So here's today's theme: Kirby!
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| Paint Kirby |
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| Sword Kirby |
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| Sleep Kirby |
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| Ice Kirby |
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| Singing Kirby |
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| Cook Kirby |
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Perler Beads: Kirby Extravaganza
It has come to my attention that the last perler blog post I did was back in May. Well... we've made a lot of stuff since then. And that might be a bit of an understatement. So rather than dump it all on here at once, I'm going to spread it out a bit into semi-themed posts.
So here's today's theme: Kirby!
Some day we will make the rest of his many iterations, but these are the ones we have finished thus far.
So here's today's theme: Kirby!
Thursday, October 17, 2013
ChronoTrigger: Lucca Costume Bags
All right, we have the helmet, and we have the tunic. What's left? Oh yes. The bags. Lots of bags on Lucca's concept art.
First things first: scope out some thrift stores to make this not cost an arm and a leg. Or maybe your closet if you are well stocked with accessories.
Additionally, if you can find a super cheap beat up brown leather-ish bag that can be cannibalized, it's a great way to get cheap leathery type fabric that is just going to be used for small modifications, like so:
For these, I just salvaged some brown leather-type stuff from a purse from DI, cut it into small strips about 2 inches long and maybe an inch wide, hemmed the sides, and hand stitched the ends to the purse. (Something of a pain, to be honest, but it's not very many stitches. I just hate hand sewing because I'm awful at it.)
The only other modification I made to the bag was I took off the shoulder strap. That's it. Slide it onto the belt, and you're good to go. Perfect for stashing business cards, cell phone, cash, etc. while you are out and about showing off your lovely costume.
Next we have her larger blue bag. For this, scout out the remnants bin at Joann's for some light blue duck cloth. It's durable canvas-like cloth that comes in all sorts of colors and is perfect for making satchels out of. You'll also want to consider getting some pretty fabric to line it; your choice, really, since nobody sees it but you. Oh, and you'll need some light blue thread (or a contrasting color like brown if you want the top stitching to be visible).
The bag is basically one long rectangle for the body, so you only have the seams up the sides to actually sew. And then the top stitching if you are extra ambitious.
To be honest, my sister in law figured out how to make these, so I can't really remember all the details. But I know we made it so that all the actual seams along the sides are inside the bag. It involved sewing each piece (outer part and lining) separately and inside out, and then sewing them together inside out, and then flipping it through a 2 inch hole before sewing up the hole. Then we top-stitched the front flap and edge showing in the upper left corner of the picture above.
When you make your strap, make sure it is wide enough that if you sew it inside out, you can turn it right side in without a long struggle. I'm speaking from experience here. Make it as wide as you can to still have it work with your strap piece thingies.
I used this same technique to make Chrono's bag too, just slightly modified as far as the straps go:
His slides onto his belt instead of being a shoulder bag.
So there you have it. Some not very detailed tutorials on making bags/satchels.
First things first: scope out some thrift stores to make this not cost an arm and a leg. Or maybe your closet if you are well stocked with accessories.
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| A brown belt. Nothing flashy, just a normal brown belt, preferably at least an inch wide. You may already have one. |
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| And a small brown purse. It doesn't have to look like this; just something small that can be easily modified to add belt loops to slide onto a belt. |
Additionally, if you can find a super cheap beat up brown leather-ish bag that can be cannibalized, it's a great way to get cheap leathery type fabric that is just going to be used for small modifications, like so:
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| Adding belt loops to the back of a small brown purse |
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| And another shot of the belt loops |
The only other modification I made to the bag was I took off the shoulder strap. That's it. Slide it onto the belt, and you're good to go. Perfect for stashing business cards, cell phone, cash, etc. while you are out and about showing off your lovely costume.
Next we have her larger blue bag. For this, scout out the remnants bin at Joann's for some light blue duck cloth. It's durable canvas-like cloth that comes in all sorts of colors and is perfect for making satchels out of. You'll also want to consider getting some pretty fabric to line it; your choice, really, since nobody sees it but you. Oh, and you'll need some light blue thread (or a contrasting color like brown if you want the top stitching to be visible).
The bag is basically one long rectangle for the body, so you only have the seams up the sides to actually sew. And then the top stitching if you are extra ambitious.
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| Basic pattern |
To be honest, my sister in law figured out how to make these, so I can't really remember all the details. But I know we made it so that all the actual seams along the sides are inside the bag. It involved sewing each piece (outer part and lining) separately and inside out, and then sewing them together inside out, and then flipping it through a 2 inch hole before sewing up the hole. Then we top-stitched the front flap and edge showing in the upper left corner of the picture above.
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| front view of the strap |
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| view of the back of the strap |
I used this same technique to make Chrono's bag too, just slightly modified as far as the straps go:
His slides onto his belt instead of being a shoulder bag.
So there you have it. Some not very detailed tutorials on making bags/satchels.
ChronoTrigger: Lucca Tunic Tutorial
I never got around to posting more tutorials on how I made my Lucca costume last Halloween, but I've always intended to. So tonight you get a little one. As a reminder, here's my first tutorial for the helmet. Please bear in mind that my sewing skills are pretty rudimentary, so this isn't going to get super technical or anything.
First, here's a picture of Lucca's concept art so you can see what I'm working off of:
To make Lucca's orange tunic, you'll need is 1-2 yards of orange fabric and some orange thread (plus normal sewing supplies, like pins, sewing machine, etc.). Some paper to make a pattern will help too. To determine exactly how much fabric you need, it will depend on a couple factors: first, if the fabric is 60 inches wide or only 45 (hopefully it's 60), and second, how wide around you need it to be. I am pretty sure 1 yard was more than enough for me, but I bought it a year ago so I can't really remember.
From there, it is pretty basic: you want to double up your fabric and trace out two pieces. One piece needs to be with the long edge along the fold (so that it's one big piece after you cut it out, for the back) and the other can be anywhere (for the two front panels). It will probably be easiest if you get some parchment paper or butcher paper (or something like that) and cut out the shape you want for the front panels first.
The two front panels are mirror images of each other. The exact shape doesn't matter so much, but you do want the curve on the outer seams to match pretty closely with the curve on your large piece for the back panel. I actually used the same template for the outer sides of the front and back so that they matched exactly. The back panel template will not be exactly the same though.
Make it a little longer than you think it might need to be so that you can play around with the length. It's easier to hem it shorter than to add more fabric! If you look closely, you can see I have about a 2 inch hem on mine.
Here's a very basic template to work off of if you need a more visual representation:
Once you have your pieces cut out, you'll want to pin the sides and top and try it on for size. See how big you want the arm holes, make sure it looks okay, etc. Then after you know where the arm holes will start, go ahead and sew up the side seams and top seams (along the top of the shoulders). Next you will want to hem the front edges (where it is diagonal on the front piece, the part that crosses over onto the other front piece) and the neckline along the back. Since it's curved, the easiest way to do this is to cut little notches in the fabric as needed to ease the curve so it doesn't scrunch all up, like so:
Now hem the sleeves. (That's the trickiest bit.)
First, here's a picture of Lucca's concept art so you can see what I'm working off of:
To make Lucca's orange tunic, you'll need is 1-2 yards of orange fabric and some orange thread (plus normal sewing supplies, like pins, sewing machine, etc.). Some paper to make a pattern will help too. To determine exactly how much fabric you need, it will depend on a couple factors: first, if the fabric is 60 inches wide or only 45 (hopefully it's 60), and second, how wide around you need it to be. I am pretty sure 1 yard was more than enough for me, but I bought it a year ago so I can't really remember.
From there, it is pretty basic: you want to double up your fabric and trace out two pieces. One piece needs to be with the long edge along the fold (so that it's one big piece after you cut it out, for the back) and the other can be anywhere (for the two front panels). It will probably be easiest if you get some parchment paper or butcher paper (or something like that) and cut out the shape you want for the front panels first.
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| Front of Lucca's orange tunic |
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| Back of Lucca's orange tunic |
Make it a little longer than you think it might need to be so that you can play around with the length. It's easier to hem it shorter than to add more fabric! If you look closely, you can see I have about a 2 inch hem on mine.
Here's a very basic template to work off of if you need a more visual representation:
Once you have your pieces cut out, you'll want to pin the sides and top and try it on for size. See how big you want the arm holes, make sure it looks okay, etc. Then after you know where the arm holes will start, go ahead and sew up the side seams and top seams (along the top of the shoulders). Next you will want to hem the front edges (where it is diagonal on the front piece, the part that crosses over onto the other front piece) and the neckline along the back. Since it's curved, the easiest way to do this is to cut little notches in the fabric as needed to ease the curve so it doesn't scrunch all up, like so:
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| one zoomed in look at the neckline - see the notches along the curve? |
Now hem the sleeves. (That's the trickiest bit.)
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| Sleeve after being hemmed - shoulder part is to the right, armpit part is to the left. |
The sleeves probably won't need notches to ease the fabric since they aren't very curved.
Lastly, try it on again and then pin it to the length you want before hemming the bottom.
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| Corner of the hem |
As you can see here, if you get near the end and have extra fabric that is going to stick out funny over the edge, just tuck it under so you don't have to deal with it.
And there you have it! One Lucca tunic!
As an added bonus, you can use the leftover scraps to make a neck kerchief for Chrono!
And seriously, don't stress over this too much. If you have enough details, nobody is going to be looking closely at the construction. I'm sure someone with more sewing experience than me could whip up something super amazing, but this does the job and doesn't take too long to finish!
One last note; I used this same method to make Chrono's blue tunic as well. Here's a few close up pictures of that in case it is helpful.
One last note; I used this same method to make Chrono's blue tunic as well. Here's a few close up pictures of that in case it is helpful.
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| Front of Chrono tunic (please excuse the wrinkles) |
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| back of Chrono tunic |
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