Phases of the Moon Skirt

side of moon skirt

I designed this fabric, Phases of the Moon, a couple years ago, with no real plan besides releasing it on Spoonflower.

phases of the moon dress unfinished

I bought myself two yards last year with the intent of making a dress. It didn’t work out and I can’t remember exactly what happened, but pieces of the fabric remained in my fabric box up until this Thursday.

When I pulled the fabric out, I found I’d already cut out the perfect base for a high/low hem skirt. I couldn’t find the top half of the dress anywhere. All that I did was sew a narrow casing and put a bit of elastic through it. Since it was a knit fabric, I didn’t even hem it. Ridiculously simple!

The fabric is amazing! My design looks great, and the fabric I chose was Modern Jersey. There are some small design details that do not show up on the fabric, but that’s my own fault. I had written the names of each moon phase under the corresponding moon in a light grey. The words were too tiny to show up against such a dark background.

I I’m kind of disappointed I wasn’t able to make the dress I wanted, but I’m happy with what I made. If I do ever find the rest of the moon fabric, I’ll probably make a matching crop top.

Nardole’s Hat from The Doctor Falls

nardole hat side 2

That’s right! I made another one of Nardole’s hats! This one is from last week’s Doctor Who episode, The Doctor Falls. It was super simple to make compared to the last one!

front nardole hat
Even though I’m very happy with how my hat turned out, the pattern I’ve put at the bottom of the post is slightly different from the hat pictured here. This is because the one I made is small (it fits my head, but it might not fit yours), and I mistakenly made my hat a bit too short.

What you’ll need:

  • US size 8 needles (5mm)
  • Double knit or worsted weight yarn

I used Stylecraft Special DK in 1035 Burgundy and 1709 Gold.
side of nardole hatCast on 96 st, k1, p1, all the way around for 9 inches, then work the following rows:

It may help to divide your stitches into 6 equal sections of 16 stitches

Row 1: *p2tog, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k2tog tbl, repeat from * (total of 84 stitches)

Row 2: p1, k1, all the way around

Row 3: *k2tog, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p2tog tbl, repeat from * (total of 72 stitches)

Row 4: k1, p1, all the way around

Row 5: *p2tog, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k2tog tbl, repeat from * (total of 60 stitches)

Row 6: p1, k1, all the way around

Row 7: *k2tog, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p2tog tbl, repeat from * (total of 48 stitches)

Row 8: k1, p1, all the way around

Row 9: *p2tog, k1, p1, k1, p1, k2tog tbl, repeat from * (total of 36 stitches)

Row 10: p1, k1, all the way around

Row 11: *k2tog, p1, k1, p2tog tbl, repeat from * (total of 24 stitches)

Row 12: k1, p1, all the way around

Pull the yarn tail through remaining stitches, pull tight, and secure ends.

All that’s left is to add your pom pom on top and you’re done!

Nardole’s Hat from The Eaters of Light

This is my version of the hat that Nardole wears in the Doctor Who episode The Eaters of Light. When this episode aired last week, I immediately knew that I needed to make his hat. It was fairly simple to make, and I’ll share my process so that anyone who wants one can make one too.

nardole's hat pulled over face

This is how you wear a hat, right?

What you’ll need:

  • US size 8 needles (5mm)
  • Double knit or worsted weight yarn
  • Special Stylecraft DK in Lemon Shade 1020
  • Special Stylecraft DK in Dark Brown Shade 1004
  • Special Stylecraft DK in Green 1116
  • Special Stylecraft DK in Camel 1420
  • Special Stylecraft DK in Spice 1711

Cast on 70 stitches in the round in dark brown (must be a multiple of 10)

Rows 1-13: k1, p1 all the way around

Row 14: fold the brim to the inside of the hat attach to previous row with k1, p1

From here on, the every row is purled. (The design is worked on top after completion)

1 row in lemon, 7 rows in spice,
1 row in green, 7 rows in camel,
1 row in lemon, 7 rows in dark brown,
1 row in spice, 7 rows in lemon,
1 row in camel, 7 rows in green,
1 row in dark brown, 7 rows in lemon,
1 row in spice, 7 rows in dark brown.

On the last row, pull a piece of yarn through all of the stitches. Do not gather it yet, it is easier to work in the design beforehand.

inside of nardole's hat

Interior of the unfinished hat

The design on top is made by weaving pieces of yarn that are the same color as the single rows. They are woven around the knit stitch below this row and brought up to the stripe above at varying heights. This is difficult for me to explain, but I hope the pictures are good enough to understand what I mean. After making the design, tighten the yarn you previously pulled through the top row of stitches and secure. Make a large pom pom out of the dark brown yarn and attach it to the top.

If anyone does make this hat, be sure to let me know!

side of nardole's hat ii

Since it’s summer, I doubt I’ll be wearing the hat any time soon. As soon as cold weather hits, though, I’ll be wearing it all the time!

Icecream Crop Top

I’ve had this icecream fabric sitting in my fabric box for over a year, and I finally decided I needed to  make something with it.

please excuse the sunburn

Since I only had two fat quarters of this fabric, I knew I wouldn’t be able to make something very big, but I new I wanted to make something I could wear. I copied the the front and back of a tank top I liked the shape of and cut these out. This didn’t work as well as I had hoped, and I had to modify the front piece a lot in order to get it to look nice. I took out about 2 centimeters from the center front and added in bust darts that I angled towards the front seam. I folded over the sides of the front and back pieces and hemmed them. Next, I added small pieces of stretchy elastic these sides to add some stretch and interesting detail to the top.

When making this, I really wanted to showcase the icecream fabric. I think this top does a good job of this, despite having more seam detail than I wanted. The bust darts aren’t very visible, but I’m not happy with the center front seam. I do think this top will get some wear out of it, but it’s not my favorite. At least I was able to use a fabric I already had!

Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt

For the last day of MCM London, I partnered up with my friend Ruth to cosplay Panty and Stocking from the anime Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt. Both of us made our own costumes.

I sewed my skirt, my shirt, my corset, my sleeves, and my leg warmers from white cotton, purple cotton, and a stretchy metallic fabric. The bracelets I painted with silver paint, and the shoes were originally white, which I covered with silver metallic fabric. Ruth patterned the wings, but we both made our own set out of wire, fabric, feathers, and hot glue.

The metallic fabric was such a pain to use because it was very stretchy and pins would leave permanent holes in it. The corset was particularly difficult because the metallic fabric had to be backed onto a stiff muslin. Hopefully I’ll be able to write a more in depth post about how I made the corset despite neglecting to take photos of the whole second half of the process.

Luckily, that Sunday was the coolest of the days, meaning the costume wasn’t too warm to wear. I did have an issue with the shoes, but that was mostly due to my own poor use of glue. Bits of hardened hot glue jabbed into my heel, and the fabric slowly peeled off the shoes. If I were to cover shoes with fabric again, I’d probably do it over the course of a few days using some kind of super glue, or maybe modge podge.

group panty and stocking

We also met a couple of lovely cosplayers who were cosplaying the same characters as us! I only have a link for the Panty cosplayer’s Instagram, but she has some super cute cosplays on there, so definitely check out her page! I especially loved what they used for the hearts on their outfits!

Photos taken by Daisy Tweed

Doctor Who – The Fourth Doctor

Last weekend was London MCM 2017! I went all three days and had a fantastic time. I didn’t cosplay the first day, but I wore my french fry dress and got a surprising amount of complements as well as a photo request! If I am able to track down the photo, I’ll be sure to share it here!
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On the second day of MCM, I dressed as the fourth regeneration of the Doctor from Doctor Who.

Yes, those leaves are actually that size! Photo taken by: Alice the Insane

Most of the outfit is store bought, but I made both the scarf and the skirt. I knitted the scarf in fifty hours over the course of 5 months, starting on the first of January and finishing just last week on the 6th. My research for the scarf design was a combination of this site and meticulous combing through yarn websites. The scarf is a replica of the scarf worn by Tom Baker in the first half of season 12 of Doctor Who. I think I was able to find a very good color match with the yarn. It took a bit longer to make than I thought it would, and I made a few tiny mistakes, but I am very happy with it. I made it using US size 8 knitting needles.

Photo taken by: Alice the Insane

The skirt is actually one I made for my costume course at uni. It’s an Edwardian skirt with center back snaps and hook and eyes. I did a very good job of pattern matching each seam, which is especially evident in the back panel. The synthetic plaid fabric is backed on a black cotton, and every seam is piped with the same black cotton.

From left to right: 1 (Lee), 2, 3 (Lucas Hayes), 4 (me!), 5, 7, 8 (Reuben Roper), 9 (Dominic Murphy), 10 (James Sutton), 11 (Jamie Eve), 12 (Joshua Thunig)

I met many lovely people at the Doctor Who meet up, but unfortunately I didn’t take many pictures. I’m not really sure who took the above photo or who some of the people are in it, so please tell me if you know!

Photo taken by: Alice the Insane

If I end up going to LFCC this year, I’ll be wearing this cosplay on one of the days. I plan on adding a waistcoat and possibly some nice shoes to the costume before then.

 

Purple Skirt

purple skirt front

As you may have noticed by now, I like making skirts. I believe I’ve made about five in the past six months. None of them have been very exciting, but they have all been just different enough to justify having their own blog post.

purple skirt side

This skirt is a half circle skirt with a plain waistband. It was pretty straightforward, but I did have trouble with the hem. The hem kept twisting while I stitched it, so instead of having a single line of stitching around the bottom, I chose to have three. The skirt opens and closes using a center back zipper.

purple skirt back

The shape of this skirt is really fun, and I plan on making many similar ones in the future. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you may have noticed that the photo quality has changed. I recently purchased a new camera and I also got a remote clicker! This means that I no longer have to rely on a timer to take photos of myself. I’m hoping this will encourage me to always take photos of my work, and I’ll be sure to blog about them here!

 

Bee Skirt

bee skirt front

I made this skirt as part of a costume for a bee party I went to a few months ago. Since I haven’t been doing the best job of taking photos as soon as I make something, this post (as well as the next one) are quite late.

bee skirt back

I went on amazon and bought two meters of the cheapest black and yellow striped fabric I could find. Originally, I had intended to make a dress from Gertie’s Ultimate Dress Book, but I came across a problem when it came to the bodice. I cut the bodice out a size larger than it needed to be, but the armholes were so small I couldn’t fit my arms through them.

bee skirt side

Because I was a little pressed for time, I gave up on trying to fit the sleeves and bodice to myself and made a skirt instead. The skirt is simple, made from three rectangles: the front, back, and waistband. I zig zag stitched all the raw seams and included a side zipper.

I would like to eventually make this skirt into the dress I originally wanted. The bodice pieces only need small modifications in the shoulder and armpit area. While the pattern originally called for short sleeves, I probably won’t include them because I don’t have enough fabric left to recut them.

Dolly from Luxury Comedy

I’ve been watching a lot of Luxury Comedy recently, so my friend Alice the Insane and I decided to dress as Noel and Dolly.

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I made the dress and cut and styled the wig myself, too. The tights, shoes, and belt I found on Amazon and I already owned all of the jewelry and makeup.

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The dress was a weird thing to make. There’s one sleeve, a weird flap in the front, and shoulder pads. I patterned a shift dress and the sleeve using flat pattern drafting. To make the front flap, I cut out two shift dress fronts and sewed one to the back on both sides and the other on only one side. I then cut the top front (the one sewed in on one side) so that the free side slowly came in until it was about five inches from the side seam. Next, I folded over the side and sewed a hem using my machine. I also hand sewed the edge of the top of that side hem onto the side seam so that the flap would fall where I wanted it to.

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Instead of fully lining the dress, I made a facing to go around the neck and the left armhole.  It’s herringbone stitched in place to make sure it wouldn’t flip up or move around, and I used it to help keep the shoulder pads in place.

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I actually really like the dress and might wear it without the rest of the costume sometime. It’s a little dressy to wear to uni, and the shoulder pads are kind of a weird element, but I think I can find use for it somewhere.

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I think I made the exact same expression in every photo we took.

The makeup is still probably the funkiest part of this outfit. I spent a lot of time trying to get it just right, and I ended up needing some help with my eyebrows from my friend on the day of the con.

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Thanks for reading and Happy Halloween! ?

 

Jaws Skirt

I saw this teal Jaws fabric at Joann’s and fell in love immediately. I bought three yards, intending to make myself a matching short and shirt set.

Jaws Skirt side

Clearly, I did not end up with shorts or a shirt. Initially, I used about two yards of the fabric to attempt to make a pair of shorts that looked like a skirt, similar to short culottes but with a gathered waist.

Jaws Shorts attempt

This is how the shorts looked around my second attempt. The looked fine on the mannequin, but when I put them on there was a weird triangular gap in the lower center front and back. Not only that, but when I sat down, they pulled in weird places and were uncomfortable to sit in.

Jaws Skirt front

I left the shorts alone for about a week, trying to figure out what to make from them. Eventually, I just cut the shorts into 6 large isosceles trapezoids. I sewed the sides of the trapezoids together, leaving one side open, and gathered the top into a waistband.

Jaws Skirt zipper close up

On the side that was still open, I sewed in an invisible zipper and two hooks and eyes. I then folded over the waistband and top stitched across the bottom with a silver glittery thread.

Jaws Skirt hem close up

I had already hemmed the shorts with the glittery silver fabric, so I just made sure to line up the bottoms of the pieces carefully so I wouldn’t have to sew another hem.

Jaws Skirt Front 2

After I finished the skirt, I did not have enough fabric left to make myself a matching shirt. There might be enough left to make my little sister a skirt, so there may be another Jaws Skirt post in the future!

I really like how this skirt turned out and have already worn it twice. I will definitely be wearing this a lot more!