The Crafty Warlock

There are some modifications I want to make right off the bat:
1. Reduce the size of the pattern pieces to remove the 1/2" seam allowance so that I can cut them from buckram, fuse them to the fabric, and cut my own seam allowance.
2. Wire the brim.
3. Use these instructions to make the brim.
4. Find a way to enlarge the hat? It's made for a 22.5" head and mine measures 23". A mock-up is needed.

I also need to find fabric for this. I've got some black denim that could work, as I do want it to be sturdy and black, and I could waterproof that pretty easily. The option I like the most is actually wool with a silk liner.

I need to use what I have first, though. Let's see how this goes.

Tuesday, July 6, 2021

Skirt Plans

I've got an itch to make some skirts and class up my severely classless wardrobe. Mood Fabrics has a number of free patterns, but there are also ideas from Studio Faro that are worth looking into.

These have caught my eye:

http://www.studiofaro.com/well-suited/pattern-puzzle-green-velvet-drape
http://www.studiofaro.com/well-suited/drape-gather-skirt-sewing-instructions
http://www.studiofaro.com/well-suited/waterfall-drape-skirt-first-sample

The Waterfall Drape Skirt (third on the list) I already have knit fabric for, in both white and in a dark purple that is totally my color.

I plan to modify the slopers I bought here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/682828179/15-basic-pdf-sewing-patterns-for-women?ref=notif_psffl

Monday, June 28, 2021

Shibori Experiment 2

I tried three different things this time.

1. Bomaki shibori in Raven Black where I stitched the fabric into a tube first, then soaked it in soda ash water and slipped it onto the PVC pipe like a sock and tightened the "laces."
- It didn't save time overall, but it did save the amount of time I had to deal with wet fabric.
- Results came out the same.
- This is what I will do for the skirt panels.

2. Arashi shibori in Muir Green. I draped the fabric over the pole, wrapped with buttonhole thread, and scrunched. Not what I am looking for in the skirt.
- Did not save time overall and had hands in contact with soda ash water for a while.
- Must pull thread tight!!

3. Arashi shibori in sapphire blue, but this time with a double-width of fabric. Again, I draped the fabric over the pole and then wrapped it up on itself, then wrapped with buttonhole thread and scrunched. It did not fade, as expected, but still produced a nice result.
- Use more dye than for narrower strips.
- Use less length - don't really need 120" of this one.
- If doing multiple runs at once, put this one on the pole first. It is harder to scrunch, especially if there is fabric hanging off the end.

The next test should be an over-dying test.

Wednesday, June 16, 2021

Shibori Experiment Notes

From experiment 1:

Reduce dye, water, and urea. Used 1c of water to 10g dye. Need 1/4 cup water and 2-3g dye.
Fabric scrunched from 120" to approx 12". Cut pipe into manageable lengths.

Because of the number of experiments I still need to do I'm going to leave the pipe long.

Experiment 2 will be more of an arashi technique where I wrap the fabric around the PVC, then wrap it with thread and scrunch it instead of stitching the edges and scrunching.

Future experiments will include:
- Over dye. I'll dye a strip of fabric a solid color and then do either bomaki or arashi with a darker color.
- Fire! Ok, not actual fire, just dye to look like fire. I'll paint oranges and reds and yellows around the fabric in stripes and see how that goes.
- Layers. I'll use a wider strip and wrap it around itself before scrunching. This is to see how the corset fabric will turn out and if it fades going up.
- Folding. If layers don't work well, I'll try folding it in half and either doing bomaki or arashi to see how that works.

Products Made:
- Headband
- Scrunchies
- Drawstring pouch

Monday, June 14, 2021

The Corset

This one's gonna be a doozy. I want to make a corset to go with The Skirt, and there's an overarching "mermaid" theme going on. Mistakes were made on skirt calculations resulting in the omission of a sandy color that I was rather bummed about... But then I realized, I can put that in the corset!

The trick is that the corset is going to have a scale-smocked shell on the outside.

The Plan:

THE SHELL
Smocking:
Here's where I found the idea: http://www.alltomorrowspatterns.com/2015/04/0x0-html/
Here's a generator for the 120 degree angle: https://incompetech.com/graphpaper/vartriangle/
---I set it to 1" triangles and .25" printer margins. We'll see how this goes.
Muslin shibori dyed in raw muslin (base) and Celadon (shibori)
---This might be tricky - I need more than 11.75" of height here. I can wrap around the pole more than once, which might result in an awesome fade. More dye experimentation needed.

Adornment:
Open-donut flounces in Skirt Tier 1 fabric set in back seams to look like fins.

THE GUTS
Draft an overbust corset with a split busk front.
Use as few layers as possible (just one from coutil?) for air-flow - The Shell may be more insular than expected.