The Work Of Deborah Cook

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I'm in love with little details in clothing and miniaturisation in general so the work of Deborah Cook just gets to me in all the right ways. She's a costume designer who works in stop gap animation and is responsible for the clothing worn in both Coraline and Paranorman.

All the garments are hand sewn so that they can work in tiny detail, even making a map for visible stitching so that when the film is expanded to the size of a movie theater screen it looks consistent. They might have 40 versions of a costume in use so it really does matter.

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In 2010 Deborah Cook did an interview with the FIDM Museum Blog that's really worth a read. I found it really interesting to learn about their use of fabric and how the size of the puppets made an impact. Because the figures are so small it's not realistic to use the same fabric you would use on a lifesize person, but they wanted it to look the same, so they had to source a good replacement that looked close enough that would stand up to scrutiny. They even examined it with magnifying glasses!

The costumes in Coraline are gorgeous and if google is to be believed then the main characters yellow raincoat is the most popular garment in the movie, among cosplayers at least, but I'd have my own starry jumper if I could pull anything out of the computer screen. It's pretty and feminine but it looks so comfortable that you could wear it almost all day, every day and not get bored.

Maybe when I've cut down on my fabric stash a bit I'll go searching for the right sweater knit and the right silver fabric? It wouldn't be that hard to put together, even if the stars might be time consuming. What do you think?

Gingham Dress

I finally got my gingham dress finished! It's now too late to wear it outside the house but at least it's not weighing on my mind any more and it'll be hanging in my wardrobe ready for spring.

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this dress. I started it as a stash busting project because I had five meters of gingham and I'm really not a girl who wears gingham. I don't know if it's just a really nice wearable muslin or something I'll actually go out in, though.

Everything seemed to go wrong with this dress, especially the buttons and the elastic. I originally bought black elastic but I was afraid it would show through the gingham and went back for some white stuff. I think I was worried over nothing but it's too late now. Turns out the white elastic and the white bias binding where exactly the same size, making it pretty much impossible to sew along the edges of the binding and leave enough room inside.

I ended up sewing along the crease of one side and then wedging the elastic in as far as it would go and going along the other edge with my zipper foot to try and make it even. I think I did pretty well but since my bobbin tension's been acting up it doesn't look very good. Thank god it's hidden by the gathering.

This dress has put me off buttons for at least a year. I first bought both buttons and poppers planning to only have fake buttons, and then I got it into my head that I should at least try and make real button holes. You know what they say about good intentions.

I would have to sort out my sewing machine tension but I also needed a buttonhole foot. I got online and bought the cheapest one on Amazon. Big mistake. It didn't work quite right and the top layer of metal was flaking off when I got it out of the packet so now not only do I not have the buttonhole foot, I have the trouble of sending it back. I looked into hand sewn buttonholes but soon realised I didn't care enough about this dress to do them, I just wanted it to be over.

Then I cried a little.

Turns out I ended up doing exactly what I had planned in the beginning.

Ten Questions To Ask When Sewing For Other People

Many sewers and bloggers will tell you that sewing for other people is a slippery slope. You start sewing on a button and then the next thing you know you never have time to sew anything for yourself.

I'm not such a believer in that. Yes, if you say okay to every request for clothing from people who don't understand how much work you'll either end up putting it off, hating them for stealing all your sewing time, or garroting someone with a yard of printed ribbon, but you just have to set your boundaries before you begin.

Ask yourself these questions:

1. Can they do it themselves? If someone who has the skills to sew something but asks you for help they may have a good reason. If they need to get a petticoat sewn but they're making the wedding dress to go over it and darn, where did all the time go? then that's more understandable than if they just got DVDs for the new series of [insert program you don't watch here] and they just have to watch it RIGHT NOW!

2. Could they and would they learn? If it's something really simple, could they just learn how to do it themselves? If they come to you every time they loose a button then it'll probably be a lot quicker to teach them how but if it's something like complicated embroidery that you enjoy doing it might take longer to teach them the skills they need to get it right than to just do it. 

3. How much do you really like this person? Are they your brother's colleague's cousin once removed or are they your favorite child? There's a reason they call it a labor of love, and it's not because you just adore patching holes in trousers.

4. How long will it take? It makes sense that you need to be very invested in someone to make them a huge beaded ball gown but you might be happy to sew a button on for a friend every now and again. Either way, it's a good idea to make them aware of how long it'll take before you start. If you're going to spend an hour sewing buttons on then make sure they know it's not a ten minute job.

5. How much difference will it make to them? Will this have a big enough impact on their mood or standard of living to make it worth the effort? Fixing a cherished childhood toy will be remembered a lot longer than fixing the zip on a cheap, rarely warn dress. If someone is depressed or having a terrible day or week or even month then one act of kindness can mean a whole lot more than what you put into it.

6. Is it important to you to have a say in how they dress/present themselves? If you want to sew for someone so you can change their style then you're probably heading for disappointment, but if you just want them to stop looking homeless then it might be worth a try. I'd quite happily put the hours in making my boyfriend new trousers if it meant the general public wasn't exposed to his boxers every time we went out.

7. Will you enjoy the project? Is it something that you'd do just for the fun and the experience or will it be a hard slog with very few rewards? If you'd be happy to sew something just for the practice and the artistry that goes into it, like an embroidery sampler, then why not make it to fit someone who'll love it?

8. Is it something you need to practice? You can always use sewing for others as practice for something you want to get better at. If you always wear stretch fabric skirts but you want to add fly zippers to your skill set then make something for someone who'll actually use it.

9. Are they easy to work with? Simply put, if you're going to spend most of the project wanting to strangle them for changing their mind or never being happy with the results then it's probably safer for everyone if you stop before you begin.

10. Are they willing to do or give something in exchange and will it be worth it? This goes back to making sure they know how long it will take. Are they happy to do something that requires a similar commitment of time and energy for you (after taking into account your answers to the last nine questions) or pay enough to make it worth it? If you make a complicated evening jacket in exchange for a hug or a fiver and the cost of the materials you're probably going to feel ripped off.

The reason I'm talking about this is because I spent about an hour this morning making a pair of my boyfriends shorts wearable for the day ahead. The button had been pulled off, ripping the fabric when it went, and in the heat of mid-July a pair of shorts are almost a necessity.

If I hadn't had a huge button purchase to feel less guilty about then it probably wouldn't have gotten done, but I'm also in the process of building up good karma at the moment anyway. I've mentioned before that my boyfriend is good with video editing and the like, and I have ideas for making and including videos and graphics in my blog and I'm going to need his help.

If you want to know how I fixed the rip, just have a look at the picture below!

Cross Stitch In Progress

I've been beavering away at my embroidery over the last few days and because work is picking up again I won't be able to do as much sewing as I have over the last few days.

I have no idea what I'm going to do with it once I've finished but I'm probably going to get to work on a proper sampler on fabric with a straight grain.

The colours are so different from the front of the packet, and it looks quite cartoony and strange, but all the work I've put in makes me feel attached to it.

Technical Problems

I'm seeing a new computer in my future when I've saved up enough cash. It blue screened today and trying to connect anything to it via the USB ports is a nightmare. There aren't as many pictures in this post as I'd like because they got eaten when my laptop couldn't decide whether to connect to my card reader or not.

One out of four isn't bad, I guess.

I have two days of work to talk about but none of it's that interesting. I attached the second sleeve to my blue top and did a little bit of hemming but the second day was mostly taken up by shopping and traveling. I had to check out a location for work and I'm going to be away from home for a few nights so I picked up two of those cross-stitch packs you give to little kids to take with me. What can I say? They were half price.

I got what I paid for. They've got the pattern printed on the fabric like a paint by numbers but it doesn't quite correspond to the wonky grain of the fabric and isn't to the same scale as the gridded picture on the front of the packet. Oh, well. It'll keep me amused and get me back into embroidery.

I did pick up something much more rewarding though. Our local bookshops have responded to the popularity of The Great British Sewing Bee by upping their stock and I picked up this wonderful book. I may not be selling things at the moment but I want to one day.

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A Little Progress And Some Excitement

Definitely didn't do much work yesterday. Had a bit of drama with my boyfriend and only got time to sew half the back facing but my relationship is okay and that's what counts.

I'm not going to get any time tonight either because I'm going to a burlesque performance at the local theater. I'll tell you how it goes!

Hand Sewing And A Competition

Today it's time for a little bit different! I've got the usual update telling what I've been up to, I hand sewed my yoke front together, but I've also got something special. To commemorate my 100th post I'm doing a give away.

I'm giving away five meters of this 150cm width flowery fabric, three meters of button printed ribbon and a whole eight meters of white lace trim. All you have to do to enter is add a comment on this post.

The fabric has really good drape and I tried to take a picture so you could see that and the size of the pattern but I just ended up looking kind of a numpty. I'm willing to ship it to wherever you live in whatever country, and I probably won't get that many entries so it's really worth a try.

The competition ends on midnight GMT on the 28th and I'll randomly selected winner on the 29th. I'll put up my e-mail address so you can contact me and get your prize.

All The Fixin's

I was reasonably busy yesterday even though I didn't really leave bed. I put the last two buttons on my black top so I could wear it today to meet the boyfriends grandparents. I really like it and I think it looks even better than it did before.

Also, I sorted the big bags of buttons I got from Abakhan! There was one of some and I think over a hundred of  the blueish ones. I'm really looking forward to using the toggles and the beaded ones but there are others that will probably sit in my draw till I decide I have to organize a project around them or give them away.

Finally, I've been working really hard to either fix clothes or get rid of them so I pulled out a pair of trousers I haven't worn for over two years. They have these straps across the legs that are sewn down between the holes but the stitch lines ripped an it dragged along the ground. I spent ages sewing the three lines of stitching then went to try them on. Tragedy! I discovered that not just the strap was broken, the zip was broken! One side of the zip had come unconnected from one side and some of the teeth are missing. I'll probably replace it but not quite yet. I have to get back to my gingham dress.