Husband ran a stall at Eurogamer last week and wanted to Cosplay with 2 of his colleagues dressed as Musketeers. This is the costume I sewed to help him on his way...
He already had a white shirt so I sewed lace onto the collar and cuffs.
I bought stiff red fabric for the tabbard and made a plain front with gathered shoulders on the back to give a cloak effect and a huge buckle on one shoulder for a bit of swank!
Being an artist ( or a Musk-art-teer as he called it!!!), he designed and drew the crest on the shield fabric at the front
(see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLJkRIg8BR8&list=UU7zvKSgUNc2tCuxybH07Wbw )
The boots were made from this...
...fake leather which is very easy to cut and sew. I drew round his wellies with a seam allowance to spare
Sewed them up down the front and, having snipped the curves with lots of tiny snips to help them turn easily without buckling, turned them the right way out.
With my trusty Cropodile, I punched a series of holes through the fabric where the back seam would go so that they could be laced (giving ample room for legs of different sizes to wear them easily).
The sort of cuff piece at the top of the boot was a separate piece of fake leather, sewn inside and then folded back over. You have to make sure you place it the right way round before sewing so that it folds down to reveal the side you want. The back of fake leather is not very picturesque!
The laces were made from long strips of the fake leather too, flexible and surprisingly strong.
The only improvement I would make is to sew elastic to go under the fake boots to hold them in place over his comfy trainers. On the day he used curls of masking tape to stick them in place.
For pics from Eurogamer, including the outfit being modeled, follow the link to
http://kercal.wibsite.com/2014/10/02/the-next-event/
or the photostream at https://www.flickr.com/photos/56759148@N00/with/15190848140/
This year has been a good one for sitting in the garden late into the evening and burning things (Pyromaniacs? Yes but safely I promise!).
We have managed 6 barbecues and then just continued on sticking twigs (and other interesting combustibles) into the Chiminea to carry on the warmth, the fun and the flames!
Here are a few lovely flame-y pictures to cheer you up as the nights start creeping in earlier and summer feels like a distant memory at times.
As many candles and lanterns as we could find around the house,
all piled on the garden table.
Sticks and twigs crackling away merrily in the chiminea.
Like an egg-inferno. All it needs now is to hatch a phoenix from the ashes in the morning!
Feel the warmth!
Bunting has been very 'in' for quite a while now.
This seems to be one of the latest developments for the fashion: cake bunting!
It's the same shape as ordinary bunting, just in miniature to fit on a cake.
I'd seen a packet of it in Paperchase and thought I'd have a go myself for my sister's birthday cake. The bunting itself was easy enough to make: find paper with a small pattern, fold it over in a long thin strip so that when you cut a triangle you actually cut a diamond folded in half. Then glue the folded diamond over a long piece of cotton with trimmed barbecue sticks every so often...
The tricky bit was not knowing the size the cake would be (as I hadn't made it) so I left the string bits a little too long between the sticks.
It still looked pretty and delicate, but my advice would be... make the cake first then make the bunting to fit the size of the cake (and make sure you don't set fire to it along with the candles of course!!).
No I don't have photos of the biblical event but, during my Sculpey modelling days (which are currently behind me although I feel them creeping up on me again), I made the scene of Jesus walking on the water and asking St Peter to walk to him across the waves.
Here is the result from several different angles.
I made the water for them to stand on but now I've used the green organza fabric as a background, it kind of looks like they're on a surfboard!
Oooops!
Near the end of the summer holidays, Frensham Pond Sailing Club held its annual youth day to encourage young people with disabilities to learn to sail. There were very cheerful and experienced volunteers on hand to meet the young people's needs and the weather was just beautiful.
Here are a couple of pics of the boats waiting on the jetty for the off.
I don't think the sky could have been any more blue!
They run regular sessions on Thursday and Saturday mornings for youngsters with disabilities and have all the equipment needed for many types of health problems. If your family fit the bill, its really worth a look. they were SO friendly. The more experienced kids can go out alone, intermediates with a sailing buddy and novices or those needing more help can go in a group on a larger boat (on the left).
http://www.sailfrensham.org.uk/index.php/info/about-the-club/history/14-sailing/sailability/72-sailing-for-the-disabled
Quite a while ago I showed you a lovely big piece of tweed fabric I had picked up in a charity shop for a small amount of money... knew I wanted to do something with it but had no idea what. I said I'd keep you posted if it got used at all (http://socklet-world.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/need-for-tweed_22.html ).
Well here is the first result of my efforts: Frogs!
There's a little of the personality of Beaker from Sesame Street/ Muppets about the frog on the left.
I can imagine these two sitting down their local pub of a lunchtime, the larger one holding forth about the state of the world today and the smaller companion hardly daring to venture an opinion.
The wrinkly fabric of the top of the head is the lining from an old anorak from a charity shop and, although you can't really see it, they both have a mouth pouch, which in other fabric frogs I make, my husband fills with styluses (styli?) at drawing conventions.
