Retrophile

So today I got a bit of a surprise! My mauter (mom) finished my afghan! She had started it a couple months ago when it was cooler. I really didn't expect her to finish it till the fall when things cooled down. If you have ever tried crocheting or knitting something large in the summer you know what I mean. She made the afghan by crocheting squares with various patterns of red maroon, plum, tank and brown yarn. The kind of crocheting is called grandma squares. She then stitched them all together and gave it a border. I have to say I love it. It looks so cute on my couch and goes great with the colors in the living room. She started making this for me because of my love of all things kitschy or other wise labeled old lady crafts. I had the idea when looking through I book I had gotten for my birthday called, Kitschy Crafts. Its a great book if you like old school crafts and crafting. It has crafts spanning the decades. Such as... Crocheting, macrame, even glass...

Hello all, I have not abandoned you. I haven't really had any projects to post right now. I was a bit burnt out after the pirate festival. I did start cutting out the pieces for a 1940's dress. I will have pictures up soon. It is a prototype for my bridesmaid dress for my lovely Kelly's wedding. I want to make sure that the pattern fits right before cutting into my good material. And hey... bonus I will have another pretty dress! However, and long denied interest is resurfacing again according to my girly Elissa. She recently made her own swim-able mermaid tail and fin. It has inspired me to make one of my own and start mermaid swimming again. I don't know how many hours I spent in the pool when I was younger, fins on and pretending I was a mermaid. It is so freeing to be "flying" through the water. U.S. Diver Fins In the spirit of things I went out and bought myself a new pair of fins. And SCORE it even came with a mask and snorkel. Ne...

Soo, I got all the rayon cut out for Kelly's Dress yesterday! Yay for me. We can officially say it has been started now. Kelly! YOU HAVE A DRESS... kinda. Cutting out rayon was a bit of a challenge. For starters it was creased from the folding, so I had to carefully and nervously iron it all! That went well. The only issue I had was that it didn't want to stay in place and sometimes got more wrinkled then smoothed. But in the end I got it done. Next it was pinning and cutting the fabric. Thanks for the tip about weighting the fabric. That help. If you have never cut silky/ slippery material before, then there is something you need to know. PINS PINS PINS PINS PINS PINS PINS PINS! They are a life saver. The fabric is so light that it moves almost as easily as the pattern and doesn't like to stay in place when you are cutting it. However if you do pin it down enough it will stay there for you and cause less problem. I will have pictures up of the pieces on th...

Hello All, So I finally think I have settled on a new look for the blog. I had been meaning to tweak it for a while now. I think this one suits it's mission much better than the other. What do you guys think out there? I would love your input. As for the dress, I do have a quick update for you all. I have finally cut out the pattern pieces. Guess I met all my goals for this week: clean up craft room and cut out pattern pieces. I am going to try and get the rayon cut out today. So far the pattern is looking pretty easy. There aren't really any complicated pieces to it. I think the main challenge is going to be working with the fabric. So wish me luck and I am off to cut out rayon. Happy Sewing everyone.

Step 1 of project Wedding dress has started. I cleaned up my craft room. If you know me at all then you know that is an accomplishment for me. But, Kelly's dress was worth it :-p I tend to be a messy, add craftster. I may have many projects going on at one time. Below are some pictures of the torando that was my craft- room. I had been so proccupied with the steampunk costumes I forgot about organization. And things just got piled up in here. (Excuse my dress form, she is a bit of an exhibitionist and forgot to put on her shirt.) Below are a couple pictures of my cleaned up craft room. This year has been the first time I have ever had a room dedicated to just my craft stuffs. I am still in the process of finding a good organization system. My current one consists of drawers, containers, boxes and shelves in the closet. I also have cork boards up for design sketched and project ideas. I have to say that is one of my favorite parts of my craft room....

From Left- Ben: Captain, Heather: Gunner, Me: Navigator, Kelly: Mechanic, Jon: Hired gun Hello All, So Saturday was the NorCal Pirate Festival. I have to say, it was the best one yet! We had such a great time. It seemed like our costumes went over very well. Every 5 minutes or so we were asked to stop and pose for pictures or get questioned about the construction of our costumes. Though I may come off sounding narcissistic, I have to say I like the attention and the props for all our hard work that we put in to these things. Everyone looked amazing! Here is a solo shot of Benjain our captain and his sniper rifle "Sasha". That gun was the star of the festival. More people came up to him to ask about how it was make. It is constructed out of a nerf long shot, a additional sight, and may pieces of copper wire, tubing, craft store bottles, and scrap-booking embellishments. I will try and find a close up and details shot of the gun when I get a chance. Here is Howard our p...

My favorite of my accessories have to be my cryptothermal compass (mapping gun) and goggles. The cryptothermal compass orignially looked like this it was a Nerf ball blaster. I took it completely apart and painted it all brass to begin with. I then painted on the details in various shades of black, silver, gold and copper.

The key to steampunk is the accessories. The more you have on your costume the better it looks. This is the best part of the genre for me. I love coming up with new gadges and things that I think airship pirates would use. So I thought I would go over a few of the accessories I have for my costume. First off the way me and my friends consider our self a crew. Our ship, The Brass Boiler. We each picked a role on the ship before we started costuming. The role we picked guided how we ended up making our costume and the accessories that we chose. My boy is the Captain. My sis, the gunner, my friend Kelly is the mechanic, Jon is the hired gun/ mercenary ect. I am the navigator. I am in charge of making sure our ship gets to where it need to go. So here are some of my tools of the trade. Here we have my map tube. This was made by using a wrapping paper role and covering it with different fabrics. I will post a tutorial at a later date. Next is the oxygen mask. This was...

First off HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BABY BRO. Well, isn't quite so baby anymore being that he is turning 23 today. Please everyone, wish him a happy birthday! Now down to business, it's just about that time of year again. The NorCal Pirate festival is coming up and only a few days away. I am scrambling to get everything finished. For the most part my costume is ready. I have finished my gun, my head pieces is done, my over skirt ect. And I am getting really excited. So, last night I decided to google and see if we made it to anyone else's gallery... we did. Only one, but hey, they must have like our costumes. Here is the gallery we were feature in gallery In other news, I am done with Howard's vest. (Sorry about the bad picture, I will post a better one when I get one) I finished it this afternoon. I am happy with how it turned out. I was originally thinking, I didn't need to line it. I am glad I changed my mind. The perfectionist got the best of...

Hello All, As if I didn't have enough projects that I have to do, I have added one more to the list. I am actually really excited about it though. A friend of mine came over last night as seemed to be inspired by my boyfriend, and I's enthusiasm for steam punk costuming (laugh all you want hee hee). So, I offered to make him a vest so he will fit in with our crew. And I am happy to do it for him. I crew is now up to 7! It won't be as elaborate as I like to make my usual projects, but it will give him a good start. Here is a little teaser of what the fabrics will be. I do need some input though. Below I have the right side of the vest front fabric and the wrong side of the vest front fabric. Both are great looking, but I am not sure which one to use. Any input or opinions?? So... I have one week to get this done, I can do it. Just have to get started. I will post pictures of the pattern used and the finished project later in the week. Happy Sewing! Nikk...

Hello All, So I am embarking on a new project. I have to say it is one I am really nervous about. I am going to be making my friends wedding dress! She has entrusted me to make one of the most important dresses she is ever going to wear. Most women have dreamed about that dress since they were little girls. Now, it is in my hands to make sure it comes out perfect. The dress is for one of my best friends Kelly. I have known her for about 6 years now I think (though it could be longer). We have been through ups and downs together and now I am helping her look beautiful on her big day. She is beautiful and and has a wonderful, whimsical, dramatic style to her. Her wedding is going to be an amazing coming together of the village with most of her family and friends sharing their expertise to help make it come to life. So you all have a little bit of an idea of what the dress will look like, it is going to be regency style with and umpire waist. It will have small cap slee...