Totoro / Spirited Away: susuwatari (soot sprites) dress.

Hey all,
remember, you still have time to participate in the raffle I'm doing, for a chance to win a customized canvas bag and a set of coasters with your choice of pictures on it! Just comment on the post I linked in the previous sentence or drop me a line via email. :)

***

So, another dress. Since apparently dresses are my thing (well duh!)

I had this sort of denim-y fabric I'd bought at the Goodwill store for 1€.

The width was good, but had I just cut out a dress piece, it would have been too short on me since the length of the fabric was only about 85cm (roughly ~33"). My dress has to be around 90cm long (+ seam allowance) from shoulder to hem for it to be of appropriate length, meaning falling at least halfway down my thigh. With 85cm piece of fabric, my dress would have been really inappropriate when you take into consideration that you have to add seam allowance to the length. :D So I cut the front and back pieces from hem up...

...and then cut the shoulder straps separately from the scraps I had left. Like so:

I sewed the shoulder pieces together, hemmed the armholes and the neckline and only then sewed the sides. The last thing was to finish the hem, and the dress was done!

Then it was just a matter of adding the susuwatari.

I started with a fabric marker. I simply did a "scatter plot" (no correlation detected :P) of x's across the front:

Then I drew a soot sprite around each mark and colored them in with fabric paint:

I waited for the black paint to dry and then added the eyes with a white fabric paint pen.

So. Many. Eyes.

So, here's the result:

And me rocking my new dress:

***

I think it turned out pretty great. What do you think? :)

love,
scoundrel

(PS. Remember to sign up for the raffle! :D)

A DALEK dress, random other dress, canvas bags, a DIY stencil tutorial and a giveaway!

Hey,
I've been MIA for a while because of all the schoolwork. And I really mean like all the schoolwork, because this spring has been busy like whoa. But I'm back, and I come bearing gifts! Or a giveaway at least. Read on to find out more!

So, last time I posted a teaser picture of a yellow-and-black dress, and I'm pretty sure you all could guess what that was going to be...

Yup, a DALEK dress. ^_^

I'm trying to do a badass "EXTERMINATE!" face.
...and failing miserably.

...and of course I had to. :D
I didn't have anything else that even remotely looked like a DALEK arm, so beware my whisk of EXTERMINATION!

***

This morning I woke up and realized I don't have to study for an exam or write another paper just yet. So I got sewing!

I had this abstract white-blue-black stretch fabric, which I then promptly turned into a dress:

Since the fabric was stretchy, I decided to to a dress without a zipper for a change. And what do you know, it worked! It's not quite as tight at the waist as it could be, but if it were tighter I couldn't put the dress on without ripping the seams, so there's that. But it's looking rather nice, don't you think?

***

So, someone commented on a post a while ago asking if I could make a post about how I make my stencils, what fabric paint I use etc. So here goes.

These are the paints I use:

The Permaset fabric colors I got from a friend who works at a print works company. The other ones I bought from a crafts store, such as Sinooperi or Presento.

Here's the rest of my equipment:

The textil painter pens are from Presento, the red one is from Sinooperi and I can't recall where I bought the fabric marker from. Then there's the foam brush I use to dab the color onto the stencil, and one very sad-looking paintbrush (I should get new ones ASAP). So when I should use brushes I mostly just use Q-tips. :D

Here's what I use to make my stencils:

Self-adhesive book cover, permanent markers, scissors and a knife set that my husband graciously lets me borrow. You don't really need a set of x-acto knives or the like, small scissors are just fine, but the knives make the cutting of the stencil much faster.

So now I'll demonstrate how to make a simple stencil on a canvas bag. (Also, now I can't get that Tim Minchin song out of my head... dammit. :D)

So I take my canvas bag to the supermarket...

I choose a picture to use as my stencil (hands up for Studio Ghibli's Laputa - Castle in the Sky!) and draw it on the self-adhesive plastic. You can print the picture out and draw it through, but since I am lazy I just hold the self-adhesive against the screen of my laptop and draw it right from the screen :D

Then I cut the stencil out:

I cut the spaces in between the arms and legs separately, as well as the eyes, then assemble the whole thing on the canvas bag:

I mix a tiny dot of black fabric paint into pearl white to get silver:

Then I dab the paint onto the fabric with the foam brush. There is a magazine inside the bag to prevent the paint from seeping through to the other side of the bag.

Then I peel the stencil and the separate pieces off. I use tweezers to pick off the smaller pieces if they are difficult to remove:

And it's done:

I leave the fabric to dry for about a day, then iron it to set the paint.

Here's another bag I made for my mom for her birthday:

I ♥ my mom and my mom ♥'s traveling. ^_^

***

So now, time for a giveaway!

I'm going to do a Reaping raffle, and the winner gets a canvas bag with a print from a fandom of their choosing, and a set of 8 coasters with pictures from a fandom of their choosing! (Or it doesn't have to be a geek-related idea, but any theme of your choosing, within the limits of my ability :D)

Here's an example of a set of Doctor Who coasters I've made:

So, here's how to enter in the raffle:
- Comment on this post with your email address, and you get your name entered one time in the raffle.
- Follow me on Blogger or Bloglovin or Pinterest (because I'm evil and like to favor my readers and followers), and you get one extra ticket! (Mention it in your comment if you are following me and where.)
- Advertising this giveaway in your own blog will also get you an extra ticket in the raffle!

So all in all you can have your name in the raffle three times, if you comment, follow and advertise me :D But just commenting is enough, if you happen to get lucky... ;) The comments can be in English, Finnish or Swedish, whatever suits you best. I will ship internationally, so it doesn't matter if you don't live in Finland.

EDIT! (March 24th)

So it has come to my attention that there are people who'd want to participate, but don't want to leave their email out in the open. I get it. So if this is the case for you, just email me directly, you'll get in the raffle. I don't want to exclude people who wish to keep their privacy.

my email: gwenhwyfarsdottir [at] gmail [dot] com

Also, if you wish me to remove your comment with your email on it, ask me and I'll do so. :)
/end edit

You have until 23:59 (11:59PM) on Sunday, April 5th to enter your name in the raffle. The winner will be informed by email, and I'll also post pictures of the bag and coasters once they are done and shipped to the lucky winner. :)

So good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor!

love,
scoundrel

Bloglovin & current project

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Hey guys!
I signed up with Bloglovin (finally) to be able to better keep up with everything that's going on.

Stay tuned, because there are amazing things to be posted as soon as I have time to actually finish my current project...

I'll give you a small hint:

;)

Also, I was asked to do a post on how I create my stencils, what fabric paint and equipment I use etc. So I'll get back to that as soon as possible.

Aaaaaaaand, I'm thinking about doing a giveaway type of thing. Like, "your favorite geek logo printed on a shirt/tunic" kind of raffle. So also stay tuned for that!

My March is looking super busy but hopefully things will calm down in April. I'm hoping to get that current dress project done within a week, though.

love,
scoundrel