Fluffy Bunny Basket

I think this may be the last of the polar bear fur, finally. I made Charlie an Easter basket that he will surely think is too cute in a couple of years. I mean, seriously, it has a tail.



Don't worry, we won't be giving Charlie any age inappropriate food (e.g., candy). We have a joke about giving Charlie candy; I eat candy, and claim that it's for him. Does this breast milk taste like Cadbury cream eggs Charlie??

This bag is inspired by this bag on Disdressed. She used a pattern from Zakka Sewing; that book had a long wait list at the library, so I just sewed together a few fabric squares and called it a day. I changed the ears a bit also.

LOLOLOL

Have you seen Teh Yarn Bukkit, by Craftster user angelbum? It's awesome!



Not only is it practical and cute, it's also flippin' hilarious If you still think LOLcats are funny (I do...). Plus, bonus, it's recycled. check out the needle storage:



I copied the basic shape to make a Christmas present for my knitting mother in law. It's a little more classic than hilarious, but I'm still going to share a tutorial with you as soon as I get one together.

Zzzzzzz.......

Here's the pillow I was working on just before I left (the one with Jigglypuff). It worked out great, as you can see. This fabric was much softer than most commercially available pillows, making it extra comfortable.

The special secret behind this pillow is that it isn't a pillow, it's an empty sack. When you want to sleep on it, you fill it with soft clothing that you are already taking, so you don't have to give up any precious carry-on space. Take that luggage fees!

If you think this is as cool as I do, I've got a few of these in my store here and here. The store versions are made of flannel and they are a little bit smaller -- I tweaked the design after flight testing it. While they are totally lacking in Jigglypuffs, they are still quite handy to have around.

LOLCross-Stitch Pouch

This was also for my Great Geek Swap partner.



I have been embroidering (or trying to) for a while now, but this is my first cross stitch. I learned the basics from this page. I thought it really had to be cross stitch for the subversive factor, and I had some evenweave fabric from the Black Mage project (his hat)(and is it possible to link to that project too many times?{answer: No!})



Initially, I wanted it to be a wall hanging, but I made a mistake in my measurements and it no longer fit into the frame I had in mind. So I made it into an impromptu bag, using the microsuede and cording from my chair recon and the fringe from my BSG (not nipple) pillows.

I wish I had seen this awesome zippered pouch tutorial before I started, because it explains how to do it all by machine. I hand sewed the lining in because I wasn't sure how to work it with the machine, and well... it would have been better this way. I'm not the prettiest hand sewer. So, next time! It's still cute on the outside, right?

Bag First

An awkward reality of conventions is that you need a bag, because unlike people on TV, you need to have a wallet and a phone and a camera and stuff on your person when walking around all day. Your costume may not provide one. Calliel on Craftster sums up the dilemma well here (and solves it pretty fantastically, too).

The character I'm doing this year* does at one point carry a briefcase, but never with this costume, so I decided to just go the matching bag route. Last year I did a matching bag (you can see it here) but I did it very last minute. This year I decided to do the bag first.



(Wow, this red is really hard to photograph!)

It's not perfect by any means. I was having much trouble with my bobbins-- turns out, do NOT use Class 66 bobbins with a Brother machine-- so there are tangled threads and bad tension problems all over the place, but I'm fairly happy with it. This is the first bag I've really tried to construct. It has a zipper and stabilizer and lining and all that good stuff - whereas last year I just made a fold-over tote with a cardboard magazine file in it for structure (I'm serious).



Check it out, shiny lining and all. No magazine file this year. Now I just need to get on with the dress and the jewelry and stuff. You know, the actual costume...

*No I haven't told you what character - you can guess if you want ;)