Hokuto Sumeragi - Mad Hatter #82

In a strange turn of events, I came back to Hokuto's costume (which needs to be finished soon), through a YouTube video.

the finished teacup & saucer, with tea

Recently I have been browsing Japanese Cosmakers on YouTube, and a cute Corean quilted teapot and teacup tutorial was suggested to me. I watched it. And decided to make Hokuto's teacup the same way, using the leftovers of my Card Girl stiff white satin, stiff felt, and a brick coloured crushed velvet, left over from a dress I made in the 90's, to make it. I'll be adding two snaps to the teacup, one inside for the "tea", and one at the bottom, to attach it to the saucer. The handle will have a wire structure. I'm excited!

the patterns top to bottom, L. to R.:
teacup side (x6), handle profile, teacup and saucer bottom, saucer side (x6)

I've already drafted the patterns, which were quite easy and quick to make. I took the measurements of my Utena teacup for reference. I still remember how to draft an hexagon, with ruler and compass, but I wasn't getting each side's face the right measure. It turns out the radius of the circumference is the same as the sides. I should have remembered that too, but didn't.

The artwork is a bit confusing, the teacup looks like it has six sides, but the saucer has eight. Because it doesn't make much sense, I opted for six sides for each, also because it's less pieces to hand sew.

left: structural pieces in felt; right: all the satin pieces,
plus the wire handle structure

I grabbed my leftovers immediately, and cut 6 teacup sides, 6 saucer sides, two bottoms and one handle strip, out of the stiff felt; 12 teacup sides, 12 saucer sides, 4 bottoms and one handle strip, out of the satin, and bent the wire for the handle.

saucer WIP

As I was getting a grip on this technique, I hand sew a lot, but have never made something similar, I started with the simpler shape, the saucer. First I took two of the satin side pieces, and sewed them together with a running stitch, and a backstitch for the corners, leaving it open at the bottom/centre part. I also reinforced the corners with Fray Check. I scored and trimmed the allowance before turning, trimmed the felt piece by 1mm, and inserted it with the help of fine tweezers. Finally I closed it with a ladder stitch. After sewing a few petals, and because polyester satin isn't very easy to fold neatly, I folded the narrow opening sides before starting to sew both sides together. That made it much easier both to fold and close the petals. I did the same for the bottom, but adding a plastic snap to the middle, through both the felt and one satin side, before closing it.

sewing the petals together

I joined each petal together by placing them side to side and sewing them with a small slip stitch, through all four satin layers. When folded open, the stitches become almost invisible and the seam is quite strong. After closing the saucer, I added the bottom, slightly underneath, also using a small slip stitch, but only picking up the bottom satin layer on the petals, and the top satin layer of the bottom.

the completed saucer

I followed the same process for the teacup, with some differences. The teacup has a base, and a sharp corner between the base and the cup itself. So I traced that line on the outside of each petal, and also cut the felt along that line. After sewing a petal together, and turning it, I inserted the top felt piece, and added a small running stitch to the line, encasing it. Then I inserted the bottom piece, and closed the petal with a ladder stitch. I also added a snap to the teacup inside bottom. I inserted the bottom along the division line, before closing the teacup petals, sewing the bottom to the petals with a small slip stitch, along that line. Finally I closed the teacup with a small slip stitch, and it was done too.

teacup WIP

Finally, the tea. I used the teacup pattern, but cut the sides/petals, not to include the bottom, and cut it about 2cm from the top. I also trimmed the pattern about 2mm on each side, so it would fit inside the teacup. I measured the top side, and drafted an hexagon for the top, with the same measure on its sides. I cut six petals out of the stiff felt, six petals out of the velvet, and one bottom and one top out of each.

"tea" pieces

I sewed each felt side together with a slip stitch, and sewed the "tea" to the bottom. Then I sewed the velvet "tea" together, including the bottom and half of the top. With an awl, I pierced both the felt and velvet bottoms in the centre, and added a black male plastic snap, just because I don't have any brown snaps.

"tea" WIP

Then I went to my hoarder's stash, to find something to add structure to the "tea", and the snap at the bottom of the teacup. I used a piece of a vitamin tube, which I glued to the inner centre of the "tea", on top of the snap. I filled the remaining space with polyfill (leftover from my Mokona plushie), and closed the felt top with a slip stitch. Then I turned the velvet over the felt, adjusted the sides, and closed the top with a ladder stitch.

teacup & saucer, plus "tea"

For the bottom teacup snap, to attach it to the saucer, I glued, and later sewed on (the glue wouldn't stick to the plastic), the plastic piece used to open Ramune bottles. I had a transparent one in my stash, removed 3mm from the bottom, so it would fit nicely under the teacup base, and glued a male snap to it.

Last, but not least, the teacup handle. The handle has this heart shape and a sharp corner, so I couldn't make a simple felt and satin sausage. I calculated the sharp angle, and cut the felt and the satin, about 1/3rd lengthwise, in a V shape. I sewed the felt together with a slip stitch in the V shape, at an angle. Then I wrapped it around the top, smaller part, and, from the sharp pint up, I encased the wire structure, sewing it with a Muppet stitch. It's called that because it's used by Jim Henson's Muppet makers - it looks like shoelaces, and allows to sew two pieces of fabric together by their edges. I don't know how it was called before, but I've been using it for mending clothes for ages. When reaching the edge, I cut the remaining felt, and sewed it shut. I did the same for the bottom part. I did something similar for the satin, first sewing together the V shape, folding the allowance inwards, and started encasing the felt with a ladder stitch, starting at the top, and gathering it at the points. In hindsight, I should have cut the satin on the bias, but I don't mind the wrinkles very much.

Once more the illustration isn't coherent, and I couldn't see properly where the handle is attached to the cup. So I decided to sew it to one of the edges.

"tea" teacup & saucer

I added the final touch later, my embroidered signature to the bottom of the saucer, in burgundy thread, with a stem stitch.

I still mean to make it in 3D printing, but the learning curve for 3D drafting is steep, and I currently am not in the mood to spend one day or more doing it (and don't have the time either)

+ This was quite easy to make, and I could hand sew it slowly, while watching TV in the evening.
- It means the 3D printing version will be postponed indefinitely, but it's fine, I will make it eventually.

THE CUNNING PLAN
Tackle everything else there is to finish this costume (the gloves, correcting the coat skirt, adding the buttons/clasps), and book a proper photoshoot.