#fandom sewing

[san-sews-seams]

Three tiny Tolkien dragons!

All on one hanky because I'm testing the designs. The two Smaugs are good as they are, but I need to find a better filler stitch for noodly boi Glaurung. The back on th lattice stitch is messier than I like for a handkerchief.

Edited to add image descriptions to alt text.

[shrikeseams]

So @galadhremmin has a post talking about making Luthien's heraldic device into a quilt, based off some interesting machine embroidered mandala-esque quilts, which got me to thinking about How To Do The Thing. (I've been on a quilting kick lately.)

Now, with quilting there are a bunch of different techniques to achieve any given design, but Luthien's decide is tricky, 'cause this bitch has curves.

In case you haven't tried it, sewing a curved seam that is supposed to lay flat is Difficult. Not least because anything cut on the curve is de facto cut on the bias, and bias cut fabric loooves to stretch and warp.

So, the three most obvious approaches to this are:

1. Regular piecing. Very difficult, but you might be able to swing it if you stabilized the pieces somehow before cutting, like with freezer paper or fusible interfacing cut without seam allowances. The curves are mostly pretty gentle, so it wouldn't be the *worst*, but I wouldn't reccomend it to a beginner. This technique would be vulnerable to cumulative errors,, eg when your seam allowances and/or cutting aren't perfect, and are imperfect for several seams, and you wind up with a design mismatch along a seam. This may not bother you if you aren't a perfectionist, tbf. You will also have to deal with y seams unless you quarter the design through the blue sections. This technique would be suitable for larger projects- I'd say lap quilt and up. Some of the design elements would be too small for regular piecing if you went smaller. 2. English paper piecing. An all hand sewing technique were you cut ou the pattern pieces without seam allowance, wrap the fabric around the paper pieces, and then sew them together that way. A good technique for fiddly detail designs! But not good for big projects unless you are Very Dedicated. I'd reccomend this for about pillow size and no bigger. In some ways this would be easiest because a) the size is limited, b) it doesn't need a machine or special equipment, and c) you don't have to figure out how to enlarge the design. You' probably need a nice stiff cardstock for the dark contrast lines though. 3. Applique! Specifically raw edge fused applique. This is what I would reccomend for a complete novice who wants to make a luthien bed quilt because it will be fastest, easiest, and least vulnerable to sewing errors. You cut out the design pieces, fuse double-sided interfacing to the back, and then iron them on to your quilt top. Then you want to secure then with some stitching, in case the interfacing fails, but that's not too difficult and any mistakes won't impact the rest of the pattern. The only drawback to this one is that you'll be working with pretty big chunks of fabric the whole time, but it is pretty dang quick and easy. (If you wanna get ~fancy~ or make it an heirloom project, you can do needle turn applique, or stitch and flip applique. But raw edge fused turns it into a few weekends' worth of work instead of a Very Longg Time.) Applique would be good for any size you can get pattern pieces for. One and two still leave the issue of enlarging the designs. If I decide to try this I'll probably use my projector. Otherwise... tbh, I feel like the best bet would be to muddle through in a CAD program and get it printed on A0 at a copy shop. But I do not know anything about how that process would go.

[prettylittlecostumers]

WIP

We’re finally back to our lotr costume project, and this time we’re tackling Éowyn’s white wool gown, that according to designer Ngila Dickson was made to represent her as the “White Lady of Rohan”.

Above: The White Wool Gown. Scene from TTT. Screencap by me.

In the movie, Éowyn wears this gown while crying at Théodred’s bedside, after telling her uncle he is dead. This is one of the savviest costume choices in the entire trilogy for Éowyn, since white was a “color of choice” for royals in mourning in medieval and early modern Europe. The most iconic example that comes to my mind is MQoS.

Above: MQoS in white mourning after the death of her father-in-law and her mother. Ca. 1560. Note that her husband, the dauphin, was still alive, so she was not a widow mourning for her husband at this point yet.

I also think this is a great choice for this moment because the first time she’s called “White Lady of Rohan” in the books is by Faramir in the Houses of Healing, which is very logical, since she has just lost her uncle at that point, and she’s - likely - about to lose her brother, who’s riding to the Black Gates. In the movies they tackled the idea by making her wear a simple white kirtle, that looks like the medieval fantasy equivalent of a hospital gown. But it’s also fairly easy to imagine that some lady who might have stayed in Minas Tirith might’ve lent her a white dress, since she rode to Minas Tirith like all the Eorlingas - with only her clothes and armor.

Research and progress:

The White Lady Gown has the exact same cut as the Beacon Gown, except for the sleeves. Both dresses seem to have been modelled after the 15th Century kirtle pattern in “Patterns for Theatrical Costumes” minus the princess seams - bonus points for historical accuracy there.

The sleeves, however, are trickier than they seem. Here is why:

Above: The Gown itself. Check the sleeves. Source: LOTR Costume Site.

See the cute way in which they drape? That’s called Waterfall Draping, and it requires a little bit of draping notions to make it happen. You see that technique also in Mina’s mint green “Meeting Dracula” Bustle gown in “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”. (It’s the mint green dress in the right corner on the pic below, in case you’ve never seen the movie and have no clue what I’m talking about.)

Above: Waterfall draping on the back of Mina’s bustle. Screencap by me.

Now, waterfall draping can be intimidating for a relatively newb at sewing like myself. It really bears a resemblance to rocket science the first time you have to plan the drapes and project them on your pattern. But it’s easier than it seems. Basically, you have to plan ahead how many folds you want your sleeve to make, and plan the shape in which the drapes should fall. Draw the drapes all together as a sequence of zig-zagging triangles, all of them departing from or arriving at the same line, which is the sleeve center back length. Then, you project these drapes as triangles stemming from the same point in a series of concentric circles until you reach the total height of your sleeve at the longest point (center back in this case). Sounds like I’m babbling? Hell yeah, but it makes sense, I promise. The final shape you get is a bell-sleeve with longer and finer back. If you want the same effect from Éowyn’s sleeve and Mina’s skirt, cut your lining with the exact same pattern and sew them together before attaching them to the dress bodice. That way they’ll drape in the same manner and the lining will turn outside at the folds as it should.

Above: Sleeve with lining attached. Photo by me.

Once we finished getting the sleeves ready, we attached the front and back of the dress together, and started working on the collar embroidery. More about that next week!

[san-sews-seams]

The whole family together!

And bonus Paw Patrol!Celegorm and some idle doodle match patches.

[san-sews-seams]

Leetle green dragons!

But my quest for a satisfying filler for Noodle Boy has been a failure. :( (Also, the golden brown and wine red flosses bleed! Somehow that never came up with the bees.)

Photos below the cut, because I can’t figure out how to make them not huge.

[empressofeverything]

A progress photo of my Katara sweatshirt and the finished product! It’s SOOO cozy. I have plans to make at least two more ATLA sweaters, a Zuko one and a 4 Nations one.  

[nerd-be-gone]

My own plush Adipose!!

It was a quick and fun project by my lovely mum and me, I love her so much for supporting my Doctor Who madness

[becauseyouaremymission]

My loosely Derek Hale inspired dress for my graduation ceremony this morning. It's got leather trim around the bottom of the dress too, but you can't really see it in these photos. Super proud of the triskelion, but I think in the future I'm going to add a mesh panel behind it, to stop the need for having thread holding the curves in place properly.