March Update

Hey all! These past few months have been pretty crazy, going from one project to the next, I haven't had any time to write some real content for the blog. And won't until May or June probably. Let's be honest. I've been far too busy at work constructing my projects for school.

I suppose it's time to reveal my current project: my Independent Study! This is an original design costume for a project that is essentially the Theatre School equivalent of a "thesis". Basically a final project. My main focus of the project is creating the armor, which is what my independent study is on. The rest of the costume will come later. :) This is going to be my introduction to Worbla, so get excited everybody!

In other news, my set design for My Fair Lady got accepted to our Ryerson Theatre School student exhibit at Prague Quadrennial, so I will be traveling to Prague this summer to do a short presentation and see the rest of the Exhibition! Super excited! :D Not bringing the model itself, just images. (Thank god! As I can barely bring that thing on the subway let alone on an airplane!) Only needs some minor adjustments in order to meet the standards.

For the next bit, most of my updates will be progress pictures posted on my facebook and instagram pages! Take a look there!

See you on the other side...

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

February Update - 4th Blogiversary

First and foremost, I have finally done a photoshoot of my Forest Guardian costume. As evidenced by my brand new banner! ;D Pretty rad huh? Still tweaking the colour scheme of the blog to match the new banner... toned down the orange a bit...

Special thanks to Mike (EleventhPhotograph) for doing this in subzero temperatures. The pics look fantastic! I can't believe I did this in -15 degrees. Did I mention this costume is made of really breatheable cotton?! I still have all my toes though.

Apparently I missed my own blogiversary this week? I can't believe I have been doing this for 4 years of my life? This year has been quite eventful, lots of costumes started, but not lots of costume finished. Which is a regret of mine. I hope in the coming year that I can focus on completing my started projects (like Toph, Vaporeon, maybe even Presea?), and also maybe actually blog about my completed projects (Sakura-chan? What happened??)...

Another regret of mine is that the blog has fallen into such bad disrepair. I have tons of broken links/photos and the ongoing rotation issues in my old posts... It is going to take some serious work to re-vamp the blog. Which I can't guarantee happening before I finish my degree. I must finish university so I can have some of my sanity back.

The highlights of this year include The Forest Guardian, Steampunk Air Captain, Isabelle, Toothless, and my various versions of CardCaptor Sakura. This year I also added lots of new skills to my arsenal like corsetry, tailoring, embroidery, and special effects makeup! I look forward to exploring those more in future costuming endeavors.

Today my show closed, which marks the last show I will do with Ryerson Theatre School. A bit sad, but I think I am ready to move on. Now for that degree... This is the homestretch people!

I have just submitted some of my designs to Prague Quadrennial, which is an international theatre design exhibition (in Prague), coming up this summer. We'll see if I make it in? My submissions included my Forest Guardian, set design for My Fair Lady and some preliminary designs from my upcoming independent study. Which I should really be working on...

That's all for now folks!

January Update

Wow, it's been 2015 for almost a month??

I spent my Christmas break in Japan visiting my sister Alex! We had tons of fun! You can check out all my crazy adventures on instagram, where I go by bobbinsthread.

As soon as I returned to Canada I was in full swing on my next production; Tales from the Vienna Woods. I am the Head Carpenter for this show. This is the last show I work on with the Ryerson Theatre School, and that makes me super sad! I have spent the last couple of weeks working nonstop on carpentry, which has been pretty fun! (Haven't managed to accidentally cut wood with extra seam allowance. Yet. Hahaha) My show opens on the 5th of February and closes on the 12th.

This of course explains my lack of updates. As I am still juggling school and show my blogging tends to become really low on the priority list... I can't promise anything new until February, as even though I have tons of stuff to share I have limited time to pull my posts together.

And also a thesis to work on. Yeah... I should probably get on that so I can graduate as planned.