Because I Said Sew

Sweetheart dress

2017-06-14T11:50:00.001-04:00

Pattern: Pattern for Pirates Sweetheart Dress

Fabric: from the stash

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Disney Halloween

2017-06-09T11:30:00.005-04:00

Steampunk Tinkerbell, Peter Pan/Rocketeer mashup, Hook and Smee for the 2015 Disneyworld Halloween Party.

More photos and construction click here

Dopey Challenge

2017-06-09T11:26:00.002-04:00

I revived my Ping and Mulan costumes for the 5K and 10K. With improvements. My friend was Merida for the 5K, which I also made.

I was Vanellope from Wreck it Ralph for the full marathon, Syndrome from the Incredibles for the half marathon. Yes, I made the wig too.

More pics and construction photos click here

Return of the Ruffle Butts

2017-06-09T11:20:00.000-04:00

We were exploring princesses for the Expedition Everest race in 2015. Snow White, Belle and Tiana.

Somehow I don't have a shot of the ruffle butts in action, but they were there. :-)

More pics and construction photos click here

Disney Avengers Race costumes

2015-01-26T09:26:00.000-05:00

Someday I will catch up on the How I Did It photos for all of these costumes. I have the photos, just never get around to writing the posts. I think I am about five costumes behind at this point.

But here are final pics for my Avengers costumes.

For the 5k, I was old school Nick Fury.

I also did costumes for two of my friends. One was Captain America, one was Loki. We were all ruffle butts.

All of our costumes had lots of Hidden Mickeys, which I will go into more detail on a future post.

For the half marathon, I was Loki. This costume was also full of Hidden Mickeys.

Lots of fun details to this one, which hopefully I will go into in a future post. After I go into detail on the five other costumes I haven't done full posts on yet. Sigh.

Disney Costume Updates, for the impatient

2014-06-10T11:26:00.000-04:00

For those that can't wait for my laziness to subside long enough to actually write a blog post, you can check out my race costume facebook album, which I just made public.

It is updated with far better regularity than the blog.

Disney Race Costumes

Hard at work on my costumes for the upcoming Avengers races in November!

Preview of race costumes to come

2014-04-02T12:57:00.000-04:00

So I haven't put together full costume construction entries on these yet, but just a little taste of what is coming...

Here I am as Figment for the 2013 Wine and Dine Half Marathon. Dreamfinder is riding on my shoulder as my companion.

More race photos here.

Here I am as Warrior Mulan, aka Ping, for the Enchanted 10K in 2014, complete with sword.

And as Matchmaker Mulan for the Princess Half Marathon 2014

I ran both races in one weekend as part of the Glass Slipper Challenge. More race photos here

More detailed posts on all three costumes to come. AND, I got into the Avengers 5k and Half Marathon in November, so already starting to plot the next costumes!!

Fairy Running Costume

2014-02-05T09:24:00.000-05:00

Every time I start making a new running costume, I am reminded that I never posted anything about the last one....er, last two. I am currently making three costumes for the upcoming Princess Race in Disney (two for myself, one for a friend), but haven't posted my costumes for the past two races. So here goes with at least one.

In January 2013, I ran the Tinkerbell Half Marathon in Disneyland. Since it was fairy themed, I, of course, had to be a fairy. I was not familiar with the Disney fairies, but a friend told me that the purple fairy was kinda a bitch. Sold! I would be running the race as Vidia, the purple fairy and one of Tinkerbell's friends.

Reference image

I always try to use tech fabrics for my running costumes so they are practical as well as fun. And for Vidia's shirt and leggings I did. But her feather skirt needed some sparkle. She is a fairy after all. I also decided to give myself a break and just buy some wings instead of trying to make them.

Fairy supplies gathered. Let the costuming commence.

For the feather skirt. I took two layers of purple fabric, one sparkle and one sheer, cut them in strips and gathered the strips separately. Then I layered the two fabrics on top of a stable base and stitched over the middle gathering stitches and added some feather-ish topstitching. I then trimmed it into roughly a feather shape with pinking shears.

Here is one completed feather, attached to a simple elastic band for the fairy skirt

I had some purple leggings that I cut the legs off and attached to the bottom of a pair of running shorts I already had. The leggings were too sheer to wear on their own under the skirt.

I cut slits in the bottom of the leggings and added little feather accents, made with the same technique as the feather skirt. I then used purple and silver fabric pens to draw the veins running down the leggings.

view of the skirt and leggings

oops, the running shorts peek out. ah well.

The shirt was made of tech fabric, but when I finished it, it seemed awfully plain, especially when next to the sparkle feather skirt. So I added some glitter yarn by couching it to the fabric in a vein pattern like Vidia's shirt had. The collar was made of the same fabric as the skirt, gathered into a ruffle.

Dress form is definitely not my size

fancy fairy collar

couching, oops missed a spot!

The wings I attached at the center back and at each shoulder for greater running stability. I didn't even notice that they were there!

And here I am before the race. No, that is not my real hair. Well, the bangs are, but the rest isn't. I wore a fake ponytail with a purple glitter headband. Yes, for all 13.1 miles. I am somewhat used to wearing fake hair for long periods because of my bellydancing, so it didn't bother me at all. The white sleeves are throwaway armwarmers made of socks for keeping warm before the race starts.

the purple shoes were just lucky matching

A couple mid race shots, just for fun....

Giant Mickey Head!!

Heading into the park....

And here I am after the race with my medal.

I finished, so I win

Next up, when I get to it, is my very favorite running costume so far. I ran the Wine and Dine race in Disneyworld in November 2013 and wore a Figment the Imagination Dragon costume, with a full tail. And with Dreamfinder as my companion. It was epic. And hopefully will be posted soon.

Queen of Heart Running outfit, part 2

2013-06-21T09:31:00.001-04:00

This costume was for the Tower of Terror 10 mile race in Disneyworld, the theme being villains. For reference (again), the queen.

So the hardest part of the queens skirt is the front piece, because of all those damn diagonals. This is the front panel, before pressing and topstitching. Not too shabby.

Although all the thread changes were a pain, the rest of the skirt was pretty easy to put together. The front includes a secret pocket for my phone so I can take pictures during the race. Which is, of course, the whole point of the Disney race (for me at least!).

Then came the crown. I had a horrible pair of gold metallic leggings from a past dance performance that I cut up and used to cover the simple stiffened felt base. I also used the leggings to cover a pair of earrings I made to match the queen, but forgot to take a pic of those...

I added some thread loops on the inside so I could clip it securely to my head. It had to last and be comfortable for 10 miles of running.

Finally, in the movie the Queen wears heart bloomers. Although I knew no one would see them, I had to be as true to the original as I could. So I took my white running shorts and be-hearted them with some red fabric pens.

Heart bloomers in progress

And on my hiney. :-)

I attached the little white rabbit to my shoulder and the cheshire cat to my rear end and voila! Outfit complete.

Final outfit included shirt, skirt, heart bloomers, crown, fabric earrings, red ribbon for my hair, and two crocheted companions

Here is the front, before and after the race:

And the back with a booty shot. :-)

Although the race itself was disappointing, the costume was a delight to run in. Very comfortable, despite the extreme heat and humidity. It was an inaugural race, so hopefully next year they will make some improvements to the course and have a bit more fun things on the course.

After this I did the Tinkerbell Half Marathon in California dressed as Vidia (one of Tinkerbell's fairy friends). Posts on that race and costume to come.

Villain Running Costume

2013-06-11T09:42:00.003-04:00

So back in October of 2012, I ran the Tower of Terror 10 mile race in Disney world. Of course, I had to do a costume. And of course, it had to be thematically appropriate. And as close in appearance to an actual Disney character and still allowing me to run 10 miles. (Much like the Rapunzel outfit I wore for the Princess Half Marathon)

I decided to be the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland. I have always loved that story, plus her outfit was just graphically interesting.

Here is my reference image.

I collected some supplies, including tech fabrics in the right colors and some running "friends." I loved having Pascal ride on my shoulder as Rapunzel, so decided the queen needed the white rabbit on her shoulder and the cheshire cat would hitch a ride on her butt (like he did in the croquet scene in the movie). For a bit of extra fun, I bought some cheap light up hearts for my shoes.

The shirt was fairly simple. Color blocked body and sleeves with a white collar. I tried to make the heart shape bodice that she has by rounding off the top of the front panels and having them come to a point at the bottom. The collar is just stiffened slightly with some light interfacing. I knew it would get floppy, as this is a high sweat area, but I wanted at least a bit of the look of the stand up collar.

Next post I will go into the skirt, bloomers, crown, and earrings. :-)

Princess top

2012-11-04T13:26:00.001-05:00

So the race was almost a year ago, so I suppose I should finish posting about the outfit. HA!!! I have a new goal of posting once a week and a huge backlog of projects to talk about, so here we go.

Rapunzel actually wears a corset style bodice with puffed ribbon trimmed sleeves over a sheer lace trimmed undershirt that buttons up the back. Here is how I got that look:

I started with an oversize purple tech shirt that I cut apart to make a smaller fitted shirt for me.

I stitched rows of pink ribbon to the purple sleeve, cutting it down to a shape that would still have some puff, but not be annoying to run in.

I added princess seams in the front and back of the shirt, and adding a lace up panel in the front. I just used a small eyelet stitch in my machine to make the lacing holes and backed the middle with a slightly darker fabric, like in Rapunzel's original dress.

Using the same pink cording I used for the lacing, I added double corded trim around the edge of the bodice neckline, the bottom edge, the join of the sleeve, and around the back where the division of the bodice and undershirt would be. I filled in the back top with the same slightly darker fabric I used for the lace up section in the front, again so it would look like it was a separate undershirt.

I added soft cotton lace around the bottom and neckline of the undershirt bodice section, and added some pink covered buttons on the back to continue the illusion of a separate undershirt that Rapunzel wears.

And here is where I should have stopped, but of course I couldn't leave well enough alone. Rapunzel's corset top has a slight vine pattern on it like the middle skirt panel. I started drawing this in, but the paint dried much too dark and ended up looking not so great. It sorta looks like someone took a sharpie to the top, rather than the subtle background pattern than I wanted. Ah well.

Here I am on race day, pre-race (with disposable sleeves for when I got warmed up), in progress, and at the end with the real Rapunzel. You can see Pascal rode along on my shoulder and I had a frying pan necklace to complete the look.

I have done a villain disney race as well, where I dressed as the queen of hearts. Posts on that to come, as well as a fairy outfit for my next race and several bellydance costumes.

Princess Butt

2012-02-22T14:42:00.001-05:00

For my running princess skirt, I started with the brocade underskirt. I borrowed a costume from a friend's child and looked at lots of images online and put together a sketch of the pattern on the fabric. Then I drew it onto the fabric with fabric paint pens. It worked pretty good.

Sketch and center panel

I took the drawing I did before of the edge embroidery and digitized it and ran it through my embroidery machine. The trial stitch below looked pretty good, so I did the edges of all the panels. Lining up the different pieces wasn't as hard as I thought, because the bits of the design do not touch. Approximate line-ups worked here.

Trial Run

I knew I would want a pocket to put my iphone, tissues, hotel key, etc, so I added a waistband to the top and put in a pocket and an invisible zipper.

Finished Skirt, front

Pascal shows off the pocket
(He will not ride in here for the race, he just hopped in for demonstration purposes.)

Finally, I attached the skirt to a pair of white running shorts. The shorts I didn't make because I don't have enough confidence in my seam finishing to know they would be chafe free for 13.1 miles. I did add some white lace to the bottom (ending before it got to the chub rub chafing zone) so it looks like Rapunzel's petticoat peaking out the bottom.

Peek-a-boo!

So there is the skirt. Onward and upward to the top!

The making of a princess

2012-02-17T10:37:00.009-05:00

One week from today, I will be traveling to Florida to run in the Princess Half Marathon at DisneyWorld. Two friends will be running with me. They are both accomplished runners.

I am not a runner. In fact, I suck at running. But I have been training since December and will probably make it to the finish line.

The one thing I am excited about for this race is the costume. Yes, I said costume. For a half marathon. Shut up.

I will be dressing as Rapunzel, because I like that she hits everyone with a frying pan and is sassy. My running companions will be Jasmine and Sleeping Beauty. They are both erring on the side of sanity and mostly just running in the colors of their princesses with some princess bling. I, however, am recreating in as fine a detail as possible and practical, the outfit from the movie.

A reference image

I will not be making it in a brocade, but in tech fabrics because I still have to run in this sucker. I found some perfect tech fabric for the skirt, but had trouble finding fabric for the top. I ended up buying several extra large lavender tech shirts, which I will cut up and reconstruct into the bodice.

I also bought a small frying pan necklace off etsy. Cause it was awesome

My supplies:

I bought a pattern off of etsy and crocheted a version of Pascal, also known as "Frog", who will ride along on my head or my shoulder.

Pascal

I have the skirt and top roughly cut out. Now I am working on the embroidery and brocade pattern for the skirt. The brocade pattern I will be painting onto the underskirt by hand with fabric paint. The embroidery I will do on my machine.

I found lots of reference images and borrowed a Rapunzel costume from a four year old I know to get the patterns right. I made the sketch below of some of the embroidery pieces and hopefully will digitize and start stitching it out tonight. I did another sketch (not pictured) of the brocade pattern and will be painting that as the machine stitches.

I may suck at the running part, but I am gonna look damn fine as I fail. :-)

Someday

2012-02-17T10:35:00.001-05:00

Someday I will document the finishing of the costume below, as well as the kick ass belly dance costumes I have made since then. But not today. Today is for documenting my current project, a Running Princess outfit. New post on that to follow.

Whirlwind of Shimmys

2011-03-07T20:56:00.003-05:00

I have been sewing like a madwoman, trying to complete a belly dance costume by the show date of March 26th.

I will write more details on the costume after the show, but in the meantime, here are a few in progress shots....

The bra, complete. It looks better on me. My dress form has a tragically small chest, a deficiency I do not suffer from. :-)

The belt, in progress

The skirt is the same black velvet as the bra, with heavy scatter beading at the bottom phasing into light beading at the top. I actually finished one version, but then realized that I cut the skirt so the velvet nap was not in the "pretty" direction. So after 40+ hours of work on it, I decided to chuck it and start over. I am keeping the old pieces intact in case I run out of time, but have recut and started beading a new skirt. Which is insane, because no one would ever notice the "mistake" if I didn't point it out, but it was bugging me so there it is.

Speaking of which...back to beading!!! :-)

Stop and sew the roses

2011-01-21T11:10:00.001-05:00

I am no stranger to making fabric flowers. I have made them to put in my hair (back when I had enough hair to do this) and also to put on vintage style hats like this one (my very favorite hat that I have ever made)

But this is the first time I have made hip flowers! :-) I am recreating the flowers from the necklace in black velvet to put on the belt of my belly dance costume. And here is the result.

These are pretty much the same kind of flowers I used to make for my hair, only on a bigger scale. I liked them for my hair because they had were light-weight, had dimension, and didn't get all wilty and floppy when I sweat through them.

Here is how you go about doing it
(Diet Coke in picture above is optional, but highly recommended).

First, draw a flower and cut out a petal pattern. Then cut out a billion flower petals (or however many you need) in something that has some shape. I used stiffened felt here because I had it on hand, but you can also use denim or canvas or heavy interfacing. I have even used those funky foamie sheets in the past. The color doesn't matter because you will be covering them.

Grab some sort of wire stuff. I used 22 gauge beading wire, but have used pipe cleaners and floral wire in the past. Basically you want something stiff enough to hold its shape, but not so stiff that it isn't a bit malleable. Sew the wire stuff around the edges of the petal.

Cut a piece of your fabric slighly bigger than your petal. Since my velvet is stretchy, I didn't need a piece much bigger than the petal; you might need a bit more leeway if your fabric has no stretch or cut it on the bias. Run a gathering stitch around the edge of the fabric. Before you pop the fabric on the petal, bend the petal into the approximate shape you want. You can make some adjusting later, but if you cover it while it is flat, it won't be as smooth later on.

Once all your petals are all covered and pretty, cut a circle of fabric/felt/interfacing that is smaller than your finished flower. You can then attach all the flowers at the center point. Be careful to keep your stitches near the center so they won't show around the edges of whatever center pretty you put on your flower. Depending on what look you want, you can sew partway up your petals, but make sure your stitches can't be seen in the front. This is the underside of my flower after all the petals were stitched onto the center circle.

Adjust the bendyness of your petals until it is all purty. Then attach a button or a sparkle or another fancy of your choice in the center to cover the stitches there.

Voila!!

EXPERT TIP:
The more cats you manage to pile on your lap while you are working, the better your flowers will turn out. :-D

A belly tale

2011-01-19T08:59:00.006-05:00

Once upon a time, way back in June 2010, there was a girl who was in a show with a bunch of other girls. She made a bunch of make-up bags for the other girls with their names on them, because it made her happy to do so.

And she made a big bag, a make-up bag, and a cookie kit for the teacher, because that is how she rolls.

And they all lived happily ever after, shimmying into the sunset.

The end.

The Plan, it changes

2011-01-17T14:50:00.005-05:00

So I had a plan for my belly dance costume. The shape of it was kinda vintage 40s inspired, a bra and belt set with a long trumpet skirt.

Here is a VERY rough sketch of what I was thinking (I can't draw for crap)

Black velvet with silver accents; the plan for the bra/belt decoration was a very cool geometric art deco design. I even started making some of the beaded appliques for the belt portion.

And then I visited my parents and my mother was going through her jewelry and I saw this necklace...

I had to steal...er....borrow it from her. And am now basing the costume on it. It is hard to see in the photo, but it has gorgeous mother of pearl stones. Still keeping the shape of the old plan, but the decoration is all changing to a more organic flower based design. And I have this pinkish shimmery fabric in the stash that I have had for 10+ years that goes perfectly with the mother of pearl that I think I will use as the base of the belt and then use the black velvet for the flowers on top of that. The skirt and the bra will still be black velvet.

I am building the flowers and gathering supplies. I will post a bit later on how I am doing the flowers, after I actually finish one and make sure it is actually going to work!

I am also beading the entire skirt with heavier scatter beading at the bottom with it transitioning to less beading at the top. There will probably be about 30 hours or so of beading in the skirt alone, based on what I have done so far. My lunch hours are being well spent these days!

I'm Not Dead Yet.

2011-01-11T09:38:00.009-05:00

Yes readers, I am still alive. If there are any of you left to read this! I took a long unannounced break from blogging, but not from sewing. I plan on posting some updates on what I worked on during my six-month hiatus as well as my current project.

Currently, I am working on a belly dance costume for an upcoming show in March. It consists of a long trumpet skirt, a belt, and a bra, all based in black stretch velvet and all heavily decorated. I haven't settled on the final design for the bra and belt yet, but based on the beading I have done so far on the skirt, it will be about 20+ hours worth of beading for the skirt alone. My lunch hours will be very full for the foreseeable future. :-)

Until I get pictures of the belly costume, here is a picture of the last project I spoke about before disappearing, the belly dance show cover-up/caftan.

I ended up going with a plain blue linen blend and embroidered peacock embellishments on panels with sparkle organza and silver trim. In some places I cutout the feathers and left them hole-y, in others I did some reverse applique and added beads. Turned out ok and it worked fine for the show last June, although I am already wanting something else....

Collar Trim with close-up views

Sleeve trim

Hem Trim with close-up view

That's a whole lot of look?

2010-05-19T23:44:00.015-04:00

Making a cover-up for in between belly dancing shows. Planning on using this pattern from Decades of Style.

I am really struggling with the fabric choice though. It is for belly dance purposes, so I definitely don't want something too plain. But I am only 5 foot nothing and with too bold a fabric, that would definitely be too much look for my short round body.

These are some fabrics I am considering, conveniently on sale at Gorgeous Fabrics....

1.2.
3.4.
5.6.
7.8.
9.10.
11.12.
13.14.

Any favorites? Or other recommendations? Or would all of these overwhelm me and I should just go with a solid of some sort?

Ack! And Shimmy!

ETA: Hmmm. The more I look, the more the subtlety of 13 and 14 appeal. Hmmmm. But then again, subtle not exactly the belly dancing way. :-D

More ETA: Now I may also be considering a pattern like the one below....

Shimmying, try again later

2010-04-21T09:36:00.005-04:00

Sorry for the long blog silences. I have had so little time to sew lately and even less time to blog.

Along with my usual swing dancing madness (including one of DC's big dance weekends DCLX earlier this month), I have added belly dancing to the mix. I actually joined a performance troupe last month and have been crazy busy with twice a week rehearsals, preparing for a show on June 5. Plus I have become kinda the default leader of the group because I remember choreography easily, so I have spent even MORE time helping out my fellow dancers who are falling behind a bit.

On top of all that, I am on a major weight loss binge. I am down 15 lbs from my highest weight, and 10 lbs since the beginning of March. Nothing like knowing you are gonna be shimmying half naked on a stage in a few months to kick the motivation into gear. :-) Anywho, it is hard to sew with my rapidly changing body because almost as soon as I finish something, it doesn't fit anymore!

But fear not! I have some scathingly brilliant ideas in the vintage arena that I will be jumping into full force in June.

Patience until then grasshoppers. I promise I will return and hope you will still be here checking in when I do!

Christmas quilts and tags

2010-03-25T10:27:00.010-04:00

Yes, still blogging about gifts I gave for Christmas in March. That is because it was the most recent sewing I have done. Mojo = DEAD

For my mom and mother in law...

With gifty luggage tags....

And one for the Niece...

Because she likes pugs...

Slowly emerging from the doldrums

2010-02-19T14:23:00.012-05:00

Christmas sewing killed my mojo. It is only recently that I have seen a glimmer of it returning. But in the meantime, here are a few photos of the gift madness.

My army of Gingermen ornaments, ready to take over the world.

Gingerbread cookie kits, with cookie mix, cookie cutter, ornaments, and bag

Hot chocolate kit, with mix and bag

Holiday collar (as modeled by a horse, because I don't have a dog!!)

And that doesn't even include the quilts and gift tags. I will do those next week. Shew!!

Pants!

2010-01-15T10:29:00.003-05:00

So after all my Christmas gift making madness (more posts on those later after I fully recover. ha!), I feel the need to go back to my sewing roots and make a garment.

I am in the middle of a weight loss adventure, and while I just cinch in my work pants with a belt for now, that doesn't work for the more active use that my dancing clothes get. After a few near wardrobe malfunctions on the dance floor (note to self, ALWAYS wear nice undies dancing, even under pants. Just in case.) So I need to make a few pairs of pants in my current size to get me through until I settle down at my "forever weight" and start making visions of gorgousness that I will wear everyday because they will fit me forever. As I ride my unicorn off into the sunset. :-)

I decided to try out the Hot Patterns 1091 Wong Singh Jones Marrakesh Drawstring Pants and I am currently searching for The Perfect Fabric--although I find it difficult to buy fabrics on-line when drape is a major factor in your results and this pattern definitely qualifies. I don't want to resort to Joann's, but I may have to in order to be able to feel my way to the right drape.

If any of y'all have any suggestions for a particular .com fabric you have run across that would work for this one, please throw them my way. I do need to be able to dance (and sweat!!) in them so it has to be fairly easy care fabric. And since these are "temporary" pants, I don't want to spend gobs of cash.

Poor Customer Service

2009-12-17T14:22:00.005-05:00

I just had a very negative shopping experience with Sewing Machine Outlet, http://www.sewingmachineoutlet.com/.

I ordered an insert for my sewing table. It was (and still is as of right now) listed on the website for $50.00. A week passes. I get a message from them asking me to call about my order.

When I call, they tell me they have the wrong price listed on the website, that it is actually 65 dollars and it needs some sort of special shipping that would make the final total around 85 bucks.

No thank you.

And as of this moment, the price is still listed on the website as $50.

So now, a week after I figured it was already on its way, I need to find another place that sells them or make one myself.

ETA: They said they would cancel order and refund my money, but no sign of that so far.