black friday shopping promo

in the spirit of giving thanks, i'm offering a promotional coupon to all my readers, which is good now through cyber monday (11/29) for 20% off any item in my shop.
just use the coupon code THANKYOU at check out.
thanks for supporting WAHMs and handmade clothing

Custom dino hoody for my boy

I was cutting out a pile of raglan sweatshirts for all the various holiday bazaars i'm vending at, when my son declared he wanted one too, but he wanted it hooded & zippered
So here it is:

can't sew. must crochet.

with both sewing machines in the shop this week, a craft fair on sunday, and a trunk show the following sunday, i needed to be working on something.

so we have some crocheted coziness.

i just brought home a loaner machine from a friend, it worked when i tried it at her place (where it's been living outside) but now it doesn't want to work for me...

i'm gonna go have a talk with it.

if it won't see reason, i'll get to work crocheting more ear warmers and cowls...

Status update

Front view of steampunk pirate jacket/bodice.
Right back to work: sleeves & lining

Status update

Here is the back view of the steampunk pirate jacket/bodice I am hurrying to finish for halloween

oct. birthday

in the midst of all my halloween costume making, i had a birthday present to make, so how i could i resist making something both cozy & costumey?

i plan to sew up some more soon for the ol' etsy shop

let me know if you want one!

Mermaid off the starboard bow!

my, things have been piratey around here lately.

but this weeks it's been nothing but mermaids...

 (and a pirate)

 it began with a request from one of kiddo's chums,

 and quickly became my favorite idea ever

so, of course i had to make more,

and try out some other styles

you can catch these mermaids and more

at The Real Mercantile 

Sunday Oct 17, 1-7pm

Chez Poulet 3359 Cesar Chavez, SF

i love it when a plan comes together

mission "put together kiddo's costume early" is nearly complete!
i put the finishing touches on the knit/felted hat by sewing on the treasure buttons, and feathers he chose.

the vest i made a few weeks ago still needs buttons, buttonholes, and fake pocket flaps.


there's the utility belt i made him for his last birthday.


the pants i made the other day.




the eye patch




the sword is on it's way










so all we really need is a billowy shirt, which i suppose i'll make. and some tall buckle-y boots, which i've been trying to find 2nd hand & for cheap






P.S. expect some pirate pants & vests to show up on my etsy shop soon

Today's accomplishment: Pirate pants

Pirate hat

Kiddo is crazy about pirates. So it's no surprise what he wants to be
for Halloween. I've decided to take care of his costume early so I can
then get to work on some costumes to sell.
I found a great pattern on ravelry for a knitted & fulled hat.
After the laundromat fiasco fulling my slippers, I opted to bring it
on a trip to my mom's & use her machine. Even tho that means mailing
it back so as not to squish it in the luggage.
Here it is all blocked. We still need to decorate it with some
feathers & buttons later.

Finally.... After

Wow, what a work out hand felting, or rather hand fulling is! (it's
called fulling when you make a knit thing felt instead of taking raw
wool fibers & felting them)
I will not be anxious to do it that way again. But I learned a lot.
And as the slippers are currently blocking on my feet (yes that means
I'm walking around in wet slippers until they dry), they will have a
perfect custom fit.

During

Well, the first attempt didn't go so well.
My partner insisted I should wash all the dirty towels we had rather
than the 3 I had been planning.
This resulted in one slipper not getting immersed enough in the hot
water.
Secondly; the wash cycle at the laundromat was just too short for even
the well immersed one to felt enough.
I tossed them in the dryer, but it didn't seem to have any effect.
So I put them in the washer again for a second attempt.
Gonna check them now

later: sigh, ok a 2nd cycle thru the washer barely helped. Rather than spend all my money on this I've decided to switch to the "hard boiled" method as outlined on the knit like a pirate site
it's all good practice for when i felt the pirate hat i'm knitting for kiddo (also from the knitlikeapirate folks)

Before

Just put my hand knit slippers in the wash to felt
Wish me luck

release your inner Pan

Made a pile of fimo horns last week. What a fun & satisfying break
from sewing for sunday's craft fair.
If you missed it, The Real Mercantile will be back at Chez Poulet
again in Oct. More details to come.
The horns are available in my etsy shop

Craft fair sign

I finally made myself an elzzadoll sign to hang at my booth for craft
fairs

netbook cozies

i whipped up one of these little protective laptop sweaters for father's day, and will now be debuting them this Sunday at the Real Mercantile craft show in the Mission district of SF
  they are made from upcycled sweaters with a fleece lining and three industrial snaps each, to fit a 7" x 10.5" netbook

next up i'll be making some for full sized lap tops

and as always, i take custom orders

Latest crochet project

Was feelin super inspired by these crocheted dread tube things I've
seen on etsy http://www.etsy.com/listing/47580856/open-weave-handspun-wool-and-silk
by chopstixwaits
So I decided to have a go, & make myself something cotton & airy for
summer

So then...

after I finished the dragonfly I decided to try a unicorn!

New hobby!

Thanks Woolpets & Maker Faire!
For teaching me to needle felt today.
I started this dragon fly at the faire, & finished it when I got home

Belly dance pants!

custom sharks

Sometimes i really love custom work. 

It often brings me an opportunity to make something i never would have thought of myself. A few weeks ago i was contacted by a friend of a friend looking for someone to turn gray hoodies into great white shark costumes for a school play.

Awesome, i said. Sounds fun.

So i googled images of sharks, & drew a bunch, we had all agreed that the face hole in the hood should be the toothy grin. So i focused on photos of the sharks poking their heads out of the water, mouths wide open. The 2 boys emphasized the importance of the big sharp teeth, & one of them even suggested gluing fabric onto cardboard to solve the sturdiness problem. Which is just what i did, white felt wrapped around triangular cereal box pieces.

i sewed a circle of fabric into the top of the hood, & stuffed it to make the pointy nose. And fabricated a fin and tail from other gray sweatshirt fabric.

In the process i may have stumbled on a whole new line of hoodie costumes for elzzadoll clothes. Because of course now i have to make one for my own son, and so i may as well make a few more on top of that.

B-day party flag banner

I have long admired some of the fabric flag banners I've seen on
blogs, and adorning craft booths. With kiddo's birthday party coming
this weekend, I decided to let him pick some fabric from my bag of
scraps, & whipped up this party decoration last night. I serged the
edges of the flags, & used bias tape to hold it all together.
Can't wait to hang this at the park on Saturday!

Knight's tunic

Kiddo's 4th b-day is fast approaching, so I've been working on
presents while he's at preschool.
He's really into his papo knights, so this morning I took a failed
dress-up dress I made last year & turned it into a knights tunic w/
belt.

Recycled sweater super hero fingerless mitts

I have a custom order for kids armwarmers, so as usual I've made the
prototype for my son
When I asked if he wanted me to appliqué something on them (I put a
lot of stars on things), he said yes but he wanted to make the
patterns for me
So he drew & cut out a triangle & a "circle w/ a flat side"
We decided they looked like superhero gauntlets.

Spring Cleaning Sale on Etsy!

it is time to empty out my closet to make room for all the new stuff i'm making
so this week i've marked down most of my inventory, and i'm offering free shipping

check it out!

modified sweaters

with all the fun i've had chopping up sweaters to make other things (mittens, armwarmers, wool soakers, softie toys, felted bag) it took me a while to get around to making the obvious, modified sweaters.
For months and months i've been oogling the creations of my friend Puella, who makes fantastic sweater dresses & jackets
So i finally made my 1st one in Dec. based on a sweater i saw at a fancy boutique that had a pinwheel thing going on.

for this one i just cut out pieces from the base sweater, and replaced them
in the process turning a pullover into a cardigan

i used a zig zag stitch, doing all the seams on the outside
i got my x-mas serger just in time for the finishing touches, and have used the serger for all sweater projects since
(somehow, i still don't have a picture of the finished sweater, but i'll make sure to remedy that soon)

here is the fleece lined sweater vest i made my man

this sweater was semi felted from the time i used the sleeves to make wool soaker longies when kiddo was still in diapers

i used what was left at the top of the sleeves for pockets

this one i just finished last week

it's obviously very heavily influenced by the long cardigan/jackets Puella makes

before & after buttons

when i made my 1st sweater, kiddo liked it so much he asked for his own, in the same colors. so i pieced this one together from the scraps. and added sleeves from a different sweater

he thinks my industrial snap press is the coolest thing ever (so do i), so he specifically asked me to put snaps on his sweater