Sheepcap DONE!!!

And here it is ladies and gentlemen the finished product.

Stuntbear Modeling Final Sheepcap

OK, I know you're all wondering how is THIS Sheepcap any different from the other two that I made. But if you held the real thing in your hands, you would be able to tell the difference in the wooliness. Fork and I are very happy with the results. Hopefully Bear will love the Sheepcap. I told Fork I want pictures of Bear in Sheepcap!!!

And just for fun . . . we put Stuntbear in all the Sheepcaps. It looks like he has a sheepcoat on.

House of Chanel

Sew Shy sent me a link to Signe Chanel. It's a glimpse at how a collection is created; from initial design to the runway show. I ended up watching all five episodes at once. I definitely bow down to all the seamstresses that work in this industry. They are so amazing. I still have a long way to go before my skills are even close, but it's awesome to watch them at work. Even if Haute Couture isn't your thing, it's still worth the watch.

Signe Chanel

Everything is in French with English Subtitles

Episode 1 Part 1. Watch all 5 of them.

Gypsy Pants

In Morocco, I saw a pair of pants that were fun and comfortable. They were worn by European vagabonds, their style of dress was reminiscent of gypsies, hence the name gypsy pants (picture Aladdin's pants from Disney). I was too lazy to haggle with the Moroccan merchants and decided that I would just sew the pants when I got home. . . . .. how hard can they be . . . . . .?

I decided that I would sew these pants for L****** C***'s (aka Cheeky Monkey, Sailor Venus, Moco) Birthday, since she also fell in love with these pants in Morocco.

I bought a nice stretchy red knit fabric with a hint of glitter for $1/yard. I wasn't sure if the glitter would make the pants a bit tacky. But then I realized monkeys LOVE red and shinny things, or at least Cheeky Monkey does.

I wasn't sure where to start and ended up making a pattern out of cotton pajamas. I altered the pattern, thinking I needed them smaller. I went to sew the inseam and side seams, but somehow the pants turned out all wrong.


As you can see, it's not baggy and somehow the crotch area is EXTRA wide. I was disappointed and frustrated. Thankfully, I bought 2 yards of fabric. I went to redraw the pattern and did NOT alter it. I started to sew my second pair and realized the mistake I made with the first pair. I had reversed the leg seams with the crotch seams!!! Feeling silly, I finished up the seams on the second pair and went to fix the first pair. Upon sewing the first pair I realized that it would have been too small for Cheeky Monkey. I finished up the first pair and started the waistband on the second. For some reason I couldn't get the waistband to stretch. After several tries I realized I wasn't stretching/pulling the fabric while sewing. After realizing this the waistband came out better on the second pair. I'm pretty happy with the results.

First Pair

I ended up giving this pair to my other friend, Buns!! (aka Sailor Mercury, Bunny, Ostri) She's tiny, unfortunately, she said it was a bit tight. It only needs to be adjusted at the waistband. I'm glad they fit somebody!! I have no idea why I thought this would have EVER fit Cheeky Monkey.

Second Pair

Cheeky Monkey wearing her pair of gypsy pants. They're too cold to wear right now, however they're perfect for summertime. She would also like a longer pair . . . . . ungrateful little monkey!!

Pirate Pillow Case

This wasn't anything spectacular or difficult but I wanted to share the fun skull and cross bones with everyone. My friend had bought this handkerchief to patch her jeans since it was such a fun pattern. I had so much left over that I ended up making this mini pillow case for her corn heating bag. The old pillow case is tacky and . . . well take a look for yourself:

Clearly not as fun as this one:

The only thing I have to say about sewing this project is that even thought it's simple, don't do it when you're sleepy. Well I guess that applies to anything you're doing. Why I decided that I had to sew at midnight is beyond me. But because of that, I end up making several mistakes and frustrating blunders. Even with all these hair-pulling moments, I'm happy with the end result.

Sheepcap, The Horror!!

It took several tries, but I've finally devised a pattern that will fit correctly. The strange roundness mixed with flatness of the Bear/Stuntbears' head was what caused most of the patterns to become ill-fitting.








With this pattern I finally used the sheep fur and finished my first cap. I was quite happy with the results but the true test would be to see if Fork would be satisfied with the results.

And apparently he wanted the ears (not shown on this picture) to be more visible since the fur is sooooooooooooooo woolly. This fabric makes it difficult to take apart anything that you sew. It was easier just to cut and sew new pieces instead of taking this one apart.









And here is Sheepcap #2. Fork, NOW, thinks that the fabric is too woolly and the ears STILL aren't very visible. I don't disagree with him. So to try to counteract the supper woolliness of the sheep fur I brushed and trimmed it (as you can see in the picture). I'm not sure I like the results. I'm thinking that I might have to do a Sheepcap #3 and maybe sew the sheep fur down before I sew the cap together. Let's hope that works.

Well at least the whole yard might get used . . . at the rate I'm going.

Sheepcap for Bear

Even though on an earlier post I said that I would be working on the sheepcap, I've actually haven't done anything past buying the fabric. But before I get into the sheepcap I thought I would introduce everyone to Bear.

Bear

Bear has great open-minded parents. Instead of forcing him into the rigid unforgiving society of bears, they've decided that he should be able to experience new cultures and exotic lands. Hence the creation of the sheepcap. If Bear should ever feel the desire to not be a bear, his parents have devised a way for him to become a sheep!

Since all this is a Christmas surprise for Bear I have hired the help of Stuntbear to use as a stand-in:

Stuntbear

As you can see Stuntbear has already suffered the trauma of a fitting and is now covered in lint, thread, and sheep fur. Their heads are an odd shape and I've already made a few tester caps on scrap fabric. So far, none of them fit correctly. Hopefully I'll have better results tomorrow.