Week 2&3: Lucrezia

What have I been up to... Well, as  far as sewing goes, right now all I've done is patch my fiancée's pants (useful), knitted the Shamaness shirt hood (slow) and thought how to start the first Assassin's Creed costume.

The one being Ezio is quite a straight forward copy of the original, but three were "original" designs. First one is for the poisoner, Lucrezia. (yes, I know in the game Lucrezia is one of the bad guys).

Here is my character scetch on her:

Bleh, I really need to get back on drawing more... Anyway, sorry about this image being in B&W, my tablet pen has done a runner and I need to catch it before coloring. I'm taking a few liberties to the actual time period correctness, but I think the game also takes a few liberties, so we can put this on artistic freedom. The color combo for Lucrezia is green/teal and white.

I'm planning on modifying the Butterick pattern B4486 or The Poet Shirt for the shirt. The collars I have to redraw, and maybe do some twinking on the sleeves.

For the corset I ordered the Steampunk Asylum corset pattern from Harlots & angels in Etsy. In the pattern the lacing is in the back, but I'm not sure wether I want it to be there or move it to the front. I drew it to be in the front, but I think I like it better on the back. I still have to think about it. I also have to tweak, lenghten and puzzle out the hem.

I've used the B5265 pattern more than once for making different capes and found it easilly modified, so I'm going to use it again. Like going back to a dear friend.^^

The hood is something I have to puzzle out myself. I know I have the instructions on how to draw a hood pattern somewhere...

What else... Since I am using the rumor that Lucrezia Borgia used to poison (to my knowledge there is no actual historical evidence, just rumors) people by using a poison filled ring, I need to find something suitable. I've seen a few good candidates on etsy.

Lucrezia Borgia

I think I will also get myself a book about Lucrezia Borgia. It's good to get to know the person from whom I am building this fictional character.

Week1: Shamaness knitted shirt progress

I started this knitted shirt in December and I've been knitting in during evenings when I have had the time. The original model is from Novita Winter 2012 -knitting magazine. I fell in love with the hood of this shirt, took up my needles and started to knit. The shirt is part of the Lapland shamaness collection.

Original model from Novita magazine

The pattern originally says to knit the front and back parts separate, but I knitted them together by using the circular knitting needle. This is because using ordinary knitting needles for such a big project is a strain on the unaccustomed wrists, the circular knitting needle allowes you to knit 80% of the shirt body by using the plain stich alone.

The original was also grey baclground with highlights by Novita Takkatuli -yarn. While shopping the yarn I fell in love with the teal color they had on the background yarn and so my shirt became teal with highlights.

How my shirt looks right now.

I still have the hood to do, othervice the shirt is finished. I have the first of the two big examinations on monday, so I can't continue over the weekend, but I'm hoping to finish by the end of the week.

You can also see that I made a measuring mistake on the right sleeve and the middle stripe is higher than it is on the left sleeve. I'm also very stingy when it comes to the yarn and I didn't match the different stripes as they are on the model image as then I would have ended up with different lenghts of cut strips of yarn that I have no big use, which to me is waste. So I knitted in the order the colors rolled from the clew.

Materials:
Background: Novita 7 veljestä teal (75% wool, 25% polyamide)
Stripes: Novita Puro Takkatuli (100% wool)
Needles: 4mm circular knitting needle in 60cm lenght, 4mm double pointed needles used to make the sleeves
2 safety pins to mark the side seams.

New Year Promises of 2013

Well, I already did the kimono related promises, but the sewing related promises are still to make. ;)

1. Sew/knit something every week.
2. If undable to sew/knit, do handicrafts.
3. Do a weekly post in the blog.

I'm not very good at long term promises, but I hope to keep these.

What's your New Year promises? ^^

Projects for 2013....

....or new ways to shoot myself to the foot.

Aaaah, I've been neglecting all sewing/knitting projects for a while because christmas rush has been over us at work/school. Plans for new projects has been installed, but not confirmed.

The BIGGEST and BADASS project most likely will be four (4) Assassin's Creed Ezio Auditore styled costumes for Animecon. The cosplayers were given the choice of two costumes:

Ezio Auditore da Firenze / Assassin's Creed II

walkingdead.wiki.com

Ezio Auditore / Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

polishtheconsole.com

 Of course, all of them could not be Ezio, so we planned to make kind of a Brotherhood crew. Each cosplayer chose which costume they like'd best and then they were allowed to personalize the costume. Things that they were not allowed to change was the white base color, and the shape of the hood ("The hood stays. END OF STORY!"). Also the shape of the original costume they chose will be nearly the same, with little tweaks.

Right now 3/4 have confirmed and told what changes they want for their costumes. Two have chosen the Assassin's Creed II costume as their starting point, one chose the Brotherhood costume and one has not confirmed yet. We also chose a "character trait" for each cosplayer to go with the changes (hidden blades, sword/daggers, archer and poisoner). I'm planning on asking them to name their representative characters, so I can name the costumes I have to design after them.

I'm not sure if I have time to finish all the costumes, but I'm hoping most of them will be finished (I have two big final exams coming up this spring...).^^''' I'm going to be so busy, but maybe keeping this blog encourages me to go all the way to finish line....

Handicrafts: Ministry of Silly Walks clock

Anyone familiar with the Ministry of Silly Walk by Monty Python? Well, I saw a clock made from that idea by Indubitably jetsam and I KNEW I had to make one of my own. All idea credits go to indubitably jetsam, I'm just an idea thief.

Materials used
- Canvas
- Decoupage paste
- A print of the body and legs + numbers 1-12
- Clock machinery

This clock still has a small problem. It works until the clock strikes 11, when it clogs up and refuses to work. Mu hubby said there might be something wrong with the machinery if it continues.

And why is there no number that is between the numbers 7 and 9? That's a joke from a Discworld. Wizards cannot say the number that is between 7 and 9. And this is the way it's marked in the Discworld Ankh-Morpork board game. Yeah, I'm a sucker for inside jokes.... >.<

OMG Shoes!

The American Duchess has the new 23Skidoo shoes up for preorder! Anyone wanting a pair of 20s shoes? Here's where to find them: Le American Duchess Shop

The 23Skidoo

And here's some product information:

• Uppers are high grade, soft, hand-stitched calfskin (that will stretch slightly over time). 
• Faux leather sole with excellent wear characteristics and suitable for dancing.
• Custom made French heels are 2 3/8 inches high, and perfectly balanced for all-day comfort.
• 23 Skidoo has been constructed on dance shoe lasts, and is meant to fit snuggly, as a dress shoe.
• "B" width (average).
• It runs true to size for most customers.
• Order a half-size larger for wide-width feet, if you prefer your shoes to fit more loosely, or intend to wear with thicker stockings.

Aren't they pretty?

Skirt 2.0 and 3.0 in progress

Hi everybody! I've been doing sewing! Last weekend to be precise as the weekdays are rather full at the moment....

Anyway here's the two skirts I sewed up to the finish line last weekend.

Grey suede skirt. The pattern is the same I used for the brown one, as I've been liking the brown so much I wanted another one. In grey! Now to decide what kind of pattern to cut into the hem...

Again the same pattern, this time a little longer in lenght. The material is light wool that feels very soft to the touch. I found the material in a bargain box at the local fabric store and was very pleased! It's white, pink and black! Now to decide what kind of buttons would go with it.

I also got corset boning in stock, so I have to find a nice pattern to use it on!