Work in Progress

OMG, it's been forever since I've made a post. Whoops. I guess a week and a half isn't really "forever", but it feels like it. At least it was for a good reason! Sewing! And the gym! Last week was the last week of boot camp. I didn't win the "who lost the most" contest, but I was within 3 pounds. Who knows what would have happened had I not gotten sick for a week and gained 3 pounds then.

And last weekend was spent almost exclusively sewing. I nearly completed a whole outfit/costume. The top is kimono-esque and the skirt is kind of cheerleader-skirt-ish. But right now I only have pictures of the top.

Here it is before I ironed on some butterflies, which I only recently decided to do.

Here is the obi, ignore that it REALLY needs to be ironed. The image for this clearly has some embroidery on the bottom of the obi. I didn't get mine spaced right, it's supposed to be right at the corner. Oh well, NOT doing it over. I think most would probably be excited to know that it's actually embroidered.

I cut off the bottom of the black sleeve (which was actually lengthened as it was only supposed to hit my elbows in the pattern). Then I used what I had cut to make a pattern for the mint colored cotton (it's all cotton except the obi, btw). Then I made bias tape out of the yellow. I still need to attach lace to the bottom of the sleeves and around the collar. 

From the back. 

Starting the matching one. 

The character/image of this has at least 3 butterflies on the kimono top. One big one on the sleeve and 2 little ones on the front. It's not an overly clear detail so I was debating just not doing it. Tonight, at about 9pm, I decided to. So I googled for a picture of a butterfly in the right shape and printed it out at a few sizes. These were the 2 I liked. 

Then I traced them onto a strip of heat-n-bond. I told you I loved it. 

And when I reached this point, cutting them out, I realized: this is how everyone does FAKE applique and I could have done REAL applique because I have an embroidery machine. WHOOPS. But at this point, the kimono only needs to be hemmed, so it would have been difficult to hoop, I imagine.

And here it is with the butterflies added. Remember, still a layer to go around the collar. 

Close up of the sleeve butterfly. 

EDIT: when I went to work on the next one and had to take this off the dress form, the butterflies were peeling, so I took out my BSR and freehand embroidered around their edges. You could probably do that with a regular foot, but it was easier for me to do it with that one.

So, that's this one. One more to go. I'll have it mostly finished post sewing party this weekend. I might try to do a live stream of the sewing portions of it. Thoughts?