Costume & Crafting Help

[MyDearFriend]

Oh he looks awesome, Tamara!!!

Dimensional fabric paint will hold plastic jewels on really well, if you want to sparkle up that thong.

I would not be too sure about gluing el-wire to fabric. Having attached several strands myself to various garments and objects, I think you will have trouble getting it to hold still while your adhesive sets. The el-wire wants to go where it wants to go and needs a firm hand to make it lay down flat in the desired shape. By the time you got done clamping & fussing with it you could have sewn it three times, I am sure. Throw a slip stitch around it, wide spacing, easy to do... and then you are done. It will not pull loose on you or make a mess, either...

[Elorrum]

oooh Monday? Tamarakay? is he going to get a base tan down first? Just flashed on beach vacations spent in misery after the first day's nap on the sand. eeep. or... Monday night, that's a horse of a different color.

[tamarakay]

mydearfriend, thank you. He is pretty awesome inside and out.

ellorium - He's actually darker than the picture looks. It was actually dusk outside and the flash lit him up and made him appear white, or whiter than he is anyway. However we are both very caucasian. But I think he is all big talk. Probably on Monday he'll still be in his levi's and cowboy boots. Might take him a little while to get warmed up once we get out there amongst people. Right now we are out here on the farm and there isn't anyone who can see him take his naked walks.

[Elorrum]

well then, carry on. carry on. Living in an apartment complex doesn't afford the same, er, tanning opportunities.

[lazerfox]

Cutting up a duvet cover to make into a robe cover may not be worth the cost savings on fabric

I am making lots of progress though so that makes it worth it this time around...looking forward to when the lights arrive and we start velcro-ing them on. And I believe I figured out how to light up the disk on my back with minimal fuss (yay for metal and magnets!)

[tahiti_treat]

Question about no-sew tutus... I tried to make one yesterday and when I attached the tulle strips (doubled over and pulled through themselves) they kind of stretched out the elastic so it wasn't... elastic-y any more. I ended up sewing that one onto a band, but I'd like to make another. Am I pulling the strips too tight? Or is there another trick that I'm not getting?

[swampdog]

re: el wire on fabric. I've done a fair bit of it. I (non-sewing person) tacked it to the fabric using an "as seen on tv" 'Buttoneer' - it shoots little plastic hoops into the fabric. http://www.coolight.com/product-p/buttoneer.htm . Then I used Goop (tm) to solidify it and make it go exactly where I wanted it. It makes the fabric a little stiff, but I'm a slave to fashion. You (possible sewing person) might just prefer to use a few stitches instead of the buttoneer.

[tamarakay]

Question about no-sew tutus... I tried to make one yesterday and when I attached the tulle strips (doubled over and pulled through themselves) they kind of stretched out the elastic so it wasn't... elastic-y any more. I ended up sewing that one onto a d, but I'd like to make another. Am I pulling the strips too tight? Or is there another trick that I'm not getting?

I just used a pretty ribbon and then double tie the bow. I had the same problem with the elastic one, it worked better if I didn't pull the tulle very tight, but i didn't like how it looked loose. The ribbon worked out much better and the bow looks pretty nestled in the tulle.

[Drawingablank]

Although this is only my second sewing project, I am starting to really enjoy it except for one thing - at 6'2" cutting out patterns on my dining room table is crippling my back. My wife is not fond of the idea of putting cinder blocks under the dining table to raise the height either.

Does anyone know of an affordable folding table with an adjustable height? I need something about 4' high, and all the folding pattern layout tables I have seen are 34". If I had the room I would just knock one together with a sheet of plywood and 2 bys, but I need something that will fold up easily for storage.

[jella]

Although this is only my second sewing project, I am starting to really enjoy it except for one thing - at 6'2" cutting out patterns on my dining room table is crippling my back. My wife is not fond of the idea of putting cinder blocks under the dining table to raise the height either.

Does anyone know of an affordable folding table with an adjustable height? I need something about 4' high, and all the folding pattern layout tables I have seen are 34". If I had the room I would just knock one together with a sheet of plywood and 2 bys, but I need something that will fold up easily for storage.

Well I found mine on craigslist and it's a life saver but plywood and saw horses would certainly do in a pinch. I cut my first couple of coats out on the floor using a fold up cardboard cutting board...good luck
http://www.amazon.com/Cardboard-Pattern ... B000G6DY2Y
found ya one
http://newjersey.craigslist.org/hsh/2534962253.html

[tamarakay]

Although this is only my second sewing project, I am starting to really enjoy it except for one thing - at 6'2" cutting out patterns on my dining room table is crippling my back. My wife is not fond of the idea of putting cinder blocks under the dining table to raise the height either.

Does anyone know of an affordable folding table with an adjustable height? I need something about 4' high, and all the folding pattern layout tables I have seen are 34". If I had the room I would just knock one together with a sheet of plywood and 2 bys, but I need something that will fold up easily for storage.

First let me say You are awesome. And second, I bought one of those cutter wheels that quilters use instead of scissors. Cuts things out much faster so less time hunched over whatever I have the material out on today. Hubby made me a big cutting pad to put on whatever is free so I just roll away. Great invention.

http://www.amazon.com/Fiskars-95217097- ... 535&sr=8-1

[Drawingablank]

Although this is only my second sewing project, I am starting to really enjoy it except for one thing - at 6'2" cutting out patterns on my dining room table is crippling my back. My wife is not fond of the idea of putting cinder blocks under the dining table to raise the height either.

Does anyone know of an affordable folding table with an adjustable height? I need something about 4' high, and all the folding pattern layout tables I have seen are 34". If I had the room I would just knock one together with a sheet of plywood and 2 bys, but I need something that will fold up easily for storage.

First let me say You are awesome. And second, I bought one of those cutter wheels that quilters use instead of scissors. Cuts things out much faster so less time hunched over whatever I have the material out on today. Hubby made me a big cutting pad to put on whatever is free so I just roll away. Great invention.

http://www.amazon.com/Fiskars-95217097- ... 535&sr=8-1

I have one of those but I use it mainly for leather since a cutting board big enough for my coat patterns would have to be huge
(some of these parts are about 40" long and 34" wide). I will have to look into a larger cutting board as mine are only 18 x 24".

To date I have been pinning straight to the pattern board and then cutting out with an electric scissors. Cutting goes pretty fast, but the cumulative time of smoothing the fabric, laying out the patterns, pinning, and cutting adds up to an Advil day every time.

[FIGJAM]

I bought those cheap brackets used to make your own saw horses and just used longer 2x4s for the legs.

[Drawingablank]

I bought those cheap brackets used to make your own saw horses and just used longer 2x4s for the legs.

Nice idea. Sometimes the answer is right in front of your face - I have a set of those already and they are 50" tall. Combined with a sheet of plywood it is not exactly easily portable, but next time I need to do a lot of cutting it would be worth dragging into the house and setting up.

Other than possibly building a table, somehow it never occurred to me to use my work shop stuff for it.

[theCryptofishist]

Do people still use those cardboard grids? I know those are bigger than 18 x 24".

[waxpraxis]

Made some great progress on my wife's butterfly wings this weekend. I was originally going to sew them, but superglue ended up working even better. The red lines are purple el wire - so now I have a bunch of trimming, stripping and soldering to do - weee!

[jella]

Made some great progress on my wife's butterfly wings this weekend. I was originally going to sew them, but superglue ended up working even better. The red lines are purple el wire - so now I have a bunch of trimming, stripping and soldering to do - weee!

♥ it

[lazerfox]

Made some great progress on my wife's butterfly wings this weekend. I was originally going to sew them, but superglue ended up working even better. The red lines are purple el wire - so now I have a bunch of trimming, stripping and soldering to do - weee!

♥ it x 2

[tahiti_treat]

I just used a pretty ribbon and then double tie the bow. I had the same problem with the elastic one, it worked better if I didn't pull the tulle very tight, but i didn't like how it looked loose. The ribbon worked out much better and the bow looks pretty nestled in the tulle.

Thanks, tamarakay! I'll try ribbon for the next one.

[Drawingablank]

Do people still use those cardboard grids? I know those are bigger than 18 x 24".

Yes, I actually use one that is about 45" x 80" but a rotary cutter would shred it. Those work best on a self healing cutting mat.

But then mine is over 40 years old so maybe I need to see if the new ones are more technologically advanced.

[lazerfox]

I just used a pretty ribbon and then double tie the bow. I had the same problem with the elastic one, it worked better if I didn't pull the tulle very tight, but i didn't like how it looked loose. The ribbon worked out much better and the bow looks pretty nestled in the tulle.

Thanks, tamarakay! I'll try ribbon for the next one.

Hi tahiti...I also did both of ours with ribbon so cannot be of any assistance with the elastic. But one thing I did with the ribbon is I sewed some side-release buckles (one with a reflector) so we wouldn't have to worry about the bows coming undone

[Drawingablank]

Made some great progress on my wife's butterfly wings this weekend. I was originally going to sew them, but superglue ended up working even better. The red lines are purple el wire - so now I have a bunch of trimming, stripping and soldering to do - weee!

Very nice. What kind of wire did you use for the frames?

[waxpraxis]

It's stiff el wire and craft foam only. The "high bright" el wire holds it's shape quite well and with the alternating directions it all holds its shape really well without needing any additional support structure.

[junglesmacks]

It's stiff el wire and craft foam only. The "high bright" el wire holds it's shape quite well and with the alternating directions it all holds its shape really well without needing any additional support structure.

Wow.. that is some beautiful work. What is that opaque material?

[waxpraxis]

Thanks! It's the craft foam sheets you can get at just about any craft supply store. They're around $1 a sheet and it took 4 sheets total (2 black, 2 light purple and 2 dark purple).

I'm probably going to use some of the leftovers to make the "backpack" part of it that will hold the battery pack and driver (I got a sound-reactive driver for it!)

[junglesmacks]

Very interesting. So you made the frame with the EL wire and then superglued the material to it..? What mm wire did you use?

[waxpraxis]

Actually, how I did it was first design the wings on graph paper, then enlarge it (by hand) by doing the old copy-graph-squares trick. Then I cut out each of the segments (I made the lines about as thick as the el wire and cut on the inside of those lines).

To piece it together I first did the inner ribs one by one, first gluing the el wire to a piece of the wing, then glue the el wire to the next piece of wing until I had the whole wing minus the black outer edge. Then I ran el wire around the bottom to the top of the wing, glued it on and then glued the black piece to it. Finally I glued the outer el wire all the way around the wing.

I used cool neon's high bright long life 2.6mm wire.

[Comrade Bunny]

I am a virgin burner, but I won't be going until, hopefully, next year. However, I am starting to work on my own costumes as well as those for my relatives. I sew and craft. I was very happy to see this thread. I just wanted to post this to say hello.

[trilobyte]

Hello and welcome, Comrade Bunny! This place is a great resource not only for planning for Burning Man, but all manner of craftiness and DIY fun. Hope to see you around, and then next year out in the desert In the meantime, you can check out stuff that might be happening in your region, I believe there are a few gatherings a year closer to home, too.

[C.f.M.]

This is my table, I freaking LOVE IT.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20104718

I also have the fold out cardboard thing, but don't really use it. Usually I'm on the floor (rug) or at that table.