Mademoiselle Marionette 2018 Part 5

Mademoiselle Marionette 2018 Part 5

After all that sewing I felt like a bit of a change.

Colouring Sticks

One thing I need to do was to colour the sticks I was going to use to suspend the Marionette from. At first I was going to paint them but in the end I decided to use a permanent marker.

Coloured Circles

If you follow my blogs regularly you may recall one entitled ‘Oh What A Busy Sewing Bee I am’. I cannot remember the reason why but there were some circles of the material in the kit. I delved into the remains of the project and cut them out.

Circles Pinned and Cut Out

After cutting the coloured circles out I pinned them to some white material (again left over from the kit). I then carefully cut out the circle.

Head verse Circle

I now have one circle which I will use later with the Head. I now repeat the process and cut out the other circle.

Head Circle Hemmed

I very carefully hem the circle to avoid losing as little material as I can. Believe me that it is not an easy task whilst watching England in the Semi-finals!

I also hemmed the other circle after all it is a case of two halves ahem.

Before I go on making any alterations to the Legs, Head or Arms I will give the sections a good wash to remove any trace of pencil outlines.

Mademoiselle Marionette 2018 Part 4

Mademoiselle Marionette 2018 Part 4

I am leaving the Legs for now and moving on to the Arms.

Arm 1^st Rough Cut Out

As I did with the Legs I drew a rough outline for the Arm and cut out. You might have observed that with the Arm I have given extra un-hemmed material to one side.

Marionette Arm Template

I then used the 1^st arm as a Template. This was a little more difficult to match up due to the extra material. I have double pinned it to make sure it didn’t move.

2^nd Rough Arm Drawn

I got the 2^nd Arm drawn and ready for cutting out. However I did notice when I removed some of the pins that they had been bent by trying to go through so much material.

I wonder if I should keep them for pinning around corners?

Hand Sewn

Next I took the 1^st Arm and sewed it from the beginning of the shoulder to the Hand which I had snipped around. I again used Blanket stitch and secured as with the Legs

Pushed with Scissors

Due to the small gap in which to turn the material I used my scissors to push through.

Warning if using scissors you need to be very gentle or you may go through the material. I should have found my bamboo stick but it is very hot and I was being lazy.

Hand Slip Up

Disaster! Whilst cutting out the 2^nd Hand I slipped with the scissors. I took a large section out. I had to decide whether to try and start the whole process again or try and repair it as I went along.

Hand Repair

Due to the time restraint I felt I had no option but to carry on. In order to stop the rest of the Hand fraying I bent over the hem at an angle and Blanket stitched it. I only hope that I have

Caught the problem in time and it will hold.

Hands Side by Side

 

In the above photograph you can see the difference in the shape of the Hands.

Arms Hemmed

With the precarious nature of the Hands I decided I better start hemming the other side of the material. That way I could secure it better at the Wrist.

Arms Excess Material

I hemmed up to the start of the Upper Arm on both pieces. This is because I wanted to check the length. If I didn’t do a rough measure the Marionette would have Arms as long as an Orangutan.

Arm 2^nd Hem Pinned

I levelled off the material and then checked the width. Obviously Arms are not as wide as compared to Legs. Therefore it was my intention to make a second hem to reduce the material.

Arm 2^nd Hem Tacked

I had pinned the 2^nd hem in place and then put a few tacking stitches in a few places. This will allow me some wriggle room but without having to hold the hem down.

Mademoiselle Marionette 2018 Part 3

Mademoiselle Marionette 2018 Part 3

I am now moving on to making the Legs

Leg Material

I took a long thin piece of material which luckily was already hemmed on one side. I tucked the other edge under to make a hem and folded it in half length-ways. I then pinned along the edge.

Two Leg Pieces

I then simply cut across the width making two equal pinned pieces.

Draw Rough Leg Outline

I am going to use the already hemmed part of the material as the back of the Leg. I drew a rough Leg shape on the material. This took me several goes before I was satisfied.

Pin Bottom of Foot

Before cutting out I opened up the Foot area, pinned it and hemmed across.

Leg Roughly Cut Out

I then pinned it back together again and carefully cut out the Leg shape.

Leg Template

I placed the Leg I had cut out on top of the other piece of material and used it as a template for drawing the other Leg.

A Rough Pair of Legs

I now had two Legs cut out.

Opening Out Material

I took one of the Legs unpinned and opened it out.

Reverse Pinned Leg

I folded the Leg again only this time the other way around. I pinned it into place.

Blanket Stitch Lower Leg

Beginning at the Foot I started to Blanket stitch along the Leg until I got to where the material was whole again.

Blanket Stitch Upper Leg

Before I started the upper Leg I double checked the lower stitching. It was as I had feared. The material is so prone to fraying at the edge it was in danger of coming apart.

Therefore I secured it by putting a Running stitch along the material behind the Blanket stitch.

Unpick Heel

Grr. The last thing I need is simple mistakes. In my anxiousness to get on with the project I have stitched the Heel. This hasn’t left enough room to turn it the right way. So I have had to unpick and secure lower down

Leg Correct Side

I have now turned the Leg back to the correct side. You might have noticed that I have not completely sewn all the way up to the top of the material. This is deliberate and will be dealt with later.

You may also notice in the photo above that I haven’t as yet hemmed the other side of the material. This again was done on purpose. I left it just in case I had to give a little more room for manoeuvring when I get on to filling. I repeated this part with the other Leg.

Material Fraying

Oh botheration! That isn’t what I actually said but I am sure you can substitute your own words. As with the first Leg this material has decided to fray.

However in this case it is far worse than last time. The Blanket stitch has almost come away and a simple Running stitch isn’t going to fix it this time

Material Doubled Over

I have had to fold over some more material and resew. It is a good job I left the other side of the Leg unhemmed. I will with luck be able to make a thinner hem on this Leg that will not be that noticeable.

Unfortunately in folding in the extra material I have lost some of the contours of shape. In other words I think poor Mademoiselle Marionette is going to have one Leg without a Knee.

NB.

If anybody is interested the way I have Blanket stitched so tightly is also known as Button Hole stitch.

Mademoiselle Marionette 2018 Part 2

Mademoiselle Marionette 2018 Part 2

The thing about making something new without a pattern is you are never quite sure what problems are going to crop up. If you have plenty of time you can make lots of templates or rough practise pieces.

The one thing you can guarantee with me is that I never have enough time and consequently I often have to tackle problems as they occur. Therefore if you ever want to copy what I make read all the way through first.

Fold and Pin

I took both cut out Bodies and laid one on top of another. Then I folded and pinned along the Centre fold.

Body Detail Drawn

I roughly drew any sections I wished to remove.

Pinned Cut Out

I carefully cut out the shape. I have used extra pins to secure it.

Two Rough Body Shapes

I removed the pins and unfolded the material with one Body shape beneath the other.

Pin Bodies Flat

I pinned the two shapes together to avoid movement.

Beginning to Pin Hem

Warning - This is when I had a change of plan. I decided I didn’t like the Body shape and with the time restriction I needed to hem quickly.

First Body - Part Hemmed

I pinned and hemmed the Body Part only using straight lines instead of curved. I have also snipped both sides of the neck at the shoulder and where it meets the Head.

Matching Hems Pinned

I copied the shape I now had and folded down the 2^nd Body’s edges to match.

Bodies Part Hemmed

I have now finished hemming the Body sections. I continued by pinning and hemming the Heads.

Two Hemmed Bodies and Heads

I realise that the Bodies look massive in proportion to the Heads but it is not a mistake there is a reason for this which I will get to another time.