La Costumière 2020 Part 2

 La Costumière 2020 Part 2

On to the Exterior 

White Wash

 

Rather than covering the Middle section I decided to Paint. I did this in White using a small brush. The idea was that using a small brush the strokes in the Paint would mimic the Edge of the Pages since the Box was designed as a Book.

Thin Felt

 

I examined the Exterior Felt. The Lid was fine but the rest was not as it had gone thin. I was going to have to recover the rest of the Box in new material.

White Felt

 

I Cut and Glued some White Felt down the Spine of the Book shaped Box.

Navy Felt

 

I had used a lighter Blue Felt on the Interior as I was short on material. However I wanted Navy on the Exterior which was more in keeping with the Tricolour French Flag.

Glue or Sew

 

I now had some tidying to do. I trimmed the White Felt on the Interior of the Box and gave it another touch of White Paint on the Edges. 

I wanted to add some Ribbon. I tried Gluing the Ends but the Ribbon was too Silky and therefore had to Sew it instead.

La Costumière 2020

 La Costumière 2020 

I have made many Costumes for Mademoiselle Marionette so I thought it was time I made somewhere to keep them.

Lid and Cloth

I started with an old Ice Cream Tub and some Black Cloth.

Getting Stuck

 

I cut to size and Stuck down. It was a complete shambles. I couldn’t get it stick properly under the lip. The Glue dried badly and the Cloth was so thin that the pattern showed through. I needed a complete rethink.

Bazaar Surprise

 

I decided since I was as always against the clock to try and find some kind of Box as a basis. I found what I wanted in a charity shop. It was a felted wooden Box originally from an Indian Bazaar.

Stripped and Scrubbed

 

I Stripped the Box of the Interior Felt and then Scrubbed Box with Antibacterial cleanser. I had to wait for it to dry properly for the next part.

Try for Size

 

I found some White Felt and tried for Size on the Interior of the Box.

Cut and Press

 

I Cut and Pressed the White Felt. The Original Red Felt for the Bottom of the Box was in good enough condition to reuse.

Glue and Line

 

I Glued the White and Red Felt in Place and waited for it to dry.

Blue Hole

 

I selected some Blue Felt for the Lid Interior. I had to Snip a piece out before I could Glue it on.

Stuck

 

After I had Glued the Blue Felt. I then painted the Edge of the White Felted part with White Paint. Unfortunately I closed the Lid before it was completely dry and ended up getting the Paint Stuck on the Blue Felt. I will have to sort that at a later point.

Out of Zone Mask 2020 Part 6

 Out of Zone Mask 2020 Part 6

Phew it is the final furlong of this Mask.

Add Elastic

 

In order to wear the Mask I had to add some Elastic. The Metal materials and Back Patch added to the Weight of the Mask. Therefore I decided to use a slightly Thicker piece of Elastic to compensate. I Folded over one End and Sewed it at the Bottom of the Mask where the Washers and Chains are.

10cm Elastic

 

The next part was real fun. Trying to Measure the Length of Elastic required wasn’t easy. I managed to scratch my Face when I tried to Pin it in place whilst having it wrapped around my Ear.

Eventually I got a Measurement of 10 centimetres. This includes the amount to be Folded back on itself prior to Sewing.

Sew Mask Bottom

 

After repeating the process on the opposite side I decided that this would be a good time to add the Backing. I therefore Sewed the Back along the Bottom.

Sew Top of Ear

 

After Sewing the Bottom I began to Sew up the Sides of the Mask leaving a good inch at the Top.

I added the Elastic that would go over the Top of my Ear then continued Sewing up the rest of the Side. This was then repeated with the other piece of Elastic.

Finished Mask

Here we have the Finished Mask. It has been washed and pressed even if it doesn’t look it. The Back Patch is causing a few wrinkles but I will definitely be able to iron those out in time.

N.B.

Many thanks to Laura of https://www.alyssa-rose.co.uk/ for her much need advice.

 

Out of Zone Mask 2020 Part 5

Out of Zone Mask 2020 Part 5

Now I had my design for the Chain I had to fix it in place.

Pin Chain

 

The first thing I did was to Pin the Chain In place. This was easier said that done. It kept moving whilst I was trying to set the Cogs so in the end I had to use several Pins on each bend.

 Sew Chain

 

I decided that I was going to have to Sew the Chain bit by bit. I was going to have to add the Cogs the same way. In the above photograph it shows the first part of the Chain and the first Cog Sewn in place.

I then continued to do this with the second part of the Chain and the second Cog. The third was slightly more awkward as I couldn’t designed whether to have the Chain hanging down on the inside of the Washer or the Outside. I eventually decided on the latter.

I then used the same process on the opposite side of the Mask. This worked out slightly different as there was a greater difference in size of the Cogs.

Mask Back

 

Next I turned my attention to the Back of the Mask. I had made the Hands of the Clock by Sewing Copper Wire. Unfortunately the Ends of this wire were very Sharp. I found whenever I tried the Mask on these Ends were digging in and scratching my Face.

Naturally I would be putting a Back on this Mask as I had the others. However since I use the Inner part as a pouch I had visions of hundreds of pieces of torn up tissue as the result of the Sharp Ends tearing the tissue.

Back Patch

 

I decided that in order to avoid this problem what was needed was an extra Piece of Material. For want of a better term I was going to add a Back Patch.

I found some scrap black material then Cut and Hemmed it. Since it was not going to be seen it didn’t need to be symmetrical just large enough to cover the Sharp Ends. I used Blanket Stitch to Sew the Top and Bottom. I couldn’t Sew the Sides as it would have Shown through.