Girl with a punctured heart

For Halloween this year I wanted something suitably in theme, suitably rare, and suitably feminine. After a little bit of browsing the internet for inspiration I decided on this sassy little voodoo doll dress.

It's a smart fitted number, with a lovely flattering bias cut waist-band. Working with Buckram was not exactly a bag of laughs and my flat is now covered in wisps of the stuff which no hoover can conquer. Naturally it needed to be entirely lined with a thick black cotton to save me from itching my way through the party, it also meant that neckline and armholes were faced. Happy days. (If I were to make it again though I'd give it sleeves as my underarms were a little raw at the end of the night - ow!)

The heart is made from felt appliquéd on with a blanket stitch and the pins were a couple of ex-coat hangers with a painted paper-spun ball hot-glued to the end. It's quite odd coping with such a protrusion and trying to navigate a crowded room or take a sip of a drink but the pins were stitched in place and pretty sturdy.

Much back-combing and crimping later and just the right accessories and I'm so pleased I didn't do the tired sheet-over-the-head look!

Halloween in Mordor

A friend of mine had his heart set on a Ring Wraith costume from the Lord of The Rings films for this year's Halloween. I don't know the films that well but luckily he had a little toy figure for me to work the pattern from. The friend in question is very particular about accuracy of design and between us we finalised a design that was a little different in construction but exactly the same in appearance.

The final costume had 4 parts to it, including a top with 2 sets of sleeves to give a layered effect as despite buying a whopping 12 meters of fabric there wasn't enough to make a second top. Choosing the fabric was a bit of a challenge. We needed something with a really obvious sack-cloth type weave, but also close weave as we didn't want it see-through! A lot of the fabric we looked at was far to new looking, but finally we found some heavyweight upholstery fabric that fitted the bill.



It was made on a tight deadline but luckily the costume was supposed to look a little shapeless so precise measurements weren't needed so much. Part of the specification of the design was that it needed to be very flowing and incorporate a lot of fabric so the skirt part is in fact a circle skirt with a draw-string waist.

The cloak that goes over the top isn't actually attached to the hood, which is placed over the shoulders and has long flared parts that are almost knee length and adds even more to the layered look. The cloak itself has a small folded back capelet attached at the neckline and split at the shoulders, as well as having split sides from the shoulders downwards which I am reliably informed is to enable the Wraiths to draw and wield their swords! Both the skirt part and the cloak needed to be long enough to drag on the floor to give a 'floating' look when worn. I think it all came together pretty well!

My first proper knitted 'garment'!

I've knitted baby hats and the odd scarf before, but this was my first go at a proper piece of clothing using the ancient cloth-out-of-string method known as knitting, and I chose to make a tank-top for a chap. Considering that knitting is the slowest craft EVER it didn't really take that long. I started it as a holiday project when I went away to Wales in early September and finished it about mid-October- not bad!

I used a different weight wool for the trim because I liked the rich teal colour, but it didn't seem to generate any problems. It was my first time using the picking up stitches technique needed for the neckline and armholes, but once I had consulted Motherapeadia it really wasn't so hard. I also had my tension complimented by a seasoned knitter friend of mine so that was quite pleasing too.



















I admit it is a bit geography-teacher-esque, but it suits the chap it was made for, as seen here.

It's the first time I've knitted since the Christmas present disasters last year and I think it may have got me past the hangover of that horror. I may even try and knit something else as it's winter well and truly now!