The Inevitable Halloween Costume Post 2020 edition

Umbrella Academy, photo Netflix

Not everyone in the Umbrella Academy wears a regatta blazer.

Simplicity 9094, an Academic lewk

https://www.threadsmagazine.com/2020/10/01/pattern-roundup-halloween-2020?

I really appreciate how they have mentioned some current pop culture references; Umbrella Academy is not that well known, and Ratched (also mentioned, it's the Ryan Murphy prequel story with Sarah Paulson) may have slid past some folks' radar.

https://www.simplicity.com/simplicity-storefront-catalog/patterns/brands/simplicity-sewing-pattern-s9094-misses-mens--teens-cosplay/

Number Six wears a regatta jacket too.

https://static.onecms.io/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2017/09/tcdpris_ec025-2000.jpg

Because there really aren't a lot of new and weird costume patterns out this year (and if I missed them, please comment), I'm going to share the purchased kind.

https://www.amazon.com/ZMJ-Hellboy-Right-Halloween-Costume/dp/B07PQLT9BW/

Right Hand of Doom, screen accurate

I am never going to finish the Left Hand of Doom

What I love are the 'NonLicensed But You Know What They Are' selections.

Smiffy Costumes on Amazon (search 'Smiffy women costumes' for best entry selection)

has solved for Mamma Mia! costumes...

Microphone not included

Remember the time in Joann's I met the kids who were going to go trick or treating as the twins from the Shining? I hope they are doing great.

They could get their mom to make them a couple of these sweaters

Hat included

https://www.cosdaddy.com/Cosdaddy-Gone-with-the-Wind-Scarlett-O-Hara-Cosplay-Green-Dress-Costume.html

This website has a lot of costumes on it. Animal Crossing, too.

It's hard to gin up a lot of enthusiasm for costuming this pandemic year. I didn't have a local con to finish the latest Dalek costume for, so the new hat/helmet is frozen in time. I had promised myself to keep working on it, doing a very gradual layering up of paint over a week or two, for the time when I would need it, but you know how life intervenes?  I'm still sketching that Elric Bro hoodie as well.

for more of this absurd goodness:

https://www.thedad.com/knockoff-halloween-costumes-are-so-funny-its-spooky/

It's links to Twitter responses to a call for weirdest knock off costumes, so everyone who took a photo gets their own linky credit.

And  speaking  of  Spirit  Halloween .....

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/12/style/spirit-halloween-costume-store-undead-forever.html

 is an ode to the pop up Halloween store

which I would appreciate if they hadn't opened right around the corner (literally the other side of the same building) from Display and Costume, my favorite holiday decoration store. A store that was going to be closing this year, instead saved by a last minute lease reprieve.

And which closed storefront did Spirit open in?

Pacific Fabrics Northgate.

(weeps openly)

I have to go finish my homework.

Too Many Curtains: Folding Videos in October

https://www.threadsmagazine.com/2019/10/10/wrangle-your-fabric-stash-video

Seamwork's folding technique on YouTube  https://youtu.be/VF19yPgIUcQ

These both arrived in my (and your) inbox this week. Coincidence? 
 The Threads is solid gold. Using the storage box lid as a folding guide, or making a folding template (those flexible kitchen cutting boards to the rescue again) is super smart. Helps stack and sort (and retrieve) the stuff on the shelves. I use foam board, and old plastic corrugated campaign signs are FREE and plentiful.

The Seamwork one is ADORBS, but who sews with one yard? 

This stash sorting/refolding is pretty much what I did this morning, in anticipation of a trip to Ikea and the curtain department (where we get the linen Aina curtains to make pants for my sister and I).

My sister's stash lives at my house and she's got a lot of linen. A LOT.

This isn't all of it. It's what I measured and refolded this morning in two hours. Each is about three yards, or a couple of Aina curtains (57" by 98" each).

I cannot believe I haven't written about this before (and if I did, I didn't tag it with Ikea). 
I mean, curtains are a costumer's best friend.
Yardage for days.

Bob Mackie's genius costume for Carol Burnett GWTW parody.

Yes, it lives at the Smithsonian

And if you want a little more on the original dress by Walter Plunkett, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129177801

I am all about those Ikea curtains.

The tab material is very easy to remove. These used to have same fabric tabs, but this is less lumpy.

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/aina-curtains-1-pair-blue-00328875/

The weight per yard of the curtains has gone up. The price has gone up as well, but 

each curtain is 2.72 yds,  or 5.44 yds for the pair. That's $11 a yard, but it's heavier linen now. 

Curtains come out to be 10.92oz per yard going by their package weight (divided by yardage).  Fabric is shown as 12oz because that's a meter (and I think that's the number they have from the manufacturer, vs the actual ship weight of a unit which will be more accurate). All this to say it's close enough and pretty hefty. They make great pants and jackets.

What they had on the by-the-yard fabric table was the lighter stuff (it comes out at 8oz per yard on my scale) from the previous season. Certainly just fine at $8.99. The 12oz would be a steal at that price.

But after all that folding and math, we didn't buy any more. Because my sister has all those colors already. Certainly enough to make all the pants she will need for the next five years, if not more.

BUT, Ms Smartypants, how do I fold my three and an half yard pieces?

It doesn't matter how you fold it, as long as you get 18" folds.
Another high quality illustration from ErnieKLabs

After I prewash and dry them, I fold them on the grain line (like they come off the bolt) and then fold them lengthwise into 18" folds. You can fold and refold any way it works for you as long as the end result is 18" wide. Fold that in half to fit 18" by (.25 of the width of 60" is 15"). They fit into that box, or on the shelf, and I can count how much yardage each has by counting the 18" folds and doubling that. 6 folds: 3 yards.
We are all about that math today.

Fold by 18s

And fold over, matching folds to selvage.

6 folds = 3 yards

Store in dry location with like-folded stash. Age to taste.

My shelves are 18" deep in this cabinet.

Okay, so not all the stash is as nicely folded, but I wanted to show how I break it up on boards and box lids to manage pulling stuff out without avalanches. The association groups change, but mostly by weight and use. And wool.

I do have to pull them out to check, but I like to handle the stash. This time I made a chart of the sister stash with those little swatches. Three different reds. Oy.

Sewing spacesuits - Linky love edition

Threads magazine letters section, #189

http://wp.wpi.edu/wpijournal/sewing-space/

A sweet Worchester Poly Journal piece on alum who sewed space suits.

image from Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo

The book on the topic that I referred Threads to:

Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo

It's come down in price, been made into a paperback, on it's way to me. I would like to thank Beth Butler for the reminder; I'm still excited about reading this.

http://gizmodo.com/5788241/how-to-sew-a-spacesuit

This is as good a summary of the book and the topic as you're going to get outside of reading the book.

image from Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo

https://www.wheretowatch.com/2013/09/bras-in-space-the-incredible-true-story-behind-upcoming-film-spacesuit/

Still not in production.....

http://www.space.com/21297-bra-makers-moon-spacesuit-movie.html
(sorry, this webpage will ask you to subscribe to read it, so I didn't link it and be prepared)
This article is more about the movie deal than the book, and more about space movies in general. I had no idea Eastwood let the Armstrong book deal lapse.
Someday....

image from Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo

The Burrito Facing Trick Gets A Threads Video

In the recent Threads 185, they have a fine article explaining how to draft an all in one facing for a sleeveless top.

And now they have a video demonstrating how to install both kinds.

You may recall previous blog post

Rooibos Burrito Roll Revisited

Threads Video How to attach an all in one facing

This is much nicer by far!

Both versions! (the first is appropriate for turning a vest and lining, as well)

I do love a well-shot video.