Island of the Misfits Stockings {#5&6}

Yahoooooo! They are done! I finally made the cats an updated matching stocking and because my sister is spending Christmas with us, I had to make a "guest" one! At the end of the post is a picture of all the stockings together. 

Just in case anyone wants to know, the stocking shape is from an old McCall's pattern. The over-all design of the stocking (the blue, red gingham, etc. and placement of it) is based on a Pottery Barn stocking from years ago. The island of the Misfits characters were made by finding images online (I also had help from Jessica) printing them out to the size I wanted. I traced, cut out and sewed them on. For the names, I sent blank pieces of white cotton to my friends mom in the states and paid her do it. The back of the stocking look exactly the same except for the decoration (characters) and they are fully lined.

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So here is the "guest" stocking:  Hermy holding some freshly extracted Bumble teeth. 

and here is the cats stocking: King Moon Racer! 

The picture below is to show a little of the process of making the characters.

and here are all 6 in all their glorious glory!

DIY Woodland Stocking Hangers

Metal Woodland Stocking Hangers:

the Gnome and the green mountains are from landofnod.com.

After finding the gnome and mountain from land of nod, I scoured etsy for any brass woodland figurines. There are a lot of brass figurines out there people! A lot. 

I took apart old stocking hangers and used the base for 2 of them and bought two bases for the other two (Target sells the plain bases in two-packs). I cleaned the animals with vinegar then glued them to the bases with E6000 glue. I primed the whole thing with a white primer. After that dried I spray painted them with a glossy spray paint and finished with a glossy clear coat. 

Next I'll blog the two new Island of the misfits stockings I made! They match my others from years past (here, here, here and here)

sew-together bag 1

Jenny B had her birthday back in September and these are her gifts.  That's thumbprint art made by moi! We are twins in so many ways. If you don't have anything nice to say, come play with us...

Below is a sew-together bag (pattern from here) I made her as well. You may remember this fabric from another bag I made her a couple of years ago. I don't know if she remembers but she wanted me to buy this fabric when I was visiting her in Japan. I'm sure she is thoroughly sick of this fabric by now:)

I thought the pattern was ok to follow but when I found this sew-along here, I really liked the pattern! It really really helped. I've made two now but they were both for other people so I have no idea how practical they are or how much the hold, etc.

Halloween 2015

**EDITED  10/23/2017 TO ADD A PHOTO OF THE BACK OF THE JET PACK AND A LITTLE MORE INFO**

I did not make the girls costumes this year! Only the jet packs (that double as a trick-or-treat bag!). I love making costumes but only if it's exciting to me and making a white jump suit with patches and buckles, etc. was not appealing especially when I could buy it already made. The helmets, jumpsuits, shoe covers and gloves are from amazon.com

The jet pack is from this Pinterest pin. I had to make it by just looking at what this person had done so I included a photo that tells you what items I used to make them. What's not on the picture is that I used a white primer first then a silver metallic spray paint on the whole thing. I glued everything with a hot glue gun and made cris-crossing straps to keep it on the body out of black elastic.  Also, the box you use has to be wide enough to fit the dyer hose.

The girls would hold up the dryer hose to people handing out candy and they would drop the candy in. It then goes down into the box. Genius huh? Thank you to whoever thought this up!

I cut slits in the boxes and inserted the elastic (criss crossed so they'd stay on the kids shoulders) then tied D rings to the ends (on the inside of the box) so they wouldn't slide back out of the hole. These boxes contained individual packs of gold fish (like you'd buy at costco maybe) so it has a pre cut "dispenser-like" cut in it. That's what I used as the opening to get the candy out. The nasa  printouts are just printed on cardstock.

Tova Top: Plaid Lawn

My 2nd Tova Top from Wiksten  (you can see the 1st here) . The fabric is a sheer Marc Jacobs cotton voile from Mood. The size is a large with no alterations to the size (I'm 5'7 with a 36D chest) I only shortened the sleeves . I underlined it in an also sheer white batiste (scroll down to see the garment from the inside). I love this top. love it! I wasn't so sure about the 1st one I made but I really like it now and wear it often. 

I did the front yoke (?) on the bias and underlined it in the same plaid on the bias.  That was a tough decision and I had to google it but didn't have much luck finding advice on that topic (underlining or even just lining something on the bias and whether the lining should also be on the bias..or not). I did them both bias and love it. It worked great and has been washed several times and the yoke has not gone wonky or stretched out. I used that quilting basting spray stuff to keep my underlined fabric stuck to my outside fabric so it wouldn't shift while sewing.

The top inside out. 

The majority of the top is underlined in batiste. The sleeves are not lined at all and the yoke is underlined in the same plaid.

Below is an embroidery I did ages ago. It's a combination of a black apple drawing and an embroidery pattern (the frame/vines) from Sadie & Oliver on Etsy.

Plaid Alice Top --Tessuti

I made this top months ago when we were still living in San Diego but never blogged it. I have several things to blog....

Pattern: Alice Top Tessuti patterns

Fabric: light weight seersucker plaid from Beverly's fabric about 2011

Size: Small (I'm not normally a small. Usually a medium or large but this runs huge)

I lined the yoke in  Anna Maria solid voile and NO interfacing

For the sleeves I lined it in the same plaid and used NO interfacing. I added a piece to the armhole to close the arm hole up a bit. I cannot stand my skin touching skin in that area when I sweat so I had to add it! You can see it better 2 pictures down. Lastly, I did a 3" hem.

I had to add this one because I look I'm pregnant and my back aches.

I love this top! I think it would look  cute in so many different fabrics. If you google Alice top Tessuti and click on images, you will see so many cute versions!