Bits & bobs, bitty bobs and bobby bits.

Today is Sunday, and on Friday we’re off to Lincoln for the great steampunk Asylum weekend.  I’m ridiculously excited.

For those who’ve forgotten what steampunk is, here are a few pics from Google of previous years’ fun and games.  This is our first time, and I’ve been sewing, as you know, for months.

I’m also back to work tomorrow, so sewing time will be severely curtailed after today- I have so many more things I’d like to make, and simply no time.  I’m restricting my work now to small jobs and making  a few extra accessories, like small bags. [Oh yes, and finishing the 6Nap bodice, if the wife can spare time from her motorbike races to lace me up]

We are attending a fun event on Saturday evening, called ‘Gordon’s Alive’.  I will be wearing my purple Victorian evening outfit, but adding accessories and makeup to become ‘Minge the Merciless’

I want a head dress something like this

With eyebrows like this

I’d considered and discarded various construction ideas, most involving gallons of hot glue and miles of wire.  Then I browsed my way to this cool new-to-me material called FOSSHAPE [from Vena Cava.]  It looks like white felt, can be cut and sewn like felt, but when you apply heat [I treated myself to a heatgun] it stiffens and changes to something between polystyrene and Airfix-like plastic.  I hacked out a piece 10cm square to find out how much it shrinks, and blasted it for a few seconds.  It shrank quickly, to 8cm sqare.  Not bad!  I found that you need to be careful not to get the heatgun too close, or you can get a lace effect as the fabric melts TOO much!

Before, soft and felt-like

After, nice and stiff…

That’s as much as it now flexes

Not being a cosplayer, I’m not too fussed about making anything that’s an exact copy, just ‘inspired by.’  I whacked out a shape, held it on my head, trimmed a bit more away here and there, sewed some of the scraps on as ‘mouldings’ or something, and then blasted it.I got this, which the missus will [if she doesn’t manage to forget] paint silver and black for me.

I also sewed some of the lanyard clips [so kindly donated by the lovely Kate of Fabrickated] onto the waistbands of some of the skirts.  Very useful for clipping on fans, gloves etc when I run out of hands!

I also hand stitched several miles of lace onto the hem of my ‘Mary Poppins’ skirt.

I hemmed the lining for the 6Nap skirt, using the fine rolled hem technique which I learned for the sleeves on wifey’s wedding dress.

I also found that I’d overlocked a couple of small holes into the yoke of the damn thing, so re-did it.  Sigh.

In other news…dah dah daaaaaaaaah…I FOUND MY DRAWERS!

Of course, they were in the place I suspected they’d be right at the start of my search, several weeks ago.  Before I found them however, I’d gone through every item in my over-stuffed chest of drawers, every item in the wardrobe, everything in the boxroom, which includes all the stores of bedding, and a couple of boxes of fabric.  I also had four crates of fabric out of another wardrobe, and went through them.  I pulled everything out that’s stored in the spare bed, and generally got very hot and sweaty.

These drawers have been missing ever since the missus ejected me from the back bedroom [and primary storage nest from hell], and rejigged it into her studio, and secondary storage nest from hell.  She finally got rid of a treadmill, which she inexplicably stored in a wardrobe, and replaced it with two folding futon mattresses.  She’s menopausal, what can I say?  In that wardrobe, she’s supposed to have all of her motorbike gear, ice skates, and wetsuit, blah blah.  Some of them had been duly hung up, but in the process, she’d left one solitary coathanger of mine, bearing [of course] a chemise and the Lost Drawers of Doom.  They’d partially slipped off the hanger, and had hidden behind a motorbike jacket.

She’s had the wardrobe door firmly blocked off by two chairs and a cello, and I do NOT go near her instruments, cos I’m clumsy!  Hence the loss.  She was totally oblivious of course, and just shrugged when I waved the newly found items at her.  Surprisingly, she is still alive.

welcome back drawers!

I still need to make feathered pauldrons for Dawn, shorten some trousers, and make that ruddy bodice.  Oh and some little bags for our stuff.  On with the show!