Category Archives: creative

sewing

Need My Sewing Fix

I swear to God. It?s like a fucking addiction.

I spent fifteen minutes of my 20-minute break today sketching out ideas for a new totoro hat design.

Part of me is like, didn?t you want to try making those s?mores candles tonight? or practice your mellophone? and part of me is like, OMG I might have the answer to the standee-up ears!

Seriously, though—now that I?m actually fabricating hats, coming up with ideas, and being generally creative, I can understand why it?s impossible to find actual character hat patterns online. Especially since so many people sell their hats for a profit. It?s kind of like with soy candles: it?s impossible to find all the little tips and tricks all in one place, just because individual candlemakers (myself included) are so proud of having figured it out themselves, and they?ll be damned if they?ll share their hard work with budding candlists for free.

I know that, once I get this totoro hat to look just right, I ain?t planning on posting a pattern. Buy one and seam-rip it if you really want to know the secret of the totoro hat. 😉

But that might be a while…

otaku, sewing 2 Comments

Totoro Hat, Take Two

Attempt #2 at a Totoro hat I’d be proud to wear to the Animarathon in April. Much closer this time. I made the hat *too* big this time, instead of not big enough, so I had to adjust the hems and do some trimming—but, hopefully, I was left with a hat that would suffice for Aaron. I also increased the size of the hatband hem width and the ears, and decreased the size of Totoro’s eyes and nose.

I’m afraid I might have to try out some other style of a more form-fitting hat, as having a loosely-fitting hat isn’t going to work with those pesky ears. Maybe you can’t tell in the photos, but they really like to flop forward and/or backward a lot, and not stay standing up. Rigid, sure, no problem, but upright? Not so much.

Oh, yeah, and I still need to add whiskers. Sticky-outie whiskers, not sewn-on whiskers.

This is fun. Addictive. I *heart* fleece remnants at Hancock Fabrics.

Edit: Forgot to mention one thing. When one is cutting fabric on one’s kitchen table, it would behoove a person to make sure that the measuring tape is not unwound and laying about in close proximity to the path of the cutting implement. Otherwise, one may find oneself reattaching the end of one’s vinyl measuring tape, said tape having been severed at the three-inch mark.

otaku, sewing 6 Comments

Totoro Hat!

Yay! My very first Totoro hat is complete. Not bad for a first try… Next time, I’ll cut the fleece bigger to allow for seam allowances, and try to figure out how to sew the face on with the machine, instead of by hand. (My practice circles on the machine didn’t turn out too well…) Maybe make the eyes a little smaller, and the ears a little bigger.

But, for now, I’m happy. Yay, Totoro hat! I can sew… sort of. 🙂

sewing 1 Comment

I Must Be Retarded

I’ve got a Bachelor’s Degree, a 140+ I.Q, and three books from the library, and I STILL can’t figure out how to thread a fucking goddamn sewing machine.

I feel like a fucking moron. I want to cry. And the instructional video for Sheryl’s sewing machine won’t come out of the goddamn box.

How am I supposed to make a Totoro fursuit if I can’t even make the goddamned machine go?

Motherfucking goddamn fuck.

Update #1: Managed to remove VHS tape from box, sacrificing one fingernail in the process. Am about to watch said video.

Update #2: See? All I needed was a walkthrough. The nice lady on the tape (who looked like she was from 1986, even though the video was made in 2002) was very helpful in showing me how to thread the goddamn sewing machine. I wouldn’t have guessed any of that. Loop it through the who-huh? Tension spring? Wha…?

Anyway, I guess all’s well that ends well, whatever that means. I now have a piece of brown cloth that has half-black and half-brown test stitching haphazardly sewn through it.

This could be fun. Challenging, but fun.

photos

Family Portrait, Christmas 2004

Diana, Aaron, and Mei || Minolta X370s
Mei was unimpressed with the annual Christmas portrait experience, and refused to sit still until the self-timer would fire. Afterward, of course, she was content to lounge by the presents.

Edit:
Diana, Aaron, and Mei || Minolta X370s
Here’s an alternate version, with some artsy color tricks. Nothing fancy, but it adds a little something different. Skin tones still aren’t quite right, but… *shrug* Artistic license? Sure…