Dystopian Kimono

This week I've been working on a new piece for my Dystopia Rising Gear. My character, Kurai, has been pretty stable for a while and I figured she had enough extra cash to invest in proper Genjian clothing again. That was she could stop looking like a barbarian. :)

That being said I had to now make the Kimono. Kimono's are...either very easy to make, or a pain. Personally, after learning some square cutting methods from a friend, I've been using those techniques a lot to make things. I did it with my friend Haori, and now this kimono. The whole piece is one huge square.

Originally, in Japan bolts are specifically sized for kimonos. It takes a whole bolt for one kimono. It's really fascinating and kind of scary to think about. In this ones case I took my measurements and made some cuts. I cut the neck hole first, then opened the front up. After that I figured out the sides and cut into the main piece for the sleeves. This is all one piece of fabric if you take out my cuts. This is much easier than cutting a ton of pieces out and wasting fabric. Saving fabric would be something someone would try to do in a dystopian era too.

 After the main body was hemmed I focused on designing it. Kimono's actually have meaning when you wear them. Certain seasons require certain colors and images. However, Kurai's colors are also green ad gold so I wanted to stick with that. I decided to go with a sort of winter motif.

I started out wanting to do a bleacing effect. It failed badly and for a bit I was bummed I'd ruined this, but I'm not one to give up easily. So after staring a bit I pulled out my paints and added the branch. What I got was that ghostly green effect. I liked it so I left it.

 The little yellow leaves are my characters family symbol. In Japan families, at least in the past, I don't know about now? had symbols called kamon, or mons in the game. Each clan has one and there's a whole lore based around them, so we've slowly been growing them over time. Mines the old Nakamura mon. The leaf in an octogram. Here I just used the leaf to look like dying leaves falling.

 In this image I decided I wanted a simple design on the front so I extended the branches from the back over the right shoulder. I like it, but it might need more flowers.

Here is the front side. So far I'm happy with it, but I need to carry the image over to the front bottom right a tiny bit. Might do a pile of leaves or something.

I also need to fix the neckline, and possibly sew this shut. It's not fun running around a game and popping out of your clothing. others might like it, I do not.

ALso, if I can there will be a full picture of me in gear someday.

As always, fi you have questions, comments, critiques, etc please leave me a comment.

Review: Think Geek Laser Scissors

At the wedding my husband and I received a pair of the think geek laser scissors. I was excited, very excited. I had wanted a pair of these for a good long while. He was meh about it.

When I finally cycled back into sewing I was a bit disappointed in theses. However lets do the good first.

These are light weight. Easy to handle. The grip is nice for both left and right hands (a problem I have since I'm left handed but hate lefty scissors). And the laser is really helpful in making straighter lines. Overall, I'll probably use these a lot.

However there are some bad issues, especially in the areas of using these for sewing.

The biggest problem is that the blade has a weird serration on it which I assume is their attempt at trying to do something like pinking shears, but it really doesn't work well. This causes it to chew threw fabric like a deranged T-Rex, versus a clean cut if. Especially if you're cutting anything more than two pieces of cloth. Add to that the blades being of what i assume is tin, aluminum, or some soft metal, then sharpening these is going to be a problem. However, if you can get them sharpened go for it. This serration is only on one blade, so I think adjusting that might make these awesome.

Don't get me wrong I'll keep using these for a long time, especially for that guiding light. it makes my messy lines so much nicer. And that is probably where all the design wen't into these thing. Honestly I wouldn't buy another pair again unless that serration is gone and the blades get better.

EDIT: As of 11/7/14 I've discovered these scissors are great for chewingthrough felt, fleece, and any of the heavier materials. While they eat up the softer/thinner materials and are not good for those they are amazing cutters for the thicker stuff.
Feel free to ask questions, leave comments, etc. I"m always up for a chat!

Missed update again

I'm really sorry for the lack of updates. It's just been really hectic again. I did two events back to back over the last two weeks. And it's been hard getting back on track. I'll hopefully have at least a small one this friday. Untill then have a dragon playing with their older sibling!

Missing Update

This last bit of the month was hectic. I went to Tortuga, a local pirate fest, as a merchant. It was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work and sadly I have anyother event coming up as well. Pacwar is this weekend and these events cut into my blog time. I'm hoping to be able to post something before I go but I'm not sure I'll be able too.

Therefore you get another dragon...playing dead.