A Week in Progress 4/1/2024- 4/14/2024

Let's try something fun with this blog.

Because most of my projects are large projects that take many weeks to complete, I thought it might be fun to take you all with me as I craft. This won't include much in the way of how to break down the project, mostly it will be a peek behind the curtain of my crafting chaos. This will be two weeks' worth of crafting because I did not get my poop on a group to post this on week one... It's here now at least!

What did I work on these past two weeks?

Imogen

Tifa

Pusheen sweater

Garden crop-top

Reading too many books

Imogen:

Imogen Temult from Critical Role Campaign 3. Played by Laura Bailey | Art by Hannah Friederichs (@agarthanguide)

I completed the tunic dress a few weeks ago, but it took me a while to start on any other part of the cosplay. I finally started working on the vest last week using a pattern I purchased… months ago. I'm mostly using the pattern pieces and forgoing most of the directions because I could not be bothered to make the entire vest double layered.

Check out the pretty design I added to the back of the vest. It matches the pretty design I used on the tunic dress!

I mostly hand sewed the lining layer of the front of the vest the first week. It's tedious, so I brought it upstairs with me to work on when I didn't feel like being in the basement. (It gets quite cold in my basement office!)

I remember hearing from a couture designer (can't remember who unfortunately T_T) that it can be a good idea to make the lining ever so slightly smaller than the outside. So I tried to kinda do that with this. We'll see how it fits when I finally try to put it on. I've decided this won't be a competition piece, so I won't be bothering to re-do any of it.

 The second week I added borders to the bottom of the vest and the arm holes to enclose those edges. The bottom looks excellent. Exactly what I wanted. The arm holes look a little wonky... Hopefully it won't be noticeable when I actually wear it. We'll see!  Only thing left to do is add the button holes and buttons and it's done!

I also ordered my wig for Imogen. I was going to use my Polteageist wig for this, but I fell in love with that cosplay again... So I needed another lavender wig to use for this cosplay. I purchased the wig off Amazon. This is my first time going with an amazon wig, so I hope it works out well!

Tifa:

Tifa designs by Hannah Alexander Artwork @hannah_alexander_artwork

Well I bought the Air Jordan shoes… So I guess I need to actually start on this. I'm starting with the shorts because they are the most daunting with all the beading. The first week was dedicated to just making mock-ups, but I can't just make a mock-up. I like to find a way to use mock-ups if I can, so these will likely be neon green sleep shorts. At least I got a good fit patterned out, and determined that these NEED to be double layered.

I have been hemming and hawing about using the pleather I have. I should really just use it… It's there. It looks good. But I hate using pleather. We'll see where next week takes us.

Next week took us to making the skirt mock-up with the duct tape and cling wrap method and giving in to using the pleather 🙃 I'm very happy with the pattern I made so far, it fits well.

I made a mock-up for the crop top as well. I used the same pattern for this as the vest for Imogen, but with a LOT of alterations. It also needs to be double layered because I will not be bothering with rolled or folded hems again while using this fray-tastic fabric.

Pusheen Sweater:

I finished filling in the doughnut after letting it sit for almost a week. I need to bring myself to stick my hands in water with pliers for a couple of hours to get the waste canvas out. I'm not looking forward to this.

Second week ... Still avoiding this. It's now 80°F here. Maybe this will get put on the back burner until next year, maybe I'll get a wild hair up my ass and still finish it. We'll seeee

Garden Crop Top:

After two years of letting it sit in my pile of projects it's done! I'm very happy with this, and I would try it on but it's too cold. I'll finish writing up the blog post for this soon and post about how I made it. Hopefully I can find the twitch footage from when I started it to get screenshots of the patterning phase.

 Reading too many books:

I have fallen into a very sticky reading hyper focus. I've read over 40 books in 3 months… It's a problem. Anyway the first week I read the Bargainer series by Laura Thalassa and it was kinda meh. The plot was such an afterthought, and the end of the entire series was so meh I just couldn't really get into it. Also *CW a certain TERF author* there were HP references throughout the books which continually made me uncomfortable. I spent about an hour looking into the author and there's Zero mention of denouncing the TERF. So I really don't recommend this series.

 Week 2: I started reading a Ruin of Roses (which is the first in another 4 book series) and while the first book didn't grip me much, the second book has a lot more on the way of plot. It's... Very spicy... I'm not one for clutching pearls but I'm having to stop myself from reaching for them 😂 it's a Beauty at the Beast retelling. And the first book basically took the Disney movie plot points and did them pretty much exactly. The plot/story is mostly different (and did I say spicy?), but beautiful MC, Gaston character, angry beast with heart of gold, quirky house staff, thing for books and libraries, attacked by wolves and nursing beast back to health. Yup all those are there. But there are a lot of other parts of the plot that are different and keep it interesting. The second book veers away from the Disney movie, and is becoming more interesting than the first book.

I also read some short stories from the "Amid The Winter Snow" anthology with stories from Grace Draven, Thea Harrison, Elizabeth Hunter, and Jeffe Kennedy. I loved the Grace Draven short story. I think she is quickly becoming a favorite author of mine. Her books and short stories leave me thinking about those characters for at least a day or more after reading them. My favorite book from her is Entreat me, another Beauty and the Beast retelling, but done in such a beautiful and unique way.

Before the Bargainer series I had read Uprooted by Naomi Novik, which is definitely in my top 3 books of the year, and might just be my favorite so far! Entreat me being a close 2nd or 3rd.

Next week will likely be some serious con-crunching for C2E2, as well as a lot of practice for a dance performance I have coming up. Stay tuned and subscribe to my newsletter if you don't want to miss the next Week in Progress!