I could go for a taco right about now.

A couple months ago, some of my friends came to me and asked if I would make them into a taco for Halloween. Well, that's an opportunity that's hard to pass up! (They get super bonus points for asking far enough in advance). I think this is a super cute couple's costume. Sam here is playing our taco shell/tortilla, and Eloise is the lovely bunch of fillings.

For the shell, I cut a large circle of 1/2" upholstery foam (technically two half circles I had to sew together because I couldn't get a piece large enough) and made a cover for it out of fabric that has sort of a speckled yellow/orange pattern. I added loops for the shoulders, hands, and legs so it doesn't flap around behind him. In retrospect, it could have been a bit bigger. I was too concerned with making it hard to move around and sit. Sam found a perfect yellow shirt to go with it, and I can only assume he already had these gold pants.

For the dress, Eloise gave me a simple black dress that fit her well to use as a base. I sewed fleece shapes over that to simulate the layers of fillings that would go in the taco. A bit more on that later.

I got really excited to make this little hat for some reason. It's a small foam base covered with brown fleece (for meat) with other fillings sewn over that. The whole thing is sewn to a headband. 

Holy hell I actually finished the Victorian project.

Alright! So, earlier this year I was hired to do some art for a card game, Moriarty's Machinations. Part of my involvement with the game was dressing up in character as Irene Adler to advertise at a couple conventions, including the Boston Festival of Indie Games. (We won the award for best indie tabletop game by the way, which was super exciting!)

It has been a long time since I posted about my Victorian costume. Check out the project's tag for all the related posts. I started it back in 2011, as an independent study course in college, and then didn't finish it after the class was done. There was only a couple things left to do by the time I got this job that required me to have a period costume, so it finally motivated me to finish.

Here's my original rendering. I think I got pretty close.

The fabric isn't authentic at all. I used a striped velveteen synthetic (it feels luxurious at least) and a heavy plum sateen (probably poly). I also didn't stick very closely to one part of the Victorian Era. The anachronisms aren't so strong that a casual observer would notice them.

I don't think I'm qualified to fly this broom.

The other day I was looking for a fabric in my stash and ran into this cool flocked organza that had completely slipped my mind. I promptly forgot what I was doing and made a skirt and hat for a witch costume. I'm going to a couple Halloween dance parties next month so this will get put to use soon at least.

The fabric is a transparent purple with black spiderwebs. I wanted the webs to pop so I used a fuchsia lining. The skirt is a circle skirt with the hem gathered to the lining to make it bubble. It has a spandex waistband.

I wonder if people will notice there's naked ladies on my skirt.

I think it's kind of funny to cover a naked lady with clothing that has naked ladies on it. I couldn't help myself when I saw this fabric. I love the colors and the pattern, which just looks like some generic Hawaiian design at first glance... but then you realize these ladies aren't wearing any clothes.

I'm rarely able to justify spending more than a couple dollars per yard for fabric for myself, especially because I have some great discount stores around. With this one being around $10 a yard, I only went for one. I wish I had a lot of it. This severely limited what I could make.

I usually go for full skirts, but since I had so little fabric to work with, I picked a narrow, high waisted pattern. It's the bottom portion of Simplicity 3673. The pattern is out of print now, but I highly recommend it.

Guest post at So-Sew-Easy

If you go back a couple months, you'll remember I won the So Sew Easy Make It Yours Contest with my fox bag. One of the prizes was to write a guest post for the So Sew Easy blog. That post is now up!

It's a tutorial for a simple knit dress, like so:

Hope you like it!

This fabric is a strange shade of brown.

I've had this awesome polka dot fabric for a long, long time. I bought a bunch of it thinking I would make some circle skirts for sale. It's synthetic, but made to mimic the texture of silk shantung. I think this makes the skirt easy to wear in both casual and semi-formal outfits.

The fabric looks great on both sides so I decided to make the skirt reversible. I also wanted it to be easy to fit (and reverse), so I made it a wrap skirt.

Hello? Yes, this is the 80s.

I bought two very 80s/early 90s blouses a few years ago, intending to alter them into ones that actually fit. These were like 4 sizes too big, and with the over-sized fit of the time, they seemed even larger.

It's pretty difficult to tell the difference without good "before" photos, but I wasn't thinking about it back when I bought the blouses and started taking them apart.

The first blouse had long sleeves and this cool ruffle collar. I also really liked the classic flower pattern on this fabric.

I liked this second one because of the awesome cravat thing it has going on, and the sweet pointy cuffs.

This faux fur skirt is like another one I made, but different.

A while ago, I bought some really awesome faux fur at one of my local discount fabric stores and listed a skirt made out of it on Etsy. I've had a significant interest in this skirt, but can't seem to find more of the fabric anywhere! I've been trying to find a replacement the past month or two without much luck. You can find the previous post about this skirt here.

For my new skirt, I wanted to use a fur that had the same two color effect as this one. The following is the closest I could find. It's more "flecked with pink" than "pink tipped with white."

I also made this fishnet top (and can't get more of the fabric... this is what I get for shopping at discount stores!). Check out this post for details.

I keep telling myself I won't make another hat...

... and then I make another hat. They're always so fiddly and full of finger hurt.

I actually used a pattern for this one. It's McCall's M6664. They seem to make this a winter hat, but I turned it into a sun hat by using a lighter fabric (plain kona cotton).

I should also mention, I made this blouse a couple years ago. There's a post about it here (the first project post on this blog OoOOooOo).

I think the pleat in the brim of this hat is a nice detail, and not something I could have easily figured out myself. On the down side, there's millinery wire in the edge that I'm not a big fan of. Without it, it was too floppy and I couldn't see... but with it, the brim buckles unattractively in places.

Sail away, sail away, sail away ~

A couple years ago I made a super cute sailor cutsew (the lolita fashion term for a t-shirt like top) and promptly ripped it up for a zombie costume. I should have made two while I was at it, but I didn't.

Making a new, non-ripped version has been on my to-do list since then and I finally got around to it. Unfortunately, I think the original was better. The collar doesn't lay as flat in the back as it should on the new one. It needs a wedge of fabric taken out at the shoulder seams. By the time I noticed, it was too late and I didn't have any extra fabric/patience to re-make the collar.

I made this skirt as well. There's more info about it here. I also have a similar one for sale on Etsy.

"Where did you find grape patterned corduroy?"

High-waisted shorts seem to be pretty controversial. I've seen a number of strong opinions against them, but also ones saying they're super hot. I'm on the "these are hot" side of things, as long as you wear them in the proper size. Squeezing into anything that's way too small for you is unflattering and I'm not sure why so many ladies insist on doing it. This is only slightly relevant.

I got this pretty corduroy with bows and flowers on it a couple weeks ago and decided to make some shorts. I wish it was softer, but it works.

I guess I really like crop tops?

 I keep making them. They're a fast project, comfortable, and so cute for summer or going-out-to-party outfits.