for a baby. It gives them something interesting to touch while they play or sleep on the quilt.

My biggest challenge was the backing. I dug and dug thinking I would never find a fabric that both worked and that I had enough of, but then I found this one. It isn't quite the same as the other vine print, but it was close enough in color and design that I thought it was perfect. I just finished with some green DMC thread, and I think it turned out great!

(30 x 40 Squares and Stripes, Finished 7-17-14)

Deb's Purse

This was a long-over-due present for my aunt Deb. About eight years ago, I found this wonderful pattern called "The Bow-Tucks Purse". I tried it and fell in love with it. I asked my aunt if she wanted one, and she did, so we went out and picked fabric.

Somehow, I managed to make at least 8-10 more bow-tucks purses without ever doing this one. I even gave her one, but this fabric just sat.

So, eight years over due, I finally sat down and made it up for her,

I put ribbon along the inner pocket to make it pop a little.

Deb likes purses with long handles. I also played around with iridescent thread on the quilting. It makes for a rather playful accent.

Sangita's Bookmark

While on chemo, I was often too tired to quilt. I also had a ton of appointments with hours in waiting rooms. So, I taught myself how to do shuttle tatting. I really enjoy the rhythm of it, and it is by far the easiest craft I have found to take with me. I can fit everything I need in a sandwich-baggie and it doesn't add too much weight to my purse. I'll post some more tatting later.