R. H. Seamstrix

I finished the first Lennier shirt! I learned some things for the next one, and it turned out really well. In the end, I used four fabrics and parts of two patterns. Simplicity 1544 for the basic button-up shirt, and McCall's 8423 for the collar. The triangular cuffs and central torso triangle are based on Lennier's outfits in the show Babylon 5. I was aiming for a shirt which is clearly based on his clothing, but which I could also wear in an office environment without it looking like a costume. When I eventually make the over robe, pants, and belt, those items will be what makes it harder to wear casually (though I do intend to try). 

Because I'm trying to capture the general look of a character from a show, there are some significant ways that this shirt departs from the basic long-sleeved button-up shirt pattern I'm using as a base (Simplicity 1544). The shirt cuffs are now mostly complete, they just need the hook-and-eye closures I'll use instead of buttons. I've made a start on the shirt's bottom hem, next is to finish that, finish the open edge of the shirt, and then work on the collar. I've tried the shirt on, and the fit around the shoulders is really nice. I like it enough that I might use this pattern for more shirts after this project is complete.  My goal is to have an opening in the sleeve cuffs which allows the sleeves to be partially opened and then fastened when worn, but which, visually, does not deviate from the shape of the character's sleeves on the show. Thus far, it seems to be working!  

I'm attaching the triangular front panel to the shirt, it involves the bias tape I made recently. It's turning out really well! The purple thread is basting which will be removed when I finish it.  

It took two days (4-6 hours each day), but I finished making two rolls of double-fold bias tape. Each roll is a little over eight feet (~2.5 meters). The whole process involves two rounds of pinning and ironing, per roll. I'll use the bias tape for edges and accents, one for each outfit. If there's any left over then I'll have something to gradually use for other trims.  

For a while, I've been planning a version of the tunic and robes worn by Lennier in the show Babylon 5. I'm less concerned with having an exact reproduction, what I want is to have a comfortable outfit which looks like Lennier's clothing, but where I could wear the individual pieces in other contexts and they would look fine. To help with that, I'm using a combination of images from the show and parts of two other patterns (Simplicity 1544 and McCall's 8423). So far, I've cut the fabric for the shirts (though I'll need to decide what fabric to use for the bias tape), and I've started sewing one of the shirts.    

The (modified) pants are complete! I started out using Simplicity pattern S1069 but then changed more and more once I realized the pants would be too tight for me if I didn't alter something. The original pattern didn't have the side panels, and the belt would have been all one fabric. But I used a complementary but distinct fabric for the belt, and I added colorful side panels in between what would have been the side seams on the legs. This also meant I needed to cut my own waistband panels. By the time I started modifying I'd already installed the zipper, so the waistband elastic is a bit wonky. If I did this over again, intending to modify it, I would have closed the back without a zipper and changed the waistband structure a bit so that it was more elastic-friendly. Overall, I'm very happy with this as a garment for me!     

I finished the tie belt for the pants, and made progress on the waistband. I'm very happy with how it's progressing, the tie belt look great! The colorful fabrics are different on purpose, my end goal is to try and have partly interchangeable clothing which each have fabrics in this same blend of colors but with very different patterns. I obtained these and two others recently, and they'll be able to fit with various solid fabrics.    

I'd been sewing what I thought was a fairly unremarkable pair of slightly wide blue pants when it turned out that, due to some combination of pattern size and inflexible fabric, the finished pants weren't going to fit me. I immediately pivoted to add colorful side panels and am probably going to add some elastic on the sides in the waistband. There's a zipper in the back, and I love how the side panels make the pants much more like the wide-leg designs I favor.    

After a few weeks of wearing the quilted long vest without clasps, I decided what clasp type I want and I attached three frog closures. The vest is complete! The black of the clasps works well with the mottled purple of the bias tape edges, and I'm very pleased with it overall. This vest was made with Simplicity pattern S9593, but uses a different closure than what is directed in the pattern.

I finished the moth! The plushie pattern is by  BeeZeeArt , and I used most of my remaining Whale Song Blue Ombre fabric for the outside. I scaled it up quite a bit, estimating that the wingspan would be around three feet when it was finalized. The stuffing for the body and antennae is polyfill, and the wings have a single layer of white flannel inside, instead of using batting. Rather than using two different fabrics, I used greener portions of the fabric for the undersides of the wings and bluer portions for the tops of the wings, the body, and the antennae. I used a pretty pliable gauge of jewelry wire to give the wings some structure and to add stability to the antennae. It makes a lovely decoration for the side of my fridge, with a final wingspan of 37.5 inches from wingtip to wingtip, and a body plus antennae length of 21 inches.  While I think I prefer clothes-making to plushies, I had a great time with this and might make some plushies of a smaller size in the fut...

I've had several days of steady progress on the moth. The lower wings have wire frames around the edges, small magnets in the wing tips, and topstitching for the wing veins. I'm mostly done adding the magnets to the upper wings, but I still have a few to go. I want the final moth to be able to hang out on the fridge (hence the magnets), so one of the images is from when I tested whether the magnets could hold a wing on the fridge. Pattern by  BeeZeeArt .     

I'm trying to make as many things as I can without purchasing new fabric, and a few days ago I came across BeeZeeArt  and their plushie fabric patterns. They provide directions on how to scale the images, so instead of making a moth with a 12-inch wingspan I'm making one which will have around a 42-inch (3.5-foot) wingspan. The blue/green fabric has distinct sections where it's more blue and others where it's more green, so instead of making the wings and body out of different fabric I'm strategically choosing which parts of the design to use for each section to create a similar overall effect from the same piece of fabric.

I finished the jacket! It turned out really well, when the recipient sends me photos of it in use I'll share those in a separate post. This was created with McCall's sewing pattern M7636. The non-cotton components are the elastic in the waistband, the purple zipper, and bright blue shoulder piping. The cuffs and collar are grey ribbed cotton, the outside is purple flannel and the inside is quilt cotton.