A Completed Cutesy Cooper!

I studied for approximately eight hours straight yesterday, and I'll be doing about the same starting in an hour today, so I decided I would treat myself this morning to a bit of a break to bash out the rest of my Cooper bag. Hey, I need something to cart around all my Russian history textbooks, now, don't I? My satchel certainly can't, and it's finals time. This was a practical decision (or so I keep insisting to myself to nullify the mild guilt of devoting a few hours to a sewing project rather than studying).

Ready for the grand reveal?

It's possible this qualifies for green overload but I DON'T CAAAREEE.

This sucker is ADORABLE you guys. I struggled with a few parts, mainly because, well, my body fabric did not press well. And when I say not well, I really mean I literally melted the first flap strap piece I cut, and had a momentary panic of "oh god how brutally will they kill me if I cause a fire alarm during finals week". It creased nicely, however, so I ended up making the straps work by using an unholy quantity of pins to hold them in place, pinching the edges firmly a couple of times, and then leaving the pins in place while I sewed and removing them as I went along. My self-made shoulder strap doesn't like to lie particularly flat as a result, but hey, I take what I can get.

I decided to make my body pocket out of the contrasting fabric as well, rather than the main body fabric like the pattern suggested- when you have a contrast fabric this cute, it's a crime not to use it all. On that note, I have a shoulder guard in the works, but I couldn't complete it as I completely lack any velcro and lack the time and the vehicle to get out to a store to buy any, but it will get done! The fabric is already cut and ready. Oh, returning to the whole body-fabric-does-not-press thing: it also made it so my straps ended up a bit uneven. The right-side body strap is noticeably bigger than the left side, but honestly I'm just not that bothered by it. Considering this was my first time ever making a bag and using most of these materials, I'm just tickled pink it actually worked! Speaking of new materials...

OOIILLLCLOOOTHHH LIIIINIIINGGGG

The lining fabric was both a breeze and a bitch to work with, let me tell you. It cut and sewed up beautifully, easy as could be, but that stuff gets stiff. It does not want to get turned inside out without a significant struggle and a few tears. The fighting was worth it, though, as it gives the bag some wonderful shape and I just love how the fabrics go together- the cute green ribbons and purple fabric, uhg, it's too cute. I only sewed down the center of one pocket, as I wanted to leave the other full-sized as then it's the exact right size to accommodate my Nook. Plus, I know if a soda ever explodes in my bag it'll be an easy matter to just wipe down the inside! (I'm not speaking from personal experience, but my freshman year roommate definitely lost her favorite bag that way. Moment of silence for the sparkly zebra print purse.)

I used the Gifts for Crafters hardware set for this, and it was a total breeze. Doesn't hurt that the bronze finish happens to be my favorite, anyway, and that it went so nicely with my fabric choices! I'd never installed snaps or rivets before, but I was surprised by how straightforward it was. I think next time I will use a bit of interfacing to reinforce the snaps, though; I don't think my fabric will tear, but I still hold my breath a little bit every time I unsnap it. The rivets were a bit of a struggle as, confession, I lack an awl and mallet (I MacGyvered a makeshift one using a pair of tiny scissors and a lot of brute force, and then used a wine bottle opener as a mallet because I keep it classy), but it all came together in the end.

The other thing that absolutely amazed me was that my machine had no problems handling this, even when I had to sew through five+ layers of fabric at once. My machine isn't anything particularly fancy- in fact, much like this Cooper, it's on the cuter side of life (it's a mint green Hello Kitty Janome model), yet I have yet to run into anything it can't do. Sometimes the cute ones are more than they seem!

Now, the main motivation for this bag was I needed something big enough to hold all my books. As a history major, I get a lot of reading assigned, with a lot of textbooks to go along with it. How does the Cooper bag stack up under the pressures of a senior history major?

GLORY GLORY HALLELUJAAAHH. Now imagine the bag is saying that. You're welcome, I still haven't stopped giggling.

There are five books, one Nook, and two notebooks in there and the sucker is still ready for more. I could probably fit the majority of my textbooks for the semester in this little beauty, although I am a little concerned as to how well it'll hold up under that strain. I sewed the shoulder straps on about five times each for that very reason, though- I knew what this poor thing was gonna get into. But just, man, this thing is the TARDIS of bags, I genuinely think it's bigger on the inside.

... who let me think that, now I can't get the idea of a TARDIS blue satchel out of my head.

Obligatory modeled view! Ah, the mess of my room increases.

I am mildly concerned that since I went so cute with the fabric it ended up looking a bit like a diaper bag, but that's a very mild concern. I'm planning on adding some button pins to it and I think that'll take care of that concern in an instant (as well as draw attention away from the slightly messed up straps). I do really love the size this ended up being, though, it's exactly what I wanted without overwhelming me.

My Two Bags: A Love Story. Guest starring the unreasonably large Hello Kitty KISS bag I got at DragonCon from the WeLoveFine booth.

Between my satchel as my laptop bag and my Cooper as my "toss everything into it and run" bag, I think I have all my bases covered- and don't they look so nice together? Technically speaking my Cooper has its share of mistakes to its name, but even so the result is exactly what I envisioned, practical as all get out and go, and the mistakes aren't really noticeable unless you're A) familiar with the pattern and B) really looking for them. That's enough to make me inordinately proud of myself.

Now if you'll excuse me, I must put my new creation to work and trudge off to a Russian history study session. At least I'll be cute?

UPDATE: It kept all those books dry through a ten minute walk through a cold Williamsburg downpour, like a little boss. A+ job, bag friend.

P.S. While adding three of these photos into the Colette photostream for the contest, I realized that I made my flicker account years ago and it has the somewhat embarrassing moniker of moonlight-chan. I... I don't really have anything to say for myself on that front.

In Which There Are Feels About Princess Gowns

Yesterday was the last day of classes, which is affectionately referred to as Blowout. The intent is to, uh, spend the entire day in a drunken stupor of "thank god classes are done with for the semester", and crazy things tend to happen. I skipped on the drunken stupor part, although I did partake in some of the best alcohol I've ever had: I am officially a 100% mead convert. As my friend Joanna kept saying, it makes you feel like you're sitting in a huge armchair by a fire surrounded by cozy furs and at utter peace with the world (this mental reverie only slightly inspired by Skyrim). This does not mean, however, my Blowout was not wonderful; after seeing our AMAZINGLY talented friend Sophie perform with the orchestra (she's a killer mezzo-soprano opera singer), a group of us was left wondering what to do when Joanna announced there was a showing of Frozen in fifteen minutes.

You have never seen a group of college students leap up and run (literally) out the door as fast as we did then, stopping only to accept a plate of pancakes from a group of students dressed up like cutlery (I swear I'm not making that up and I swear all of us were completely sober).

The movie itself was splendid and adorable (although it certainly has its problematic elements- one of the reasons I left tumblr was my burnout over all the posts upon posts of preemptive hate Frozen was getting for its continuation of the trend of the white Disney princess, the reduction of female characters, and so on, which are all incredibly valid and necessary points to make, but they don't necessarily define the movie- but that's a discussion for another time), but one of the things that really struck me was my god the costume designer was on point.

They put the blue-eyed redhead in green or blue dresses. Bless their hearts, they finally figured that one out.

Do I have tears in my eyes right now? Possibly.

I have not been able to get this dress out of my mind. The box pleats! The colors! The sweetheart bodice! The rosemaling-inspired details! It's enough to make this blue-eyed redhead cry because finally, finally they didn't make the ginger wear pink! Not only that, but they basically made the exact dress I'd want if I were a princess dressing for a ball, sans exaggeration. It truly has all my favorite elements. Her winter outfit (blue!!) and end-of-movie outfit (ANOTHER GREEN ONE) are also beautifully done, and make me wish I still had hair long enough to pigtail braid. Elsa's gowns were also on point (her ice gown, with the snowflake cape? Genius.), but the reaction I had to Anna's dresses was nigh visceral.

Really, I have been longing for a good green princess dress. Tiana's lily pad dress in Princess and the Frog gave me hope, and is probably still my favorite truly over-the-top princess gown, but the huge bell skirts and straplessness of it made it so while I can love it for its beauty I'd never want to wear it myself. (Her fantastic end outfit with all the 20s flourishes a girl could hope for, however, is another story- but it's not a true Princess Ball Gown. Actually Tia probably has my favorite full wardrobe, and I still maintain that in the event I get married I want her wedding dress.) Shockingly none of the other Disney princess gowns have ever spoken to me; I reiterate, I don't go in for huge bell skirts, Rapunzel's outfit was adorable but a little too pastel for me (were it only a bolder purple!), and while I am head-over-heels for Mulan's matchmaker outfit I'm too white to not feel inappropriate and mildly culturally appropriative were I to ever wear it. Aurora's dress (in blue) is nice, but not nice enough to really get my heart beating, and Belle's green library dress again wasn't a true Disney ballgown but a filler outfit. 

We just don't talk about Ariel's gown. It never happened. The new seafoam version is vastly better, but it's still a smidge too poofy for my tastes.

Do you know how mildly devastating it is for a cosplayer to not have a princess gown they dearly want to make? It's just one of those things that eventually happens to us all: making a princess ballgown is like a rite of passage. I'd been contenting myself with Anastasia's Once Upon a December sequence gown, knowing that, while stunningly beautiful and something I'd love to make, it wasn't quite right.

Although damn I still love this song, and will always love Anya's color palette as also getting this blue-eyed redhead's preferred color palette SO RIGHT.

My head is just abuzz with inspiration from Frozen's costuming, I just can't help it. I'm scheming up a version of this dress with a modified pointed waist rather than straight for the contrast bodice, and while I could never afford it I can't get this fabric out of my head for the skirt and sleeve portions, with a nice darker purple for the bodice and a lovely dark orange and purple peter pan collar and cuffs. Almost like taking design inspiration from Frozen with a dash of Kayley from Quest for Camelot (who also has a wedding dress I adore, and anyone who wears a purple tunic with blue tights is okay in my book). While we're on the subject, I'd also love to make a shirt dress inspired by the one Dmitri got Anya... Maybe using the Colette Hawthorne pattern? I have Christmas/Hannukah money incoming, it could happen...

Basically, my ultimate wardrobe goals would be ganking the design elements of my favorite animated heroines, and I am certainly not ashamed of this in the slightest. Now, for the time and the money to make it so.

Please Hold for Finals

And just like that, I missed basically the entire last half of November. All I can say to justify myself is, "It was Thanksgiving break, I was exhausted, and now it's the week before finals and I am even more exhausted."

I have some things in the works I really would love to share: my Cooper is coming along adorably, despite some issues with pressing (my body fabric refuses to press neatly, so sewing down the detail straps on the body was a bit of a bear, for example, which makes me a bit apprehensive about making my own straps but eh, might as well just press on), I've got the Newcastle pattern printed and pieced together and ready to go, and I've been chipping away at the Yui Hongo and Chihiro Fujisaki cosplays, but the only time I really have to take pictures is late at night and my room has succumbed to the Finals Pit of No Return stage. It's really not the nicest place to take photos... if I could find a flat enough surface to lay out my things to TAKE photos, even.

Currently, I'm working on a Russian history paper due tomorrow at midnight (only eight pages doublespaced, but the prompt is so massive I could have double the page count and still feel like I was leaving things out, so that has me a bit on edge), revising my writing seminar portfolio, and beginning to study for my finals, all of which are next week (my college doesn't believe in Reading Days- or, rather, it believes Reading Days is just a fancier term for the weekend). I'm also polishing off my grad school applications, so a lot is getting crammed into the next week and a half!

... and then I'm done with my last fall semester as a college undergrad. How the hell did that one happen, I ask you.

Anyway, the point of this post is: sewing posts will resume once I get a break from the chaos that is the last week of finals, because I can't wait to get back into it! I'm gonna try to have a sewing wishlist post for Sunday, as a bit of a break for myself (because who doesn't love to destress with a little internet window shopping around the holidays?), but I don't want to make any promises I might not be able to keep, so that's still up in the air for now.

Just Like Fabric Chrismukkah

(Note: I did not know until now that there was a roughly "official" spelling for the portmanteau of Christmas and Hanukkah. I've never actually typed it out before, and I typically don't even say it as I don't mind just going "Yeah, I celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah." Who knew!)

I got five package notification emails from my campus' post office today. Five! In one day! That's the magic of ordering the materials for two projects all at once, I guess, and having all of the vendors have incredibly speedy shipping at that. (Seriously, two of the Etsy stores I bought from shipped off so fast that Etsy won't even let me leave them feedback yet!) These five packages contained almost all the materials I'd need for both the Newcastle Cardigan I'm making for my boyfriend (including main fabric, contrast fabric, buttons- which I have a somewhat silly story about, but more on that latter -and interfacing) and the Cooper messenger bag I'm making for myself (including main fabric, contrast fabric, and lining- still waiting on the hardware kit and the pattern itself, but since that's coming from literally across the country I'm not surprised it didn't arrive on the same day as everything else.)

I wish I'd thought to take a photo of all the envelopes (plus one box- sweatshirt fleece gets bulky when folded up), but I didn't have that kind of self restraint. I tore into everything about as soon as I got back to my dorm.

Look at how perfectly the main body fabric matches the green square part of the contrast fabric pattern! I'm a little apprehensive about using the oilcloth, but as far as overall look goes I love it. Also yes, I still haven't taken the main fabrics out of their protective plastic shipping material, shh.

THIS SWEATSHIRT FLEECE IS SO SOFT AND SNUGLY I'm going to steal this from my boyfriend all the damn time.

I can't wait for my Cooper pattern to get here so I can tackle both of these projects. I'm printing out the Newcastle pattern tonight, but since I've two papers due tomorrow, well... probably not getting to cutting anything out until tomorrow at the earliest.

Now, for that silly story about buttons I mentioned. I guess I temporarily forgot how to read descriptions, but I somehow got it into my head that "Quantity: 1" meant one singular button. In reality, the website very clearly states that "There are 3 buttons per card", so obviously "Quantity: 1" really means one order of three buttons.

I, er, ordered quantity: 5, which translates to 15 buttons.

Some day I'll be able to take non-phone pictures in which you can actually see some semblance of detail!

The good news: I really like these buttons, so I guess I now have some direction as to what I'm going to make my Mathilde blouse out of: something that matches the buttons in my stash! Maybe I'll go for a black main body with blue sleeves to echo the navy-and-black of the buttons... and maybe with a peter pan collar added, as I've a major weakness for those. But that's not going to be for a while, no more projects for me for now!

I ordered all the Cooper fabric from Etsy. The main fabric came from Bratpacks Fabric, the lining was from Oilcloth by the Yard and the contrast fabric (that made this whole project need to happen) was from Fabric Supply. Fabric Supply also included a whole bunch of adorable fabric swatches- they have such cute import fabrics. The Newcastle Cardigan fabric and buttons all came from Fabric.com. I was really hesitant about ordering from them as when I looked up reviews of them in advance (as I always do with online sites I haven't used before) it was fairly predominantly negative reviews, but they were the only place I could find with the exact fabric I wanted and the price was incredibly right. I took a chance, and either I got very lucky (which is possible- some of the reviews, both positive and negative, said it tended to be luck of the draw) or they've shaped up a bit. Whatever it was, I'm incredibly pleased with the fabric I got from them (and again, the button confusion was entirely on me- their site VERY clearly says one order is a card of three buttons).

Now if only I could pause academics and just sew... If only.

Cooper Sew-Along Planning

My favorite thing about sewing is fabric, and that can cause a bit of a problem. If I see fabric I like, I basically feel compelled to figure out something to make with it, just because I must have that fabric in my life. Now, I'm pretty good at resisting my impulses, but sometimes the most perfect fabric in the world appears and I suddenly find myself with a new project on the table when I really didn't intend to have one or honestly have the time for one.

Which brings me to the Colette Cooper Sew-Along, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Canvas. (Link in sidebar!)

Girliest interpretation of a unisex pattern ever. Well, probably not girliest, as I considered a Hello Kitty oilcloth lining, which definitely would've been a bit more girly. Left: main body fabric. Right: contrast flap fabric. Tiny center: adorable oilcloth lining.

I found the canvas on the right first, and everything snowballed from there. I needed that adorable patchwork mess of cuteness in my life. I already have a Cambridge Satchel Co. backpack (I know they call it a batchel but I can't bring myself to do that...) that was a gift from my grandfather and which I adore beyond words, but its limitation is that I really can't shove it full of books and be about my merry way. My laptop and a notebook pretty much fill it to capacity. This is a problem when you're a history major working on an honors thesis and constantly carting around books by the dozens- my poor Josh Groban tote bag can only take so much! And besides, it constantly slips off my shoulders, particularly in the winter when it can't get traction on my peacoat, which gets mad annoying. (The tote bag, I mean, not the backpack.)

I love messenger bags, though, and have been idly looking for a new one for, well, ages. I had a Ghost in the Shell one that I adored beyond words, but, uh, I kind of wore out the corners of it in high school. I don't know what it was that did the poor thing in, but something ate through the corners like a monster. Someday I'll get around to patching that up, maybe with some faux leather in a matching shade of blue as the Laughing Man (because of course I still have it even if it's useless right now, that bag is awesome), but even once I fix it I doubt I'll be loading it up with anything too heavy and it's not really the right size for loading up on the library books.

Anyway, the combination of Pattern I Really Like with Cutest Canvas Ever That I Must Own resulted in my jumping on this sew-along bandwagon and ordering, well, everything possible last night (main fabric, contrast fabric, lining fabric, pattern, and hardware kit- I decided to be lazy and just order one of the pre-made bronze kits from Gifts for Crafters along with my Cooper pattern, although I'll make up for my laziness by making a matching-fabric strap and key chain). Cannot wait to get started on this- the goal is to have it done before my trip to Los Alamos so I can use it as my plane bag, and so I can enter it in the sew-along contest. The fabric combo prize would be amazing- $200 at Spoonflower would mean one of my dream cosplays, Tali'zorah vas Normandy from Mass Effect, would be financially possible as I could get the really nice printed fabrics by eixyn, and that would just be all shades of magic.

Tali is probably my favorite of my (somewhat embarrassing) figure collection. I also swear I did not buy that glass pumpkin to match her, it just worked out that way.

The main reason I jumped on this, though, is because I know my dad's been looking for a specific type of satchel for the longest time, but can't find anything that's precisely right. Depending on how my whipping up the messenger bag goes, I might see about using this pattern to make him his ideal bag as a Christmas present, although I'd definitely have to get creative for it. You know those doctor's medical satchels that open up and then stay opened up, like they've got reinforcement in the bag or something, like this one? He wants one of those, but in a larger size and ideally not black. If I could make it in burgundy and brown with antique gold hardware, it would be absolutely perfect. But I figure I should probably not dive straight into that more complicated project, so starting off with the messenger bag makes a lot of sense to me. Depending on how this goes I can already see myself making my sister a backpack with camera-print canvas (she's a photographer) and my mom and downsized messenger or satchel of her own to use as a purse in a turquoise faux leather striped ticking... this could be the birth of a monster.

So, yes, I am now in that simultaneously delightful and agonizing period of waiting for new fabrics to come in so I can get to work on my new not-researching-or-writing downtime project of the Walden by Colette Cooper bag. Gonna be fun.

And no, I did not forget about the Newcastle Cardigan I'll be making my boyfriend for Christmas- I'm waiting on that fabric, too. It should be here Monday!

Totally nailed it with that rib knit jacquard as far as the Deux Ex inspiration jacket goes, so pleased with myself right now.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get as much work done as humanly possible before these fabrics arrive and the desire to immediately start playing with them overrides whatever vestiges of academic responsibility I have left to my name.

Stress Sewing: T-Shirt Dress

You ever find yourself in an inexplicably bad mood, where you're just sad for no reason whatsoever and you have to do something fun or creative to maybe jumpstart your mood into not being terrible again? That's where I was last night and that's where this dress came from. I wanted something simple, something quick, and something that'd be crazy comfortable, while also using some new techniques or at least a new something. I think this hit all of those nails on the proverbial head.

I do love me some horizontal stripes but please hold your prison inmate jokes until the end of the post.

Okay, I entirely recognize that this doesn't look like much on the hanger, but I'm really quite pleased with it, numerous flaws and all. I used Dixie DIY's T-Shirt Minidress pattern, as I had it lurking in my bookmarks of "cute free highly wearable patterns" and this blue and white lace striped knit lurking in my stash begging to be made into a dress. I lengthened the hem pretty significantly (by six of the stripes on the fabric, which probably translates to approximately six inches) and lengthened the sleeves a bit, because I wanted it to be more cold-weather appropriate... although considering how thin the fabric itself is, it's still probably going to be relegated to late spring/early fall. I didn't fuss with trying to match the stripes at the side seams, as, again, I wanted a quick project to maybe brighten my mood, although hilariously it seems that I matched them up perfectly- if I was going for an offset match on the stripes, anyway! It's kind of a fun look even though it's blatantly wrong, actually.

(I was going to leave a comment on that blog post about my making this dress, but I chickened out when I saw the last comment was from 10 months ago...! I suppose the pattern IS 2+ years old.)

Avert thine eyes, gaze not upon... whatever this mess is supposed to be

The less said about the collar, though, the better. I'm really not sure what I was thinking when I attached it, as I just did it blatantly wrong and figured out how I should've done it about ten seconds after botching it. I considered ripping it out and starting anew, but ultimately decided that was a bit more effort than I cared to expend at that precise moment. That's what cute scarves are for?

Outside of lengthening the sleeves and hem, I also cut between sizes. I wanted a more fitted dress  rather than the slightly oversized look of the pattern itself, so I cut a medium for the top and tapered out to a large on the bottom, as those were the sizes that best matched my measurements. I kind of eyeballed where to start shifting from medium to large on the pattern and hoped for the best, which sounds like a pretty shoddy way of doing things but actually worked out rather perfectly.

Worn shot, guest starring my overflowing fabric stash bag and my solar system socks. Someday, I will rope someone else into taking multiple photos at multiple angles, but that day is not this one.

When worn, the problems with the collar aren't really visible at all, and I lovelovelove the way the sleeves came out. The way I hemmed them (just with a zigzag stitch- everything is zigzag here, using my plain ol' sewing machine, although I did indeed swap in a ballpoint needle) gives them this lovely ruffle-y effect. I do still wish the fabric were less see-through, although weirdly enough when worn that's less of a problem- you can kind of see my obnoxiously blue sports bra in that worn photo, but when worn with sane white or beige underwear I actually don't think it'd be much of a problem.

 I love simple, comfortable dresses like this, so I can definitely see myself whipping up an army of them in various hem and sleeve lengths and with different necklines, especially since it was just plain easy. Seriously, this dress came together in 3 hours, starting with uncut fabric and a pattern that wasn't even taped together yet. Knits are the magic promised land of no crazy darts yet splendidly fitted results. I already have a list going of wishlist knits for my next one, although I am making a conscious effort to not only buy striped fabric for it. I know some people can't abide the thought of wearing horizontal stripes, but I am very far from one of those people.

I still have about a yard and a half of this fabric left (it was on sale for $2 a yard at Hancock, and I'm now kicking myself for not grabbing some of the other colors) so I might try making a hoodie or a loose billowy vest with the leftovers. It's just so soft, I have to put it to use somehow.

And yes, you may be wondering, my mood did improve slightly after finishing this project and I'm definitely in a better mood now. I also am still working on the Alice dress but stalling like a boss on actually making the bias tape- I'll keep you posted on that.

Projects in the Works

I'd hoped to have a new project to show off today (a view C Simplicity 1609 in powder blue to by my Syfy Alice dress- yes, I recognize that dress is actually probably a knit, but this isn't a cosplay I'm taking too seriously accuracy-wise and I really wanted to give this pattern a go), but I didn't have enough time between when I started it and now to whip up some bias binding for the arms and neck and the lace I'm waiting on hasn't even shipped yet. I know the pattern uses facings, but bias binding is definitely more reference accurate, so I'm going to take the time to make some matching bias tape out of the copious amounts of leftover fabric I have.

Here's the WIP teaser I tweeted a few days ago- still need to get those unfinished sleeves bound, cut the neck deeper then bind it, and sew on the lace... and maybe take it in at the sides. I cut a 16 but I think a 14 would've done me just fine.

Seriously, I don't know if I just always buy a bit more out of some nervousness that I'm going to mess up or the packages lie to me, but I always end up having a ton of remainder fabric. Weird, that.

Anyway, since I don't have a project to show off today, I figured I'd instead do a bit of an inventory of what, precisely, I'll be working on. Heads up, this is mostly going to be cosplay-related with a dash of Christmas gift sewing and maybe one or two things for myself.

1. A Newcastle Cardigan

One of my boyfriend's absolute favorite games is Deus Ex: Human Revolution. The main character, Adam Jensen, has a particularly stylish black leather coat with black  brocade-looking shoulder panels. Now, I'm not about to make a leather jacket, and I really don't think my boyfriend would have many places he could wear one anyway without drawing a lot of attention (sadly), but when I saw the Newcastle Cardigan pattern by Thread Theory my first thought went to this coat.

From the Deus Ex wiki

I'm on the hunt for the perfect black knit and brocade fabrics for it now (if anyone has any recommendations, please feel free to share, right now I'm considering this for the bulk of the cardigan with this as the shoulder detail, and ignoring how ungodly expensive it would be in the process), but man, this should end up being one of the better holiday gifts I've gotten him. Funny how the past few have involved clothing (well, and Munchkin Cthulhu, but.) Also yes, I will be making myself one of these, because I am addicted to cardigans and this looks like it's going to be comfy as hell. And/or I'll end up stealing this a lot from him once I make it.

UPDATE: Just picked out the fabrics for this! I'm going a little off the cuff from the inspiration and going with navy rather than black, mainly because I found the most perfect dark navy knit jacquard and coordinating sweatshirt fleece. So looking forward to playing with this. I have some slate blue faux leather in my stash, so depending on how his goes I might make up one of my own utilizing that leather for the shoulder detail and maybe some elbow patches, as I am a sucker for elbow patches...

2. Priestess Yui from Fushigi Yuugi

At some point I went temporary over-optimistic and agreed to far too many cosplays for Katsucon. This is one of them.

Yes, that skirt is basically a very long draped loincloth... eek. Funny how a priestess outfit is going to be my most revealing cosplay to date, huh? I already have all the fabric for this, some beautiful faux-dupioni silk for the main part of the top, the top collar, and the "skirt" plus some organza for the sleeves (I'll just make an underjacket) and the bow detail, and I've got the perfect bolero pattern to modify for the top. I'll hand-mebroider the vine and flower detail on, maybe using some seed beads for the flowers if I get really ambitious.The bottom is entirely just draping it until it hangs right and then body gluing EVERYTHING in place. I'll also be making the necklace out of probably sculpy or primo clay. Hemming all that organza could get old fast, but since my friend (doing Priestess Miaka, naturally) and I hope to compete in these, I'll be paying extremely careful attention to this one.

Did I mention I'll also be styling her Miaka wig? 'Cause that's a thing that will be happening. I might document that on here- I really enjoy styling cosplay wigs, so it'll definitely pop up from time to time. We're also doing the school uniforms, but the priority is definitely the priestess outfit so that's the one I'm focusing on first.

3. A Zinnia Skirt

I found some absolutely beautiful forest green chiffon on sale while looking for cosplay fabric (of course) and couldn't resist the thought of a Zinnia in it, especially as I had some cotton batiste in my stash that'd go perfectly with it. The main reason I had to snatch up the Zinnia pattern was so I could make my own lined sheer skirts, as they're one of my absolute favorite things to wear, so it only makes sense that it'd be my first priority.

Outside of these priority projects, I've also got a simple A-line plaid skirt already cut out, so that'll get sewn up soon enough. I was just waiting on the invisible zipper foot I'd ordered for my machine before finishing it off. I found this fabulous purple, teal, navy and gold fabric and had to get it, it'll make for such a nice winter skirt. I do say winter lightly, though, as I live in Virginia where even once it gets cold it's not THAT cold... then again I think we might get flurries this week, so shows what I know, right? I also have the fabric lurking about for a Sailor Mercury cosplay and an Athena Cykes cosplay (I just finished Dual Destinies but I knew the instant I saw Athena that I HAD to cosplay her- I've always wanted to do an Ace Attorney cosplay but never had a character that grabbed me until Athena, but man did she more than make up for the wait!). I'll work on those piecemeal, but since I'm getting closer and closer to finals (and more and more behind on my thesis...) I probably won't get too far on them with everything else going on.

I'll try to update once that Alice dress is done as well, just because man I want it done and it documents a first of mine- an invisible zipper! It didn't go in perfectly because I made a bit of a stupid mistake but, all things considered, I'm pleased with the outcome.