The Garage: A craft-y type thread for handypeople

Pencil and paper first. I'm still trying to get used to my tablet's lack of friction.

I remember that happening to me. I know some people put a piece of paper over the top, but it wears the pen down more swiftly. Eventually I decided to just concentrate on getting the basics of traditional drawing first, and somewhere along the line I lost my tablet pen.

My stylus is tied to my laptop, so that's not a problem for me. xP

Drawing I did over Thursday and Friday, but not the one that looks better upside down.

Done with the top third of my Beauxbatons dress, but only the mockup.

I think I have the hang of sleeves now, I set one in with one try again!

edited 29th Jul '11 3:32:37 PM by Leradny

Gee, that was a fast costume even with shortcuts. Six-ish hours and I've already got the bodice and sleeves pieced. The skirt will take maybe one more hour to tweak and cut out. I have enough fabric for the capelet, yay. Don't have time to order a hat or millinery skills to make one, woe. Not going to wear accurate shoes in a long line. All I really need now is a wand.

>Get ready to sew up your dress

>Realize that you cut out a piece on the wrong side so now you have two lefts

>FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

> Cry.

So, I'm sewing a tabard for my Amtgard group.

This is some very helpful sewing advice.

The only thing I disagree with is Rule #4. Sergers are much too expensive and really overrated, having my clothes look like they came off-rack completely misses the point of making my own, and it's not even that hard to learn how to sew stretch fabrics or other finishing methods with a regular sewing machine.

^ I completely agree with you. I don't have a serger and I don't really feel the need for one. If the fabric is that ravelly, I either overedge it or put in a sewn-in lining

Other than that, following 13, 14, and 15, 16 really should be "you can see any bra through $1-a-yrd fabric. It doesn't matter what color it is".

I dunno, a flesh-toned bra works just fine.

I dunno, I'd like a serger (and an embroidery machine, and a...) someday. My current machine does overlock stitches, which I use a lot. Then again, I do a lot of work with problematic fabric that does unexpected things, and a simple zigzag over the edge usually doesn't cut it.

Not when you can still see the outline of where the bra ends.

Then one should probably get a thicker fabric. Barring that, uh. Pasties?

Thicker fabric for $1/yard?

Clearance sales are a seamstress' best friend!

Anyway I'm making a purple dress right now. I dunno what I want the neckline to be. Originally I wanted a square neck or a v-neck, but suddenly I want a high collar with buttons like this◊. Thoughts?

What's the cut of the dress like? Higher collars generally don't look very good on loose-fitting dresses, for example.

Reasonably close fit bodice, a circle skirt starting from the waist.

In which case, either way would look good. I personally find high collars to be a bit uncomfortable, even when they're properly fitted, so I'd go with the V neck. Not sure what you'd prefer though.

Eh, mostly I just decided that since I don't have any high collars it would be a nice addition to my wardrobe, while I have a lot of V-necks. Besides, I can always cut a high collar out if I don't like it during the fittings.

True. Have you already done the neckline on the mockup?

Actually I did a square neck on the mockup and I'm just going to modify the good fabric accordingly to see how it looks. Yeahhhhhhhhhh

. . .

What sort of material should I use?

It needs to be able to be sewn together into four layers without killing me during the summer. Something breathable.

And, it has to be available at Wall-mart.

:/

Use for... A costume? A dress? A shirt? Pants? Shoes? Bomb shelter? What?