Crafting Year in Review: 2024

    My recollection is that I worked on lots of things, but finished very few.  We'll see by the end of the post whether that holds up!

    I worked on knotting a string of pearls, which is really surprisingly difficult when it comes to getting the spacing right.  I stopped at the length of a choker because I do not have the patience to make one of those opera-length ropes!

    I fixed a number of things in the mending pile, including the shoulder strap on my 1920s chemise (accidentally disconnected while struggling to remove a corset).  Remember to reinforce your attachment points, and use a buddy to help you out of a corset if you plan on tight-lacing!

    The American Duchess post about an embroidered pocket from Colonial Williamsburg provided the initial inspiration for my blue pocket (the second of two so far); after dropping the project for about a year, I finally finished the embroidery and bound the pieces in bias tape.

    I began a Regency bodiced petticoat (using Laughing Moon Mercantile's pattern), and have cut out but not attached all the pieces.

    I braided a Barbie's hair and set it in hot water, trimmed off the ends, and used acetone to remove her lipstick (and teeth, oops!).  I also added a simple embroidery decoration to the hem of her robe, which I originally made some time during the pandemic.  Hopefully I'll get to work on the other Barbie projects I currently have on the back burner.

Child-me would have been thrilled with this.

    I finished a restuffing and sewing-back-together project for what I am calling my transfem Raggedy Ann (originally a Raggedy Andy).  The doll had a little sailor's cap tacked to the head, which was easy to remove; then I took apart the limbs, removed the stuffing, washed the fabric, and filled everything again with finely cut cabbage*.

    Some of the gorgeous avocado pit carvings around the Internet inspired me to make my own buttons out of an avocado pit I received from a friend.  I waited one day for it to dry a little, peeled the skin(?) off the pit, and used a kitchen knife to split it in half.  Then I waited another day before using the knife to cut it into slices.

    Three days later, the slices were fairly hard, and I set out to find assistance in drilling tiny holes into bits of nut.  As you can see below, I sanded them mostly flat and rubbed a bit of mineral oil into them to improve the appearance, but they are quite rough!

In hindsight, one hole doesn't actually... work... for a button.  But in my defense, they seemed too small to fit two holes!

 

    I made a quilt out of 1850s and '60s reproduction fabric swatches, bound in linen tape.  This was my first (and probably last) patchwork project!  I'm not exactly a fan of the period, but I have a friend who is, so this will be a late birthday present.

Ignore the man behind the curtain!

    I began a handmade Mimikyu costume—that is, a Pikachu costume made by/for a Mimikyu—based on Choly Knight's free Mimikyu plush pattern.  It's a pieced-together thing made of a tan-colored "minky" polyester I got as scraps.  The eye holes, like the raw edges of the skirt, are edged in yellow blanket-stitch to reduce fraying.  I managed to find some old pink rick-rack for the mouth and two black buttons for the eyes.  I also used satin stitch to create the nose.  The ears are stuffed with cabbage* and the main part of the head with polyester fiber-fill.

    After three attempts to attach the skirt to the head, I still couldn't get it to look even, so I gave up out of frustration.  I'll try again later, when thinking about it no longer fills me with despair.

You can just see the slightly yellowed cheek-patches and darkened ear-tips, made with watered-down acrylic paint.

    I completed one goldfish bag and started a second one; I was inspired by fish-shaped bags on the Internet, mostly Japanese, with embroidered faces and drawstring closures at the tail end.  Sadly, I had to shove them into a bag when cleaning up, so my fish isn't available for photography.

    I started (and finished!) a carpet bag using the guidelines provided in Liza D.'s post on Better Dresses Vintage.  The carpet itself was acquired in the Before Times, and sat around in my crafting pile for ages before being picked up again.  I also got hold of a good lining fabric, as well as a nice dark red bias tape to bind the raw edges of the carpet.  The wooden dowels were cut and sanded by a friend who has scary power tools.

The notched and partly pinned carpet.

 

    I waxed the haversack I worked on last year, and added the strap!  It is now a functional feed-bag.

    I finally finished the Anglo-Saxon tunic I've been working on since [checks notes] 2020, my word!  The shift has been done for some time, and the next step would be to cut out and seam up the apron-dress.  It's made of a wool-poly blend intended for cheap sports jackets, because that's what was available, but I think the woolen trim makes it look semi-believable.

Ta-da!

    I also both started and finished the apron-dress to go with the tunic.  It was more poly-wool blend, in a very inaccurate blue plaid—not that blue plaid isn't period correct, but the shade and depth of that blue was... astonishing.  I even tried bleaching it (carefully!), but it's more polyester than wool, and the color didn't so much as lighten.

    I hand-sewed and stuffed a small fabric head form, intended to be the smallest of three.  The pattern comes from Out of a Portrait, who kindly posted a tutorial on their website.  This will be useful for displaying some historical hats, once I trim the bases.

The first of three faceless heads...

    I created a light blue drawstring bag out of some incredibly lightweight linen scavenged from an old pair of high-quality slacks.  It's entirely hand-sewn, with buttonhole stitches around the raw edges.  The material you see here formed the pockets before I got my grubby little hands on it.

I even buttonhole-stitched the ends of the drawstrings (re-used waist string from the slacks).

    I started work on a book pillow, primarily to use up some cheap polyester satin (also used for Regency handbag, see below).  About halfway through—the worst possible time—I considered that maybe I should have added a muslin lining, and perhaps some more padding, so now I have to decide whether to unpick the stitches holding it to the cotton batting and create a lining.  I probably will, but what a hassle!  If only I'd thought of it earlier.

    Outside of fiber arts and costumery, I began painting my 3D-printed Fat Dragon Games' Dragonlock tavern/inn.  It was printed in woodfill by a licensed Dragonlock printer, so it was already light brown, but while the floors could stay unpainted, people used to tar the exposed support beams and plaster the space in between.  Therefore, I needed dark brown paint and off-white paint to complete the look.

    To help complete the Regency outfit I am *still* working on, I made a little white indispensable out of some cheap polyester satin and leftover muslin.  It was made by following Sew Historical's circular reticule tutorial.  It's very small and very cute—about seven inches in diameter.

My feeling is that a reticule should be a net bag, so this is an "indispensable."

    I tried once again to remove permanent marker that some ferret child scribbled on an old canvas bag.  Results were... mixed.  I'm definitely removing ink each time, using alcohol and cotton swabs, but it's only lightened a little, as if with age.  This is something I'll probably come back to every few months, get frustrated with, and put down again until the cycle repeats.

    I also, apparently, started a weblog, and have made 46 posts thus far, mainly about historical crafts and costuming.

 

*No, not the plant.  As I explained to a horrified questioner, "cabbage" is bits of cut-up fabric scraps, presumably because it looks a bit like shredded cabbage.