6 of Spades ♠︎ - #8

eyelet and ball chain to keep the lid attached to the bucket

My tools and part of my materials have been zigzaging from one flat to the other. Yesterday I brought my hole puncher and eyelet pliers to put an eyelet on the paint lid, and a ball chain to attach it to the bucket. The lid fits fairly snuggly to the bucket, but I'd rather have it secured. Bucket: DONE!

sewing a felled seam.

Onto the skirt. I'm always scared not to buy enough fabric, when circle skirts and bias cutting are concerned. The plan was to buy 1,5m of the white satin, but I ended up buying 2m, and that was a good idea. When I cut the skirt, I ended up not using the fabric width to my advantage, and the 2 ¼ skirt panels, weren't very wide to gather later. But then I had a late night epiphany, got up, checked the leftover fabric, and thought maybe I have enough fabric to cut one more panel. One of the first things I did today, was to grab the front skirt panel (the back is a bit longer), carefully placed it on top of the remaining satin, pin it all over, and cut one more panel. The skirt will have a seam at the centre front, but it won't be visible. The ruffling will hide it, and the apron will be on top. Then I pinned all the panels to each other, two fronts, one back, and sewed them. Fortunately, at each seam, one of the seam allowances is the selvedge, so I decided to fell the seams instead of making French seams. This satin is a bit stiff, and French seams would become a bit bulky. I wanted very thin seams, and felling seemed the best method. It was my first time sewing felled seams! After sewing, I cut the seam allowance with no selvedge to be about 4mm wide, folded the selvedge once on top of it, and sewed it to the seam stitches with a slip stitch. It went quicker than I thought, in less than two hours I had all the seams felled. Now the skirt is veeery wide.

I folded it in half, pinned it to the clothes hanger with clothes pins,  and left it hanging overnight.

I cut the waistband, two narrow strips of white satin. Pinned them, and sewed them together. It's also not common to have a two pieced waistband, but I need it in two panels, because I'll make a semi-elastic waistband. The back waistband will be straight, not stretchy, and the front will have an elastic, much like some lolita dresses, as it will be under the apron. I also took the elastic, from one of my old leggings, to use for the waistband.

skirt hanging overnight

+ One more item done! And I'm very happy with how I sorted the skirt cunundrum. And I still had enough fabric left for the waistband.

- The front middle seam could have been an issue, if not for it becoming rather hidden between the folds, and under the apron.

THE CUNNING PLAN 

Tomorrow check up the straightness of the skirt, trim when necessary. Check the skirt height, trim if necessary, iron it, and then add the waistband. 

Miss Piggy - Kermit Dress #2

the fabrics: pistacchio satin, light green nicky velvet, salmon pink felt.
the embellishments: light green and yellow iridescent half pearls, an acrylic xmas ball, and the ring.

Last Thursday, I finally found the pistacchio green satin. After going to almost all fabric stores at Baixa, I wasn't in the mood to climb the stairs to one that's on an upper floor, at Praça da Figueira anymore. In fact, I don't even know if the store still exists, the last time I was there, it looked like they were about to close... Anyway, last Thursday I went with my cosplayer friend Carol to Bispos, in Parede (a small town near Lisbon), where I found a treasure trove!

¼ of the Bispos shop.

The store is smallish, but packed with fabric. The best part is, it has plenty of variety. I finally found my satin, and Carol also found her purple fancy fabric, two hard colours to match. When I started sewing, if I wanted light green satin, the only tone available, wasn't neon bright green. But nowadays, these neon polyester satins, took over the market, and the only light green fabric I found in most stores was exactly the same bright green as the nicky. In the reference photo, Piggy's collar is clearly less bright than the dress and hood, so I needed that colour contrast. Neither green really matches the reference, but the difference between both green tones is similar. So I'm OK with it.

The day(s) I went to Baixa to gather materials, I got the felt, fabrics for the Card Girl, and to replace Yuuko's sakura choker I lost at IberAnime, and also went to Max Biju to get materials for the ring. Unfortunately, when I arrived there, another store took its place. They told me where the store "had moved to", nearby, but unfortunately they now only sell complete jewellery pieces... They have a warehouse near Samora Correia, which is about 40 minutes by car from Lisbon, and with poor public transportation. I'll have to resort to buy that kind of stuff online, but currently, besides ebay, I don't have many resources. Going to most of the smaller similar stores in the area, I managed to get the ring base, even though in a heart shape, a big stone, an "emerald", to match the green outfit, but not the small "diamonds", which fortunately I had some in my doll jewellery stash.

The Ring.

emerald, iridescent diamonds, ring base, and oval ring base

I usually keep one or two soda cans around (after I drink them), so I can upcycle their metal. I marked an oval shape at the bottom of one, because it's a bit thicker, pressed it flat with the help of a small glass bottle, for the base of the ring. The ring base comes with a flat heart shaped surface, but it's not big enough, and the wrong shape, for the big fancy ring I wanted.

Note that Miss Piggy wears this outfit for a very short scene in the movie, so there are parts I can't see properly. The ring is one of them, so I decided it would be an emerald, surrounded by diamonds. Luxury!

glueing the emerald to the base

glueing the diamonds to the base

glueing the oval base to the ring base

the finished ring

I don't have proper jewellery making tools, apart from a few pliers, files and tweezeres, so I glued everything, with E6000 glue. But first I scratched both surfaces, the oval and the back of the stone backings, in order to adhere better. I first glued the emerald in the middle, and let it dry overnight. Then I glued the small diamonds, first the top and bottom ones, the left and right ones, and then filled the gap in between with two stones each. Left them dry overnight again, and finally glued the oval to the heart of the ring base.

½ hood and ½ collar patterns

Drafting. 

Today I drafted the hood and collar patterns. For the dress I'll use Non Gou's dress pattern, with small adaptations to the neck opening and straps.

While I was drafting the hood, taking a (nicky velvet) hoodie of mine as a base, I realised Piggy's dress may have been made not from raw fabric, but from a similar hoodie. Piggy is smaller, so there's enough fabric in one hood or two, to make her dress and gloves. If I'm right, they just adjusted the hood to her size. How did I suspect this? Piggy's hood is lined with the same fabric, and there is no need to do it, as she never takes it off. I wouldn't make a lining for a hood that appears for a few minutes in a film. I'd just make a wide hem. Another thing I noticed, her hair comes out of the back of the hood, over the spiked collar, in the back.

I put my hood on and marked where I would place the strap to close it. Put the hood flat over my paper and traced it. Added the front closure strap, and that's it.

The collar was a little more complicated. Looking at the pictures, one can see it's not completely flat, it's a cone shape. I can't see how it is in the back either. Miss Piggy's head comes off, so she really doesn't need a closure, so I think the hood should be one whole piece. I counted the spikes, 5 at the front, 10 in total, and measured from my throat to over my shoulder, where the collar should end (30cm). Measured my head circumference, so I can put the collar over my head, and looked for a circular object in my home to help trace it. I have some larger cork coasters that are the right size.

Cut a 30cm strip of tracing paper, and folded it in half, lengthwise. placed ¼ of the coaster, its centre over the corner fold of the paper, and traced the circle. Measured 30cm using the corner as an axe, and traced the outer curve. Cut the half doughnut shape and, in front of a mirror, marked the diagonal over my shoulder.

Back to the table, I placed the half doughnut, folded in half, with the straight sides matching the cutting table sides, to have a centre point, as I had cut it off. Then I traced a straight line from the centre point to the shoulder mark and cut it. Carefully, using the measuring tape, I measured the outer curve side, multiplied it by four, and then divided it by ten, to get the points distance, and marked them. By eye, I measured the distance from the head opening to where the spikes should end, and traced a line from the opening with that measurement. Carefully measured that line with the tape, multiplied it by four, and divided it by ten. I had the tops and bottoms of the spikes. In fact, I made the last step twice, adding one centimeter to the tops, because I didn't like how acute the spikes angle was. You can see the first lines in the picture. Then I traced the spikes with a ruler, and that's it, half a collar.

The plan is to make the base out of thin EVA foam, glue it together, side to side, and then do the same with the fabric, but sewing it, leaving it open at the neck opening. This will be covered by the hood.

+ I think I can make this before mid-July, for Spring IT Con, as it's an easy costume. The drafting is done, and one out of 7 pieces is made. I think I'm doing good. My cosplay mojo is also still here, which is good news.

- Nothing negative to point out, but a heads up not to con crunch.

THE CUNNING PLAN

After I finish the Card Girl, start this one, by cutting the fabric and start making the nose and ears out of upholstery foam.

6 of Spades ♠︎ ‐ #7

almost finished hat

Both hats sewed, the twill, by machine, the felt, by hand, I tacked the top sides together by the top sides, with the twill on the reverse side, and pulled the twill over the felt, by force, until it fit snugly over it. Unfortunately, I should have cut the felt about 2mm smaller, on all pieces and all sides, so there is some warbling visible. I tried to correct it by ironing the inside of the felt, and it helped, although it didn't fully correct it. Instead I sort of melted the (polyester) felt on the inside. 

Then, I folded the bottom seam allowance in, and sewed it to the felt with a whip stitch. I cut a piece of white grosgrain ribbon to reinforce the hat opening, and sewed it to the inside bottom with an almost invisible stitch. Finally, I sewed two hair clips to the sides, so the hat stays firmly in my head.

finished hat, with hair clips

Meanwhile, I went to Domingos & Nogueira to add the large eyelets to the apron, but they said the fabric is too thin, large eyelets won't grab well to it. So I got a scrap of white leather, cut 4  3cm circles from it, and glued them to the twill, the leathery side facing up. Next week I'll take it to their other shop, nearby, where there's a guy who knows all about eyelets, who will add them for me.

+ 5/8 pieces DONE! And another one almost...

- the hat isn't perfect. it's a bit wider on top than the artwork, and the wavy back annoys me a bit. But enough is enough, it looks fine enough, and I kind of like it the way it is.

THE CUNNING PLAN 

Besides taking the apron to get the eyelets inserted, now it's time for the skirt and petticoat! Ah, a fine tulle petticoat...

6 of Spades ♠︎ - #6

heatforming the "paint" lid

After patterning, cutting, and glueing the tabs on the "paint" lid for the bucket, I marked a line where I wanted to fold the drips, folded them over the bucket, and, with the iron, I heat formed it to fit snuggly over it. After that, I glued the "paint" surface to the drips, making a "paint" lid.

"paint" lid, side 1

"paint" lid, side 2

First, I primed the underside of the lid with wood glue only once and, after it was dry, I primed the top part twice. 

drying wood glue

Then, it was time for the brush drips. I first freehanded the drips, by contouring the brush. Cut the first shape and traced it once more, changing the top waves a little bit.

the brush drips

I made the corners round, but to add volume and roundness to the drips, I cut a small dart in each corner. I glued all the darts first, with contact glue, and, when they were dry, heat formed the corners and bottom edges of the drip, to make them round. Finally, I carefully glued both parts to each other, by the side and bottom edges. I primed it with two coats of wood glue, but just the outside. Filed the edges and...

"red paint" lid and drips, painted red

Finally, I spray painted both pieces, one light coat on the bottom of the lid, 3 coats for the top of the lid, and brush drip. I glued the brush drip to the brush bristles, with UHU glue, and they're done! Almost. Just need to add an eyelet and ball chain to the lid, so It won't get lost from the bucket.

+ everything fit into place at first try, even though I eyeballed it a lot. The lid isn't perfectly flat, but it's not very important.

- I didn't want to ruin the brush, by glueing the "drips" to the bristles, but there was no other way.

THE CUNNING PLAN

Add the eyelet and chain, and it's done!

6 of Spades ♠︎ - #5

light blue tulle petticoat panels and half circle skirt.

Yesterday I finally got the twill I needed for this costume’s apron and hat. Fabric prices have risen... a lot! After that, I went to the new flat to cut the skirt and the petticoat panels.

For the skirt, I cut two quarter circles, the bottom a little bit longer, to make room for my butt, lightly following the Mad Hatter's skirt size, without the frill. But I should have made it wider. In my fear of not having enough fabric, I didn't pattern it to use the most of the fabric I could, instead I almost just cut a simple half circle skirt, and it won't ruffle as much as I'd like to...

For the petticoat, I cut the 4m tulle into 4 strips, lengthwise, for which I will use one, folded lengthwise, for the top tier, and the other 3, again folded lengthwise, for the two bottom tiers. Then I'll add folded ribbon for the waistband, to which I'll add repurposed leggings elastic. It's fairly the same thing I did for the Mad Hatter's petticoat, except this tulle is softer and thinner, it won't add as much bulk. But the skirt is also lighter, so it'll be OK. I still have to check if the petticoat will be at least the length of the skirt, as if I need to shorten it, I'd rather shorten the top tier.

Cutting the tulle on the cutting table is a breeze! I simply folded it in half, aligned it with the table's corner, put the weights on top, and cut it. Pulled a bit more of the folded tulle forward, and repeated the process.

Meanwhile, I also bought new red spray paint at Lidl, and, after sanding the edges a bit, started painting the paint lid, and paint brush drip. My "painting booth" is a large cardboard box, so I placed two toothpicks to hold the brush drip, and a yoghurt cup for the lid. First I lightly painted the lid on the bottom, and one side of the drip. Then, after a few hours, I turned the lid over, and turned the drip to the other side, and painted the 1st coat.

apron rectangle with thick felt hat structure
and cut hat and ♠︎ on top.

Made the hat pattern and, although it turned out a bit too wide on top, the fit of the sides to the top came out so perfect, I don't really care. It's made of three pieces, two siees and one top. Cut the hat pattern both on the thick felt and twill, adding seam allowances to the twill. I started sewing the sides of the felt to each other, with a herringbone stitch, and then the sides to the top, with a blanket stitch.

top stitching the trump to the hat.

Before sewing the twill hat, I placed the ♠︎ on the hat front, and temporarily glued it with  glue stick. I usually use glue stick for these, because it's water soluble and doesn't melt the vinyl or stain the fabric. Then I top stitched it by hand, so it comes out neater. Besides, my machine would swivel a lot on top of the vinyl, and it would be a mess.

I cut the apron, according to the vectorial software's measurments, adding 2,5cm seam allowance. With a hot iron, I folded the apron hem twice, and the corners at a 45° degree angle. I machine hemmed the apron rectangle all around, and sewed the hat together.

sticking the 6♠︎ to the fabric.

After thoroughly ironing the apron, I placed it on a flat surface and temporarily placed the trumps and 6 on top, until I was happy with it. Took the measurements from the borders to the trumps, and took note. Glue stick doesn't glue fabric very well, and manipulating the fabric to sew them on, would unglue the trumps, so I'm glueing and sewing them one at a time. I started with the 6♠︎, and will work towards the inside.

This new crafting enthusiasm comes partly from attending IberAnime and being amongst many cosplayers all weekend. But I believe it's also because I needed a simple and quick project, without other compromises, to get the mojo back. I also reached a bit of a dead end concerning the Foxy Lady costume, and I haven't been in the mood to make the needed alterations to the Mad Hatter... I hope this crafting itch doesn't go away after.

+ I've been working on this costume at my usual rhythm, which is quite surprising while I've been procrastinating for two years, or so. It's also an easy costume to make, with little error margin.

- I'm a bit bummed about the skirt,  I'll try to correct it the best I can, as I don't want to go buy more fabric, even though it was cheap.

THE CUNNING PLAN 

Keep hand sewing the trumps to the apron, while painting at least two coats on the lid+drip set.

6 of Spades ♠︎ - #4

the bucket, and the lid pieces

Filled with cosplay mojo from IberAnime, I finally picked up the 6 of Spades again and started to make the bucket's paint lid. I wasn't sure I had enough red spray paint, and Lidl got it back in promotion next Thursday. I'll quickly go downtown to get my white twill, and on the way back get one or two more red spray paint cans. I like Lidl's spray paint, it's a bit hardcore, which is good, it lasts longer. 

I got this cute bucket as a gift by a friend a long time ago. It's a HINK bucket, by IKEA. The plan was always to use it as a bag for this costume, and make a paint lid from 2mm EVA foam. The bucket is tapered and it has a lip, so I can't simply make a scalopped cillynder shape. I want it to look as if it's paint dripping from the bucket, but the inside needs to be tapered to fit the bucket and the lip. So, the circle fits the bucket about 2cm in, and I cut six notches in the part that's going to be folded over the lip.

foam lid parts

Later, probably tomorrow, after the contact glue has completely cured, I'll glue the notched part to the circle.

+ It's a very easy prop, but I didn't take into account both the tapering and the bucket lip. It's fine, but the dripping paint isn't going to look like it's running down the bucket, or else i wouldn't be able to open the lid.

- I hope I can properly disguise the extra seams in this.

THE CUNNING PLAN 

Finish glueing and shaping the foam, and prime and paint it, just on the outside. Do the  same for the paint brush. (mental note: get the brush from the new flat)

6 of Spades ♠︎ - #3

white satin, for the skirt, light blue tulle, for the petticoat,
black cord, for the apron ties.

 
Yesterday I went shopping for materials, but unfortunately I didn't manage to get the main fabric for the apron and hat, as traditional shops in Baixa still close at 7 p.m. But I still managed to buy the satin for the skirt, the tulle for the petticoat, and the cord for the apron ties.

Initially I wanted a cotton satin for the skirt, but seems like many fabrics I usually go for are either unavailable or too expensive to get. I ended up getting a rather nice and heavy polyester satin, which I usually run from, but, for this project, I really don't mind. It's a very simple costume, and playing with textures usually brings interest. I also got the light blue tulle for the petticoat. The artwork doesn't show any petticoat, but the skirt is very voluminous, and has blue highlights (more like shadows, but you get what I mean), so I decided to make a petticoat both for volume and to add a hint of colour to the skirt. I will make it like the Hokuto petticoat, a folded top tier, with two folded bottom tier ruffles. The skirt itself will also be like Hokuto's, minus the ruffle, a half circle skirt, gathered at the waist. At least I found the cord I wanted, thick twisted black cord. As for textures, there will be matte textured for the twill, silky and shiny for the skirt, plasticky and shiny for the spades, matte for the cord and mousse tights, and shiny again for the shoes.

Now, besides the white twill for the apron and hat, I only need the thick felt and thin EVA foam, which I'll get at a nearby Chinese shop.

+ I have the skirt and petticoat fabrics, I can start those ASAP, and get them out of my way. I guess I still need to get light blue thread, I don't think I have any.

- it was unfortunate I didn't pay attention to the time, and failed to go to all the shops I needed to go to.

THE CUNNING PLAN 

Make the hat pattern, cut the tulle (fortunately now there's a cutting table in my life!) and make the petticoat and skirt.

6 of Spades ♠︎ - #2

vinyl cut outs

I had the card spades trump printed in real size, and today marked and cut them. 7 big spades, 6 for the apron and 1 for the hat, 2 sixes, and 2 small spades, for the apron card corners. I'm really good at geometry, I can easily flatten most 3D shapes, but when it comes to symmetry, I'm bound to make mistakes! This time the mistake was the 6, which I marked on the reverse side of the vinyl and, naturally, came out mirrored. Fortunately it was small enough and easy enough to correct. I'm going to top stitch them by hand to the twill.

white tights

And this week my white tights also arrived. They were previewed to arrive on the 29th, and AliExpress being AliExpress, I was afraid they would arrive after that, but they arrived two weeks earlier! Unfortunately they're mousse, not the thicker cotton knit I was expecting, but they'll do fine until I get better ones. I haven't checked the sizing, but they should be ok. Maybe I should, before it's too late.

I also bought a skin coloured cotton tank top at Primark. It wasn't the planned lycra top, I couldn't find any, but it's really not that important. This one will do fine.

+ This is an easy job that I usually finish in a few hours. This time wasn't different. And I'm really glad the tights already arrived, not making me depend on their arrival to finish the costume.

- Ah, symmetry... my geometry and cutting nemesis. Fortunately this time it was easy to correct, without much waste.

THE CUNNING PLAN 

Go to Bispos or downtown to get the remaining materials, namely the white twill for the apron and hat, the cotton satin for the skirt and the tulle for the petticoat. The stiff felt and the red EVA foam I can get at the nearby Chinese shop.