2/22/2011 Progress Report

Last week I was quite productive, although not nearly enough in the cosplay department.

I started some up-cycling projects

Finished and in-progress t-shirt yarn

What is that up there? That's some 'yarn' I made out of some old turtlenecks.


Basically, there are three steps to making t-shirt yarn.

1. Cut off the hem.
2. Start cutting a spiral up the t-shirt.
3. Continue cutting at the same width all the way up the shirt.

I found it really helpful to have a guide while cutting: I used the length of my thumbnail for the sleeves and the neck and the whole length of the first digit of my thumb for the main body.

The thing I'm having problems with now is how to knit up this yarn. I tried it on some #7 needles and its really, really tight and a little hard to knit. It stretches out the yarn quite a bit and gives it a really interesting effect, but its so difficult I think I'm going to make only one square of it.

I'll try the thicker stuff on my size 15 needles, but even that may not be big enough.

We'll have to see how this turns out!

This will make a fabulous potholder.

 In other news, I did actually get some cosplay stuff done. I ordered all the misc supplies I need from the internet (not the wigs yet), I dyed a bunch of fabric and I even finished the mock-up for a jacket!

Mock-ups are awesome.

If you've never done a mock-up before, I highly recommend it. I took this jacket in from a standard women's blazer pattern and turned it into a bolero-style jacket with bell sleeves that fits a person much smaller than I am.

I'll even be able to cut the applique patterns from the mockup when I'm done, ensuring accurate sizing to the designs without too much effort.

HCC Cosplay has a great muslin mock-up tutorial.

As a bonus, I can shred or re-use the failed mock-ups when I'm done. The smaller pieces are going to be shredded and stuffed into her booties to give them the puff they need.