Nutcracker costume - Fritz

So, all day Saturday, I worked on the Fritz costume. Sadly, I didn't finish it. What was stopping me? Buttons! Nope, not my button hole function on my sewing machine, but actual buttons. I couldn't decide what buttons I wanted to use on the vest. and well, no buttons means no way to make the correct size button hole. So, I dumped my entire box of buttons onto my table, and went through each and every one. I picked out the ones I like the most, and took pictures of them against the gold fabric of the vest.

All of this work, and I still wasn't happy. I really wanted to like the pearl shank buttons, but they were too white, and just slightly bigger than I'd prefer for this size of a vest.
So, last night the boys and I (hubby had to work) had dinner with my parents at their house. After dessert Mom and I went up to her craft space to look through her stash of buttons to see if I could find 2-3 matching buttons. Well, we didn't find any, but Mom reminded me that I could change the color of buttons using embossing powder that we usually use for scrapbooking. Yes, my mother is a crafty woman. And yes, it does run in the family.
So, we did a test run on some buttons, I liked what I saw, so she sent me home with a new embossing pad to keep and some gold embossing powder to borrow. And here's how I made my own gold buttons.

Left to right: Heat Gun, Embossing ink, test buttons from yesterday, and embossing powder.

"ink" the button with embossing ink.

Dip into embossing powder. (make sure tweezers don't go all the way through the button holes or else you'll emboss those too)

Heat it up with heat gun until all embossing powder is melted.

Allow to dry.

New button next to original.

Now to do the back of the button.

Oops, my tweezers damaged the front. Note to self, start with back first.

Better way to dry to avoid smudges.

Perfect match! I'm in love!

Yeah, I was feeling pretty awesome this morning. And here is how the whole outfit turned out.

Kit as Fritz:

With jabot tucked in to show off pretty "new" buttons

With the lace trimmed jabot out.

There will be no sewing today since someone is buying my dining room table (AKA my cutting table) tonight, so I had to clear it off. I'll be picking up my smaller dining room table and chairs tomorrow while the kids are at school. I'm sew excited!!!

Until next time...

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Nutcracker Ballet - Outfit #1 - Godfather

As promised, here are the pictures of the first outfit in my series of costumes from The Nutcracker Ballet.
This is my Our Generation Jack dressed as Marie/Clara's Godfather.

Blouse with jabot (neck tie, ascot, scarf, etc.) and fully functional buttons. Lined vest with fully functional buttons. Lined jacket with lapels and coat tails. Lined cape with tie. Eye patch with tie.
Bigger pictures on my Picasa Albums. Don't forget to check out my Facebook Fan Page.

Next on the cutting table is either Fritz's vest and breeches (I made that shirt when I made Godfather's shirt) or Marie/Clara's dress (I've already made her petticoat and pantalettes).

Yep, I've been a busy little sewing bee this month. I sure hope this sewing motivation keeps up.
Until next time...
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Holy cow, it's been forever!

Happy new year! I can't believe I haven't posted since November 22nd. Good grief!
Well, let's see, the holidays were hectic, as usual, and I didn't get any sewing done. :( On the upside, I made three new year's resolutions, one of which is to sew every other day. I've done pretty well with it this month. I've given myself a sewing goal of doing a Nutcracker Ballet outfit a month. Well, I finished one tonight, and have pieces of two more done. Yeah, I'm feeling pretty awesome. I'll post pictures tomorrow when I can use some natural sunlight.
Speaking of completed outfits, I finally got a chance to work on the outfits from the September Giveaway. One shipped out earlier this week, and the other one shipped out today. Oh, I guess I should show some pictures: Check out my Facebook Fan Page.
I promise to update this more often.

Until next time...
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