Satin Brocade Tunic

I've been talking about it for a month or so, and I finally have everything completed.  I would have had this finished earlier, but I ordered the wrong size of cording to make the frog closures.  It took a week for it to come in, and by then I was working on commissions for people and they took a few week to complete.  That said here the satin brocade tunic.  >^.^<
 

This is the front of the tunic.

I received a gift card from Dustin's brother and his girlfriend for Christmas to a fabric/craft store.  (Awesome gift for any crafter or cosplayer!  I happen to be both.) The fabric for this is how I used the gift card.

I tried to make the tie in the back out of the same satin brocade fabric as the tunic, but turning the fabric right side out after sewing it together stretched and distorted it so much I opted to use the satin fabric I used to make the piping.  The satin fabric is almost the exact same color as the lighter embroidered thread in the brocade, so it still works well.

This was a combination of two different patterns.  One is Simplicity 9868, and the other is Simplicity New Look 6435.  I like both patterns, but unless I'm planning on wearing an undershirt all the time I wouldn't make the jacket from the New Look pattern.  You can tell from the picture on the pattern that the front tends to separate a bit, and there isn't an under flap for modesty built into the pattern.  If you ever plan on making it keep that in mind.  It would be easy to add while making it, but I opted with the more Oriental look of the 9868 pattern for the main body of this particular tunic.  The sleeves I took from the New Look pattern.  I liked the look of the slight flare around the wrists, especially since I was using a stiff satin brocade fabric.  The fabric really doesn't have that much give to it, and having a wider sleeve with make it easier and more comfortable to wear.  Giving more mobility and such.

A close up of the completed frog closures.  You can also get a good look at the piping around the collar and the front opening.

This is the first garment that I've made everything on.  Granted I didn't make the snap on this, but that was the only thing I didn't make myself.  Daunting as that may sound it really didn't take that much extra time to make the piping and the frog closures, and it was well worth it.  The colors look amazing together, and I have a great feeling of pride and accomplishment for having done so.  The New Look pattern calls for piping around the collar and bottom as well as the front.  I took that idea and applied it to this tunic.  I put piping around the collar, the visible flap in the front opening, around the bottom, and at the bottom of the sleeves.  I also lined the inside of the whole tunic with a light weight cotton fabric that I had in storage to help protect that brocade.  (Admit it we all sweat from time to time, and it can damage fabrics as well as the oils in our skin.  Moving on.)  For a closer look at the piping I made, and a tutorial on how to make it yourself take a look at my earlier post A Do-It-Yourself Guide to Making Piping.

The beginnings of a frog closure.  I still need to sew it together to secure the knot.

Both patterns call for four frog closures I opted for two due to the size of the ones that I made.  These aren't the normal ones that you will find in a store.  I wanted something that was unique that fit more with the pattern printed on the fabric.  Besides the only color I could find in a store was black or gold.  Neither fit the color scheme of the tunic well.  I did have to special order the cording online to get the color I wanted, but that is fairly common.

A super close up of the frog closures.  I was hoping to get a better picture of the cording I used to help show the colors in it, but it seems to look a bit like abstract art to me.  A rather fun photo.  :)

I found a frog closure I liked while looking through a friend's book.  I even found a tutorial online explaining how to make them, but I found it way to confusing.  However, I did find a really awesome tutorial on how to make a lovely trivet that I could easily modify to make a frog closure.  Here it is -------->  trivet.  One of these days I may pick up some rope to make the trivet.  I love the way it looks.  I still needed to make the knot or ball at the ends, but I found a simple easy to follow guide for that.  Check it out here --------->  frog closure tutorial.  Now I just need to find a reason to wear it.  >^.~<

Education, Aesthetics, and Mandalas! Say What?

I know this doesn't seem to pertain to crafting, cosplaying, and the rest of my blog. Yet, in all reality it very much does.  About a week ago a friend of mine posted an album on facebook of various mandalas that she had made.  She even has her own blog feel free to check it out here ---------> Adventrues of a Craftaholic.  The photo album also contained a link with a video that showed you how to make your own mandalas, and I tried it for myself.  I used to make patterns and designs in middle school using graph paper.  If I could find those I would post pictures of them as well, but alas, I have yet to find them.  Here is the video for the mandalas  -------> http://www.premaspace.com/mandalas/.

Something I've come to realize while I started making these is that I have a renewed sense of self and creativity.  I love learning new things, and I believe that education is a wonderful thing.  Even higher education.  That said there are some very fundamental things that are wrong with it.  Instead of trying to explain everything myself just watch this video made by the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.  It is an amazing video.  I think everyone should watch it.  ------*CLICKY*------->  Changing Education Paradigms.  Simply put our educational system smothers creative thinking.  We are taught that there is only one right answer to all things.  Which simply isn't true.  Yet for 12-13 years of our lives we are punished for thinking "out side the box".  Our educational systems teach us how to think.  We are afraid of thinking in a different way from fear of punishment.  Now that a lot of educational systems have gotten rid of their arts programs due to funding cuts I believe things will get worse.  Creative thinking is what you need for problem solving.  Having the ability to be in a situation and think your way out of is a critical life skill that many people are loosing.

Back when I was taking music education courses I had a professor sit us down for some rather thought provoking group discussions.  These ranged from "Define Art," "Define Music," to "Why is Art Important in Education."  These are rather important things to know and think about for any art or music educator.  Not that art education doesn't suffer the same problems as the rest of the educational system, but that it does support learning to think creatively on your own and learning to trust yourself.  A fascinating book is "The Perfect Wrong Note: Learning to Trust Your Musical Self" by William Westney.  I encourage everyone to read at least the first few chapters.  If you are a musician or the parent of a musical child I would encourage you to read the whole thing.  This is one of the few books I have two copies of.  One for me to always have on hand, and one to lend to people.  That is how much I love this book.  The main problem is that we are obsessed with notions of "perfection".  Our concepts of beauty and perfection are based on mathematics and symmetry (or something that is quantifiable and measurable).  There have been countless studies and papers written on this topic.

I've spent a large number of years living in an academic mind set.  23 year to be exact.  I love learning.  Working full time and going to college part time made my educational adventure take longer than I would have expected.  As a result of this.  I had lost my feeling of self, and my feeling of creativity.  These mandalas have helped my creativity come back.  Remember back in your high school days when you felt like you could do anything, be anything, take on the world?  I feel like that again.  I had lost myself, and now I have found myself again.  The trick is that no matter what you think at the beginning of your mandala keep going.  I've found that I don't really like what my mandalas look like after the first few steps, but I love what the finished product looks like.  There is quite a few great life lessons that come up while working on these for me.  Starting with "trust yourself," "there is no 'right' answer," and "we can't always see the whole picture from the small steps we make, but then in the end we will be left with something truly amazing."  Give it a try.  There is no harm in it, and there may be some marvelous life lessons in it for you as well.

Thanks for the tip Vicky, and happy mandalaing to everyone.  >^.~<