Hey internet, I bet you missed me!

A lot of crazy chaos named school and life kidnapped me, but I'm back now with all sorts of projects and junk no one ever reads! But it feels good I guess to have a place to shove all your work just in case. 

Coming back I notice a lot of terrible things on this blog, first some posts aren't readable at all, sorry for that. Second, some pictures have poofed off the face of the earth (well, internet eart) - double sorry for that! Since my summer is coming to an end I don't think I'll have time to fix them, but maybe over winter holiday! 

Anyone know what “waste canvas” is? I sure didn’t, but I saw it at the fabric store and decided to experiment with it and so it sat, under a pile of fabric… for two years… The nice thing is that you can baste this disposable fabric onto another, prettier or more versatile fabric and embroider away on something a little more interesting than the standard Aida fabric.

Finally, I’ve gotten around to doing something with it… 

Would you like to see the process? 

What you will need:

• waste canvas 
• "background" fabric
• pattern
• water soluble marker/pencils/well controlled drops of blood
• seam gauge
• pattern requirements (floss, scissors, teeth, beads etc.)
• patience
• good eyes/magnifying glass/slaves 

The nice thing is that you can baste this disposable fabric onto another, prettier or more versatile fabric and embroider away on something a little more interesting than the standard Aida fabric. The downside is that there are what looks to be twice as many holes as there are on standard Aida. Since the fibres are meant to be pulled apart, this is a stiff fabric with an open weave. 

Got all your stuff? Ready okay. Go

1. BASTE your waste to the RIGHT side of your “background” fabric. I’m so used to working with interfacings that I must admit, this is a weird feeling for me…

See all those holes? I don't know about you, but this was a challenge for me to get used to

Take your marking device, lay out your grid and start stitching away – remember, light to dark…

Got everything lovely and filled? Great! Time to unravel and unwind…

Start at your corners and pull until you hit the design area…

Once you start pulling fibres from the design, pull S L O W L Y and scrunch as you go (like you’re trying to ruffle the pattern) to make sure you don’t snap the waste threads.

WARNING: this is a slow and yes, painful process if you have a lot of covered area like I do. You will have to pull one thread at a time, move SLOW and be prepared to have aching, scratched up fingers. You may get something akin to rug burn on the sides of your fingers (and I am NOT kidding about this – it stings)

Don't feel too bad - the fibres are fighting back but in the end, they will be reduced to a mere tumble weed of angry and sad...

No pain, no gain, and when you’re done you’re left with your pretty image on a fitting backdrop. Now, just… add some details…

And you’re done!

 Now you just have to find something to do with it...

Making cables with your knitting loom can be fun and gratifying. It also makes you feel like you've really knitted something special! However, it's no easy task. It's really easy to make your working threads too tight and have them snap on you when you're making you piece. I highly recommend that you make a mock up of every new yarn you use when you set out to make a cabled piece. Every gauge and fiber has its own strength and elasticity. It's better to know the limits of your yarn before you've put time into the actual garment.

 

What you'll need:

• 1 red (round) 31 peg knifty knitter
  
• Black/dark sharpie
  
• Aprox. 6oz gauge 5 (bulky) yarn
  
• Nifty knitter loom tool
  
• Crochet hook (for crochet cast on – optional)
  
• Stitch holder
  
• Yarn needle
  
• Scissors
  
• Measuring tape
  
• Piece of paper to keep track of where you are in the pattern
   

Stitch Key:

• E-wrap – the basic loop-a-loop cast on for your loom
  
• P – purl stitch
  
• K – knit stitch
  
• C – cable work
   

How to:

1. Measure the length or the leg that requires a warmer – write that down
    
2. Take your red round knifty knitter, get your sharpie and number all your pegs (if you've never done this before, you should, it really helps. If you're worried that you'll permanently disfigure your loom, you won't – the sharpie wears off eventually – usually within one project).
   
   
   
3. Cast on all 31 pegs using either the e-wrap or crochet cast on method.
   

*NOTE* we're now going to make one of the end borders. This is a garter stitch
border. You may knit any border you like, but keep in mind a few things, a) this stitch makes a fabric that may roll a little bit, b) if you choose a different border you might want to make a simple one since the cable work will command a lot of attention. FYI, this IS the border I used in my original,

1. Garter stitch border:
   
   Row 1: purl
   
   Row 2: knit
   
   Row 3: purl
   
   Row 4: knit
   
   *row means to P or K all the way around your loom – all 31 stitches will be purled or knitted*
   

You may extend this a few more rows if you'd like – measure and write down the length of the border. Assume that the bottom border will be this same length. Double the number you just wrote down and subtract if from the leg length. The resulting number is the length of cable pattern you will have to knit.

1. Pattern work:
   
   
   
   Row 5 – 9: (beginning at peg 1) P3, K6 – repeat until peg 30; K peg31
   
       Should be: PPP KKKKKK PPP KKKKKK PPP KKKKKK PPP K
   
   
    
   Cable prep: (this starts row 10)
   

• P peg 1 -3
  
• e-wrap peg 4 once; 5, 6, 7, 8 twice; 9 once
  
  (pegs 5-8 have 3 loops, 4 + 9 have 2)
  
  *note*
  keep your loops loose! This is an art in itself. If you make the loops too tight you will not be able to cross your threads over and if you try, they'll snap! If, however, you make the wraps too lose, your cables will be droopy (although it seems to be hard to make the wraps too lose).
  
• P next 3
  
• Knit the last (bottom) loop over all other loops on pegs 4 -9. When this is done peg 4 + 9 will have 1 loop left, pegs 5 – 8 should have 2
  
• Grab your stitch holder; take the loops from peg 6, 5 and 4 (elongating the threads where possible) and place them on your stitch holder. Let this fall to the back of your work.
  
• Take the loop from peg 7, elongate it to place it onto peg 4
  
• Take loop from 8 and place onto 5
  
• Take loop from 9 and place onto 6
  
• Now, take the stitches from your stitch holder and place the loop from 6 onto peg 9; the loop from peg 5 onto 8; and lastly the loop from 4 onto 7.
  

So, how'd it go? Were your loops too tight? Too lose? Take your time, do not force any loop onto a peg! If it is too short, it is too short. This is why I urge you to practice! If you force a loop onto a peg you could hurt yourself, break your loom, or snap your yarn! None of those options are optimal!!

If you're confidant in your loops, please continue on. . .

1. Repeat cable prep until peg 30. Your loom should be as follows
   
   PPP CCCCCC PPP CCCCCC PPP CCCCCC PPP
   
   Knit peg 31
   
   
   
2. Row 11: PPP KKKKKK PPP KKKKKK PPP KKKKKK PPP K (knit all former cable stitches)
   
   
3.  Repeat steps 5 – 7 until cable work is the length calculated in step 4
    
4. Repeat step 4 to make last garter stitch border. Remove with removal method of choice. 
   

   

   This is what a page of my knit book for this project would look like. this helps (me) to make sure I've made all the necessary stitches and also helps me to remember how large of an area I'm to knit. 

   
   
    

There! You now have a leg warmer! Might I suggest making another?

Questions? Please let me know, I'll try to help.

 

Anthony's hat for his black mage costumes is done! Very exciting. I was a little nervous about making this hat, but in the end it turned out well, I think.

Clearly, that's not him, but I'll get a pick of him in the hat yet!

The hat only took an hour to draft, cut and sew. In addition to being a breeze to make, you only need about a yard of 72" felt to make it (I got lucky and found a remnant at Jo Ann's – 50% off!), so this is super cheap too (especially because around this time they put all the felt on sale for about $2ish/yd).

Anyone interested in a tutorial?

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    The fabric is here! So, as promised, here is my review of ichiroya.com.

Overall Rating (5 max): ✯✯✯✯✯ 

Order Placed: 29 September 2010     Order Received: 12 Oct. 2010

Reference page: http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2/151542/

Fabric: silk

Size	Width: 14.5"
	Length: 472.5"

Technique: dyed and woven

History: quite new

Condition: excellent

Price$78.00 $38.00


Fabric as pictured on website:

Fabric as arrived:

Good: Ichiroya.com has a great selection of Japanese kimono fabrics of various fiber content, age, condition and price range. They accepted my payment promptly and my fabric arrived in less than 2 weeks. Their pricing seems fair, as does the shipping charges. The fabric was as pictured and as described on the internet. I didn't have to contact the company so I can't report on their promptness in this area.

Bad: There are way too many choices on this site! 

Overall: I would defiantly shop from this site again!

    Anthony and I were invited to a Halloween party. After much thinking, we've decided to be a version of a white and black mage from the Final Fantasy series. Naturally, I adapted the white mage's outfit from FF III to be more Loli-like, here's my idea:

    I don't know yet how Anthony's is going to look, all he's told me is that he wants "the hat", cape, and pants. . . it's a start.

    Well I can check one thing off my list, the leg warmers for Victoria. Here they are:

What do you think?

  I made them with the round red knifty knitter and two skeins (3.5 oz each) of bulky(5) yarn. They took me a week to make, but I could have done it in two days (a day a leg) if not for school and work. I could give the pattern up if anyone's interested. . .

    Okay, I know, I havn't made a report in forever. School started up and work geared up and wow, have I been busy! Here's an update for you if you're interested: 

1.My dress is nearly done. The overskirt needs to be hemmed, snaps sewed onto the forepart, snaps sewed onto the removable sleeves, and pearls to adorn the lace on the sleeves. 
2. Anthony's outfit needs a lining, a collar, some trim, and to be hemmed. I suppose he needs trousers too. . .

There's only a few weeks left for the faire! So I've got to be quick. My dress is almost done. So I'm not too worried. I'll feel bad if I can't get Anthony's done, but I feel like I can do it!

Victoria told me she wanted a pair of legwarmers for her birthday, so I found some pretty pink chunky yarn at Jo Ann's and have already knitted up one and a half! This year I may have her gift to her on time! I'll post a nice pic of them when they're all done, which should be soon, for real :} . I'm making the leg warmers with the red knifty knitter. I love knitting looms! So easy, and you can make all the real stitches of knitting without all those needles.

This semester, I had to take a speech class, which sucks – I am an awful public speaker. The upside is, I can use myself as a visual in my final speech. For my speech, I chose Lolita fashion as my topic! Yay! I hope it won't bore my audience. . . for my speech I will make a power point show, and a Lolita dress, I bought a pretty bolt of (what I hope is) pink kimono silk from ichiroya.com, to make a Waloli style dress. I've never ordered from this place before, but have been ogling their wares for 10 years online and in person at various fairs and events. Here is the link to the silk I bought: http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list3/151542/ . I'll update with pictures and a seller review when the fabric arrives. The fabric is a little pricey, I know. But given that it is silk with an authentic Japanese pattern, I was able to justify it to myself. Also helping in my justification is the burning desire I have for a lovely pink WaLoli dress to wear to the cherry blossom festival. It's just the perfect outfit to have for that occasion. (:

I'm going to go work on those legwarmers some more, but before I go for now, let me leave you with a list of things to come: 
1. Pictures and pattern review of finished Elizabethan gown
2. Pictures of Anthony's finished outfit (pattern was self-drafted)
3. Pictures and possible pattern for leg warmers (time depended – pictures for sure though)
4. Seller review for  http://www.ichiroya.com/ 
5. Waloli dress drawing board

I know - I haven't been around for AGES. Will it make you feel better if I tell you how to turn cake mix into cookies?

What you need:

• 1 box of cake mix (any flavour you'd like)
  
• ½ cup of fat – this can be any kind of oil, slightly melted butter or margarine
  
• 2 large eggs
  
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
  
• Chocolate chips and/or nuts (optional)
  

 
How to make your cake into a cookie:

1. Preheat oven to 350°
   
2. Put your oil/butter into a bowl. Add eggs and whip together. Add vanilla, whip one last time (I used an electric blender, but it's not necessary)
   
3. Empty contents of cake mix into your wet ingredients. Stir until all the cake mix is incorporated.
   
4. Add nuts and/or chips
   
5. Grease / cookie-proof your bake sheet
   
6. Drop cookies mix by rounded spoonful onto sheet.
   
7. Bake for 10 – 14 min – or until cookies are a light golden brown. Do not over bake, they'll get really hard and crumbly. 
 

 

 

Cake mixes make great impromptu cookies. Most grocery stores run killer sales on mixes (I got 5 for $5) so they're an affordable thing to keep on hand so that you could whip up tasty treats on short notice, or on a hunger whim. This trick is also a good project for kids and there are a lot of ways you can have fun and mix it up:

 
Instead of butter or oil for fat try ½ c of:

• Applesauce
  
• Purred banana
  
• Pureed pumpkin
  

 
Try adding seasonal spices to your mix like pumpkin pie spice


 
Add some dried fruit or oatmeal to your cookies for a yummy trail mix treat,


 
Get creative and have fun!

    The corset is done! Has eyelets and all! Here I am in all its glory. 

    The next thing to do is to make a dress to go over top – can't walk around the faire naked! (although my boyfriend insists the chemise and corset is far too many clothes already)

    To make a dress that fits properly, you've got to have your dress double set up right. Put on all your underpinnings and take your measurements. Next, deck your double out in all your underpinnings. Because the dummy can't squish like me, I set her up to have my corset measurements and tie the corset on as well as I can. Now measure her and make sure she matches up with your own.

I've begun with the muslin of the bodice. Cut out your pattern – I always cut a size too big. It'd rather resize with too much than too little. Take your creation and pin it on the double. Take your pins and fit that bodice!

If you've cut a pattern too large, you will have alterations to make.

Woah! too big!

Those pins make a tailored torso!

The blue line means, "Cut here so you can more your arms!"

After everything is cut to size and seam allowances added,

The needed seams in dashes

Connect the dots!

Cut on the blue one!

Ah, perfection!

  I make a copy in pattern ease. It holds up better than paper or tissue. I intend to use this pattern again and don't really want to have to fit it every time x_x. I'm going to turn this muslin into a flatline for the actual outer fabric so that the satin has a nicer body.

Let's bind some eyelets! This is one way I know; maybe you'd like to try? I took lots of pictures so I hope they help and give you confidence to try this yourself.

Before the how to, let's think – why would you chose to bind an eyelet rather than apply a grommet? First of all, it's period (period meaning it's what they would have used before 1830). In addition to being historically accurate, they're easier to apply that the metal grommets if you like upper body strength like I do, you don't have to worry out them popping out, and you don't need specialized tools.

Alright, the how to:

Materials:

Seam gauge: needed to you can space the holes accurately

Dressmaker's pen or pencil: to make out the eyelets

Needle: to help you pull the thread through the fabric, of course – choose one in a heavy gauge if your corset has a substantial interlining!

Thread: choose one that is STRONG! Try upholstery thread, some hand quilting threads, or machine embroidery threads. Remember that lacings are going through those eyelets and rubbing over your stitching. Pick a thread that can withstand it.

Awl, sharpened stick (really, no joke)/pencil: to make the holes. Something pointy like those will stretch the fabric and prevent ravelling. You can also use scissors or that weird hole punch thing that you buy at Jo Ann's to set grommets, but remember that once you cut into the fabric, it becomes weaker.

Ruler: lets you make sure the eyelets are in a straight line.

 

NOTE: These instructions are being written referring to your corset. If this is your first time trying this method, please try it out on scrap fabrics! Everyone needs to practice skills before they go to their corset >_<.

 

Steps:

1. 
   
   Find your eyelet channel. Take the ruler and with your dressmaker's pen draw a line from top to bottom of the corset right down the middle. This will let you set your eyelets in a nice strait line.
   
2. 
   
   Decide how your eyelets will be spaced. Take your seam gauge and dressmaker's pen and plot out where your eyelets will be.
   
3. 
   
   
   

   Take your pointy implement or scissors or punch, and make the eyelet holes. It may seem scary at first if this is your first time making a corset, but don't worry – you need to do this! If you're using a sharpened skewer or pencil to make your holes, please be very careful and mind your fingers!! Last thing you need is blood all over your pretty corset!

   

   
   

   
   
4. 
   
   Holes all in? Good. Grab your thread and needle and cut a very long piece of thread. Then match cut end to cut end of thread and put both cut ends through the needle. Tie all cut ends to the loop side so that you're sewing with 4 threads instead of one or two.
   
5. 
   
   

   Ready now? Take a deep breath and let's go: insert the needle into the back side of the corset and pull through to the front. Put the needle through the hole. Insert the needle through the threads just under the knot and pull to secure,
   
6. 
   
   

   Push the needle through to the front near your first stitch. Pull thread through all the way, pulling tight.
   
7. 
   
   

   Put the needle through the hole, push through back half way.
   
8. 
   

   

   Wrap the thread behind the needle. Pull needle though front of corset.

   

   Take a stitch over the stitch you just made to secure "L" shape.

9. 
   
   

   Insert the needle close to your last stitch from the back and repeat. Keep on and it will look like this:
   

   

   
   
   To finish the eyelet, continue doing what have been doing to make those "L" shapes. When you make your last securing stitch, tie off the threads on the underside of the corset.
   

 

I hope this tutorial helps you. If you have any questions please ask. Remember to try this method and perfect it before you actually implement it on your actual corset. 

    My corset is finally bound! I took the easy way out, I think. I did it with my machine in a rather haphazard way. I don't really recommend this technique. In hindsight, as I say with every corset, it probably would have been easier and prettier to do it all by hand. Maybe, as I also find myself saying with every corset I make for myself, I'll rework the binding by hand one day. I'd worry about it more if it was for someone else, but it's only for my use and I'll really be the only one seeing it, so I suppose it will do.

    Now I'm up to making eyelets. Up to this point I've only inset metal ones. This time, however, I have decided to bind them by hand. I've also decided to make the eyelets in a pattern to accommodate spiral lacing. So far - so good. Although it is very time consuming, I think the effort will be worth it. I think I'll post a tutorial for you all to see how to make a bound eyelet – or, how I bind them. . . for real this time, I swear!

    Alright! Finally, I have completed the dress. Here it is on my dummy. Hopefully I'll con someone into taking some nice pictures soon.

Back

    I've christened this dress the "Hell Dress" – why? Well, the original zipper shredded after I put it in, yes shredded! Then my serger went weird and I went through 3 needles! Crazy. Also, during the whole process I had the worse cramps! So, while being under the weather and frustrated, I failed to document this process well. I'm sorry. I'll try to do better on the next project.

    During this time, my bones came (yay!) and I have since put them into their proper channels. So now I will be working on finishing the corset and then I can, finally, move onto making my gown!