The Warner Sister Dot

So a couple of years ago I started a Hallowe'en costume that I never entirely finished! I was taking notes as I improvised and intended to publish the Toon Hands pattern eventually, but who knows where those notes ended up.

Anyway, I was thisclose to finishing the head - just had one ear to go - but then it was Hallowe'en and I went out in plain clothes and abandoned it.

Well, while working on the Spiritron Dress with the kid, I asked, what should I dress as for ComiCon? Generic mum in jeans and sweater? Or the Warner Sister Dot? They voted Dot, so I finished my lid, hemmed an old pink skirt, and here we go. I might make a bigger flower; it was all very last minute. But overall pleased with the finished product, and three people asked to take my photo!

The Flash!

This is a lifetime first for me: I finished a Hallowe'en costume one full week before Hallowe'en!

I am frankly astounded, and at loose ends. But miracle of miracles, it is true. Despite having to re-do the leggings from scratch because they were too small (curse you Burda and the randomness of your seam allowances). The costume is basically a hoodie and leggings (Burda 9482), with a bit of felt decoration, appliquéd using the old classic zigzag wheel on the Supermatic. Before I started, I asked the kid if he'd possibly wear it to school or elsewhere after Hallowe'en was over (in which case, I'd use something that would hold up in the laundry better than felt). He said, "No." I guess he's too old for that kind of thing.

When I asked him to try it on for size, he said, "Hmm, I could wear this to school!" Sigh.

The boots are yellow felt, cut to fit over the kid's rainboots. There's an elastic strap that goes under the heel to hold them on (I hope).

The tricky part was making the wing/lightning thingies sticking out of his helmet and boots. I ended up using multiple layers of felt fused together with Wonder Web for stability, and zigzagged around the edges.

There was a lot of zigzagging with this costume. But it's done done done! A week in advance! I guess I can always kill time making more sugar cookies.

knitting mojo: lost and found

off work for two weeks and knit nothing! could not think, let alone follow a pattern. sigh.

today i came home early for a rest, but couldn't sleep (hello, coffee). so, i thought i'd whip through a quick project to get my knitting mojo back

so far so good: one mitten down, one to go!

pattern to follow, i swear.

a sweater for coraline

coraline has been dragged around by her hair for a while wearing nothing but a grubby old t-shirt grabbed from the beenster's "too stained to wear" pile. so, i thought i'd make her a sparkly star sweater just like in the movie. i'm knitting a strand of sinflex metallic in indigo along with some midnight heather briggs & little. the picture looks brighter than reality. i really like the way it is knitting up.



and, i got some silver sinflex to make stars to appliqué on once the sweater is done. here's my first attempt:



needs blocking, but not bad i think!

oh, these are good

considering little h's favourite film, these would be an ideal snack...

the weekend is when we get things done!

another weekend, another project (or two)!

recently i inherited this doll pattern:



and not just the pattern, but the pattern pieces pinned to fabric and cut out. which is to say, the most boring part was done already! with that out of the way, it would be quick to finish. now, ever since he saw the movie on father's day last year, little h has been crazy for coraline. every time he finds a button, he wants to stick it in his eye. so i decided to make the doll into coraline's doll for him.



the first thing to do was adjust the shape of the head - coraline's head is flat on top with a slightly pointy chin, so i sketched the new shape on the face piece with some tailor's chalk, and cut it to shape. i also tapered her arms and legs a bit to make them skinnier.





i confess that when i put her together i was a bit concerned with how funny her head looked! but hoped that the addition of hair would make it all right.



in the spirit of not-buying-stuff and just using what's already taking up space around the house, i dug up some peacock blue briggs & little. i bought it last fall to be one of the contrast colours in a curling sweater for little h (which i haven't started yet). i found a piece of cardboard about 8" x 10", cut notches in the corners (to keep the yarn from sliding off the ends) and started wrapping. when the cardboard was covered in yarn, i sewed along the very edge with my ol' elna supermatic.



for most of her hair - to cover the back of her head - i wrapped lots of yarn and sewed along both edges of the cardboard, and then cut the whole lot right in half in between the rows of stitching (for two chunks of hair all the same length); for the "front" hair i wrapped less yarn and sewed along only one edge - since she wears her hair parted on the side, it would need to be long on one side and short on the other, so i only cut the yarn on one side. i reinforced the stitching by opening up the hair, and re-sewing along the stitching line a few times.

i started attaching the hair by taking one of the "back" chunks and hand sewing it along the seam at the top of her head. then to prevent seeing a lot of bald "scalp" if she got flipped upside down, i glued the under-layer of hair down to her head with carpenters' glue (why carpenters' glue? because it was there!). then i stitched the second chunk and stitching it down on top.

for the "front" hair, i laid it on top of her head and fiddled with it until it looked fairly even and her part was in the right place. then i stitched the part firmly to her head, and glued some pieces down along her forehead.







i stitched the long bits down where her dragonfly barrette would go. at that point, h couldn't contain himself any longer! so coraline took a break and we all played a game of bear dominoes.



later i found a bug barrette and put it in her hair. the reason her t-shirt looks so grubby, is it's an old one that h outgrew! he's a bit of a messy eater. but he loves her to bits - he is currently dragging her around the house!

the only sad part? i had intended to make her a proper outfit - jeans, yellow rain coat & boots. the jeans i made from an old pair of mine, but the plan was to use h's rain pants (which he has never worn) for coraline's rain gear - but once i altered the jacket pattern that came with the doll (to add a hood and make it a bit longer) i realised i had nowhere near enough material! will have to root around for another option. le sigh.

in the good news department though, i came home from work on friday to a house that smelled wonderful - and a plateful of cookies! chocolate/butterscotch chip with almonds, yum. tg had been doing some research and found this brilliant page of tips. best husband ever!

i must be losing it

ok it nearly killed me to do this... may still do a little more photoshop tweaking? in any case here it is, xmas card 2009 - mainly cozy but with a hint of the spooky, a la coraline (or anything by tim burton, really). i was entertaining the notion of doing a stop-motion short all in cookies, but now that i have slaved for about a billion hours for one photograph, i think that plan may be on hold.

ooh!

found this on delicious stitches: instructions for making a coraline doll out of paper from dark in the dark. brilliant. i kind of want to steal it to use as a pattern to make a real rag doll for h - he loves that movie, and whenever he finds a button, he sticks it in his eye.