Harlequin Hoodie - Cosplay or Fashion?

I got home from a fire show the other night, exhausted from a very long day.  As I was unloading the car, my body told me she was quite finished, and instead of carefully bending down to place the fire show box on the floor, I dropped it from about 2 feet up.

It exploded.

I think what happened was that the micro torch we use as a lighter was packed awkwardly, and the duvetyn fire retardant cloth was piled over the top of the box thickly, holding in any residual fumes from the fire eating torches and fuel can inside the box.  When I dropped the box, the big red button on the micro torch got tapped, and the resulting spark ignited the fumes and set the whole thing on fire. 

It was quite exciting.  As luck would have it, I happened to have a huge pile of duvetyn fire retardant cloth immediately to hand, and Darrell rushed over and bravely stuck his hand into the flames to pull out both of the full fuel cans, keeping the blaze from spreading to the rest of our house and garage.  I put out the rest of the flaming stuff, took a few deep breaths, realized I wasn't feeling tired at ALL anymore, and then checked myself for damage.

I got a little first degree burn under one arm (think, a bad sunburn about 4x5 inches) but was otherwise unscathed.  Darrell got away with a little singed arm hair.

The worst of the trouble was that my favorite purple swirly hoodie got all melted on one side.  SIGH.

So, the next morning I wandered into the sewing room and perused my mountain of fleece, selected a few colors that excited me, and made this:

It's a harlequin-inspired hoodie, sporting black and white diamond checkers and maroon and purple fleece.  It's got super fun sleeves and a curly hood with a little golden bell at the end.  Because, Harlequin.  The collar is also super duper cute - I made it curl down jauntily and it makes me all sorts of happy.

Let me know what you think!  Does it say Harlequin to you?  Or Nascar?  (The checkered flag thing might throw people off) Is it too costume-y?  Not costume-y enough?  Just right?  Leave me a comment!  This is rev 1, so I may sell it on my Etsy store or I may keep it, but I'd love any ideas for improvements and (ahem) bells and whistles.

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Dusty Green Flower Faerie Hoodie with Spiral Embroidery

Custom order through Etsy for Elven Elysium, who makes amazing faerie things too. I like this one SO much that I'm adding it to the repertoire.. check it out here!

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Steampunk Fleece Jacket - Men's M/L

It's done!  It's done at long last.  Steampunk-inspired stuff sure is labor-intensive.  It's all about the details.

This is a Marino Gray fleece Steampunk Jacket.  It's not so steamy that it can't be worn with regular clothes, but the cut and the details invoke the Steampunk aesthetic.  I've been wanting to do a steampunk style hoodie for a long time, and this is my first foray into the genre.. so it's not "over the top" but I really do love how it turned out.

The buttons at the breast and collar are gorgeous metal coat-of-arms style, and there's a chain linking across the front and the sleeve.  It also has subtle metal gears on the front left, and a handy sleeve pocket as well as two regular pockets.  The spiral embroidery motif is worked in shiny copper thread, and just picks up the light in a fairly subtle way.  I used a shiny gold metal zipper on this one as well.

It's a men's size 40, which is a teensy bit small on my hubby, so I'm in search of a model... so let me know if you wanna try it on and let me take pictures of you in it.

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Storm Hoodie

New Hoodie! This one is cut on the same pattern as the uber-popular Flower Faerie hoodie, only it's done in black fleece with blue accents.  The fabric at the sleeves and cuff is a gorgeous  blue "storm" print with silver sparkles.  The cuffs are embroidered with blue lightning bolts and the hood is lined with blue tie dye fleece to match.

This hoodie is very very VERY soft.  I am still wearing it as I type this blog entry, it's just so soft and cozy that I don't want to take it off.

More pix on the gallery page and as much as I like this hoodie, I ended up keeping the flame hoodie for my own, so I'm going to list this one on my Etsy store for sale.  I think it'll probably be one of a kind since that was the last of the sparkle blue fabric, but I might repeat the idea.. LOVE the lightning bolt sleeve design!!

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Flower Faerie Hoodie Improvements & Updates

Just finished up this gorgeous Flower Faerie hoodie to ship off to the East Coast this morning.  This one was custom ordered with longer sleeves and no laces on the sides.  It's always fun to make modifications.  This is the second request I've gotten for no side laces and it makes it a rather different hoodie, I think.  Certainly it fits differently.  I like the clean lines of it quite a lot.

I'm also getting a little faster.  This one is my best seller and I've made quite a few of them at this point.  I think I maybe have shaved at least an hour or maybe two hours off the total creation time (so, down to 5-6 hours from 7-8 hours).  Details take time! 

(Also, the side laces take a lot of time.  Maybe that's why I finished this one so quickly)

I keep making teensy improvements too.  My serger does a lot of different types of seams and I keep changing my mind as to which seam type I like best for which seam.  I think my choices are getting better and better. 

For any sewing geeks who might be reading this, I use a Babylock Imagine serger.  It's got a feed differential, which means it can sew two pieces of fabric together at different "speeds" - i.e. it makes gathers or ruffles automatically.  The other cool thing it does is make "lettuce edges" if I sew just one layer of fabric on a stretch differential.  Like this.. see how the sleeve edge is wiggly?

Anyway, that's one thing I've started doing with the later versions of this hoodie, and I think it adds a lot.  Another thing is the way I assemble the wrist cuff.. the way I was doing it before, I ended up with a little uneven jag at the end of the wrist cuff, often as not, and I reworked it so the edges come out even and hidden this time.  It's those little things that make me so happy.

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Sewing by the Seat of my Pants

Usually when I make a new hoodie, my process goes something like this:

1. Get inspired
2. Do some sketches
3. Create a paper pattern
4. Cut & create the hoodie
5. Fix all the flaws in the hoodie
6. Transfer the fixes to the pattern

I'd love to do a blog post about each one of these steps.. perhaps I'll do that.  But yesterday I threw the whole process away and just .. created.

I think I've leveled up.

I had a little leftover black fleece.  I did a quickie sketch and then threw it away.  Then I got out 3 different hoodie patterns, picked a few pieces out of each, and laid them all in a jumble on the sewing table.

After that, I ignored all the pattern pieces and started cutting out pieces I thought looked cute.  I ended up with a flame shape, so I embroidered a flame.  Why not?

From there, I chose different pieces from the different patterns I have, and cut out one of these, one of those, two of this one over here.. pretty much I just used up all the fabric.

I ended up with one of the classiest hoodies I've ever made.  It's got pockets.  It's got flames.  It's seams are on the inside, which is a departure from my usual style, and some of the edges are purposefully unfinished.  It doesn't even have a hood - instead it's got a flipped-over collar.  (to be honest I did *make* the hood but then decided I didn't need it - it'll probably end up on another hoodie)

So, today's task is to reverse-engineer this thing and see if I can replicate it.  I'll do the shoulders an collar a little different maybe.. but on the whole, the design seems *marvelous*.. I think it's a keeper.  :)   Better pictures later!
 

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Hoodie Fail? Or, would Zombies be fooled by fleece?

I'm feeling the need for a red & black or purple & black hoodie.. maybe it's halloween coming up, not sure, but I've been needing to do it.

I did a bunch of sketches and this was my favorite:

Very halloweeny.. kind of cyber, and I have a cool purple stripey fabric for the circles.  I didn't plan out to the nth degree, just got started.. might as well start at the top, I figured.  I had enough black fleece for the body but not the hood, so I made the hood from ultra-cuddle (which is delightful and soft but a little hard to work with):

Although the circle turned out way bigger than I planned, due to ultra-cuddle stretch, it  still looks adorable in the "down" position.  However, when I put the hood up on top of my head, suddenly...

braaaaaaaaiiiinnnnns.....

After I got over my giggles, I realized I'll need to scrap the whole hood and start over.

But then last night, I saw Shaun of the Dead for the first time and got to thinking.... might this be a selling point?  It is a Halloween hoodie, after all.  Perhaps there's a market for a hoodie that will attract zombies by making them think a meal is close at hand.  Maybe if I include a chainsaw on a stick with purchase....?

So do I finish this hoodie as-is, or do I make a new brain-free hood?

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SALE on the Quiddich Hoodie

I need more room in my closet.. just marked down this Quiddich Hoodie to just $69.  What a bargain!

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"Legolas" Men's Hoodie - Photos

Finally found the time today to head out to Twin Pines Park in Belmont for a photo shoot with Loren.  I just *knew* this hoodie would look amazing on him.  

This was inspired by lots of guys asking me when I was going to start making hoodies for men.. there seems to be plenty of beautiful fae girlie clothing but not a lot of masculine style out there.  I love this one.

Listed on Etsy!   With more pictures of the delightful Loren the Elf.  :)

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