Ka-Pow!!!!

If you read my last post and guessed from the scraps I was making a Robin from Batman Hoodie you were right!!!!!



I based this off the Robin played by Burt Ward. in the 1960’s television Batman. I love that batman. its the bestest.


I have know for a while that I wanted to make this but I had to come up with the design. which meant of course research and TV watching. I didn’t want it to be exactly like Robin’s shirt in the show for several reasons. one its a Hoodie so it needed to be long sleeve two the shirt in the show has rounded ends which won’t work on a hoodie. three the shirt has no zipper and hoodies need them. and the main thing is this is not a costume its a Hoodie!!!



I wear Hoodies a lot as it tends to be cool in the mornings and get hot during the day so I like something that can slipped on and off. without making my hair a static mess. hence the need for a zipper. I made this out of regular T-shirt fabric so its not too hot to wear in the spring/ summer months.



I used McCall's pattern #M6614 for the Hoodie since I had it already. and for fabric I actually bought two extra large T-shirts because they had enough fabric and were on sale. I did have to completely disassemble them before I cut them but it saved me quite a bit of money to do it this way. I did have to buy the Green in yardage though because of sleeves taking up a lot of fabric. the black is scrap from a hemmed skirt.
I did the hood in Yellow because I actually very rarely wear the hood . this way it hangs down like a cape, and Robin’s cape is yellow. though I do think it still looks good when it is up.



putting it together was pretty simple but very time consuming. I had to keep trading thread colors every ten minutes because of the order of putting it together. nothing could be okay all red, now all green, now all yellow, nope it was sew a it in red, okay now green, okay back to red. it was very much back and forth, back and forth. I did enjoy though being able to use a real cover lock on this. it made putting the black on so much easier plus kept the stretch and just looks so nice because it doesn‘t wop thing out of shape. I will say I wish I had one of these, but alas I will have to settle for borrowing a friends. I also used it to make the belt loops. four for the belt and eighteen to look like the looping on the front. those were fun to line up! actually I was surprised at how easily they did line up when I installed the zipper. I was very careful with my measuring when I put them on but still I was worried about them stretching this way and that as I sewed in the zipper. but they didn’t so that was a happy dance in my head!



Making the R patch turned out not to be as easy as I thought it would be. I thought for sure I could go to a craft store and find a yellow R in the letter appliqué section. Wrong! I mean I could if I wanted the R to be only an inch tall. but I needed it to be bigger. I even looked to order something online. and found lots of letters in lots of different sizes and colors, but not big and Yellow. in the end I thought well I will just try to make my own, if it doesn’t work I can see if I can get someone to make me an Embroidered one. but the one I made turned out, I was so happy! all I did was make a pattern of an R, cut it out sewed it onto stiff interfacing, I think I did two layers of it so it would be thick enough. then made me a black circle the same way and just zig zaged around everything to make a nice patch. which I then sewed on to the hoodie.



I do have to say that the most challenging part of this whole project was lining up the belt. because it goes into the pocket yet stays on top of the pocket as well. it took some careful figuring to get that just right, not lose any of the pocket, nor have the yellow loops be on top of it. I had chalk marks all over the place. man I love Tailors chalk its one of the best things out there. I am so happy with the way this turned out, and can not wait to wear it all the time!!!!



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projects

at the moment I am working on three different projects, though two have been somewhat put on hold for the time being.
one is of course the black bow dress, which I have nearly finished the overlay part, I guess its really an overlay dress with a skirt underneath. all I need on the overlay is the ruffles on the sleeves and I may put a ruffle on the neck as it is a bit wider then I had hoped for. its not outrageous though so I haven't decided if I will do the neck ruffle or not.

the second one is a hoodie.



can you guess by the scraps what is based on? I can’t wait till I finish this one. I will wear it all the time.
I’m making it out of t-shirt fabric so its nice and light. I like hoodies because they are easy on easy off, but I don't have any light weight ones so I decided to make one. all I have left is the zipper, however because of my third project I can not get to my sewing machine! its piled high with stuff. I will unearth it, but it may take me a while.

the third project is a complete reorganization of my sewing room, which is also my bedroom. I will post more about that when I finish it, but I am loving the way my stash is turning out. its just taking longer to organize then I anticipated. I keep trying to remind myself this is a really busy time of year for me, things take longer then normal. but still I want it done.

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headdress

head dress I made my sister for Christmas. yeah I know I am slow at posting this stuff.
she kept posting pictures of headdresses she liked and I used those for inspiration. I really liked the way it turned out.




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back to the drawing board.

I decided I really need to get back to working on some of these unfinished projects I have going. most of them I either got bored of working on, ran out of something, and keep forgetting to purchase it while I’m at the store. or could not get a crucial piece that I really thought would be an easy thing to acquire but was/is not. and last of all I get frustrated or lost in putting something together, put it aside to work out later and never get back to it. or it might be a combination of a few of those things.
my black bow dress is a case in point. I became very frustrated at it because I was having trouble figuring out how to get the sleeves and lining to do what I wanted. plus even though I am using a pattern for the basic shape I’m not really using the pattern exactly. I completely changed the back of this dress from what the pattern called for. it calls for a back zipper, but because of the back needing to be one piece I have to put the zipper in the side. and that is where the problem with the lining and sleeves and everything came into play, so the dress was set aside.
I pulled it out last week and realized my issue wasn’t all that much of an issue. and I have seen this exact thing on formal wear dresses. I basically just need to make a clip in the lining. something so simple but I could not see because I was mad at the dress.
after getting the dress pulled back out I also realized I had used the fabric I had for lining the skirt to make a blouse with. it was white cotton, and that is never safe if it sits too long. I was going to try to figure this dress out a few months ago as well, but when I saw I didn’t have the fabric I just put it back. this time though I went out and purchased what I needed, and so far the dress looks as if maybe I might actually finish it this year.

I also want to point out that I only have that black trim pinned to the dress to see how it would look. its not going to hang down like that. and the skirt under it is a petticoat, not the actual skirt I still have to make that too. so this is my first sewing project for the year, my goal is to finish it this month..... we will see.

vest for my dad.

I meant to post this a few days ago but the flu had taken over my life and is just now starting to let me have it back.
for my dad I made him a vest. I used Simplicity 7030 as a guide pattern since I already had it, and I also used an old vest of his that no longer fits him for some inspiration style wise. since I was going for a western style vest, which is much more my dad’s style then a dress vest. ever since I was little I remember him wearing denim vests. and through picture evidence I know he wore them well before I was ever born. in the last few years he has outgrown his much loved vest so I thought it would be a nice gift to make him a new one. and I love the fact that when I gave it to him he was so excited he wanted me to take his picture right away before the light was gone (that is so the photographer side of him).

I used a heavy duty jean thread to give it a more professional look, plus it stands out nicer. I think you can buy it at pretty much any fabric store, if not I know that wawak has it.
so after some pretty major changes to the pattern, and making a bunch of new pieces and having to do all kinds of math and alterations I was very happy with how the vest turned out.
I am getting to the point now it seems where I am rarely just taking a pattern and going with it. I am forever altering them to make them more my own. having a base to follow though really helps in getting lines right though, so I doubt I will ever stop using patterns.



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Christmas

its time to post about Christmas gifts, now that Christmas is over and I have no fear of the respective recipients seeing their gifts before the event. lets just start with the pj pants I made my niece. she loves puppies which is why I chose this fabric. its a pretty basic pattern. I actually made my sister and my brother in law some pj pants from the same pattern, different fabrics though . unfortunately I forgot to take a pictures of them before I wrapped them. and now they have been whisked away to their proper home. maybe next time I visit them I can then demand a picture. I will post the rest of the gifts I made at a later date. since I actually did get photos of three others I made.

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Christamas

I have been working on a few projects for Christmas gifts the last few weeks. I have them all finished on time Yea! I can't post them yet but in the next few days I will post about what I have made.

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