Did you know that I could make costumes? Neither did I!
This weekend, in Columbus, Ohio, there is a convention called Power-Con. Honestly, I had never heard of it until last year, when it was in Anaheim, and I got a Disney trip out of it while my boys had a convention day. My son had so much fun last year meeting animators and toy designers and more – mostly related to Masters of the Universe, and there was a costume contest.
This year, not solely focused on Masters of the Universe, but more a general toy convention, he still wanted to enter the Cosplay Contest – and he wanted to be Orko. As the self-proclaimed “Orko’s Biggest Fan”, I would have a hard time getting him to select something else, like – I don’t even know – something easy.
He had this vision in his head with a mash-up of different Orko designs he has seen. We went to Joann to select fabric – we ended up with red velvet, stretchy sparkly glitter, gold mesh, purple crushed velvet – some of the most difficult fabrics to work with. I have a decent sewing machine – it’s great for flat things like quilts. It is NOT an industrial sewing machine so it was pretty frustrating to put some of this together.
I made the robe first – I thought that might be the most difficult, and it would also be the majority of the look. I used a Harry Potter Wizard Robe pattern and modified it as needed. I think the robe could have been a little longer, but the velvet we found was not very wide so I had to improvise at the base – I added some more sparkly black to hide the wire in, helps to give it some volume, and help to see him as floating.
The purple scarf was next – we went back and forth with a long scarf to wrap around, or cut it short and add velcro to the back – we decided on a long scarf, and attach it to the nose.
The face cover was tricky in that you’re not supposed to see his eyes, but he still needed to see! Initially he was going to enter on a hoverboard, but that was scrapped at the last minute due to the limitations of the room. I had to double up some black mesh so he could see, but you couldn’t see his eyes, and then add to the yellow eyes, and then add to the stretchy face cover, that could tuck in under the hat, scarf and robe – with a scarf attached to the nose.
And finally, the hat. My husband found this perfect hat on Etsy, placed the order, left a note asking about rushing shipping to have it in time, she said it would be delivered in time, we waited. It never shipped. He contacted her – she said “Oh I thought you meant October, not August.” So I had to make a hat.
Making the hat was not fun – I found a basic hat design I could use, downloaded, turns out it was all in cm, but did have US Letter printing options. I printed that, followed the instructions – it didn’t fit! I mean it’s sewing in circles so things get off, I thought I had done something wrong. We backtracked and double checked – the initial pattern, even if everything was perfect, still would not have fit. So we made some modifications, and made it fit. The tricky part about the hat is the ears. We found some latex ears, painted them blue, and then sewed them in to keep them in place. Because of course he has to have ears sticking out of his hat. I was not a fan of making the hat, but I think it turned out pretty good – and it fit!
Going into this – first costume made – I didn’t actually think we’d win. Hopeful! But didn’t feel it. I did want him to have fun and kind of feel like Orko in it. They said they received a lot of compliments – from the general public, other cosplayers, and the judges, and a lot of people wanted a photo with Orko, so I think he had fun with that!
They called me after the contest – and we didn’t win. I guess the winner was transformative – it wasn’t a Transformer costume, but something like that where it came off in pieces and turned to something else? 3D printed I think. But we did get and Honorable Mention – one of the judges talked to them afterwards, and she said she really liked the fabrics we used, and how we tried to bring Orko to life.
Do I see more costumes in my future? I don’t know. I do need to focus on some Cosplay Disney Running Skirts though, I need to figure out my base shape and build on the design from there. Luckily those don’t have hats!
There has been some confusion lately as to where you can find the PDF files. I have moved all of the PDF files to my Facebook Group, but you can still find the projects and photos on the site here, such as the Crafty Pixel Quilt that has been so popular over the last 7 years! All of the information is still on the page with photos.
And the Floriani – Madeira conversion PDF. Yes, all the Madeira colors in the PDF were available at the time of conversion – most if not all are still available on their website. This is a reference and should be used as a guide – a starting point. Use your thread stash, project, lighting, etc. to make your final thread selections.
I have plans to add more resources to the Group in the future – just need to figure out some free time to do so. Until then, thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy creating your Rainy Day projects!
Hello! I hope you all had a nice Christmas with whoever you were able to spend it with. I am sad to see several of the items I shipped out well before Christmas still have not arrived. I just wanted to give a quick update from the little I know.
As I’m sure you are all well-aware, the US Postal Service is overwhelmed with an unprecedented amount of package deliveries, and understaffed due to Covid. I am not going to reiterate that here, but I just wanted to share a quick example. If you ordered something from me and received a Tracking Number, I PROMISE it was dropped off at the US Post Office for processing, but they don’t scan all the items right away. I have been watching all of the orders I shipped out to see what was scanned, what is still “label created” and allegedly not moving, and what has been delivered. Yes I have been tracking them all for over a month. I think it bugs me even more than it bugs you because I created and shipped as quickly as I could to get the orders in your hands in time, and the Postal Service failed me and millions of other Small Businesses this year.
I checked in on all the packages again this morning, and I have a screen shot of a good example. This doesn’t give away the item or where it is going, but you’ll see in the screen shot below that the label was created December 15th. It said Pre-Transit for 10 days as if I had it still sitting in my office, not dropped off to the Post Office. I dropped it off right away, but it was never scanned. Suddenly (10 days later) it has reached a regional postal processing center in New York. Luckily this package has a NY destination so I am hopeful this will be delivered very soon.
I appreciate that most have been understanding and patient about the delays. Once I mail the package it is at the mercy of the Postal Service, which again, they are overwhelmed and understaffed. I am still working my way through a few last-minute orders that came in just before Christmas. If you had one of those, I am hoping to make them all this weekend and get shipped out early next week. Thank you so much. Hope you are all having a Wonderful Holiday Season!
Just a quick post – it’s not much but I am so happy that I was able to create something from start to finish that will also help my son with math this year! I have more that I am making, but for now I was able to finish the first 5 of many math wheels. I really want him to pop out the numbers and just know them in his head, so I am hoping these will help the end result. From the first placement stitch to the final satin stitches I created the math wheels. It may not be a perfect design, but I think it is a great start for my first design product. I just thought they turned out so cool, I had to share! More coming soon.
The Holidays were so busy and I was focused on so many other projects that my Kona Color Burst quilt top was in “half done” status for awhile. This weekend I powered through and did 2 blocks on Saturday and the final 6 blocks Sunday morning and sewed them all together. Finally done with the quilt top!
Then I ventured outside… It was “Feels like -11º” and very windy. I tried to get a shot of the quilt top on a serene white background – but instead you see my bootprints. You should have heard me yelling at the wind. These were the best shots I could get for now. I can’t wait until it is finished and I can try to get some better shots – and it might be warmer.
I cleared the board and started from scratch, with one colorful square at a time. I have been wanting to make this pattern for awhile, and with 365 colors to play with, it seemed like the right time. I took all the colors and a few neutrals, and built from the center out.
To make this easy, order one of each of the following charm packs, precut by Robert Kaufman Fabrics: Kona Cotton Pastel Colorstory CHS-692-85 Kona Cotton Bright Colorstory CHS-693-85 Kona Cotton Dark Colorstory CHS-694-85 Kona Cotton Neutral Colorstory CHS-695-85 Kona Cotton New Colors 2019 CHS-851-42
This pattern uses the majority of the colors, but just one of each. You will also receive a Bonus PDF on how I create my blocks, and my method for keeping them organized and sewing them together with the least amount of seams. And a new PDF with the charm pack color order and labels to print.
I made this with 5″ squares, for a finished size of 76 1/2″ x 76 1/2″.
I know I posted a couple weeks ago that the Kona Color Card Patterns were updated – but I updated them again! Two reasons: One, because I found Robert Kaufman’s charm packs to total all 365 colors and easily put it all together – I even have a PDF now with how they are sorted through the charm packs, top down. All you need to do is print the labels, label the fabrics and start sewing. Plus this makes the finished size even bigger and snugglier – I know that is what I am after, when we all try to share the quilt on the sofa for movie night!
And two: I moved one square of the Color Burst layout as I was sewing it together. And when one square moves, they all move. But this is it – no more moves, and it is almost halfway sewn together. I will have a Color Burst Quilt Top completed photo for you soon.
For now, below is my final floor layout and a photo of the bottom row sewn together. I am excited about it all coming together and what that will look like – definitely different than the computer version – but I had to start with something!
Find the Kona Color Card Pattern Set (x4) and the Color Burst Pattern here on Etsy. If you want to make one or more of these with the precut Robert Kaufman Kona charm packs, order one of each (per quilt): CHS-692-85, CHS-693-85, CHS-694-85, CHS-695-85, CHS-851-42. And 5 sheets of Avery 8167 labels. This Color Burst shown below will be just over 6′ square when finished.
