Tag: Making

  • #24-25: Empire LRP Lanterns

    #24-25: Empire LRP Lanterns

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    Two lanterns for Empire LRP. Picked up plain in Tiger for £2 each and painted with black acrylic paint. The paint won’t last – it scratches off easily. But I wanted to see how they looked when used as props at night in the field.

    If it works well then I might etch them permanently. Or at least use glass paint instead.

  • #21: Minoan Tiered Skirt

    #21: Minoan Tiered Skirt

    So… I wanted to upgrade my Odyssey costume. Yes, there are only two events left. No, that doesn’t matter to me. I think it’s important to do what I can between each event.

    This is what it looks like roughly assembled with the other kit.

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    And this is what it looked like before:

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    This shot shows how MASSIVE the skirt is. It’s a traditional Gypsy dancing skirt that is often worn by belly dancers. It has a 20m hem, but because it’s made from really light Cotton Voile it’s not too heavy.

    2016-05-26 17.26.06-web

    And it’s loosely based on Minoan Snake Goddess sculptures:

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    I made all the ruffles on my Overlocker. 40 meters of ruffles took me less than an hour.

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    And they looked like this when I laid them out on my lounge floor:

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    And finally, this is in the middle of pinning the final 20m hem to the bottom of the skirt before sewing it!

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  • #19: Murder Robes

    #19: Murder Robes

    Absolutely no murdering will be happening in these robes that I put together.

    Deliberate oversized baggy fit, extra wide sleeves, dark grey fabric trimmed with mid grey bias tape.

    First time I’d used commercially made bias tape and I have to admit, it holds a crease really well which allows you to get great accuracy when putting it on in a single pass.

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    2016-05-19 08.00.41-2

  • #13-16: Brais x4

    #13-16: Brais x4

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    This weekend I put together three new pairs of Brais (for Adam, Simon, and myself) and dyed another pair dark. I’ve got to admit, I love my new overlocker. These came together so quickly with no need to french seam anything or do any extra finishing on the inside.

    You see, Adam managed to wash his nice linen pair with something brown, and so his brais turned a nice nude colour. Not really ideal.

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    I had to do some dyeing of fabric anyway for Simon, so it was no bother to do an extra bucket of dark brown dye.

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    And I seamed around the edges on my overlocker too (which get tucked into the hose). Because for some reason nobody bothered to finish the edges when he bought them.

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  • #12: Monochrome Plusses Quilt Top

    #12: Monochrome Plusses Quilt Top

    I decided last weekend to start a king size quilt as a way of destressing from exam period.

    Today I finished the quilt top. It has 1369 squares.

    Now I have to decide if I’m going to attempt to quilt it myself, take lessons and hire a longarm quilting machine, or pay someone else to quilt it.

    It’s had 24 hours of construction in it so far. Which actually is less than I assumed it would take.

    Black and white contemporary quilt top - plusses.

    Black and white contemporary quilt top - plusses.

  • #11: Nordic Quilt

    #11: Nordic Quilt

    Here is it – number 11 in the “52 weeks of crafting” challenge. Mind you, technically it’s week 17, so I’m behind by 6 makes… I should try some small projects for a bit perhaps.

    The photos are distinctly average, because as I threw the quilt on the bed to photograph it, it started hailing. What’s up with the weather at the moment?

    I mentioned earlier in the week that I’d bought a copy of Jacquie Gering’s class on Craftsy on quilting with your walking foot*, and I’m really pleased I did. I feel like my walking foot quilting is a million times better having taken a load of her advice on this one.

    You might be interested in the post where I worked out what I’d have to sell this quilt for.

    I picked up this fabric from a Massdrop* deal. You should head on over and see what they have in their quilting section.

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    2016-04-26 17.10.06-1

    Also note – cute little label for secret project.

    Next time – something more adventurous. I like the look of the spiral quilting from Jacquies class – and I have a whole load of Cotton + Steel fabric* to use!

    2016-04-26 17.11.59

  • #10: Nocturne Quilt Top

    #10: Nocturne Quilt Top

    These fabrics are from Janet Clare, designing for Moda. It’s a really lovely collection – I love some of the abstracts in it (particularly that little matchstick type print). I’m not really into prints, so the rest of it isn’t really to my taste.

    However! This isn’t for me, it’s for my Aunt as a birthday present later in the year, and she loves these kinds of colours and prints. So I reckon we should be fine.

    Nocturne Quilt Top, made with half square triangles.

    BTW, have you checked out Craftsy lately? I’ve been buying so much new lovely fabric there recently. It’s a great price if you’re in the UK – cheaper than buying over here, and they include all your import taxes in the shipping fee. Mind you, it’s an expensive shipping fee, so many sure you buy enough!

    I bought a couple of their quilt kits last week to make next. Adam is difficult to make for, but he’s fallen in love with some hipster arrow quilt thing. More about that when I start working on it…

    Nocturne Quilt Top, made with half square triangles.

    Aren’t the fabrics nice together? I really like Janet’s sense of style and colour. They just work without any extra effort needed. This one was made with a single jelly roll and the same amount of plain Ikea fabric. It was Janet’s fabric that I used in my Thames Barge quilt too!

     

  • #8: Octopus Dice Bag

    #8: Octopus Dice Bag

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    A test piece for a new endeavour. (Ssssh… it’s all a bit under wraps at the moment). It needs it’s drawstring, but it’s almost there.

    Hand dyed fabric left over from Simon’s Mythlore costume and a cute Octopus from Urban Threads.

    I learned a few things during construction, mostly that I need to make the base fabric another half inch or so wide for it to be able to fit on the free arm of the machine and make construction much, much easier. I need to use a measuring foot for accurate stitching of the cord channel. And I need to batch construct these pieces to make it more worthwhile.

    I’m also teaching myself to digitise images on my embroidery software, for a top secret project with a friend.

    I have this test piece left over, I have no idea what to do with him. 😀

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  • #6 & #7: 13thC Fantasy Surcoat & Tunic

    #6 & #7: 13thC Fantasy Surcoat & Tunic

    For Highguard at Empire LRP!

    That’s 17 machine embroidered compass designs in total, the design around the hem goes all the way around to the back.

    Unfortunately Ikea LENDA fabric doesn’t seem to allow stain removal, so it’s rather grubby and brown in places despite multiple washes.

    Please visit my Patreon page to help support my work: http://patreon.com/charlottem http://charlottemoss.co.uk
    Please visit my Patreon page to help support my work: http://patreon.com/charlottem
    http://charlottemoss.co.uk
  • Inspiration for the Heretic costume

    Inspiration for the Heretic costume

    We went to Gloucester Cathedral today and I took some time to be inspired by the beautiful medieval architecture and decoration. Now the question is how to integrate these inspirations into the costume?