Sunday, March 18, 2018

Ohana

Pyjamas and pillows - practice makes perfect.

To date I’ve made a Doctor Who pillow, a Hogwarts crest pillow, those froot loops pjs from an earlier entry, and these. I’m already bored with pyjama pants, but woven cotton is supposedly easier to sew with and pjs are an easy pattern to cut and assemble. (Also, the character wovens available at JOANN? I’m in love with all of them.)

For me right now, it’s all about practice… and I need it. You do not want to see the fucking mess I made out of the Stitch pj waistband. Granted, it was a different pattern from the first pair of jammies but I was dying to use it because I didn’t have to try and force the elastic through the casing; it was sewn directly onto the pants.

Stretching elastic and sewing straight? Yeah… not as easy as the interwebs make it look. I’m going to need to make more pants… and I have some more awesome Doctor Who fabric to do it with.

I have been buying patterns and knit fabrics (think t-shirts) for my next project (or several) and I can’t wait.

I was able to find some Marauders’ Map knit fabric and I’m SO EXCITED to use it to make a shirt. I’m also terrified to cut into it. I see a bunch of shirts in the same style in my closet. All made long before I get the balls to use that fabric…

I’m finding that it’s almost better to buy PDF patterns online because people post SO many pictures of what they’ve made. I had a hard time finding store bought patterns that fit the ideas in my head and this seems to work. There’s a lot of feedback on how to tweak the PDF patterns and I’m loving it…

What I’m NOT loving is actually assembling the patterns. I ended up sending some of them to a local blueprint printer to have them printed, so I didn’t have to burn through an entire ream of paper and then tape all the sheets together. Of course, that couldn’t be as simple as it sounded. No. I wanted to pick them up so that I could make sure the pattern printed the correct size and I tried twice. They were closed both times. They finally ended up delivering them to me. I haven’t seen the charge on my card, so I’m pretty sure they were given to me.  I think the total cost was like $5, so they probably didn’t lose any money on the deal.

But then, I actually had to cut out the pattern and make the clothing. After the hell I went through to get the patterns printed, I decided to copy them onto a clear shower curtain liner. SLIPPERY! Even with bricks and taking my time, I still had problems tracing. And then, I cut away part of the Sharpie outline, so when I put the pattern on the fabric, I couldn’t quite find the cut line.

*sigh*

But.

I finally figured it out and I got those suckers sewn together. And. I. Am. In. Love.

These pants are so much more comfortable than the froot loop ones and I like the fabric better.

I can’t wait until I’m a little more confident and start making my own cosplay. Or at the very least, clothes I like in styles that actually fit me well.