A New Outfit

Today, Roxanne and I finished two pieces for her mom. The skirt is knit, I'm not sure where it's from, and the top is cotton. I had some ideas for some clothes a couple of years ago, and they never came together. The two fabrics look like they were made to go together, though, don't they.

The skirt is a pretty basic A-line, elastic waist skirt. The top was from a new pattern that both Roxanne and I wanted to try. We almost had to scrap it and start over. Yeah. Mistakes were made. Still, the finished product looks pretty nice. The top has a nice almost princess seaming and a little bit of a cap shoulder, both of which I like. It fits nicely, and has a zipper opening in the side seam. Not sure how much I would like that, but it is a rather fitted top. We added facing at the neck (instead of binding) and next time will probably do the same for the arm openings along the top.

I cut out a pair of shorts for Raine, and another shell top and short sleeved jacket for Roxanne's mom. We'll get those sewed up, plus another shirt for Carl next week, if all goes as planned.

overalls revisited

I got my overalls finished in time to wear them to the steampunk convention, which I've been blogging about all week, one way or another. I did promise to talk about my "finished" overalls though, so I will. I think the outfit in general worked well, except for the accessories. I found a pattern for crocheted cogs that I think would be fun to add on the bib. It will be kind of a feminine touch, as well as steampunky and fun.

I wrapped a washer and a nut in copper wire for the buttons and then used a bead to sew through to hold them on. I didn't want to sew them on too tight, since the overall buckle had to go around, and I used a heavy weight thread for strength. We'll see with use how well it wears, as there may be some rubbing. The camera didn't like the shiny metal much and all the pictures I took of them were blurry.

I need modify the straps and narrow them a little so they fit in the buckles a little better but they did ok for the convention.

One of the modifications I made on the pants to turn them into overalls was putting a band around the waist, and then attaching the straps and the bib to that. It worked well, and neatly. I decided I didn't really need to button them up tighter than that, and since there wasn't a gap on the sides like in other overalls, nothing was going to show. Later on, I can add that if I decide to, but I think what would really work well is a leather belt. I can hang pouches or vials, or even a holster from it, and I think that would go a long way towards steaming them up.

Now I want to make so many other steampunk outfits though! I even realized on the way home, that the bunnies I've made in their very gathered skirts could - with very little modification - be very steampunk. Leather! I need leather!

Tam O'Shanter

I crocheted this hat for my trip to Old Tucson for the Wild Wild West Steampunk Convention. I found the pattern here, and improvised. The pattern was for a certain yarn company, and didn't indicate yardage or weight for the type of yarn they recommended beyond spools of silk. They recommended 4 spools. The pattern also did not mention a size for the crochet hook.

I went to Hobby Lobby and picked out a silk/bamboo thread which just felt yummy. I'm sure it is a heavier thread than the silk they worked with, but I picked from what was there, and the silk/bamboo just felt right. I went home and picked a size D hook from my stash, and went to work on the hat.

Most of the hat is worked in double crochet, and I worked fairly tightly because I wanted it to be dense. I followed the pattern and I am pretty happy with the size, although I suspect with the yarn I used, it is larger than the ones originally made. That being said, there were two basic places that my hat is different than the pattern. The first is that I made the head opening smaller, only by about 2 rows, but also with decreases in those two rows. Then I didn't continue the band as far as the pattern said. I think I did 10 rows, and the pattern said 15. I ended up using 4 spools of the silk/bamboo. Huh. Go figure.

I enjoyed wearing the hat, and it has enough brim to keep the sun out of my eyes, at least somewhat. It isn't heavy enough to be hot, and I didn't even get horrible hat hair. I will probably decorate it a little, when I find something I like, and something steam punky. I decided no pom-pom, though.

funky fun backpacks

One of the projects Roxanne and I finished recently were some backpacks we were putting together for some of the little boys running around in the family. When we made clothes for them last summer, we used the legs of some of Carl's discarded pants to cut some shorts out of. The nice worn soft denim of the lower legs seemed like it should be good for some shorts and it was. The pants were cargo pants, and they had big pockets on the legs that had flap closures.

We looked at them once, and we looked at them twice, and we cut them out of the pants thinking, man, we ought to be able to make backpacks for the kids out of those! They got set aside for a while, but finally, we got some strapping to sew on. I edged around the pockets with the serger to kind of finish the cut edges. Roxanne sewed on the straps, and they were done!

Her grandson LOVED his, and was thrilled at the prospect of sharing the others with his cousins.