Suede Mittens

Hey all! It's a pretty chilly February day, so I thought I would post about some cute mittens I made this past Christmas! (This purple pair was for my Secret Santa gift!)

They were surprisingly easy to make, but look pretty professional. My one suggestion for anyone who wants to work with leather/suede: invest in the proper needles for your machine.

The pattern is based off of  pair of mittens that I actually own.

First I cut out all the lining pieces in black fleece (this fabric is leftover from my Toothless onesie!). Using those as a template I traced my outer suede pieces to be lightly larger. This is so that the lining fits comfortably inside. Because both fabrics are fairly bulky.

I also cut out the holes for the thumbs and the thumb pieces. You could alternatively just make a 2 piece mitten pattern (with the thumb part of the main piece), but I find these have more articulation.

Keep in mind when cutting out your pieces that you are supposed to be making 2 mirrored mittens and that the fabrics have good and bad sides. Make sure you don't end up with 2 rights or 2 lefts! When you construct the lining make sure the good side of the fabric is going to be on the inside.

I first sewed my linings together, for the main part of the mitten, assembled the thumb pieces and then sewed the thumb into the thumb hole.

Then you repeat the exact same process with the suede, except that the good side should face out and the seams should be on the inside. And also that the stitching will be a lot more challenging. I had some difficulties getting the thumb piece to properly fit in the hole...
Binder clips can be useful to a certain extent, but don't rely on them too much.

When both the inside and outside are assembled, they are slotted inside one another and a trim is sewn along the unfinished cuff to hold both pieces in place. On the purple ones I just used a strip of my purple suede folded over the edge. On the black pair, I ran out of black suede, so I used a contrasting green suede. This black pair with the green trim was made for my older sister! ;D

Forest Guardian - Belt, Bracers & Quiver

Greetings! Welcome to part 2 of Forest Guardian. If you want to look at my pants, shirt and cape, go here!

Thanks to EleventhPhotograph for taking some nice shots of me at Costume Con!

I must say, I am very inexperienced at working with leather, but I daresay I learned a great deal on this project! Namely that leather stretches a lot when you try to sew layers together. You can't pin it, but mini bulldog clips work surprisingly well. I suggest picking up a pack from Staples (or any other local office  supply store) if you are going to do this, its worth it. I have red and green ones! :) Also get a leather needle for your sewing machine.

You may notice that there are 2 different colours of leather used in this project; I used the 2 different sides of my main leather (the leather side and the suede side) as well as a matching suede for reinforcement purposes. Any outer detail is done with the suede side of the leather, while the inner reinforcement layers are done in suede.

I started with the bracers. First I patterned my shape in paper, when I was satisfied I cut out 3 for each arm: 1 suede, 1 leather, 1 leather (with the middle cut out).

I sewed the suede and leather layers together, then sewed the fancy outline piece on suede side out.

Then I attached the loops for the lacing. It was basically a strip of suede with circles cut out of the middle folded in half. (Above you can see it folded and open) These were sewn on following the top stitching line of the inner part of the topmost detail piece. I added one more loop above where my middle finger would be on the inside so I could take the end of the lace and secure my hand into the bracer. They were designed to go over the top of the hands, and without that loop they would just flap awkwardly. The bracers are strong enough, but still bend easily at the wrists allowing me full range of motion.

Next I made 2 pouches for the belt. One is a coin purse, the other was for my cellphone. I didn't have any pockets in this garment, so the pouches were both practical from a wearers point of view as well as a design point of view. Meaning most adventuring type characters would need a place to put stuff.

The coin purse was actually based off the dice bag of a friend of mine at D&D. It was made using a strip of leather with an eye shaped piece of suede attached to each side. the suede was pinched and folded evenly along the top edge where I marked and punched holes for the laces. When pulled tight the laces cinch in the top, closing the purse. I attached a loop at the back to hang it off the belt.

The second pouch, or my ye olde cellphone pocket was made by simply plopping my phone down on the leather and drawing a rounded shape slightly bigger than it. I cut 2 pieces like this and attached beltloops to the back piece before sewing them together. Then I made a fancy flap to go over the top.

 The belt itself is both decorative and functional. It had to be strong enough to support the weight of the quiver and pouches while still remaining tight and holding the layers in place at the waist. Like the bracers there is a piece of leather with a piece of suede underneath to give a bit more support. Visually I didn't want any buckles on this costume, I wanted all the closures to be done with ties, because it looks more organic/more handmade. The belt folds under itself and the narrower section is threaded through a slit in the belt.

This is then cinched tight with a tie. On the surface of the belt there are belt loops that hold up the ties. This keeps the pouches and quiver from shifting positions. The tie is simply 4 different laces sewn together at each end with a triangle of leather. There are a couple feathers hanging off the end as a detail.

The quiver itself was a big rectangle with a "cuff" added at the top to make it a little more fancy.

Attached to the main piece on the inside is a thin strip of styrene plastic (leftover from Asuna) to provide reinforcement and help the quiver keep shape when the arrows are removed. I simply sewed a piece of suede over it to attach it. The stitching is visible on the back of the quiver, but that part is to the inside and is therefore unnoticeable. (Though there are 3 pieces pictured I only ended up putting in 1!) I was going to make the quiver lined with an extra layer of suede to hide the reinforcement, but that didn't work well so I scrapped that bit.

I used bulldog clips to "pin" the quiver into it's finished shape and marked where the beltloops needed to go. I attached the beltloops to the back of the quiver, then stitched the bottom in, before closing up the side seam.

In the original design, the quiver was actually supposed to go at the shoulder, but with the straps, embroidered panel and cape that area was going to be too busy. Also I didn't want the straps to tug on any of the embroidery. So it was a last minute decision to move it to the hip, but was worried I would get called out on this for inaccuracy because I know next to nothing about archery. Incidentally I was told by a fellow costumer in the greenroom that it was actually a perfectly accepted location for the quiver (apparently used by Olympic athletes, or so I was told) more logical than a back quiver in certain circumstances. Woo!

Steampunk Corset

Salutations! This is the first steampunk outfit I've put together in quite some time. (The last one was my steampunk inspired lolita oufit back in 2011!) I am a steampunk fan, so it would probably come as no surprise that everything in this outfit excluding the corset came straight out of my own closet.  Hahaha

This was my final project for corsetry and the second corset I've ever made! This is also the first time a draped a pattern. I debuted this outfit at CostumeCon 32 and won a Hall Award for the ensemble. Planning on decking this out with more stuff in the future--like a weapon or possibly some gloves. But for now it's complete. 

Special thanks to Mike at EleventhPhotograph for the photoshoot! I have a few more pics up on my Cospix profile!

It is a decorative corset intended to be fairly tight-laced (at least for me!) I am particularly proud of how the back of this piece turned out. In terms of comfort, it's actually fairly comfortable when standing, but when sitting the neckpiece doesn't allow me to lean back. This makes it a bit tiring to wear for long periods of time.

I had a hell of a time figuring out my colour scheme (as I almost exclusively design in pencil, without colour), but I am glad for the colours I eventually chose. Special thanks to the lovely gal at King Textiles who helped me pick out my fabrics! I like the contrast with the muted gold and the pale orange versus the brown suede. Mostly I really like fabric with texture. The dupioni (gold) and the raw silk (orange) have such great texture! Someone commented that the raw silk looks almost like woodgrain.

Here is my original concept sketch. I started my design process by sifting through the hundreds of google images of steampunk, corsets, and victorian fashion. I picked out the different elements I liked and came up with this. It is designed to be worn with or without the neck piece. In the original concept I had vertical buckles attaching the two at the back, but scrapped that during the build process, as I found them to be completely unnecessary; it would make it harder to get on and off by myself, and would clutter the design. I might add the chain detail at the front eventually, but I kind of like it without it.

To start I adjusted my dress form (which I refer to as Molly) and padded out the hips to be higher. This is to accommodate my shorter torso. The goal here was to make as accurate a representation as possible of my body. Then I used 1/4" twill tape to mark out the shapes I wanted on the body. These tapes marked the seam lines and the garment edges. When doing this it is important to decide which edge of the tape is the "line" and then stick with that. Be consistent, or you will confuse yourself.
Then using muslin I draped the design. Each section/piece is a different piece of fabric carefully smoothed to contour the body and pinned in place to the edges of the section. Then I took a ballpoint pen and traced the seam lines/edges onto each piece. I also marked the waistline. Additionally, when draping a corset it is best to keep the grain of the fabric perpendicular to the waist line, meaning the grain should run straight up and down the body. (Woven fabric stretches on bias/45 degree and can alter the shapes enough to be a problem later in the process.)

I unpinned the pieces from Molly and cut them out following the outline I had drawn. The two patterns were as follows: The neckpiece pictured above, and the corset pictured on the left. The corset has 6 panels on each side.

I then made a quick mockup to ensure the fit was correct. The neck piece needed some minor adjustments because my neck is thinner than Molly's. An average corset is designed to have a 2" gap at the back, so that when laced it cinches in the body. This obviously doesn't work on the mannequin, so after draping the pattern you then calculate and carve off the proportional amount from each panel. (This was not done to the neck piece because cinching in the neck would cause strangulation.) I made my corset just a fraction narrower at the waist, shaving off the same amount from each panel. This would bring the waist in tighter when tight-laced, giving the waist more definition. After doing this you may have to readjust the seams a little bit so the sides are the same length.

I used the leftover black coutil from my Black Corset, Beetle Green Trim to be the inner 2 layers of my corset (making this corset have 3 layers total). The silks I used as my outer "fashion layer" would be too thin to hold the bones without eventually fraying, also would not stand up to tight-lacing very well. I needed 4 of each of the 6 pattern pieces to make my inner layers. For the neckpiece I did the double inner layers in black twill instead, this would be less constricting and allow more motion (as twill is much less stiff that coutil), while still maintaining the desired structural stability.

I gave myself 1" seam allowance at the top and bottom of each piece, and 1/2" at the side seams.

I then cut out the pieces in the appropriate colours of silk. The center front and center back were done in the orange, while the rest was done in gold.

When it came to the neckpiece I did my best to just ensure the grainline was perpendicular to the neck. This meant I got some interesting diagonals on the shoulder/back.

I did my corset supply order from Farthingales to get my various findings. This included my busk, grommets and bones. I also got some d-rings that I didn't end up using... I made sure all my exposed metal pieces would have a matching colour. In this case that meant that all of them were an antique bronze colour. I think this complimented my fabric choices much better than a silver would.

For this corset I used 2 enamel bones for the center back and spiral bones for the rest. Overall there was 10+ meters of boning. The enamel bones don't bend sideways, which is why they are used in the center back, this keeps the lacing more straight/aligned than spirals which are bendy in all directions.

Next I added in the busk to the center panel. You can find out how I did that by reading my Busk Closure Tutorial. Don't worry, you can come back to this. Hahaha
I basted all the layers for each panel together, following my seam lines, and serged the edges (excluding the center back, which was bagged out, pressed and top stitched first). This would prevent fraying while I worked as well as keep the layers from shifting. Then I prepped all the bone casings. For the internal bones (the ones next to each side seam) I drew out my lines carefully on the fabric and then machine stitched them. For the external suede cases I cut and measured the strips, then top stitched them on with the raw edges folded under.

I sewed the side seams on every piece except the center front and back. I made sure to carefully line up my basting stitches and edges and waistline. I didn't want to overshoot into my bone casings anywhere. The most important thing here is patience and accuracy. It will make for a cleanly finished corset.

Next I top stitched the suede strip that would mask the colour transition (orange to gold) on the center front and center back panels. This was to make the transition look less jarring. On the neckpiece this suede strip was sewn into the seam, because the layers were thin enough. On the corset though, this would be impossible because the 4 layers of coutil, plus 2 layers of silk AND a suede layer would be too much for just about any sewing machine. So instead I left it flapping while I sewed each of those seams, then I carefully folded it over and top stitched it in the ditch so the machine wouldn't have to go through the seam allowance also. To say this was challenging is an understatement. Haha

Once the pieces were all together it was time to prep and insert the bones. This process actually took quite some time. It is easiest to cut, tip and insert each bone before moving on to the next, otherwise you are likely to get them mixed up. As a general rule you should cut the bones to be 3/4" shorter than the finished case, this allows a little more room for them to bend so they wont bust out of the casings when you try to sit. (Trust me, sitting is by no means overrated!)

In terms of cutting spiral bones, I highly recommend investing in a pair of aircraft cable cutters, which you can pick up at most hardware stores (though the salespeople are likely to be confused as to your intended use of that tool...). They are the best thing to cut through the bones, normal wire cutters just don't work very well (it can be done, it's just a lot of effort). They cost around 20$ though, so if you are planning on making multiple corsets it's a good investment, if not you may want to look into pre-cut bones (which are more expensive than buying a roll of boning). Figure out what works best for your budget/your project!

Now my corset was all pieced together (pictured left I still needed to top stitch the bone casing edge on the CF panels). Below you can see what it looked like after I top stitched it. You can see how it masks the colour transition perfectly!

At this time I also pressed the inner seams open & flat, then cross stitched them down, this reduces bulk on the inside and makes it more comfortable to wear (because the seams wont get folded over weirdly when you put it on and be uncomfortable).

Next was trimming and grommets. The suede trim on the corset was much easier than that on the neckpiece, as the curves were less extreme. Suede has a lot of stretch to it, but it is not nearly as kind as bias tape in that respect. So there are some places under the edge where I had to fold/gather the trim to get it to work. But it looks great on the outside! So that's all that really matters. I tucked the ends under and hand stitched them down.

The grommets I put in using the grommet press I have access to at school. It makes it much easier I had a record breaking zero failed grommets! (Not planning on buying my own press though for reasons of expense.)

The last thing I added (besides the laces) was a buckle under the left arm. Again I picked a buckle with metal that matched the colour of my busk and grommets.

I'm sure I will be wearing this to many more events!