I have intended to start a regular feature like this for some time but just haven’t gotten myself going on it. Times, they are a changing!

I designed this beach bag for Westminster Fibers last year to showcase the Beach line of fabric by David Walker. It’s a nice, roomy tote with a flat bottom, exterior pocket and interfaced with Soft n Stable so it doesn’t droop. I’ve made a couple for gifts; they’re really easy to sew and can be personalized in so many ways (I’m thinking laminated cotton for the exterior!)

Here’s what you need to make one:

Exterior: 7/8 yard (.81m)
Lining: 7/8 yard (.81m)
Straps: 3/8 yard (.343m)
Pocket: 1/4 yard (.229m)
Binding: 1/4 yard (.229m)
1/4 yard (.229m) of heavyweight fusible interfacing
7/8 yard (.81m) of By Annie’s Soft n Stable
3/8 yard (.343m) of 3/8” elastic

The nice folks at Westminster have the instructions in handy PDF format here for downloading. Enjoy!

DragonCon 2013 was a blast, as expected. Labor Day is usually a time most folks are trying to sneak in a trip to the beach but the geeks in my house all head into downtown Atlanta to spend a few days among our people.

I was an Attending Professional this year and spent a few hours on panels for the Costuming Track, which was just a joy. I love talking about sewing and getting the chance to do so with some amazing costuming professionals at a fun convention just makes me happy beyond belief.

Miss L loves dressing up just as much as I do, so I decided to sew companion costumes for us to wear one day. I was inspired to create these after reading the book The Night Circus. There’s such vivid imagery in the book and I loved the idea of playing with historical fashions to create my version of what Reveurs might wear.

L’s top is a girl’s boned ballgown bodice pattern I bought online somewhere. I drafted the skirt and used black piping between the pleated ruffle and the skirt to add a little flair. The stripes on her skirt are cut on the bias. Matching them up was fun. If you’re idea of fun means “crazymaking and dizzying.” My sweet friend Amber surprised us with the fingerless gloves she crocheted to complete the look.

My outfit used four patterns from Truly Victorian, including the corset and petticoat under the skirt. I’m so in love with the vest basque, it’s not funny. But it’s a crazy amount of fabric in this costume. Crazy. Like, 20 yards or so. Did I mention that it’s usually in the upper 80s — if we’re having a cool spell — and I was wearing a wig? Just a little bit hot in there. Major props to my Honey for helping me get in and out of that get up in a parking lot. He’s a real trouper.

Today was the first day of Little Stitchers summer camp at Intown Quilters and I couldn’t be happier.

This is the first time I’ve offered a camp for kids younger than 11. All my other camps (and the camps done by another teacher) are aimed at older kids. Inevitably, we get calls about things younger kids can do and have to turn them away.

After the fun we had with Miss L’s birthday party, I started brainstorming a camp for younger kids. All the projects involve hand sewing and each project builds on the skills from the previous projects.

Obviously I had to sign up Miss L, who has been disappointed that she’s not old enough for my other camps. She and two other students arrived bright and early this morning for the first three-hour camp day.

And they loved it.

Miss L is showing off the nametag she stitched up this morning. (Isn’t that fabric so cool? It’s by Timeless Treasures and has some great school coordinates.)

It was awesome to watch the girls work, contentedly sewing and then grinning broadly as they finished.

I have the best job EVER.

When I was in Houston last week, the delightful Jessica Levitt razzed me about not finishing up my DragonCon costume posts. Sigh. She’s right; I’ve been really slack in the blogging department for a while now. But I’m reforming my lazy ways and catching up with something that happened on Labor Day seems like as good a place as any to start.

This costume sort of came together at the last minute, in that I had a vague idea that I wanted something Steampunk with a corset but no clear plan for it. The boots were a given (my fabulous Fluevog  Babycakes that I got for a steal at Squash Blossom in Decatur) but the rest of it just sort of fell into place.

And yet I love it so!

I do need to give a major shoutout to the amazingly talented and sweet Ana Aesthetic, cosplayer and costumer extraordinaire. I met her at DragonCon in 2010 and am so happy to call her my friend. In addition to introducing me to some of the better dining spots in the area, she also looked at corset muslin #8 and steered me in the right direction on the fit issues I was having. Thanks to her help, I actually pulled off a wearable corset.

I used the Laughing Moon Silverado and think I may add the hip gores next time to make it fit just a wee bit better over my badonkadonk. LOL! The fabric is by Quilt Gate and such an amazing  Asian stripe. I do wish I’d cut out both sides independently, rather than with the fabric doubled over, just so I could have spread out the stripes a bit more evenly. Still, I had so many people comment on the corset and that just made my day.

The tiny top hat is a pattern from the Quilted Fish. I like it but I will probably make a full size top hat to wear in the future. My hair does not do well with combs, clips and barrettes, so I spent all day trying to keep the hat from migrating even further down my head. It does look super cool, though.

I made just a basic, elastic waist skirt from a purple stretch sateen and dressed it up with some embroidery from Urban Threads. Underneath is a simple petticoat that I whipped up with some lining fabric and layers of gathered tulle. It’s kind of a hodge podge of tulle (I was working my way through my former tutu supplies) but it gets the job done.

I need to add some Steampunk gear to really make the costume work but it’s definitely a great start. And insanely comfortable, in spite of all the steel boning.

If ever there was a question about my geeky-ness, it’s answered with one word: Dragoncon.

Yes, I am exactly that geeky. Not only am I enough of a geek to hang out with other sci-fi/fantasy/comic geeks for four days but I dress up. And now I’m also dressing up my offspring.

Less than two weeks before DC, I found out I was going to be on a panel about making costumes for kids. I was excited and a little nervous, as you might imagine. While I’ve sewn costumes for them, I wouldn’t describe many of them as “quick and easy,” which was the description of the panel.

Around that time, Miss L told us she wanted to attend DC with us instead of spending the weekend with her grandparents. And so an idea was hatched. I had already convinced my oldest and his girlfriend to dress as Dr. Who and Amy Pond for the con. Why not have L dress as a Dalek? She would coordinate with the young adults and I could have her model for my panel. Brilliant!

The skirt is a modified (read: wider) version of the No-Hem Skirt from my book. I used Heat n Bond to fuse 3″ felt circles to the skirt and slipped featherlight boning into the hem band to give it shape.

The headband is covered in the same fabric as the skirt and sealed with Mod Podge. I used battery-operated tea lights and clear plastic shot glasses for the lights, attached to the headband with elastic straps.

All told, I think I spent less than $20 on the whole costume. The felt circles were the most time consuming part but I still managed to pull it together in a couple of hours.

The payoff was definitely in the attention she got at the con. Passersby started complimenting her in the parking lot and the comments didn’t stop until we got back in the car at the end of the day. The three took off for about 90 minutes to hit the photo spots and I’m told they were quite a hit. They’re already talking about next year!

Boy, am I glad they can both sew. Mama’s got her own costumes to sew, you know.