Ike: the making- Part 1

This was one heck of a project! I made a costume based on Ike, from Fire Emblem for a good friend of mine. He has a part in a small indi movie, and needed to supply his own costume for it. The problem, was that I had about two weeks notice to start and finish it! I took on the challenge because I love the design, and I thought it would be a wonderful addition to my portfolio. Many hours, and a few sleepless nights latter I finished the costume right on time, and thanks to Max I have pictures to share my process with all of you.

Today I will start with the jacket.


My least favorite part of sewing, cutting out the patterns! I started with a commercial pattern, and then tweaked all of the cut out pieces on a dress form.

I finish all of my edges when I'm sewing, so here I am serging the edge of every pattern piece before I sew it together.
The shell of the jacket. I serged the lining in, since all of the edges are covered in binding. You can also see the collar I draped , and the beginning of the binding on it.

A messy shot at the half way point in the binding. All of the binding was hand sewn to the inside of the jacket.
Binding finished, and sleeves attached. The jacket is closed with a invisible zipper.

Thats it for the jacket! I forgot to snap a picture of it with the attached coat tails, but you will be able to see them in the final post when I put up the finished product =)
Next up is the cloak.

More sketches

Just a few quick sketches I did while on my break at work today. I'm focusing on keeping my drawings loose right now, and my figures in balance. It helps to live with an artist!
Speaking of, there is now a link to Max's (my wonderful boyfriend) blog on the right hand side of this page. Max also made the banner for this blog for me, If you look closely, you can see my name painted on the sewing machine . =)

Working on new skills

So this is totally a procrastination post- I had planed to make a post for the last costume I finished today. But because I'm a bit lazy, I'm going to make this post about two skills on working pretty hard on right now. Draping, and fashion sketching.

I've been an artist my whole life, in one form or another. Next to sewing, my next strength was drawing for a long time. Sadly, around Junior year of high school I started to let my drawing slip, and focused entirely on sewing and crafts. I'm starting to pick up the pencil again, because I've realized that to be the best costumer I can be, I need to be well rounded in my skills, and that includes being able to design.
So right now I'm working on a few designs for my portfolio, so that I can show that I am capable of creating a garment from start to finish.
This is the start of the first one. Its only the first sketch, but it captures the general idea of the dress. I'm still playing with the color, but I'm leaning towards shades of green, possibly an olive color. Think of this as a sampler piece, its going to show everything I have learned about draping so far.




And here, is my first drape! Its a basic bodice, and shortly after this picture was taken I draped a skirt for it, and put it together as a dress. Its a bit messy, but I am so pleased with it. I'm teaching myself from a book, so it is a bit slow going, but I'm already in love with the art.


Next time I post, It will be my Ike costume (unless I put it off again!)

Welcome to my blog

Hey everyone, and welcome to the new home of my craft blog!

This is a space for all of my craft work. Sewing, knitting, sketching and painting, home decor projects.. anything crafty! Sewing and crafting is a huge part of my life. Its how I express myself, and I love to share my passion with others. I plan on creating tutorials and craft along projects on this blog occasionally, so that I can experiment with my teaching skills.

I'm preparing to jump into the professional world soon , so your going to see a lot of activity while I'm gathering work for my portfolio. I hope you enjoy my work, and please feel free to ask any questions about it!