(not at all) Magic Bag of Tricks part three

 Just imagine every other word is a profanity. Pick whichever ones you like.

I tried to start on one side, and work my way around.

I like a profanity with a bilabial fricative, myself.

Blue tape worked better than clips (which slid) and is easily removed and reapplied.

Endlessly.

Because this keeps not wanting to sit in the frame.

"HOLY MOTHER OF PEARL" is the most family friendly one I used here.

It keeps popping out.

SO MANY BAD WORDS RIGHT HERE

Tacky Glue will dry. It will get tacky in less than a year, and it does dry reasonably clear. I can also trim off the excess, if I give a damn about that by the end of this

(and eventually I will)

It is supposed to fit. The pattern and the frame go together. The toile worked.

This ..... is not working.

The toile was in a woven fabric. You cannot overestimate how much squish/stretch/flex you get with a woven, even an upholstery weight. This one will just NOT.

This is a reverse angle trying to use the camera to see if the corner is sitting in the frame or not.

It's... mostly in there? I don't dare pick it up to turn it over to see (working from the lining inside).

I'm going to put glue on string to fill out the gap between the fabric and the frame, and secure the bond (so the bag doesn't drop off the frame)

I know, the glue should go in, and then the string. And on this part, that's what I did.

Remember, every other word is a bad word.

This was a naughty project.

At this point, glue is everywhere (some of those spots are polka dots, some are NOT) and I have ceased to care. I just want to finish it so it's done and I can stop pretending to finish it.

So much profanity.

So Much Glue

I got glue on all my fingers.

Getting a store bought handle. don't even ask about the one I made for it.

this is just so not my jam....well, I had to add hardware and rivets (which is ME), but still so not my jam.

Should not have trimmed the end (you can see the wadding if you look in). didn't trim the other.

Getting rings to go on rings is easier with a pair of narrow needlenose plyers. They don't have to be great, but they do need small noses.

This is it's senior year book photo. Color adjusted. Vignette. 

And now I am so done with this. I will clean up the glue on the other side some other time. But now I am FREE and I do feel much better about it.

If I only carried a purse, this would be it.

Not so magic bag of tricks part one

(I just realized that I wrote this post over a year ago, January 10, 2021, and didn't post it because I wasn't done with the project.

I'm still not, but I am posting this because I hope to be one with this soon. Like later this week. Done or throwing it into the scrap pile done. Here is the journey's start)

Felix the Cat's magic bag of tricks was a lot like Mary Poppin's carpetbag: any number of useful plot devices could be pulled from it. One gruesome family joke was "I'll just reach into my magic bag of tricks and pull out a cure for cancer! Oops, it's a Thompson submachine gun!"

Well, my mother with cancer laughed.

So maybe I still want the bag.

But I don't want a Felix head on my bag. Felix doesn't have one on his, he just wears his head on his body.

And I can make my own pleather print on Contrado

So I waited for a sale. I bought this fabric in March 2020.

And I found a similar-ish pattern and hardware on Emmaline Bags

I had to scale the bag to the length of the frame. A longer frame would have been more appropriate to the original, but I could not conveniently source one.

Test fit the paper pattern and made a toile

And then cut my precious fabric

 

Sewed it

Tested glue to hold the seams flat

The tests both worked.

 

And this is where it goes awry

Clamping doesn't get the glue to spread evenly

So I wrap a brick for a weight

And the glue stops drying.

I was a studio art major in college, and we used to sing a little song about acrylic paint, ala Air Supply's "Love is Like Oxygen":

"Love is like Liquitex

Get too much and it won't dry 

Not enough and you want to cry."

I have too much.

This was June. 

It's September.

It's still not dry.

----

November.

By this point, I just move the box the project is in around. It's too tall to pile on top of

(photo of WIP stac)

I hand stitch down the seam allowances.

One does have to wipe down the needle and the thread with Goo Gone to get things to progress, but this project's progress has been so weird, nothing surprises me now. It's like sewing through rubber cement now. 

This should help figure out how to get the fabric into the frame

https://youtu.be/xEGKckk2WV0?t=1161

Well, in theory it would. If I used woven fabric...it would be very good.

(to be continued)

Raincoat Is Mostly Done (mug shot edition)

It's not going to rain for awhile.

I just look sooooo excited, don't I? Flattering angle, great lighting, happy face...

Which is good, because I need to put this aside for awhile. It needs more than I can give it right now. It's sucked the fun out of me.

I do think this raincoat has a lot of promise. 

It fits. It fits over my enormous sweatshirt and the big sleeved Miyake shirts. It covers my backside. The sleeves are long enough and I can raise my arm. I put in useful pockets at just the right points.

It will take a very rainy day. It has reflective bits and a visible print. The hood will stay up but the jacket isn't hanging from my head.

It just took so long to get here. Every step has taken a day of thinking and rethinking; I'm running out of time before I'm working full time and have 'pace around and change my mind' time.

And I need that 'pace around' time for the big projects.

I did not cut these pieces out. I redrafted them. Twice. But I did start with that McCall's jacket (ended up raising the sleeve angle so it was more straight across)

See, the shoulder seam has less of a slope to it now

When I got it on the table, it was offgrain, but what isn't these days?

Fabric Fusion won the seam sealing contest

The nylon can be ironed.  And if it had a weight on it overnight, it would stay pressed. Mostly.

Mostly.

I put a little horsehair braid in the seam at the front of the hood. That hood needs more overhang at the forehead.

Things did not line up perfectly, but I didn't expect them to. Four foot rule.

Numerous zippers: side hem seam. Put that curved line down at the bottom and the side rather than the top center of the coat. At least I don't have to look at it all the time.

Outside welt pocket. Got most of the puckers out.

Inside pockets with zippers pointing the right way for easy access. This is one point where I learned from the mistakes on other coats. Also learned from the black coat: I put mesh in the sleeves and shoulders; it's a nice slippery one that won't get hung up on shirts, and isn't sticky or clammy on bare shoulders and arms.

I wrote out directions, I made construction notes. I  worked stuff out ahead of time. There were a lot of layers to think about.

I even added a thin mesh layer in the body, to give it a little more substance. Which will make it more wearable in the long run.

I drafted a pattern from patterns, I made the pieces fit, I tested it numerous times, I'm pleased with the IDEA of the coat, and I will wear it. 

I wear that black raincoat, for example. It has its charms.

I do have to add the front zipper and the placket flap, and the hood is going to need a visor. I can pull it over to cover my forehead, but it won't stay.  So kids, that Oregon hood needs an extension on the front center.

But the seams are puckery. I undid a lot of them and redid them, but there's still a incompatible materials tension/stretch issue there. The Bernina badly needs a tune up, which does not help the matter.

The curved hem on the upper sleeve piece needs a facing for it. And I just got...tired and used bias tape. I can go back and redo that properly....but not today.

Once you see the rippled hem, you will never unsee the rippled hem

There are about eleventy billion things I can identify on this that don't work very well. The fabric is charming but it's not raincoat material; it would make a helluva set of tote bags. 

But it is one thing I like: it's not anything for a funeral.

Although the expression on my face implies that I am going somewhere unpleasant, I am not

I will finish it and wear it and refine the pattern further.

Because I did cut a winter lining for one. Because I am really tired of that damn purple coat. Wearing a school color in a university town is tiring. And I graduated from there. So did the spouse. And the boss. And all the friends. Because UW Daily RAWKS. 

But I live a mile from it.

When I am old, I won't wear purple.

I do not look upset with this

And I quilted it.

So this will continue. I just need a break for now.

I have novelty print pants to sew. 

Lucky for you, I can't find the photos right now.