Costume & Crafting Help

[theCryptofishist]

Umm, as a moderator can't you just split this thread into utilty belts, bondage gear, tutus, etc... ? Seems like you are asking folks with little control over the boards to do that.

You forget that we express our power over the board by jumping on mods for doing things like splitting threads.

And Trilo, I'm sure that crafts will land somewhere. And they might go in more than one place, too. I mean Junglesmacks could put that trouser thread in "playaware" or "illumination".

Although, it might be nteresting to have a thread on crafting for gifting...

[Drawingablank]

Well, I have never jumped on a mod about anything and personally have thought most thread splits were for the better.

It just seems like one thread for costume and crafting is insufficient. This thread is extremely long, and if someone is looking for let's say help with electronics or attaching electronics to clothing, having to wade through 40 pages of posts about crocheting or sewing machine maintenance is a waste.

Having a sub section of the boards devoted specifically to crafting related posts seems like a natural to me, opening the way for multiple crafting related threads that folks with no interest could easily avoid.

[Sic Pup]

Well, I have never jumped on a mod about anything and personally have thought most thread splits were for the better.

It just seems like one thread for costume and crafting is insufficient. This thread is extremely long, and if someone is looking for let's say help with electronics or attaching electronics to clothing, having to wade through 40 pages of posts about crocheting or sewing machine maintenance is a waste.

Having a sub section of the boards devoted specifically to crafting related posts seems like a natural to me, opening the way for multiple crafting related threads that folks with no interest could easily avoid.

That's what search is for, now that it is working, technically, all the delineations aren't really needed.

But that depends on how you access the posts. I use "read all unread" and the forums are basically transparent (and pointless) to me.

In fact, the other day they actually hindered and ultimately curtailed my participation (hold the applause). I don't normally start threads but I attempted to last week, I don't remember what it was but it could've fit into several of the categories. I hemmed, then hawed, and ultimately said "fuck it" it wasn't worth the effort of trying to figure out where someone else arbritraily (to me) wants something pigeonholed.

Case in point, this discussion could probably go into 3 or 4 different forums and be equally "on topic" IMO.

Then again, I love thread drift, I like finding unexpected things in unexpected places, but that's just me.

AFAIC as long as "read all unread" exists I could give a flying fuck about forums.

[MyDearFriend]

The cheapest option I have found (if you have no likely materials already) is to go to an Army Surplus store and pick up a canvas (or other) belt with grommets, and some pouches from a nearby bin, assembling it fully and looking in the mirror before you go. You can often assemble a belt bag for $25-30.

If you must have leather (and have no skills yet, or materials) you can sometimes barter with a local in the goth/Renn Faire/fetish community, or check Etsy. But I would expect to pay $50 at a minimum. Probably more.

Aaaaack, TTG, the pouches alone will run you $50 each around here.

Yikes! The surplus belts here start at $7 (depending on material) and the pouches start at about the same (but can be pricier) . . . but it depends on how cool they are.

I made a utility belt from stuff I had lying around: an old belt, to start, and various pouches, including some old little purse things that I sewed scraps of ribbon on, for belt loops, and decorated with fabric paint etc. Cost me nothing. And it worked so well that I have been wearing it around town here.

That's really clever! If you're a trim hoarder (that sounds dirty) all the better in terms of variety and level of spiritedness.

This year I bartered with a local artist/leatherworker. Two hour-long 1-on-1 swim lessons for his 7-year-old daughter = new double camera belt made to spec. I am overly fond of it . . .

OOOPS! Savannah, I meant the LEATHER pouches run $50 each. I think the surplus stores have canvas ones for about $5 bucks. And those are easier to decorate.

Not to fault anybody who doesn't enjoy making things, or wants to support folks who do, but I think the stuff you make yourself is much more interesting and useful. Of course bartering/trading skills takes that to a whole new level. I don't have any really useful skills like you do, Savannah, hmmm maybe I need to work on that...

[deutlich]

Although, it might be nteresting to have a thread on crafting for gifting...

I quite like this idea! I plan to craft a few things for gifting next year but I'm not solidified in any one idea yet...

[trilobyte]

After sleeping on it, I'm not sure that adding the word 'crafting' to the description of this board is such a good idea. The word is used in pretty broad terms in regards to Burning Man, as is DIY. Half the threads in all of the Preparation boards could be considered either DIY or crafting. We defined the breakout sub-forums not by whether there was any skill used to make something, but by the kind of thing that was being discussed. If it has to do with clothing and playawear (whether you make it yourself or not), it goes here. Power and illumination is for anything from discussions about what generators are better or quieter than others to making a sound baffle or building a solar rig or how to wire LED's.

Gifting is something else that's fairly broad, and could apply to any category. Some people gift food or drink. You could gift people little LED lights to prevent them from being darkwads (power and illumination). Some camps gift clothing and playawear. Whether it's a gift or not doesn't determine where the thread should live, but what the thing is. Minor bit of trivia, as ePlaya was originally designed the 'share resources' board was supposed to be the board for gifting. FYI, the next section to get its own sub-forum will most likely be Transportation (bikes, mutant vehicles, etc).

I enjoy thread drift and the ebb and flow of conversation, too, but I think that it can reach a point of being counter-productive. Yeah, search is working better now (still far from ideal, but now it's less random), but that doesn't mean that all posts should just get put into one big pile for people to dig through, does it? When new people (either first-timers or long-time burners just connecting to the board) come in, they don't see talk about piratewear or pocket belts until they read through nearly 40 pages of a broadly titled help thread. And for most, that means that they just don't see it. They miss out on something that might have been of interest to them, and we miss out because they might have been cool people to connect with and share our love of <insert topic here> or they might have some skills or advice to offer.

If everyone's okay with it, I'd be willing to go through the last few pages of this megathread and break out the last couple project threads (splitting them from this and putting them into a new topic of its own), otherwise we can just leave things as is and start a fresh thread on those subjects as we move forward.

[deutlich]

Fresh thread moving forward sounds good to me. Why make you go through all that work?

I was gonna start one on gifting crafty things, per Fishy's suggestion, but didn't want to do so until I've got something tangible to post about.

[junglesmacks]

Hey I have a question:

How is it sewing long shag fur with a sewing machine? Does it mess up the fur and get it caught in the threads? No problems?






I'm brainstorming a ridiculous project: Taking the girls white fur jacket.. and embedding about 80 4"x"4 - 100 LED panels between the liner and fur all over the jacket.. and then tying them all into an LED chaser board with 10 channels.. and randomly sequencing them all so it's just a random firing off of the panels all over. Doing like pink and purple panels.

Sick.


Nothing like an 8000 LED jacket, right? Effing Burners. They can never leave well enough, small enough.

[Drawingablank]

Hey I have a question:

How is it sewing long shag fur with a sewing machine? Does it mess up the fur and get it caught in the threads? No problems?

I've had no problems sewing it. Try to cut with the scissors just above the fabric in small cuts (this minimizes damage to the fur). After cutting, pull any fuzz off the edge then take a comb and brush the fur towards the center (this makes it look better at the seams).

I also find that pinning with large quilters pins makes life easier with fur - I use 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 inch pins with big plastic heads. I pin straight in from the edge and sew across the pins - it is so much easier than pinning parallel to the edge.

[goner19]

me and my gurl do crafting parties every so often...with leather working and sewing...hit us up1

[deutlich]

me and my gurl do crafting parties every so often...with leather working and sewing...hit us up1

where y'all at? it's a big planet!

[trilobyte]

@junglesmacks - use a sewing machine with a 'walking foot.'

[Drawingablank]

I just remembered I learned how to sew fur from this video - which illustrates it better than I can describe with words.

[youtube][/youtube]

[Elliot]

I wish all ladies had such a sense of humor!

[Drawingablank]

Yes, it is quite entertaining. Yet also very informative.

[Elderberry]

Ya, I remember that video; fun to be reminded of it again.

[jella]

she's my hero

[Drawingablank]

Does anyone have any tips for sewing gusseted pouches / bags? Or know of a decent tutorial for one?

I've made the patterns and I'm starting to make the pouches for my utility belt. Pinning / sewing the gussets on those small pouches is driving me crazy (well actually just making me crazier).

The pouches are rather square with slightly rounded bottom corners. I'm wondering if rounding the corners more would help.

Also is there some kind of formula to use for notching the gusset hem allowance to go around the corners?

What is messing me up seems to be pinning the parts together with a hem allowance. I've made similar pouches with heavy leather but since those don't require a hem, it is just a matter of butting the parts together and sewing or lacing across the seam.

[C.f.M.]

This thread is a general discussion, like the bar thread, the fuck thread, etc. It's built a small little group who follow each other's progress, share ideas and tips, etc.

If someone has a specific question, they can start a thread. Leave this one alone.

[Drawingablank]

Oops, yeah force of habit since this was the only crafting thread until recently.

If a mod could move this to a more suitable thread or its own thread that would be great.

[C.f.M.]

Oops, yeah force of habit since this was the only crafting thread until recently.

If a mod could move this to a more suitable thread or its own thread that would be great.

Oh no, ask questions here.

I was replying to some previous comment about getting rid of this thread and breaking it down into a bunch of more specific ones.

This one has some nice pics and detailed instructions:

http://u-handbag.typepad.com/uhandblog/ ... _medi.html

[Drawingablank]

Oops, yeah force of habit since this was the only crafting thread until recently.

If a mod could move this to a more suitable thread or its own thread that would be great.

Oh no, ask questions here.

I was replying to some previous comment about getting rid of this thread and breaking it down into a bunch of more specific ones.

This one has some nice pics and detailed instructions:

http://u-handbag.typepad.com/uhandblog/ ... _medi.html

Thanks, I'll see if I can adapt that technique to the stiffer fabric I'm using.

[tattoogoddess]

i would imagine insted of making a 90 degree angle in the corners to have them not meet then make a few stitches to connect them? does that make sense?

I
\_

like that. i mean that top line would be connecting to the dash. so you are not doing this stitch L

[Drawingablank]

i would imagine insted of making a 90 degree angle in the corners to have them not meet then make a few stitches to connect them? does that make sense?

I
\_

like that. i mean that top line would be connecting to the dash. so you are not doing this stitch L

The difficulty I'm having is in the actual pinning together of one flat piece of very stuff fabric and one that has to be bent in directions it doesn't want to go. Picture folding a paper into an L shape then try to bend it around a corner. To do so it has to be notched or it buckles and won't lay flat. If I was working with cotton or something soft it would be much less of an issue, but I want the pouches to have some body and opted for a backed drapery / upholstery fabric.

Stitching an L or a tight corner really presents no difficulty once it's pinned.

So far I have made 2 test pouches without flaps (bottom half only). One is 3 pieces, front, back and gusset. The other is 5 pieces, front, back, 2 sides, and a bottom.

The 3 piece is quicker to cut out and sew, but a pita to pin together. The 5 piece takes a bit longer to cut and sew, but the pinning takes seconds.

I was just hoping there was some sort of secret to this I might have been overlooking.

[Savannah]

My leather utility belt has rivets, every few centimeters, instead of stitches. This might work well with heavy canvas or other stiff fabric.

[Drawingablank]

It will be a long cold winter so I'll likely knock one together in leather as well, just want them to have different looks.

[kitkatseattle]

Our Seattle decomp (SeaCompression) will be at an outside venue this year. I'm going to make some fur chaps for the first time in an attempt to keep warm, any helpful advice before I start?

[Drawingablank]

I believe this was discussed earler in this thread so just thought I'd post a note about it.

I don't know if they run the same sales nation wide, but this weekend (Oct. 7-10) Joanns is running simplicty patterns for .99 each. and next weekend is mccalls patterns.

I haven't really looked at mccalls patterns yet, but simplicity has a fairly nice selection of adult costume patterns that are adaptable to playa wear.

[lazerfox]

I believe this was discussed earler in this thread so just thought I'd post a note about it.

I don't know if they run the same sales nation wide, but this weekend (Oct. 7-10) Joanns is running simplicty patterns for .99 each. and next weekend is mccalls patterns.

I haven't really looked at mccalls patterns yet, but simplicity has a fairly nice selection of adult costume patterns that are adaptable to playa wear.

Thanks DAB!! I swear I NEVER know when they have those sales...although maybe they don't do them in FL. I'll have to check it out

[MOOP_Nazi]

I am going to be working EL onto this coat. Due to it being completely black - how much EL should I use? I was originally thinking of just following the edge of the coat, but the more I look at it, I am thinking there should be more EL on it... Sleaves maybe? I dont want to go overboard, but a darktard MOOP Nazi I do not wish to be...