Projects from Fall 2011

So this fall was another break for other projects, mostly one very large stuffed dragon, which was a Christmas present for one of my best friends, so posting progress pics could not be done, secrecy, ya know.  But now that she has it and LOVES it I can post up how I did it:

Step 1: covertly study her dragon drawings.  She is an AMAZING artist and loves dragons (she has always said she wanted a pet dragon: purple with emerald eyes) and so draws a lot of them  She usually draws them with the same features so that was how I wanted to make her pet. Also stop at Build a Bear and buy a recordable voicebox so it can roar, start searching for good sound clips online.

Step 2: Go to the fabric store, look for purple fabric options - I wanted it to be a nice royal purple, not light purple, or Barney Purple, a nice regal purple fit for a dragon friend and guardian. Also look for emeralds that can be used for the eyes - ended up deciding on Swarovski crystal beads (4 mm Faceted Bicone) in emerald and then 1 mm faceted bicone Swarovski crystal beads in Aurora Borealis for the white part.  I already had black beads left over from my Padme Fireside choker for the pupils. I found the perfect purple - however it was only in the red tag section as a  large remenent.  I got the whole 4.5 yards and hoped it would be enough.  I also picked up a remenant of white pleather for the teeth, horns, tail spikes and nails, and a large bag of super soft stuffing. I already had lots of muslin at home to draft the pattern so I didn't worry about it but I wanted to make sure the eyes were to scale so I wanted to have that first. Finally I found a beautiful silver meshy-lace for the wings, just randomly - it was new and featured in the center so it caught my eye.

Step 3: I got another friend to draw me a very basic dragon in shapes so I could figure out each part - just standing still - not flying or doing anything fun like her drawings, and no details. I used his drawing to sketch out basic pattern pieces for the main body parts on the muslin - I skipped all the pleather parts as they are all just triangles and weren't as difficult to size and get correct as the actual dragon body.  I also held off on the wings because I wasn't sure if I was overlaying the lace on the purple or if I wanted the webbing of the wings to be all lace, or how I wanted to try to get the "finger" part of the wings stuffed and attached.

Step 4: I started the pattern at the end of September and tweaked it, pinning things together to see if they were to scale and would actually make the shape I wanted until just before Thanksgiving.  During this time I decided that I wanted its belly to be a different color/texture but not too different, so I went back and found a coordinating purple with silver flecks in it and got just a little bit - 1/4 of a yard. I also decided that I wanted the wings to be just lace so I needed to make 2 sides to the "fingers" and sew it in the middle somehow.  I decided that if I made a smaller inner layer and then did the main outer layers I could make sure the edges were perfect and neat.

Step 5: I knew I had limited fabric so I tried laying out the pattern pieces on the fabric to make sure they fit so I could do final adjustments before putting together my final mock up.

Final cutting layout 

I decided the upper leg was WAY too big and cut it down a lot - which also mean cutting down the lower leg.  The fabric in the picture is folded and the wings are cut on the fold so that it stretches across the dragons back.  The tail is at the bottom folded over as I only need one of those (most of the parts I needed 2 of) and so it was ok for parts to over lap between the few pieces I would cut after unfolding. I left off the inside of the mouth deciding it could be in the same fabric as the stomach and the inside (unseen) parts of the wings as I thought I could do them out of the pleather to make the wings stiffer.

Step 6: After trying MANY multiple ways of arranging pieces and cutting the legs down A LOT, I decided I was never going to fit the other side of the wings on this fabric, so I went back to the fabric store looking for either of the 2 I had had originally - I didn't find either but I found another coordinating purple with some silver shimmer (kinda random stripes up close).  I decide that I want the stomach to match the underside of the wings so the flecked fabric would just be the inside of the mouth.

Step 7: pin everything together into a final mock up - make adjustments to make sure it all fits without any gaps - that included making a chin piece because I realized the head wouldn't stuff properly or connect to the neck nicely without one.

Head!

Torso, arms and wings added

the whole dragon! No spikes, horns, nails or teeth (but there was no pattern for them)

Step 8: Freak out on how cool the dragon looks, unpin and put the pattern pieces into piles based on the fabrics they go on and how many are needed on each fabric.  I needed to cut out anything on folded fabric first then I could do the single pieces on the unfolded.

Step 9: Take a deep breath and cut main fabric.  I started with the main purple color, folded then unfolded then the shimmer fabric, folded then unfolded, then the flecked fabric only unfolded.  Then the pleather which was very difficult as it was so thick.  I cut the inside of the wings first as they were the only pieces with a pattern and the biggest ones.  then I cut the tail spikes - very wide triangles and still a bit long that were attached at the bottom, then the horns, long and skinny triangles and then the nails and teeth - small triangles - teeth skinner than nails but all about the same length.

Step 10: sew the pleather pieces.  Since they were going inbetween the other pieces they had to be sewn and turned first.  turning them right side out was SOOOOOOOO hard especially the little tiny pieces.  It actually took me hours to turn them but only about 15 minutes to sew them all on my machine.

Step 11: Sew the arms and legs starting by stuffing the nails with leftover fiberfill from my sisters kitchen chair cushions (her Christmas present from me - which I worked on during breaks from pattern drafting) I wanted them to be more firm so I picked a harder stuffing than the soft stuffed animal one I had bought for the main body of the dragon.  Once the nails were stuffed I pinned them into the seams of the hands and feet one on each corner of the end of them, so it would look like it had 2 fingers/toes on each.  I sewed the hands and feet together and turned right side out then sewed the lower arms and legs and attached them to the hands and feet by sliding the hands and feet inside and sewing around the edge, and turning the arm/leg right side out then the upper arms and legs and attached them in the same way.  I stuffed the hands and feet because it would be hard to reach them once the arms and legs were attached to the main body.  I did a double row of stitches on all of the seams on the whole dragon for strength.

Step 12: Sew the tail.  Sew the spikes together so they are a little circle with no opening in the center, stuff them with the fiberfill, then sew the tail piece leaving the end open and stopping 2/3 of the way up for access to stuff once attached to the rest of the dragon. Insert the spikes so that the filled part is a quarter of an inch from the end of the tail, tail should still be inside out and the spikes should be inside and the circle part just on the edge. Sew across the bottom to attach the spikes.  Turn right side out.

Step 13: Sew the head starting with the mouth sewing the nose and jaw to the inside of the mouth putting the teeth at the corners of the nose so they point down.  Turn right side out.  Sew the sides of head to the nose and then add the forehead, sew the gap in the front of the head between these two pieces (sides of head together).  Then sew the jaw to the sides of head and then the chin on and sew up the gap between (side of heads together again,  Sew the inside of the mouth together to make a channel to hold the voice box. Turn head right side out.

Step 14.  Sew the eyes.  I sewed the beads onto white ribbon, the black pupil first then a ring of the emerald with an extra line on the top, then the clear around the top and sides. I cut out ovals slightly larger than the beading folded under the edges and appliqued them onto the sides of the head.

Eye beading

Eye sewn on head

Step 15: Start to put together torso.  Sew the center of the back of the neck above the wings and the back below the wings to the sides of the torso, leaving an inch gap where the wings will go.  Then sew the arms on (this is really tricky so be patient because they are small and puff out a bit).  Finally add the stomach and leave the whole thing inside out.

Step 16: Attach the head to the torso.  Stuff the horns with the fiberfill.  Slide the head into the torso lining up the neck edges and slide the horns in so the fill line is at the seam line horns pointing in - between the head and neck.  Line them up with the seam lines of the back of the neck and the forehead.  Sew the edges, and turn right side out.

Step 17: Stuff the arms and and nose and jaw.

Step 18: Sew on legs and tail.  Sew the top edges of the legs to the torso and leave open the bottom edge. Pin the open edge of the tail across the back and along the back sides of the legs and sew leaving about 1/4 inch on each side free.

Step 19: Stuff the head and torso until you run out of stuffing.

Step 20: start the wings, sew the main purple fabric to one of the inside pleather bits, try to turn it right side out shred the purple fabric trying.  Realize that the pleather is not going to work cut out new inside pieces out of the shimmery material, realize that I should have waited until I bought new material to do so.

Step 21: go looking for any of the 3 purples already in use.  Find none, get a 4th purple with little specks of purple (much closer together and smaller than the flecked fabric). Get it home and realize it isn't as wide as you thought so cut out each wing separately (not on the fold).  Sew both sides of the first wing and put it all together (sew the inside pieces to the outside and turn right side out and then the outside edge - top - of the outside pieces together, fold to make right side out). It will open on the bottom to insert the lace.  Tip: on the middle branch only sew up one side on the machine before turning, blanket stitch the other side closed folding in the edges.

Step 22: Start to sew the other wing - realize I cut the speckled fabric out backwards, and there isn't enough left to correct.  Go back and buy more (of the same one!) also get more stuffing. Recut it and finish sewing the other wing.

Step 23: Put in the lace on the wings.  Trace the curve of the wings on the lace and cut out.  Insert the lace between the two sides of the wing, pin the sides together carefully over the lace.  Sew on the machine along the inside of the outside branch and down the thick part of the middle branch then across the inside edge of the part connected to the back.  Hand sew the rest in - it is too thick for the machine.  Repeat for the other wing. Trim the lace so that it goes from the end of the outer branch to the middle branch to just before the wing connects to the back.

Sewn but not trimmed.

Step 24: Stuff the wings with the soft stuffing.  I used a knitting needle to get the stuffing into the tiny areas at the end of the wings and to make sure it was packed in tightly.  Fill up to the middle section that will attach to the back of the dragon.

Step25: Lay the wings across the back over the opening folding under all raw edges.  Handsew them on - using a doubled thread for strength. Make sure to go across the area on the sides on the underside of the wings only.

Step 26: Finish stuffing the torso, legs, and tail.  Hand sew up the tail folding edges in and continue stuffing.  There should only be a small hole between its legs and the bottom of the tail.  Stuff until you can't get more in and still pull the hole closed.  I ended up running out of stuffing again - used 24 ounces total and could have probably used another 8.  I made up the difference with soft cotton balls and little scraps from the dragon itself.  (No pleather just the purples.)

Step 27: Sew up the hole.  I needed my sister to hold it upside down while I stood next to it and sewed it with doubled thread.  It isn't the neatest closure but it can't really be seen.

Step 28: decide on a sound clip and record it on the voice box.  Shove it down the dragon's throat, and test it by hugging its head.

Completed dragon sitting in my chair

A look at the wings and its back

with me to show you its size.

Step 29: Tie a ribbon around its neck because you can't give a pet as a gift without and bow.

Ready to be a present

I gave her the dragon and she loved it.  Decided the dragon was a girl and named her Polaris.

In this time I also completed my Hermione costume for Halloween, I sewed on the patches and the ribbons but the rest was purchased.  The robe was my Master's robe from St Rose, cause really when will I ever wear that again.  I cut off the weird tail things on the sleeves and rehemmed them.

My final project was a hoop skirt to go under my Victorian gown from last year (and anything else that needs a hoop).  I simply took the muslin pattern for my Picnic Gown circle skirt, sewed the pieces together, hemmed it and added a channel around the bottom to put the hooping in.   I put a zipper and hook and eye closures on the top and threaded the hooping in.  I don't have pictures because the Victorian ball was cancelled so I didn't end up wearing it this fall at all.  However it is nice to have it done so I can wear it to the next ball without needing to rush around.  I still need to get it properly straightened out and figure out how to get through doorways with it.  It is big enough to make a Scarlett O'Hara costume easily.

This winter the plans are to go back to the Picnic Gown and to create Padme's Tatooine Peasant disguise for the Phantom Menace 3D release.  I have fabric dyed for that, and more to fix with new dye.  That's the plan for January.