progress report 02

I have to say that even with the setbacks I wrote about yesterday I feel that I'm pretty close to being on track. I know I still have a long way to go, but I'm feeling a lot more confident about where I'm at and where I need to be within the next week or so. Today brought about the french seaming of the 2 pieces with me only breaking out the seam ripper once and getting the pleats ironed in. I'm hoping that I can get the top-stitching of the pleats done tomorrow evening and the 'waistband' drafted, cut out and sewn into place. If I'm super lucky I'll be able to get the zipper in as well, if not Saturday it is. *fingers crossed*

hokai! here's de erfs...

Wait. Wrong topic.

So what have I been up to? Well,  I haven't exactly gotten beyond square one with my costume. When I named this blog 'mistakes were made' I was being honest with myself. When I craft I usually make about half a dozen mistakes of various sorts; from having to rip out a seam or tear back my knitting to my most recent mistake: math failure, fabric marking failure, and pattern making failure. So let's start with math.

For the pleated underskirt I am using directions from Gosu Rori Vol.3. The directions are fairly simple considering I can't actually read them and I am having to decipher drawings. I sat down and figured out my math.  I need 97 cm of skirt to attach to the 'waist'band. I need 12 cm of fabric per pleat. Each pleat will equal 8 cm. So adding in the seam allowance I will need to cut a piece 143 cm long.

Now, because I didn't realize my math failure yet were going to skip to my fabric marking failure. Using my 18 in. ruler I started marking out the dimensions on the fabric with a washable fabric marker. Everything looks good so I cut. I hemmed the bottom edge and started marking out the pleats...everything goes wrong. Apparently I had measured 143 cm across the top but only 138 cm across the bottom. *facepalm*

The next day I head back to the fabric store to pick up a yard stick. I have also decided to make a pattern so I don't screw this up a second time. I only have so much fabric to work with here. :) I draft a pattern, pin it to the fabric, cut it out, and mark the pleats using tracing paper and tracing wheel. I iron in the pleats and top stitch them in place and that's when  I see that I have about half a skirt...yeah this is when I realize I have a math failure.

Now, I have this already hemmed piece of fabric that I can trim a bit, french seam it to the already pleated piece, and pleat the rest! I figured out a solution! So I square the fabric up and decide I need to get those pesky fabric marker marks out of the fabric. Take the fabric and some laundry detergent into the bathroom and start scrubbing away. The marks aren't coming out. The MARKS Aren't Coming OUT! *wailing and gnashing of teeth*

I now take a look at the fabric I have left.  No nearly enough. Nope. Nothing for it but to head back to the fabric store and see if they have anymore of this particular fabric left. Fortunately they have just about 3 yards left on the bolt and I buy it all. I get home and say screw it! I'm gong to redo my math and draft an all new pattern! The math I had messed up earlier - each pleat equals 4 cm not 8 cm. So after a bit more math I need 281 cm of length...I don't have enough fabric. Take out a pleat and now I need 273 cm. Okay, I can swing that. Now picture this: I've got the pattern about 2/3 complete and I come to the realization that I'm 2 cm short. I forgot to add in the seam allowance. *headtable*

I don't have enough fabric for the new pattern idea. Instead I'm going back to Plan A: french seaming an additional piece of fabric to the already pleated piece. This is where I am now. I have the new piece cut out and the pleats traced. I'll be hemming it tomorrow...as long as I don't make anymore mistakes. ;)

And now for some pictures for those of you who've made it this far:

Underskirt Fabric

Underskirt fabric closeup

Skirt, Cloak, and Kimono/Overskirt Fabrics

1/2 of the underskirt. 

progress report 01

While I haven't actually cut into my fabric I have done some prep work. I was planning on taking some pictures of the fabric purchased for this project yesterday, but nature was working against me. :( It rained all day and while I could have taken the pictures indoors I prefer pictures taken in natural light and the dimness in my apartment was not ideal. So instead I worked on translating the Gosu Rosi pattern for the pleated skirt and now have the measurements for that worked out. Tomorrow I am planning on taking pictures of the fabric(weather permitting), cutting the fabric, and marking out the pleats. If I'm lucky *fingers crossed* I should be able to get the pleats ironed and then start top-stitching them to hold the pleats permanently.

This step is not something I usually suggest, but I hate when my pleats fall out halfway through however long I'm planning on wearing my costumes. I top-stitched the pleats on my Utena costume a few years back after the fabric wouldn't hold a pleat for more than about 30 minutes. It's almost unnoticeable and only those who get their faces up close will ever notice.

reference images

reference image for headdress, ears, overskirt, and obi

GosuRori Vol. 3 pattern I will be using  for the underskirt

reference image for how the whole costume should look. Hopefully. 

what have i gotten myself into?

This will be a list of the costume components I need to either make, buy, or convince friends/family to help me with:
Make

• cloak - purchased McCall's costume pattern #2853/black twill
• kimono - have Folkwear Japanese Kimono pattern #113/winter white twill
• pleated underskirt - have Gosu Rori Vol. 3/red-white-gold cotton
• overskirt & obi - have to draft a pattern/winter white twill/red cotton
• flared leg covers - have to draft a pattern/winter white twill/red-white-gold cotton
• headdress & ears - have to draft a pattern/winter white twill/red-white-gold cotton
• tail - have to draft a pattern

 Buy

• white tabi (how is it I don't have white tabi??!!??) haha! found Jamie's white tabi!
• geta or zori

Please Someone HELP!

• scythe
• wig  - Jamie has kindly offered to style my wig for me 

Next post will be image heavy, including reference, fabric, and pattern images.

this is halloween

So...it is now Labor Day and for those of us who have put off our Halloween costume planning we are looking at less than 2 months until the big day. With Halloween being on a Monday this year we're looking at even less time as parties will likely be on the 29th. What's a girl to do when she has so little time? Make a difficult costume that will require a wig since she will have pulled all of her hair out by the time she's finished. ^_~ And so I present my costume idea for Halloween 2011: Kushinada Nemuru of Ookami Kakushi.

No pressure!