happy halloween!!

dearest blog,

i know, i know, i've been neglecting you TERRIBLY! i can't seem to master the art of crafting AND blogging, and the last few weeks have been full of crafting, to the point of ridiculousness. i have so much to catch up, atcs sent and received, altoid tins sent and received, and a jar of whimsies sent and received.

but first i'll show you what was occupying all my waking hours the last week or so....




i made a halloween costume! as much as i love halloween, i haven't done anything for it the last couple of years, i just wasn't up to it, and i haven't made a halloween costume in even longer. i'm quite proud of myself!












i made everything except the shoes (which are from no sweat)! the hoodie, the skirt, the pinafore, the crinoline, the bloomers, and the tights. the hoodie and skirt are fleece, made out of a queen sized fleece blanket that i purchased for $20 (SO MUCH cheaper than fabric by the yard), the pinafore was made out of exactly 1 metre of fleece (i have two teensy strips left) that i purchased after searching my stash for anything purple and coming up empty handed, the crinoline is made out of a pink sheer from my stash, and purple lacey curtain fabric i found at the thrift store on thursday, the bloomers are 1 yard of flannelette that i bought to make baby bibs out of, and the tights are a 4way stretch cotton/spandex blend that i bought for this purpose. the big goals of this costume were that it had to be WARM, since i was wearing it to the Parade of Lost Souls, which is an outside event, and that i really really didn't want to go into vancouver to get any of the supplies! and it had to be pink and purple - i made the wig several years ago, and i think i've worn it once, so i needed another excuse!

the hoodie is based on my basic hoodie pattern, with the sleeves altered, the skirt is an almost circle skirt, made using this awesome skirt pattern calculator, the pinafore and crinoline were made up as i went along, and the tights are my basic tight pattern that i developed several years ago, but apparently i've never posted pics of my tights before!

i did the gathering on the hoodie and the skirt by hand, and then decided that it was totally ridiculous, i needed to use a ruffler foot, especially considering that i was running out of time to get the costume finished, and the crinoline would need A LOT of ruffling! i knew i had one that a coworker had passed on to me, so i hauled it out, only to discover that it was for a high shank machine. ugh. so into the crawlspace i went (did i mention this was at 1 am?), and checked all of the machines i have stored under there, and found ONE high shank machine. i have 9 or 10 sewing machines, and only ONE of them is high shank. so i hauled it into the studio, cleaned it off, opened up the bobbin case.... and realized it takes some strange shaped bobbin, very low and wide, which i didn't have. argh! i sent my sister a frantic e-mail asking her to call me the next morning. at 7:15 the next morning my phone rang, yes, she had a low shank ruffler foot, it was 60 or 70 years old, an accessory for her singer featherweight, but it should work. so i hauled my butt over to her apartment at 8am, right in the middle of morning rushhour.

i came home, and huraay, it fit! i gathered up the ruffle for the pinafore, and it was great. and then i started on the crinoline. urgh. my needle kept breaking, it was making bad sounds... so i called around, and it was determined that i really should have been using an actual brother brand ruffler foot, and that continuing to use the singer foot, even if i could get the needle to stop breaking, might throw my machine out of alignment, which i definitely didn't want! so off i went to the brother dealer, and came home with less room on my visa card, and a new ruffler foot. damn, this thing is so cool! there are a few tricks to using it, and i'll post about them later, but overall, very damn cool!

i finished the pinafore, crinoline and tights on friday, and cut out the purse and the bloomers. saturday morning i slept, then got up and finished the bloomers and the purse, and decided to add pockets to the pinafore to hold my camera and stuff, so did those as well. i finished the costume, including hand sewing the buttons on, by about 2:30, and i didn't even have to leave the house until 5! i was quite impressed with myself, actually.

and it worked wonderfully. it was a really great night, just a little bit brisk, my face was a little cool, but the rest of me was cozy warm! and i love the sensation of being warm while my face is cool - it reminds me of being a little kid!