Cat Patch for Halloween...Gift...in March

 This is for a friend who likes Halloween

 

 

Layers of Halloween

I have been shuffling through my cottons with the idea of making clothing that mixes them more aggressively than I usually do.  I am not one to shy away from mixing prints, but I do feel like I'd fallen into a rut of how I did it: a shirt with contrast bands; a dress with a single contrast print at the skirt hem; patchwork (so much patchwork.) 

The Gunne Sax/Gunne Sax Inspired dresses (and the dress I revisited while planning them) did help shake up my ideas of how and where to place the other prints, at least a little.  I definitely think that visible facings are something permanently added to my arsenal of contrast print placement options. (Those projects also helped me think more about using lace and trim just...in general, although it may be a while before that's something I think of with any frequency.)

I recently stumbled upon the "layer cake dresses" made by PerfectJacket on YouTube.  Those looked, in a general kind of way, like fun, so I grabbed a stack of Halloween and other prints and ran with my version of the idea

 

 It is ridiculous.

Halloween Eyesore (affectionate)

So.

In early 2001, I got some super clearance Halloween fabric from Joann.  I think it was about 4 yards?  Dark purple ground with a scattered "jack'o'lanterns in funny hats" print.

I used little bits of it over the years, including doing a dye/bleach experiment on a yard of it that turned the ground a nice pink, but I still had a solid two yards in the stash, waiting.

But then...

Time had passed and I had gotten more aware of things—one of the "funny hats" was a sombrero, and I had finally reached the state of knowing that was not acceptable.

I didn't want to donate the fabric, both because I didn't want it falling into the hands of someone who wouldn't think twice about the sombrero, and also because, cultural insensitivity aside, I liked the print.

I decided a while ago that I could appliqué something over every instance of the problematic pumpkin, and settled on the idea of hearts cut from a coordinating plaid fabric.

I did not, however, want to hand cut all however many hearts that would be, so I set the project aside.

A local friend got a laser cutter and said I could use it, so I thought that would be a great opportunity to make all the hearts. Then the friend moved. (well OK they moved closer, but they haven’t set the laser cutter back up yet.)

When I got the die cutter, I ordered a set of heart shaped dies, hoping one would be the right size to cover the corrupt curcurbit. And it is!

So I finally started seriously thinking about making a dress from that fabric...and knew I'd need to mix another print with it to have enough.  And that started me thinking of maybe making another GunneSax-type dress.  Bonus that the Gunnes Sax dress pattern I have has an A-line skirt, meaning that there would be fewer possible pumpkins to cover than if the upper skirt were a gathered rectangle.

A proper Gunne Sax dress, though, seemed too formal, so I decided to make (more) modifications to Fake Burda 6401/Mock McCall's 8197, with the goal being something informal and easy, with a pullover nonchalance.

I mean, "nonchalant" once you disregard the fact I had to appliqué 80-some hearts on the primary print.

 

Fortunately, I do still love zigzagging densely around little fused-on fabric cut outs, so that part wasn't so bad.

Simple Pumpkin Shift

I have been working on a probably way-over-complicated dress, part of the complication of which involves fusible web.  I knew I didn't have enough fusible web for all the parts I needed, so I did what I could, ordered more, and then did as much assembly as possible while waiting.  I decided that, when I got to the point where I could do no more, then I'd take a (relative) break by making a super simple dress while waiting for the fusible web replacement.

It's another Fake Burda 6401, this time back at the Burda imitation itself, and not the McCall's 8197 emulation (nor the experimental hybrid Gunne Sax abomination that's using the fusible webbing...)  I also followed the lead of the all-black Fake Burda 6401 with the tiered skirt, and did that with this, which did make it a little fussier than it could have been, but still not bad, especially since I managed to get the ruffler set right for what I needed. 

I was able to get it cut out and assembled all today!

More Patchwork! More Halloween Patchwork!

A friend's birthday is approaching.  Time for more patchwork!  More Halloween patchwork!

 

This friend is just as much of a Halloween All year person as I am--more so, actually.  That's one of the reasons we're friends.

All of these fabrics were from my stash.  Most of the prints are actual Halloween prints, even those that don't have specific Halloween imagery, but I did end up calling in a few non-Halloween prints (two of which also showed up in the recent not-exactly-Halloween patchwork vest.)  I only repeated one of the prints, and I took the graphics from markedly different parts of the design, so they don't appear to be the same print, and I still consider this to functionally not repeat any print.

There are eight of each of the solid colors, and 16 of the black.  My plans for this project evolved as I started (die) cutting things, taking into account how many squares I had versus how many would make geometric sense.

I used the 60mm die, and the finished squares are about 50mm, or just under 2".  The finished size is about 11" x 15", or about 28cm x 38cm.

Inside, between lining and outer layers, is more of the striped fabric used in the apple patchwork messenger bag and inside the camo foil bucket bag. I also interfaced the patchwork sides.

I actually got this zipper, I believe, from the friend for whom I made this bag--they had gone to the craft thrift store when it was about to close for renovations, and the entire store was basically 'pay what you want,' so the friend grabbed a bunch of zippers for me.  This one was just the right color and length for this project.

 

A project like this doesn't make much of a dent in the stash, but it's still fun to see what's in there that'll work.

Citrus-esque Vest

Continuing the patchwork adventures with the die cutter and the scrap bins, this time with the goal of making a vest front.

I've made two versions of New Look 6514 using woven cotton patches made from 2" squares that I cut by hand, choosing to cut the squares at 2" because I have a ruler that width.  I later made Simplicity 9630 from heavier fabric patches, cut at a larger size.  Now that I have the die cutter, I wanted to try...smaller.

I chose the 35mm square die, with the idea that the finished squares would be around 1".  Roughly.

I had spent time (happily) poking through the scrap bins and sorting out groups of coordinating fabrics.  This one was built around some Very 1970s green and orange prints, contrasted with black and white.  I originally assumed I would use it for doll clothes, but this project required more fabric.  A lot more.

I pulled some from other scrap assortments, the small yardage stash, and a little bit from the large yardage, too.  I don't generally have a lot of orange or yellow, so that need, plus a variety of black and white, meant I called in a few Halloween prints.  There are no pumpkins, so the Halloween touches may be subtle.  It's fine either way.

Halloween Patchwork Shirt

 Finally finished!  I took the first photo of this project

on October 7.  I finished it on October 27.  That's nearly three weeks.  The lined patchwork blazer I made last year, using a pattern that was entirely new to me, took five days total.  And the first Halloween patchwork project I did was acknowledged as a distraction tactic (and also took five days.)  This year's project did not distract from...potential upcoming events...and in fact that uncertainty is probably what dragged this project out for so long.

But it's done!  And it's cute!

 

 

Pink'n'Punk'n

Untold years ago, I bought a quarter yard of an orange jack'o'lantern on white ground Halloween print from Joann; I probably figured I'd use it for doll clothes.  But.  I stopped sewing doll clothes for sale so often.  And when I thought of using it for something for me?  Well, with it being orange on white, it definitely had marks against it.

A few years ago, I got the idea of overdying it, to make the white pink. I finally did that a few weeks ago, and then I was determined to finally use it for something.

I checked the stash and juggled the length limits and ended up with this

Halloween Patchwork Blazer

I have once again made a Halloween patchwork project.

I made the first one in 2020, inspired by a friend's similar project.  Then made another one the next year because my small yardage storage was getting crowded.  Last year I started to wonder if this was becoming a tradition.

And here we are this year, the evening before Halloween.

 

 I don't think it's a tradition yet--if it were, I might have thought of making it before October 25 and starting it on the 27th.

The Rest of the (Doll) Dresses

A few weeks ago, I posted a bunch of doll dresses I'd sewn, saying I needed to change my serger thread before I could sew the rest. Well, I did and I did.

The two lower right dresses are made from fabric purchased at the intervening visit to the craft thrift store, so this is a few more dresses than I expected to sew.  Still,  they're sewn, and I will offer them around certain doll circles in the near future, and proceed to sew things that can use white serger thread (I'm already partway through another modified Burda 7831 button up shirt, using the pink background fabric in the photo, which is also fabric from the last trip to the craft thrift store.)

Just-Post-Mid Project Pause

 I'm sewing more doll dresses to sell--these were all sewn with the thread already in my sewing machine and serger

I have two more of the high waist dresses, and two more of the A-line dresses, cut out and ready to go, but I need to change the thread in the sewing machine and the serger for those, so I'm making a few other projects before doing that.

The A-line dresses are a shortened version of an original Blythe-size pattern I made, so they fit Rainbow High bodies like this

As much as I am not the target market for the overall Rainbow/Shadow High Aesthetic, I do appreciate that I can use Blythe patterns for their clothes.

Bats in Phrase

 I was planning to move on from modified Burda 7831 button up shirts, but I got into my fabric stash and realized this Halloween print cotton was a nice shirt weight, so: time for another hacked Burda

Cats and Owls and Jack o'Lanterns in Shirt Form

 I bought a particular Halloween print from Joann years ago with the idea from the start to make a short sleeve buttoned shirt, and I finally figured I had the pattern and practice to do it justice.

I was right!

Blue Bomber

 I wanted to use up the rest of the blue knit from the previous project; I had many options, and decided to go with another button-up variation on New Look 6120's bomber jacket.

And while a solid blue jacket would probably have been perfectly useful, we all know I'm going to make things more complicated, but in a way that comes easy to me, which means: appliqués

Batty

 I have a list of projects I want to sew eventually, but didn't feel like working on any of them yet (although the list did include the previous jacket, so it has been worked on already.  Just a little.)  I still wanted to sew something, and decided to finally see how much of a shirt I could get out of the 3/4 yard of Halloween bat print interlock from Joann that's been in my stash for a few years.

Turns out I could get quite a bit of shirt out of it

Patch Vest Video

 I pushed myself to get this video of the making of the Halloween patchwork vest edited and posted for Halloween, then promptly forgot to post it here, too

Halloween Patchwork Jumper Fix

 Last year, I made a Halloween-themed patchwork jumper from Kwik Sew 4138 McCall's It's Sew Simple 9603 (they're the same pattern.)  Since it was a new-to-me pattern, I chose a waist size that ended up larger than needed

and only got around to fixing that this week

(inadvertently spooky photo?)

I tried it on and pinched out the waistband so it felt comfortable on my waist, instead of falling generously below it--ended up being 3"

I picked out a few inches of top stitching around the waistband side seams, four times for each side, plus several structural seams, to free the skirt and expose the seams.  It was annoying work.

Then I cut off the seam allowances at those waistband side seams and sewed new seams at ¾", followed by gathering the skirt a bit more to fit the new waist band width between the untouched stitching, then sewed everything back together.

I do not care that there are now thick lumps of back tacking on the top stitching.  No-one's going to be getting close enough to my waist to see.

Now, maybe I'll finally wear this!  ...mostly next year, since this year's Halloween is only a few days away.

Roll the Die: Patch Vest

 

 Rolled a 4: Patch Vest! (at this point I want to mention, with great amusement, that I didn't have to re-roll any of these.)

Patch here means patchwork, just like the previous project, and vest is view B of New Look 6514.

The vest pattern is completely straightforward and reminds me that I do want to make more vests

just

without cutting a lot of 2" squares from scrap fabric and taking over a day to assemble them into panels just a bit bigger than the pattern pieces first.

     Once that was done, though, zip zoom and the vest was finished

Roll the Die: Varsity

Rolled a 6: Varsity

Which meant combining these patterns--the bomber jacket from New Look 6120 from 1999, and the "loose-fitting unlined baseball jacket" of Simplicity 8175 from 1987

and using up the fabrics left over from the two pairs of pants and the Carbuncle Gonk Split shirt I made for the kiddo.

It took a few improvised changes as I was cutting things out, but I made it work

Spoopy Mask

 I have thought of making a mask from Halloween print cotton for a few years now, and I finally did

As with most of the masks I've made, I used the pattern from CraftPassion, with a layer of heavy embroidery stabilizer inside and lined with fabric from a somewhat high thread count sheet.

I used to make masks with ties, but I am getting tired of accidentally getting my hair tangled in them, so I'm trying elastic (the previous mask I made for me with elastic, I accidentally used the larger pattern size and it feels like it's engulfing my face, sooo I don't wear it.)  So far it seems fine, which is good. You'll never convince me to wear a (non-medical-grade) mask with elastic that hooks around my ears.