A few smallish things

I haven't got any newly completed garments at the moment, but I have some other things that I haven't blogged about. A few days ago I finished this box. 

I started it a couple years ago in bookbinding class, and now I've finally gotten around to covering it and gluing it together. I think I had originally intended it to be a sewing box with a more elaborate interior, but I just wanted to get it off the Unfinished Things pile, so the inside is plain striped quilting cotton. The outside is covered in black cotton twill.
I didn't cut my pieces as accurately as I should have, but the lid fits pretty well.

Not sure what I'll use it for. It still could be a sewing box.

I made this green hat in felt class, shortly before I made my tricorn. I didn't make my pattern big enough so it came out really, really small, and barely fits this foam head.

I think it's still at school, and I don't have any use for it.

I carved a linoleum block a couple days ago! It was a commission for a heart & stroke event.

Speaking of commissions, two people are going to buy these shitty dinosaur prints from me, and I am amazed.

Two humans got me to print these and will pay me real actual money for them.

I posted about the fish I block printed, but I never posted this other block I did for class, so here are some pictures of it.

I did some prints on a piece of paper.

And some on fabric.

I haven't done anything with these 3 bits of cotton yet, but they were fun to print. Though I wish the edges hadn't printed darker than the middle of the block.

It's a half drop repeat, with swirliboops based on the ones I embroidered on my waistcoat.

I will hopefully have some finished sewing things soon!

Red Wool Waistcoat

I finished this a few weeks ago and am rather late posting it. It's made from the same re-used coat fabric as that awful fur trimmed waistcoat I did a few years ago. The biggest coat bits left were a tad too small, and I had to piece the side corners on.

It's interfaced along the front with heavy cotton twill. (The hair canvas I have is quite flimsy and wouldn't have made a difference on this fabric.) The edge around the front is folded in and sewn down.

The wool is thick and felted enough that I didn't feel the need to turn the edge in around the pocket hole.

The pockets and lining are both cotton quilting prints, and I can't remember where either of them came from. The back is a thick textured cotton from an old curtain.

The buttons are plastic, and aren't even trying to look like metal, but at least the star design on them looks suitable for the 18th century.

They're nice buttons at a distance.

The main construction seams are machine sewn, and the lining is hand sewn in.

The buttonholes are hand done too, as the wool is too thick to fit under the buttonhole foot.

Done!

It fits pretty well, since I actually mocked up my pattern this time...

 Though I'm late posting it here, I finished this in time for the March HSM challenge.

What the item is: A red wool waistcoat.
The Challenge, and how this item fulfills it: #3, The Great Outdoors. My waistcoat is good for cold weather, and the outdoors was quite cold when I made this, though it's warming up now.

Material: Red wool from a secondhand coat, quilting cotton for the lining, heavy rough cotton of some sort for the back.
Pattern: My own.
Year: 1770's-1780's
Notions: 12 plastic buttons, heavy cotton twill to interface the fronts, thread.
How historically accurate is it? The materials aren't accurate, but the pattern is, and I think the construction is overall fairly accurate. The look isn't too far off, but the wool is MUCH too thick for a waistcoat, and the buttons are obviously not metal when you look at them up close.
Hours to complete: Maybe about 25 or 30? I had a time sheet, but kept forgetting to update it.
First worn: March 28th, 2017
Total cost: $3.60 (the buttons were the only thing I bought, and they were quite cheap)

I made a small squid with some of the scraps, but there are still so many left. So many coat bits.

I've been using Small Squid Friend as a sleeve roll, because my sleeve board needs a new cover and I've been putting off making one. I should do that soon...

Pale green rayon shirt

I think this shirt is somewhat tacky, because of the materials, but generally I like it. I made it to go under the doublet I'm going to be making for a fairytale costume assignment in felting class.

The fabric is rayon crepe, which was in my stash and which I definitely did not buy. I think it was from an unwanted pile of donated fabric at school.

It has cuff and collar ruffles made of nylon lace which I dyed pale green. They didn't come out quite the right colour, but that's ok.
I more or less used my regular shirt pattern dimensions, but cut the main body all in one piece to make it a bit more like a 16th century shirt.

The cuffs and collar have fusible interfacing in them, because the rayon is too slinky to stand up on its own. It's machine sewn, and half the seams are machine finished. The inside of the cuffs, the collar, and the seam allowances on the shoulder and underarm seams are finished by hand.

It's got 7 ball buttons, which are very old and (I think) made of glass. They make the cuffs a huge pain to fasten by myself, but with a button hook it's fine. I still might change them if they prove to be too much of an annoyance.

I turned back the edges of the front slit and put a little bit of fabric at the bottom for reinforcement, but a facing might have been better.

I wanted to paint a design on the front, for no reason other than I like the shade of green and though it needed a luna moth. I drew an art noveau looking swirly thing out, and traced it on with some difficulty. I painted it on with slightly watered down speedball fabric printing ink, except for the brown bit, which is acrylic paint & textile medium.

It's definitely a very costumey shirt, and one that I am unlikely to wear for non-costume things. I should have more parts of the costume to post soon!