Crafting Year in Review: 2023

    I've decided, chiefly in order to make myself feel more productive, to document all the craft-related things I completed last year (2024 post in the works).

    First of all, I Frankensteined a pair of Regency breeches together for a friend out of some charity shop slacks, using the material from below the knee to form the fall-front.  The material was probably polyester or poly-cotton, but they were for a costume party, so I'm okay with that!

You can see the pinned fall-front near the top of the photo (apologies for my friend's hand).

    I used a sewing machine for what was essentially the first time to make a bread roll warmer, using Tried & True's pattern and tutorial.

The fabric is a Charley Harper print, with muslin backing.

 

    I also made a pair of bowl cozies on a machine using Craftsy's tutorial, which were great for using up leftover fabric prints from mask-making.

The bowl cozies, one empty and one with bowl.

    I padded several clothes hangers using 10"x10" squares of cotton batting, so the corners of the hangers wouldn't leave creases in my painstakingly handcrafted garments (honestly mostly underthings at this point).

    I machine-sewed and -quilted a tortilla warmer as a birthday gift, using a We All Sew tutorial.  (That is, I used a sewing machine to quilt the layers; I do not have access to a quilting machine.)

The pattern seems to be inspired by Mondrian's abstract paintings, which were favored by the giftee.

    I made a long hair rat out of nylon hose to go with my smaller pouf from 2022 or thereabouts.  I think I might actually need an even longer one for the styles I'm thinking of, but I'm really not very good with hair or pins, so it could just be a skill issue :/

    In more historical projects, I started a haversack, inspired by A Woodsrunner's Diary and Crooked Tree Farm.  It's made of cotton canvas with linen bias tape around the edges.

You can see I've already added buttonholes and waxed the seams to death; that was done in 2024.

    I also made a tailor's sausage and tailor's ham to help with pressing curved seams.  For some reason, none of my local shops sells cotton stuffing, so I had to unravel cotton balls by the bag-full in order to stuff the pieces.

On the left is the ham; on the right is the sausage.

    I put together a very simple bum roll out of muslin, cotton wadding, and bias tape.  The "pattern" was derived from squinting at museum artifacts and modern reproductions, then cutting out two crescent-shaped pieces of fabric and stitching them together.

Behold, the false rump!

    For my Regency outfit, I made a blue indispensable using the pattern provided by Dawn Luckham (originally posted here, referenced here and here).  The Photobucket link is unfortunately broken, but you can see the pattern on Aylwen's blog and some in-progress shots by The Tailor's Apprentice.

This is my attempt at the pattern, with bias tape drawstrings and all.

    I cut out the pieces for leather ball based on medieval finds; this one is a three-piece pattern, with two circles and a long rectangle—basically a soft cylinder.  I still have to pierce holes in the leather with a makeshift awl and stitch the whole thing together.

    I also decided to add a bit of wear and tear to my Iron Age shoes, made from the same deer hide as the leather ball pieces.  In the process, the stitching along the heel came undone, so I need to redo that with faux sinew.

For some reason, I've placed the left shoe on the right and vice-versa for this photo.

    Finally, I made a pad for the car seat out of terrycloth and bias tape.  For the stuffing, I used trapezoids of cotton batting that I tacked together.

    I also catalogued a collection (not mine) of sci-fi and horror DVDs, including a few Blu-Ray and VHS duplicates.  Not especially crafty, but I do love making lists, and this one is somewhat helpful on occasion.

    It's nice to have it all listed here!  Makes me feel like I've accomplished things.  Hopefully, the 2024 round-up will be just as satisfying.