R. H. Seamstrix

After spending an evening working on the top for the performance outfit and running into a design challenge, I pivoted to the shorts so I could make some progress. They're pretty basic to start, but this pair will end up with a side stripe and maybe a short skirt, as well as detachable garters. 

The overrobe is almost done! I need to finish the bias tape hem along the front, and add it to the armholes. I won't have enough left over to hem the pants with bias tape, so when I finish the overrobe I'll hem the bottom edge of the pants. I should have the whole outfit finished next week.  

I've mostly finished the palazzo pants. Everything except the bottom hem is finished, because I still haven't decided whether to hem both legs or to use bias tape to finish them. Because that decision is very much affected by whether I have enough bias tape after making the over-robe, I've started on that as well. The lining is assembled, for the pattern I'm using a very modified version of McCall's 8423. I'm not using batting, I won't be quilting it, I lengthened it at the lower edge, and I'm connecting the side seams so it's a bit more like a robe (without sleeves) rather than a long vest like the original design. I've previously used this pattern to make a quilted vest , so I have a good sense of which features I do and don't want.  In the vest I made last time, the order of assembly meant that some seams are visible inside, as the outside, lining, and batting were concatenated and then quilted for each panel before the panels were put tog...

I cut fabric for a new project! This is a commissioned piece, so I won't be the one wearing it in the end. It's a performance outfit, so it needs to handle a lot of wear and also look good in motion. The client wants a crescent moon cutout in the chest and an asymmetrical neckline, neither of which were part of the original Simplicity 9620 pattern. Also, the shorts will be a lot shorter, probably have a skirt, and eventually there will be detachable garters. But, for now, it's a bunch of glittery fabric (and some less glittery lining material to hold it together).  

The Minbari Palazzo Pants are starting to look like pants! The waistband is in place but not yet sewn shut, the next step is to slipstitch it closed. After that, the final step is hemming the bottom of each pant leg. Each one has a circumference of several feet, so it'll take a while. I ended up putting bias tape everywhere there's a change between the other fabrics, and it helps it look like different textures coming together rather than just awkward edges between disparate fabrics. Also, the yellow details in the purple I used for the bias tape and waistband tie the yellow/gold from the green/yellow fabric in with the rest of the designs. 

The four Minbari Palazzo pants panels are assembled (front right and left, back right and left)! I have bias tape borders around any changes in fabric between other panels. Because of the way the pants will meet the shirt, I decided to have grey in the back and green/orange in the front and along the sides, to best match the shirt without having everything look askew if something doesn't line up perfectly once I'm wearing it. The next steps involve attaching these panels to each other so they start to be pants, then comes the waistband (which will use the purple fabric that comprises the bias tape). Part of what helps the purple bias tape connect the panels without looking out of place is that it has the same yellow/gold color in it which, in larger quantities, forms the bulk of the orange-ish sections in the green/orange fabric.       

I finished adding the triangular panels for the two front sections (first image), now I'm working on the bias tape border before inserting the triangular panels for the two back sections (second image). 

Because Minbari aesthetics have a lot of triangles and I am trying to make a Lennier-inspired outfit, not a show-accurate cosplay of the character, I'm making palazzo pants using McCall's pattern 8223, but I'm adding some bias tape borders and detailing that aren't in the original pattern, to better fit the aesthetic. Palazzo pants can look like skirts when the wearer is standing, but clearly are pants when walking. I've made them several times before and I think they'll work very well with the overall aesthetic, and complement the shirt for this outfit.