7.26.2013

Spoonflower Borderlands 2 Fabric Collection

I finally received my swatches for the Borderlands 2 collection I created. I'm extremely proud of the collection and I hope you guys like it.  Here's where you can find the collection for purchase.


I changed some of the colors, especially on the grunge. The background was a nice, deep red that matched the Borderlands 2 logo while the foreground was a bright poppy red that really clashed with the other colors. That has now been changed.


The fabrics are designed to be used in a quilt using 5 inch squares. Apart of the collection, not pictured here, is a cheater quilt made up of 6 inch squares, so there's definitely enough room for a seam allowance and then some. However, they can be used in many different ways.

The Borderlands 2 Logo fabric would make a great lining for a bag, backing for a quilt or even pajama pants.

The Grunge fabric could be used in many different ways, although I don't think it would look very good for projects whose pattern pieces are larger than two feet wide. (I can't think of anything besides huge, poofy dresses, but still!)

The fabric that I so cleverly named Gaige's Socks, after the Mechromancer's striped stockings, could be used as a lining for bags, a backing for a quilt, binding for a quilt, pajama pants, a tie etc. What's cooler, is that you could order the design on knit fabric and make yourself some leggings for a Gaige cosplay. Rip a few holes in the stockings and you're good to go.

The Vault Hunters fabric was the centerpiece for this collection. Of course it'd be great as a lining, but I also think you could use this fabric to make one helluva Borderlands 2 dress. I personally would love to make a white button-down shirt with black accents (think cuff and collar) and use this fabric for the yoke. Add a few studs, it'd be snazzy as hell.


I hope you guys like the fabric as much as I do! Remember to check them out here!



7.17.2013

The Great Absence

Hey guys, I just wanted to do a quick update on the blog.

I know I haven't posted in a few weeks. I went on a trip to Colorado to visit my boyfriend and his family. During that time, I left my laptop at home because I wanted it to be a complete vacation from my usual life style. I wanted to focus on spending time with my boyfriend and enjoying Colorado for what it had to offer, instead of sitting on my laptop checking out Reddit or playing video games.

I have a bit of an addictive personality, which I feel to be both a blessing and a curse. When I get an idea in my head, it becomes my life for a few weeks. Its all I want to think about and work on, making me extremely dedicated to my work but I neglect my other projects and priorities. Inspiration comes to me in waves and when the tide recedes, so does my motivation.

When I came home from Colorado, I lost my steam to work on the blog and my related projects. Instead, the next chapter of my motivation went solely towards playing video games and working on my backlog of games. However, playing video games inspired me in a different way.

In one day, I designed an entire Borderlands 2 fabric collection on Spoonflower, consisting of four different fabric designs that I'm really proud of. I don't want to advertise them yet because I'm still tweaking them and I need to get the proofs ordered but it feels good to get some work done. I plan on making another, related collection of Mad Moxxi fabrics today.

On the horizon, I have a quilt that has been sitting in my room for the past few weeks that just needs the binding to be finished. I can't wait to share it with the world because its my first quilt where I made both the top, quilted it and finished the binding.

I also have a super awesome Doctor Who tote bag design that needs to be assembled. I created it using my design on Spoonflower and let me tell you, it turned out great! There is just one problem that has kept me from working on it. Spoonflower isn't perfect. I have received multiple orders that came out of the washer with white splotches due to pilling of the fabric before it was printed on.

The good news is that I have only noticed this problem with Kona cotton so in the future I'm going to avoid printing on the Kona. Spoonflower has been really great about sending me free reprints when issues like this arise, but I do have to wait about a week longer to get the reprint which takes me longer to complete my projects.

Its also difficult for me to work on these projects because I'm a bit strapped for money right now. Its really my own fault. I didn't budget myself like I should have to make it through the summer until school starts and I have cash flow again. And now its hard to justify ordering swatches for proofing my fabric on Spoonflower because I'm not selling enough fabric to break even. The woes of a poor college student.

That's my life right now. Jumping between projects, waiting for the inspiration to hit me just right. Trying to scrape by for the next month or two without very much cash to spend on my projects. But don't let that fool you. Bigger things are on the horizon.

6.17.2013

Amy and the Raggedy Doctor

I created a new design on spoonflower.com! It can be purchased here! 



Its a mix of Doctor Who and Calvin and Hobbes. I originally created it as a T-shirt design but I thought I'd like to use it for some tote bags and what not!



I'm currently working on a cut and sew tote bag with this design on it so keep an eye out for it! I ordered the proof today so it should be here in a week or so. The only problem is that I'll be in Colorado until the beginning of July so I won't be able to create the tutorial until then, but the fabric will go on sell well before then!

6.11.2013

Quilted Fat Quarter Wallet Tutorial

Fabric can be purchased here!

I made a wallet using the fabric I created on Spoonflower.com yesterday. (Fabric can be purchased here!) The wallet is extremely useful because it can carry your phone, credit cards and cash. Even better, the wallet can be made from a single fat quarter (although I chose not to out of interest of contrasting fabrics) and is extremely easy to make!

So here's how I made it!


Quilted Fat Quarter Wallet Tutorial

Marterials


  • Fat Quarter of fabric, contrasting fabric is optional
  • Batting or fleece for quilting
  • Light fusible interfacing
  • Iron on Velcro or other closure
  • Sewing machine, scissors etc etc.








Step 1: Cut Fabric

Cut two 8.5 in. x 21 in. strips out of your fat quarter. (If the fabric is squared off and is an exact 21 in. by 17 in. then this is cutting the fat quarter in half.)

Cut one of these 8.5 in. x 21 in. strips into three pieces. Make two cuts that are 8.5 in. long, and another that is 4 in. long. (You should have two squares that measure 8.5 in. x 8.5 in. and one rectangle that is 4 in. x 8.5 in.)

Cut the second 8.5 in. x 21 in. strip into 3 pieces. Make one cut that is 3.5 in., 3 in. long and the last one that is 2 in. long. (You should have a rectangle that measures 3.5 in. x 8.5 in., 3 in. x 8.5 in. and 2 in. x 8.5 in.)

Out of your interfacing, cut a square that is 8 in. x 8 in. and a rectangle that is 1.5 in. x 8 in.

Out of your batting or fleece, cut a square that is 8 in. x 8 in.

Step 2: Iron and Quilt

Iron your 8 in. square of interfacing to one 8.5 in. square of fabric. This will be your outside fabric. There should be a quarter inch of a gap between the edge of the interfacing and the edge of the fabric, this is to cut down on the bulk in the seams when sewing.

Pin your 8 in. square of batting (fleece works just as well) to your 8.5 in. square (the one that you just interfaced) and quilt it down. As you can see in Figure 1, I only quilted a small portion of the batting as a decorative feature. If you do not quilt the entire thing, I suggest using a basting stitch where you did not quilt to make it easier to turn later.

Figure 1.
Iron your 1.5 in. x 8 in. rectangle of interfacing to your 2 in. x 8.5 in. rectangle of fabric. This will be your closure. Set it aside for now.

Step 3: Rolled Hems and Sewing

Take your 4 in. x 8.5 in. rectangle, 3.5 in. x 8.5 in. rectangle and 3 in. x 8.5 in. rectangle and create a 1/4 in. rolled hem on each of them. To create a rolled hem, fold over 1/4 in. and iron. Fold over this 1/4 in. a second time and iron it again. 

Top stitch the rolled hem, as seen in Figure 2.
Figure 2

Once hemmed, lay your 3 in. x 8.5 in. rectangle on top of your 3.5 in. x 8.5 in. rectangle, as seen in Figure 3. Measure 2 1/4 in. away from either edge and stitch the top rectangle down to the bottle rectangle.

Figure 3

Take your 2 in. x 8.5 in. rectangle and fold it in half so that it is 2 in. x 4 1/4 in. with right sides facing together. Stitch along the sides with a 1/4 in. seam allowance. This should leave an opening on one side, as seen in Figure 4.

Figure 4

I forgot to take a picture of this part (because I skipped this step by accident! Whoops!) so bare with me.

Flip this piece inside out and iron it flat. Top stitch along the edge. 

Step 4: Putting it all Together

This would be the time to add any closures that you need. I used iron on Velcro so I was able to do this as the last step, but if you are doing snaps or buttons you may want to do it now before we sew the wallet together.

Figure 5
Lay out your pieces as seen in figure 5. The 4 in. x 8.5 in. rectangle should go on one side while the two pieces you stitched together should go on the other side of the 8.5 in. x 8.5 in. rectangle without interfacing or quilting. Lay your closure strap on top, right side facing down. Basting them in place is optional but helpful.

Lay out the main, quilted fabric on top, right sides facing together as seen in Figure 6 and pin.

Stitch around the edge with a 1/4 in. seam allowance, but leave a 2-3 in. gap so you can flip it inside out.

Figure 6
Clip your corners, as seen in Figure 7.

Figure 7
Flip it inside out. Iron it out. Top stitch around the edge. This should stitch closed the gap you left open to flip the wallet inside out, but if you feel more comfortable you can use a ladder stitch to close the gap.

Figure 8
At this point, if you have not added a closure yet use some iron on Velcro. Its my favorite for quick projects like this!

Done!



Your wallet is done. Admire it. 

Looking back on the pattern, I wonder if I should have done the pockets differently. They are nice and clean, but I felt like they should be a bit thicker (and less flimsy) to house my giant Samsung Galaxy S2. If I were to make this pattern again, I think I'd cut the fabric for the pockets twice as long and fold them in half to create the pockets instead of using a rolled hem. Maybe for another day! 


6.10.2013

Doctor Who Pandorica Fabric

Depending on whether or not you like www.spoonflower.com, you might rejoice in the in the fact that many of the projects I will be posting will be from Spoonflower. Although lawyers probably have a blast sending out seize and desist orders over copyright infringement, I think companies need to be more lenient with their fan's creativity. I think many of the fans use Spoonflower more for an outlet to celebrate their fandom and less to mass produce a copyrighted product.

Doctor Who Pandorica Fabric Box

With that being said, user jennofalltrades on Spoonflower has created this wonderful Doctor Who Pandorica fabric. You can buy the fabric as a 1 8in x 8in swatch for 5.00 USD. If you wanted to create a cube, you would need to order 6 swatches for a total of 30.00 USD plus shipping and handling charges. This would be a wonderfully easy plushie to make, and extremely cute, too.

I just wish it had a slightly more productive purpose than a toy or decoration. You can use it as an ottoman, but at 8in by 8in, that's a rather small foot rest. Possibly a tissue box cover, but the fabric is far too big.

You could purchase 5 swatches for a total of 25.00 USD and with some interfacing and some lining, you could create an awesome and rather functional storage cube. Maybe something like this tutorial from The Sometimes Crafter blog!

Fabric box featured from The Somteims Crafter blog.
I hope that provides you with the inspiration to go out and make your own project. If you make anything, please feel free to share it with me! I'd love to see what you come up with!

6.08.2013

Starcraft Overlord Pattern

Another quick PSA.

The pattern is available for purchase here!
I normally try to provide as much free projects as possible, but a lot of the projects on here will have a pricetag on them. Unfortunately. If you're looking for free projects only, check out the "free label" in my tags.

Starcraft Overlord Pattern

I've seen this pattern floating around on Etsy and I thought it was only proper that I share it with you guys. This pattern was created by arixystix on Etsy, featuring an adorable Overlord plushie from Starcraft. The pattern is available for purchase here at the price of 11.00 USD.

Also available in arixystix's Etsy shop are patterns to make Plants vs. Zombies plushies! A killer Christmas gift for any of your zombie-loving friends and family members. (Cough, cough... me?)

I also stumbled upon arixystix's blog where she features some really adorable projects. She's got everything from Bioshock: Infinite to Diablo 2.

My favorite being these incredibly well crafted Diablo 2 characters. Take a look at her work, its absolutely amazing. She mentioned making a pattern for Diablo but has yet to deliver on that comment. I for one would be absolutely ecstatic if she provided the pattern, for purchase or for free. However, as someone currently working on her own patterns I understand how difficult it can be to design a pattern and then a tutorial on how to use it.

Diablo has never been cuter, even when he was incarnated as Leah.

6.06.2013

Star Trek Quilt

A quick PSA.

When I made this blog, I had the intention of including a tutorial with every project I do. However, as a college student a single project could take me weeks or months to finish. The blog would move a little slow, don't you think? Thus, in the interest of providing interesting and exciting, new content, I have decided to post projects with or without my personal tutorial to go along with them. I am sincerely sorry. I hope to include my own personal work and tutorial for all of these projects when I get the time for them.

Star Trek Quilt Pattern

You can find the design on her tumblr here!
A couple weeks ago, reddit user /u/girlntheotherrm, posted this awesome design for a Star Trek quilt she was working on to /r/sewing. You can find the pattern on her tumblr here! 

Definitely check it out, she deserves all the credit for this design. (Well, her and the costume designers for Star Trek.) She includes the measurements to make your own throw (or baby) blanket. If you wanted a full size quilt, I imagine you would just double most of the measurements.

The trickiest part would probably be the insignia, but I'm sure with a quick Google search you could easily find an image to base your applique off of. 

I think I'll make this project as a Christmas gift come the holiday season. For who? (I'm sure half of my friends would die to receive one, but I'm not telling anyone who's getting it!) Expect to see a walk through for this pattern in a few months as I work on it. 

Go forth and create!!




6.05.2013

Leather Armor Tutorial

So I don't have any quality photos of my Renaissance Festival costume at this time, but I do have a few cruddy phone shots that might satiate your curiosity for the time being. I also have some quick tutorials on how I made my leather armor. Interested? I thought so.

As far as the costume goes, I just have to make my accessories and I'll be done. That includes making a couple of bags to carry on my waist and a bunch of animal bones. Yeah, animal bones. I'm thinking of not wearing the scarf because the composition works so much better without it.

Lets talk about how to make leather armor, shall we?




Leather Armor Tutorial

The disclaimer. I know absolutely nothing about working with leather. Also, I didn't have the right tools to put this together, but I thought I stumbled on some neat tricks that you guys might like to know about.

I went onto etsy.com and ordered a bunch of leather scraps. Try to go for lots that have larger scrap pieces. It doesn't matter how thick the leather is, but keep in mind that thin leather is much easier to work with and put together. 

Materials:

Asymmetrical lace in the back, woo!
  • Leather (big scraps)
  • Eyelets
  • Leather lace or ribbon
  • Paper Brads or other hardware to secure the leather
  • Chalk or other marking tool
  • Exacto Knife, hammer, scissors hot glue etc.
  • Fur, bones or other misc. scraps
  • Preferably a dress form










To the right of the materials list, you can see what the chest piece and belt look like from the back. I was really proud of the asymmetrical lace up back when I drafted it on my duct tape form. Its actually really easy to do. Below you can see the construction of the front in more detail. 

Step 1: Draft your Pattern for the Bodice


Figure 1
Select some leather scraps that will cover your chest. They do not need to be able to wrap all the way around your torso. Wrap this piece around the chest of your dress form. Let the leather naturally curve around the form, with as little wrinkling as possible.

Even though I'm relatively small chested, I still needed to create a seam for the leather bodice to fit properly. I was going for a rugged, asymmetrical look so I only made a seam for one breast. If you are larger chested, I highly suggest doing a seam on both breast.

Create your seams and pin other leather pieces onto the dress form until it wraps around the torso and there is a space for lacing. (You won't be able to get it on or off without lacing, so keep that in mind.)
Use a piece of chalk to mark where your seams are and where your leather pieces connect. 


Step 2: Cut Seams

Take your bodice off of the dress form and cut any seams. I completely removed any seam allowance from one seam and then left a 1/2 in. seam allowance on the other seam. This allowed me to overlap the leather and have the seams meet perfectly.

Figure 2

Step 3: Connect the Seams

For this step you will need metal brads, the kind that you use to hold or embellish paper. I don't know if they make any specifically for leather. If you can, use actual hardware meant for leather. Otherwise, paper brads are a very cheap alternative that do a surprisingly good job at holding leather together. Remember, this is a cheap and easy alternative. If you want an authentic piece, go authentic.

Mark where you want your brads to go on your top piece of leather. Your top piece should be the piece of leather that you completely cut off the seam allowance, allowing the bottom piece of leather to overlap underneath and hide the seam allowance.

Use an exacto knife to cut a small, horizontal line into both layers of leather. I found that cutting a hole in the top layer, inserting my brad, then lining up my two layers of leather and cutting the hole in the bottom piece of leather gave me a better seam. 

Insert your brad through both pieces of leather, make sure you are matching up your seam. You will need to fight with the leather and pull it into place since you are working along a curved seam.
Figure 3
The back of the leather will look a little bit like something in Figure 4. You want the brads to be vertical so they are not susceptible to the tugging and pulling of the leather armor around your chest. 

Figure 4
The finished product will look something like Figure 5. If your seam doesn't lay flat, that's a good sign because that's where your boob is supposed to go.

Figure 5

Step 4: Repeat

Repeat Step 3 and attach the other leather pieces to your armor according to where you previously marked with chalk. Always keep your brads oriented vertical (which means cutting a horizontal slit). 
Figure 6
I didn't take pictures of the eyelet/lacing process but if you buy eyelets they usually come with instruction on how to apply them. Just make sure they are deep enough to go through the leather and large enough to string lacing through them.

Once you have all your pieces attached, try them on. If you find that its too tight or too loose, the awesome thing about the brads is that they are extremely easy to remove and reposition. 

I found that my dress form is a little wide because one of her seam busted when I first made her (her name is Midge, by the way) so I had to take my bodice in. I just remove the brads in the side, moved it over about an inch and it fit like a charm. You can't even tell I had to reposition the brads.

Step 5: Belt Layout

At first I tried to draft the belt by using the dress form. This is completely possible and might even give you a better product, but laying it out on the floor is much less tedious. 

Simply lay out leather scraps, make sure that they overlap so you can connect them, until it is long enough to wrap around your waist. Its not really a science, if its short a couple inches you will be fine. If the ends overlap by a couple of inches, you will still be fine.

I did use some fur in my belt, which I also ordered off of Etsy. Yes, its real coyote fur scrap. Zoey refused to come into my room when I first got it. I felt like I was seriously messing with some bad juju by including it in my costume, but I had to do it in the name of costume design... or something... why didn't I just use fake fur?

Figure 7

Step 6: Glue down the Fur

If you use fur or even fabric scraps in your belt, you will want to secure it with some hot glue. Or some more brads, but I ran out of brads after I finished the bodice and I was left with the only option of using glue to secure it to the belt.

I found the best way to glue the piece down was to do this. Glue down the edge, press it down and let the glue cool. Lift up the rest of the scrap and glue down right next to where you previously glued. Press it back down and let it cool. Lift up the rest of the unglued scrap and glue right next to where you glued last time. Keep doing this, one line of glue at a time, until the scrap is completely glue down.

As you can see in Figure 8, you will use one line of glue at a time. This kept the glue from cooling while I hurriedly attempted to drizzle the hot glue every where. Cold, hot glue will not hold. Fresh, warm, hot glue will.
Figure 8

Step 7: Fasten the Leather Pieces down

When I went to Joann's to buy leather working supplies the thought never crossed my mind that they don't sell leather working supplies. I mean, why wouldn't they? They're a craft store... right?

Joann's does not sell leather working supplies. I knew this. I knew it. I should have ordered rivets or something on line, but instead I placed my bet on Joann's and I lost. Not only did they no have what I needed, but the supplies I bought to use in place where expensive. It was an expensive mistake.

So, if you want to go the cheap route just use the same brads that you used for the bodice and repeat the directions for attaching the leather together using brads. (This was my original intention but I ran out.) Instead, I used these funky snaps that Joann's sold. Each $8 box came with 6 snaps, and each snap came with four pieces. Out of the four pieces, I could only use one piece for the purpose of fastening my leather together. GREAT. 

I took some pictures of how I fastened these snaps just in case you go to Joann's and make the same mistake as me. The top piece of the snaps had little prongs to puncture the fabric. Unfortunately leather was far too thick for me to just shove the prongs through. This is where the exact-o knife comes in handy.

Place the snap, prongs side down where you want to secure your leather pieces together. Use a hammer to light pound the prongs into the leather. This won't puncture the leather, but it will leave tiny little marks where the prongs need to go.

Figure 9
Use your exact-o knife to make small holes where the prongs need to go. Repeat this process for both pieces of leather. It will look something like Figure 10 below.

Figure 10
Take your hammer and hammer down the prongs once they are through both pieces of leather to secure the snap in place.

Figure 11
Thankfully, this is enough to hold the leather in place. 

Continue doing this until your belt doesn't fall apart when you pick it up and try to put it on and all your leather pieces are secure. Remember, if you are using brads to keep the vertically oriented to resist the pull of the leather horizontally.

Step 8: Cut your Ties

So, I ran out of those stupid snap things before I could even use them to secure the leather to tie my belt around my waist. Whatever. Like I'll let that hold me back. I'm a physicist (sort of).

I cut 3 pieces of leather out of my scraps that were about 1/2 inch wide and 15-20 inches long. When i bought my leather off of Etsy, someone sent me some cool, antique metal rings as a thank you gift. I used that as a center piece to secure 2 pieces of leather to create one really long strap. Thankfully, I was able to use my sewing machine to secure them in place 

I then tied the one end of the strap to the end of my belt, as picture in Figure 12.

Figure 12
I took the last strap and tied it to the other end of my belt, not pictured. This allowed me to wrap the super long piece around my waist, secure the belt in place and tie it to the other end.


Figure 13
Here's the finished belt from the front. It looks better when its actually worn, its easier to get a more natural looking tie in the front.

Detail shot from the back.
Above is a picture of the back of the belt and the many snaps I had to add. My fingers were getting pretty raw having to deal with all those tiny, pointy pieces all afternoon so I was relieved to finish it.

Wow, I think that's all there is to it!

Its really not that difficult or expensive, especially if you're not going for 100% authenticity. I'm really happy with how the brads are holding up. Please don't bite my face off for not being authentic. :<


Spoonflower Fabric

Years ago, before I left for college, I discovered a website called www.spoonflower.com. If you haven't heard of it, this website allows you to print custom fabric that you or other people designed. Pretty awesome, right? I know. I designed some fabric for a contest and if I recall correctly I actually placed pretty well but I didn't make it high enough to get the fabric printed for free. As a high school student with no income, I never got it printed... until now.



This fabric is available for purchase here!

Currently, I'm working on a simple quilted clutch (and a tutorial to go with it!). It would have been done and uploaded yesterday, except I was being a bit of a butthead yesterday. Y'know when you're feeling cranky and impatient so you rush through a project? That was me. Now my bias tape edges look awful and I have to rip every single stitch and redo it by hand for the result I want. I totally deserve it for being such a butthead yesterday.

Moving on, I recently designed another piece of fabric and just received the fat quarter(s) yesterday.

I thought I had ironed it better! :(
This fabric is available for purchase here!

This design is made using Togg brand collectible space cards from the 1950's. How cool is that? I really love how it turned out. One fat quarter contains around 40-50 cards, if I recall correctly. Design wise, the fabric is a little loud, but I think it'd make some awesome pajamas for your local space enthusiast (read: your adorable kids).

I also made the design in black and white!


This fabric is available for purchase here!

I really need to pay the extra dollar or two for the Kona cotton that Spoonflower offers. Their cheaper cotton, as you can see in my previous pictures, wrinkles something awful in the wash. I spent forever ironing those pieces they still came out wrinkled for their photoshoot. Argghadfkahdfahdfak.

5.31.2013

Raggedy Cloak Tutorial


I made a cloak for the Colorado Renaissance Festival. At the same time, I've been practicing french braiding my hair because the skill has eluded me for the first 20 years of my tomboy life. By some odd coincidence, the combination of the two makes me look a bit like Obi-Wan which would be a much appreciated compliment if only I was a man. :(

On another note, I'm really, fricken excited to finally go to the Renaissance Festival. Holy hell. I've never been to one before and Curtis, the boyfriend, said we could go to the Colorado Renaissance Festival when I come up to visit him next month! Unfortunately, this means that my room smells funky due to the ever-growing pile of leather scraps and animal parts waiting to be used for my shaman costume.

But I know why you're here. You want to know how to make a cloak. Let us begin.

How to make a Cloak:


Materials:

  • 2-3 yards of fabric
  • A yard of ribbon
  • Scissors, chalk, thread, iron, sewing machine etc. etc.
  • A couple of hours of your time


Step 1: Lay out your fabric, mark the length and cut

Figure 1
I folded my fabric in half because I had a small work area. 

First, find how long you want the cloak to be from your shoulder to your legs, or floor. Use a tape measure, hang it off your shoulder and pick a number. I went with 42 inches, including a half inch seam allowance. I'm short so this goes to mid-calf for me.

Mark this length on your fabric. You should have a line marking this length from selvedge to selvedge. (The selvedge will be the front of the cloak, the cut edges will be the top and bottom.)

Cut the fabric. I wasn't very careful when I cut because I wanted a ragged look anyway, but a clean, straight ling will make hemming the fabric much easier.

Step 2: Mark and cut out the hood

Figure 2
With your excess fabric, fold it in half and lay it out. The top of the hood will be on the fold, the front will be the straight cut edge as you can see in Figure 2.

For this hood, I made it about 18-19 inches tall and 17 inches deep. Figure 3 says 19.5 inches tall and as I type this, I feel like that might have been too much. I think it was closer to 18.5 inches. Sorry.

Figure 3
Mark how tall and deep you want your hood to be, include an inch for seam allowance, then draw the back of the hood. As you can see in Figure 3, I went with a slightly rounded curve. (This is the line right under the words 'mark and cut'.) If you want more of a witchy/elf hood, you can always make the back of the hood more of a long triangular shape.

After you have drawn out your hood, cut it out. Your two sides should still be connected through the fold at the top of the hood. 

Step 3: Sew together the back of the hood

Pin the back of the hood together, right sides facing together. 

Sew the pieces together with about half an inch seam allowance.

Figure 4
I went back and did a second stitch with a zig-zag stich in the seam allowance just to strengthen the seam and prevent fraying. You can finish the seams however your choose.


Step 4: Hem the front of the hood

Hem the front of the hood by folding over about half of an inch, ironing down and then topstiching about 3/8ths of an inch away from the edge.

Figure 5

Step 5: Hem the front of the cloak

Set your hood aside and go back to the first piece of fabric you cut at the beginning of the tutorial to create the length of the cloak. 

Hem the selvedge. I did this by folding over half an inch, ironing this in place and then topstitching about 3/8ths of an inch away from the edge.

Figure 6

Step 6: Gather the top of the cloak

Figure 8
Make a long, loose basting stitch across the top of the length of the cloak about a quarter of an inch away from the edge. 

Then, pull on one of the threads to gather the fabric. Be careful not to snap the thread, this can be annoying to redo.

Or do whatever you want to gather the top of the cloak. I'm not your mom.












Step 7: Pin the hood and gathers and sew together

Align the top of the gathers with the bottom of the hood. You want to keep gathering until the hood and the cloak at the same length, from edge to edge.
Figure 9
Pin the hood and the gathers together, right sides facing together and sew with a half inch seam allowance.

Again, I used a zigzag stitch to reinforce the seam. You can remove the basting stitch and trim any excess or finish the seam however you like.

Step 8: Top stitch the gathers

I ironed and top stitched the seam allowance to the hood, just to keep it out of the way and help with the fraying. (This fabric frays a ton.) This area will show because it will be loosely hanging around your shoulders, so do whatever you want to make it look nice.

Figure 10

Step 9: Attach the ribbon/closure

I decided to use some chocolate ribbon to tie my hood shut and keep it in place while I wear it. You can use fancier closures or whatever you want. To attach the ribbon, because I wasn't doing any fancy finishes, I just used a zig zag stitch to bar tack the ribbon to the hood/gathers seam.

Figure 11
I didn't hem the bottom of the cloak because I was going for a ragged feel. However, the fabric I'm using frays much worse than most fabrics (leaving little strings wherever I go) so I'm contemplating hemming the bottom. 

This cloak doesn't have any fancy seam finishes or lining, but if you are using a fabric that frays a lot it may be something you want to consider.

Step 10: Enjoy and have a photoshoot with your puppy!

Zoey got a little curious while I was trying to take photos of the cloak...

In this picture I was a little worried because it seemed like she was going to pounce and try playing with the girl in the mirror.

7 years of bad luck with a husky puppy? No, thank you. She's clumsy enough as it is.


And if you're wondering if that is indeed Zoey's cute little butt in this picture, you'd be correct... 

As you might be able to tell in the photo, this fabric frays pretty easily. I was thinking of doing a lining but I figured that it wouldn't go with the nomadic shaman costume I was going for. 

I plan on finishing the rest of the costume (and possibly uploading tutorials for everything else I do!) so keep an eye out for that! This is just the beginning and I promise you the other pieces will be much more interesting.

Update: I remade the cloak and I'll be uploading better pictures once I get my hands on some. Thanks for your patience. :)