Halloween Steampunk-style

Yay! I barely got my steampunk Halloween costume wearable in time. But, I finally did manage to finished the tabistry underbust corset and a mini top hat I'd had planned for my outfit (see my post on my tabistry blog for more info on the corset and mini top hat). But then, I went and forgot to bring my shoulder straps for the corset with me. Darn it! We had a blast, though. Yes, I know we attended a "renaissance" festival, but it was Halloween and pretty much anything goes for Halloween weekend.



For those of you who don't know the details of my evil plan. I hid two 2 liter tanks (wine and water) under my bustle and created a drink dispenser . I had cutoffs (shown in the first pic) poking out between my corset laces on my front. I just switch to the tank I want and pump my bicycle air pump (seen above on my right hip) to dispense. It worked like a dream until the connection to my pump broke midday. I went back to camp for a quick repair and tank refill. I also had two extra large pockets on each side that carried soda bottles for the others. I used, what else but, can tabs to create a half length cage bustle frame that covered the tanks to keep the shape right..

I had a third cutoff that was an air line, to power a future weapons and gadgets like a fan blade parasol. Maybe next time I'll have some weapons to play with. Muwahahaha...!!

Yurtle, the yurt in progress

Over a few weeks ago my sweety was slaving away building me the frame for our dream home away from home. Is my man a provider, or what?! :)



Looky here! Even has a sky light. :)



Umm, well...okay, so its not exactly a dream home. But, it's pretty cool to me so far. :) It's called a yurt. And, it's based on traditional portable nomadic dwellings used for hundreds of years. Go look them up. You'll be amazed at what is being done with them.

If you've ever tried roughing it the primitive camping way, sans electricity, etc..., you might understand the important of quality shelter. My man is just over 6 foot tall. And most tents just won't due for him. Plus, the weather here can vary drastically from day to day from extreme heat and humidity to down pours of rain to freezing and the very rare snow fall. Well, this baby has 6 ft walls and an 8+ foot center ceiling. We decided to make our first attempt a decently sized 12 foot diameter. And, these yurts are designed for long term shelter in extreme temperatures. They ventilate very well keeping it warm at night and cool during the day.

Additionally, we camp on grounds that can get pretty crowded and crazy with people on walk-abouts tramping though your site tripping on your neighbors guy lines (drunk traps) and into your tent. Our yurt shouldn't give way to the average-sized drunk. I like that I can hang things from the ceiling (like a chandelier if I wanted) without too much worry of it collapsing. I'm going to find myself a full length mirror for dressing when I can manage it.



I sewed the walls and roof covering myself on my vintage 60's "Carl" heavy duty home sewing machine. It did a fantastic job going through all the layers of canvas without a hiccup. Though it was pretty tricky getting all that fabric through the machine, I was even able to flat feld the roof seams (like you see on jeans) to make them stronger and more water tight. :)

We've got a lot to finish on our yurt still. But I thought I'd show you all the progress pics, anyway. I need to add some grommets to the roof cover, finish the flooring and decorate the interior. I plan to paint the coverings to a more traditional look, I think. The camo print just isn't doing it for me. :) But, it was a bargain and kept us dry in the light showers we experienced, so I can't complain too much. We still need a floor over the ground tarp and an inner lining for the walls would be nice when it gets a little colder.



We camped in it twice so far. The pic above was taken our first trip without a finished roof. The frame all fit easily on the roof of our Jeep Cherokee. So far, we average about 2 hours of setup time. Most of which is spent tinkering on things that didn't get done. It was really comfy to sleep in. Even taking a nap in the middle of the afternoon was comfortable in the Texas heat. It was cool to look up at the repeating pattern of the roof members, too.

Pirate Sunbrella (and a witch boot update)

So many things I want to finish this month! Oh dear, what's a girl to do?! I've been so busy trying to get my steampunk costume going that I've not been able to finish painting the witch shoes. But, more on that later. Right now I'd like to share a revamped paper sunbrella I painted for past opening weekend at TRF.



I wanted something pirate-style for my outfit. And, I got a bit of insomnia just before we left obsessing on all the things I would forget to bring to faire with me. That on top of being stumped on how to continue painting the witch shoes. I distracted myself with, what else, but a new project. :) I'd been meaning to try this one for a long while now. Not sure what possessed me to buy this pale pink paper umbrella with my SO in chinatown back while I lived in near Los Angeles, California. I've had it for over 10 years now. But, it started calling to me to paint it. So, I did...in just one evening!

I'll have to get some better pics of the details. His eye is actually bloodshot and it and the dot border are the only things bright white. The eye is kinda funny. It looks more like a telescope bugging out that way. Maybe it should have been more steampunk than pirate. :)



It came in really handy that sunny faire weekend. After I got back here I gave the umbrella to my mom for her garb. What can I say? She wanted it. And I just can't say no to her. :) Good news is that I have another of these bamboo framed umbrellas that needs to be totally recovered thanks to my daughter when she was young. I want to put silk on that one, but don't think I'm ready to attempt that one just yet.

***** WITCH SHOE UPDATE *****

Anyone wondering what happened to these? I just haven't been feeling up to painting the shoes. I've been stumped. I think I have the two smaller ones figured out. But I'm not happy with them just yet.



The small orange one is the furthest along just needing something on the green band, heel and perhaps the orange toe. And, I haven't found a dangly spider just right for the toe, yet.

The orange/purple shoe with the JOL's and flames has really stumped me. It's really busy and is making it hard to think up what to paint on the purple. I have a bonfire on the heel area and was going to paint some demons dancing. Not sure if that will turn out the way I want.

I've started the moon toe of the large green shoe. I want to add black cats to the large green shoe. For some reason I just can't stop pondering on painting them. One the other hand, I keep thinking of Frankenstein when I look at the shape and color of this shoe. Which should it be? Zombies or kitties? lol

Well, that's all for now. Wish me luck that I get these shoes finished before Halloween along with my costume!

Renaissance Shirt and Skirt from Bedsheets

I was overjoyed that a bedsheet challenge was annouced on Craftster. A few years ago we gave a new life to a damaged set of printed pinkish color King Size sheets.



When we had just moved into our house here in Texas, we temporarily used the flat sheet as a makeshift curtain on our sliding back door until we could find something suitable to replace it. The sun was brutal to the sheet, fading it badly in a some places. Mom was going to pitch it. But, the upcycler that I am, I stopped her and decided to use it as a test run for a custom pattern for a renaissance chemise shirt.



I liked how the shirt came out so much, I was always meaning to finish a matching underskirt. This challenge gave me the perfect motivation to get these undergarments finished to go with my mom's black bodice and overskirt. So, having a huge King fitted sheet to work with, I cut a giant circle skirt. Mom sewed on the casing for the drawstring waistband. Very simple project. I used a strip of the edge of the flat sheet as the string. The skirt came out really long. Perfect full length skirt that used just about every inch of the sheet.



I loosely based the top on Simplicity's 9966 Costume Pattern. But, I changed the shape of the sleeves and added fullness to the whole thing. I added drawstrings to the sleeves at the neck, upper arms and wrists.

We still have the 2 extra long pillow cases that will become some baggy bloomers to go under the skirt. Each case will be one leg of the bloomers. Just have to cut the end seam apart and cut out the crotch. Then, I will just sew them together and add a drawstrings at the waist and knees.



So, we've used just about the entire sheet set. I still have some scrap from the flat sheet that will most likely be made into a pouch, hanky and possible coif-type head cover thing.

Come check out the all the bed sheet challenge entries. I'd really appreciate a vote! Thanks for looking! Hope you enjoyed your 4th of July celebrations!

Arrrr..Hoist Yer Colors!

I've been meaning to post this project, but wanted to get it off to the new owner attending Scarby before I hoisted it here. My daughter waving the b-day gift:



It's a funny story. I actually ran out of black thread and went to a Wal-mart in another town not-so-near us to pick up some. (We don't have any place near us that sells sewing notions.) Of course, they were completely out of black thread. (Had every bizarre color you could ever want in all types, but no black! grumble, grumble! ) But as I shuffled away grumbling, I spotted a bolt of black light weight linen blend fabric in the bargain shelf (you know the one where they put a pile of bolts for $1-2 yd with no labels so you get to guess what it is?). I decided to buy up the 6 yds to make a chemise and/or shirt for $1.50 a yard. Then, I was also inspired and thought it would make a perfect flag for with a friend's new pirate insignia on it.



I traced mirror images of the design on two stencils made from freezer paper to get the design on both sides. I added dots to the corners of the stencil image before I printed it. This way I was able to poke a flat-headed pin through the layers to align the stencils. The freezer paper stencils are ironed on one at a time. Though it was time consuming cutting out the stencils, it worked really well with the acrylic paint.

My mom assisted in drawing the design for him. Here is one of the images that she drew:



In case you're wondering, I did happened upon a spool of black thread on the way home at our local thrift, which helped me to get the last minute flag done in time. I tried out the new vintage ziz-zag machine with it. So, I zig-zagged the hem instead of rolling it to keep it supple. I sewed the stitches 1/2" in from the edge; trimmed down to 1/4"; and frayed the edges by pulling out the threads.

For the casing, I used some scrap canvas along with some grommets I had around. You never know when you will need something, right? I keep EVERYTHING, you know!!

Now to get to making the chemise/shirt!

Beer-can-stein, the New and Improved Luxury "Brews"-Liner

Awhile ago, we bought a pewter stein, or tankard with a lid, from a local flea market. Mom wanted it for ren faires to go with her pirate garb because it had the hinged lid to keep pesky bees out of her drink. But, after failing a lead test, it wasn't safe to drink out of. We didn't know what to do with it. Maybe a pot for a plant?? Though we weren't pleased with it, we didn't just give up and toss it.



Since it only failed with lead in the seams of the handle and bottom where it was soldered together, we got the idea to make it safer with a lining. Then, after gluing a cheap beer cozy or foam sleeve inside the mug, a 12 oz. can fit perfectly inside while the lid covers it with a perfect seal. Now, while at faire it will keep her beer cold and hands free of condensation to stay dry.



You can see that the can sits just above and away from the rim all round. With much deliberation, I also decided it best to drill a tiny hole in the center bottom to help make it easier to remove the empty can when finished.



Curiously, it was engraved "Royal Viking SKALD" and had a bird looking design on the top of the lid, which after research I found to be the name of a Luxury Cruise-liner popular with the upper classes in the 80's. Not a pirate ship, but I'd have sailed on it! :)

Now, this tankard can enjoy a new life and be useful again! Cheers!