and the winner is...

After going through my stash of HAED patterns I choose 3 that should fit in with our new mori style living room.

1. Daisy by Selina Fenech
2. Place of Erada by Ian Daniels 
3. Storykeeper by Selina Fenech

You can check out the 2 by Selina Fenech via the links, but all of Ian Daniels work has been retired from the HAED website and I can not find an image of it anywhere online. Not even at Ian Daniels website. *grar* I guess I will be taking some pictures this weekend. 

The winner is of course Place of Erada. It is filled with tones of brown, cream, and goldy-yellows. Also a bear.

what's up next?

Well, as Halloween is over and my costume is completed, or at least as completed as I have gotten it for now (I will be revisiting some pieces of it in the future) the question is what's next?

I have had a few thoughts about giving my living room a new color scheme. Jamie is wanting a mori girl aesthetic. I have no particular problem with this, in fact I like some of it. So I'm looking at making a new futon cover, repainting some of our accessories, and looking for new art for the walls.  I've been using Pinterest as a design board for this project. I only have a few images up so far, but it's a start.

The 'art' will take the longest and give us a place from which to draw the rest of our colors from. Right now I have been going through my Heaven and Earth Designs patterns to find just the right pattern for the 'new' living room.

halloween's over

So, those of you who have been following and wondering where the hell I went will be happy to know that even though I disappeared for a month I was able to finish my costume.

At Jessi and Matt's house after our evening out.

I was unable to get the scythe made before my deadline so I used a broomstick and tied on ribbons and bells. No it's not the same but as a substitute it worked well. 

There are a few things I'm not happy about, but due to my hectic work schedule and friends starting a horde guild on a different server in WOW (yay leveling!) I got very behind on this project. With less than a week to go I was able to spend all day Monday on this project and I got the the kimono/over-skirt mostly finished, including one of the sleeves set in. I looked it over Tuesday morning to discover that I did not like how the sleeve looked. I tore it out and redid it before work. Wednesday, I can't remember what I did or finished, but I did work on it. Thursday was again a work day. Friday, *sigh* I finished the under-skirt, I made the boot covers from pattern to finish, the headdress as well. This included the fiddly details of sewing 6 button-holes in each sleeve and in each boot cover. I cut out and sewed the cloak. And finished at 4:15 am. During all of this Jamie cut the wig (with me wearing it), I spray painted the mask, and my neighbor threw a party where about 70 people showed up (2 fights and at least 3 arguments).

Saturday we drove down to Denver after having to make a few last minute stops (I forgot my machine and the black thread on it and we needed bobby pins). We get to our friends house and I start sewing again (thank you Jessi!!). I finished hemming the cloak, tore out the front of the kimono, cut a new pattern, and sewed the new kimono front into place. With about 30 min to spare before our other friends arrived. 

Next post will be individual images of each of the pieces. 

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.