Preparations for DragonCon 2011

I wore this lil puppy at DragonCon two years ago, and it turned some heads, so this year I plan on wearing it again, but spent most of yesterday tweeking it to make it better.

I sewed an interlining of crinkly organza into the skirt to help stiffen in, and then trussed it up from the inside, tacking it in about 20 places. Poofy enough now?

I also ended up starching up the petticoat and ironing it for hours.

Tavelog: Winchester Mystery House, San Jose, CA

In other news, I snapped a few photos on my recent trip to California:

Laptop cover - is just the beginning...

Fusible fleece is sandwiched between two layers of MultiCam fabric. Makes a nice laptop cover. The plan is to make a messenger bag to match, but I'm still thinking about exactly how I'm going to do that. I've been looking at this pattern (McCall's 5824):

But without doing the patchwork, of course.

Fun with Austen

Take the Quiz here!

More bags made from recycled stuff!

The "Army Wife" Bag - made from a pair of ACUs. Due to popular demand, I am actually going to make this one for sale - $75 complete, or if you actually give me the pants to make it from - $50.

I also recently tried the pattern on a pair of jeans:

Obviously, you get fewer pockets than if you used a cargo or BDU pant, but it's still spiffy looking.

Next, I am going to try scaling this pattern down to handbag size, maybe, and there is also a messenger bag pattern that I want to work with, although I don't know if I can adapt it to make it out of pants. It will be a challenge worth embracing:)

Iron Chef Sewing: Shorts

I guess I do sewing like I do cooking - give me a secret ingredient, and I'll make something based on that ingredient. I let the materials at hand tell me what they want to be, and today I went into the sewing room without any plan or inspiration.

I happened to look at my box of wood block stamps, and thought I haven't used those in a while, so there you go. The shorts are made from scrap pieces of cotton broadcloth, and the ink colors are what I happened to have on hand. The shorts pattern is your basic, very simple two-piece with a casing at the top for drawstring.

So I went with a bright orange paint for the elephant motif, on the brown shorts, and a bright red with the peacock motif on the blue shorts. I want to make more:)

BTW, shorts are a great way to use up scraps of fabric. You only need about 1 1/4 yards.

The wood block stamps are from India - I received some as gifts, and found others on eBay-kistan. They don't make really good impressions, so the result is very rustic and folky.

Win an Unforgettable Mother's Day

Win a weekend in Sardinia for your mom! Staying at the beautiful Hotel Faro di Capo Spartivento in Chia. All you have to do is say why your mother deserves to win - leave a comment on the facebook, twitter, or blog of CharmingSardinia.com.

Ok, well actually I think my mom deserves to win, but best of luck to you all! May the best mom win;-)

http://www.charmingsardinia.com/sardinia/mother-day.html