WickedFaire

Has now been and gone...not quite as good as last year, but we looked fantastic!  I didn't take as many pictures as I have in past years; for now, I'll just be posting the relevant ones -- the four of us as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse!

 Me -- Famine

 Ria -- War

 Kara -- Death

 Phil -- Pestilence

WickedFaire is this weekend!  We're almost done with our costumes...

Behold, Pestilence:

 Corset is almost done!!  Here it's laying flat....

And here it is on the dummy!  Just have the ribs left to do...and finish my pannier!

Didn't do as much as I'd like this week, since a slept-wrong stiff neck turned into a pinched nerve...or something...that lingered miserably all week long!  I spent most of my time trying not to move the wrong way, or at all.  I did make some headway though:

Wickedfaire:  I finished my slit throat necklace and gun (photos soon!), and the corset is coming along -- unfortunately, all that edging requires a LOT of hand sewing, so that's going slowly.  And, my wig is DONE.

I have a few outside projects going too, though I'm trying to focus on getting WickedFaire done.  Just got my new business cards, and opened the official new etsy shop (MagiciansAssistant.Etsy.com -- nothing stocked yet though!); I've been asked/volunteered to do WF's fashion show, but I'm thinking that I'm better off holding off a year and REALLY making a collection that sings, rather than just throwing together what I already have.  I'm working on a headband that's a new knit technique, which is going slowly but keeping me engaged; then today I did this:

Wickedfaire

...is chugging right along!  I'm holding on a few things (Delicious LLC is disappointing me lately...I should have my things by the next day since they're only in Philly but I've been waiting almost a week now -- so I can't do much more on the corset for now) pending materials and decisions, but here are some of the things that are going ahead!

 

 Outside of the corset.  It doesn't look like too much right now.

   

 Cutting bias for binding the corset edges and decorations elsewhere on the costume.

 

 And turning that bias into something useful!  On the right you see all of those strips cut out and sewn together...at the top is the finished product on a roll....and at the bottom you see my secret weapon, the bias tape maker!  It folds the edges of the fabric in place so that when you iron it you have perfect bias tape in whatever width you need.

 Hoop steel for the panniers....finally finished spray painting it, over a week after I started.  Would have gone faster if the paint wasn't much happier drying overnight.

 And my little pantaloons, about halfway done.  This was when I was on the way to sew on the waistband.  I need to finish that, hem and elasticise the bottoms, add some decoration, and attach a closure.

Still to do:

Style the wig (more to the point, fix the factory-arranged style)

Finish pants

Panniers (decide how to do them)

Finish corset

Paint and finish figuring out the ribs

Decorate shoes

Make necklace

Make chemise

Wicked Faire

We're a long way from done...no corset pictures yet...but I can show off a couple of things that are underway!

First is Phil's Pestulance mask, still in progress:

 And next is my first Steampunk weapon. No, nothing cobbled together like the good ones, just found one that looked appropriate and painted away...

Before:

And After (in progress.  Enjoy the blue tape):

Christmas wrapup

I need to get some more pictures (I failed to get any of my brother and phil in their hats), but here are a couple more of my Christmas crafts...

 

Emily got an octopus that I made, no kidding, on Christmas eve.  These things go FAST.  She and Connor both LOVED them.  I made hers out of the leftover yarn from Mom's mittens (some gorgeous wool that was a souvenir from a co-worker's trip to Ireland this spring). 

 

  

The first two octopi -- they were identical -- went to Brie and Rae.

Not really a craft per se, but the inaugural loaf of bread from our new bread machine!  (Gift from the in-laws.)  Dump in the ingredients, press some buttons, and pretty much ignore it for 3 hours and you get this delicious bread!

 

We also got a stand mixer from my parents...we'll be cooking and baking fiends this year!

Last craft for now -- my dinosaur planter!  (Don't mind the peaked looking little spider plant in there...he was happy until my cat decided that it needed to be munched.)  I made this from a tutorial on Offbeat Home, with a $2 Target dino.  I also made one for Brie out of a brontosaurus, planted with a jade cutting from my mom.

Next up:

Sew-along with Bridges on the Body (1912 corset -- I got my fabric in NYC last week -- red silk velvet!)

Wickedfaire costume (I have most of the materials, need to do more cutting and obviously construction -- and take pictutes!)

Mobious cowl (from KnitSimple magazine -- I'm working on it now so hopefully pictures soon)

More baby stuff for all my expectant friends!

And as always...all the weird and exciting projects at work!  (Next up there: I post pictures of the organza coats that have taken over my life.)

Updates! And Pictures!!

It's a mitten!  I'm not wild with how it fits (I made it inside out...and it fits if you keep it that way, but it looks like crap, feel weird if you have it right side out...hopefully it'll be ok), and it still needs to be sewn together at the top and thumb...and I need to make the right one...but it's a mitten!

And my granny square bag is together!  Now it needs to be ironed, sewn together, and a strap done; I think I'm also going to cut out a lining in the shape before I sew everything together to make it stronger. 

Also started cutting out my corset for Wickedfaire....and I have a jar of denatured alcohol full of wheel bearings for some derby jewelry (earlier deadlines on that, i want to donate one for our next bout's silent auction in 2 weeks).  Snowflakes are soaking in fabric stiffener at work so I can block them when I have enough time in the evening/morning to set them out and get them back up before we need the tables.  Anything else for baby shower is looking unlikely, so booties and wrapping up a box of diapers it is!  (There will be plenty of winter left for her to get a baby hat.)  

For those interested, derby this weekend went skatingly.  Wilkes-Barre Scranton won the tourney; final scores were State College 290-Pottstown 50, WBS 156-LVRG 121, and WBS 159-SC 128.  Good games all around!  The day was not without its issues...but as I was not running the event, they were not mine!  It was almost relaxing to just do my assigned job and let the disasters be handled by someone else.  I'll see about posting the pictures (mostly non-derby) tomorrow!