A Very Supernatural Christmas

Since I was in college, I've always had a little tree in my room to decorate for Christmas.  The tradition started when I went Dumpster Diving at the end of a spring semester and came across a small pink Christmas tree.  I kept it in my apartment and decorated it for each holiday.  I parted with the tree a couple years ago, but last year I bought a new white tree with colored lights.  That year I decorated with with pink, girly items.  This year, I wanted a fandom tree.  I really wanted Person of Interest, but it was too hard to think of feasible ornaments:

After a long debate with my Mom, I decided on Supernatural.  Of course, I started with Cas as the Tree Topper.

"You should show me some respect."  Sorry, Cas...

I wanted something reminiscent of the angel blades, so I went with a silver cone design for the topper.  This was pretty easy to make, really.  Roll up some cardboard, use some shiny material (I cut up a Mylar emergency blanket^^'), then print out your favourite version of Cas.  Caveat, though: I would use stiff paper for the wings so they don't droop or tape a popsicle stick or something behind them.  I was much too lazy to do this at first, so I ended up covering the wings in clear packing tape--sorted!

S...h...i...n...y...

Finding ornaments for this tree was difficult, so I had to get pretty creative/weird.  My brother, Luke, donated his cap gun to the tree (which was a blessing, as that meant he no longer used it to shoot the noisy, smelly caps in the hallway).  I also added a blue Christmas pick, for Cas' eyes.

 I used a tie as the "garland", but I liked it better tied backwards, so I just draped it over the tree.  Up top there is a black muscle car for the Impala (I'm ashamed to say it's a convertible, but that's all I could find at Hobby Lobby...)  Now, I really wanted a cheeseburger ornament for Dean, but those proved to be ridiculously hard to find, so I settled for a diner with on on the sign.  Next to it is a slice of pie for Dean (also a confection for Gabriel).  Below that is a sock monkey for Misha.

On the opposite side are a few angel items: the single white feather for Cas and the gold wing-shaped heart for my angel ships (couldn't help myself).

Why, yes, this bookshelf IS mostly comprised of manga...

And, there you have it.  All in all, I'm pretty happy with my Supernatural tree.  This year I'll keep an eye out for anything else I can add to it next Christmas.  So far I need a hex bag, pentagram-something, gun, something for Sam (can you BELIEVE I couldn't find ONE moose ornament?!), and more for secondary-characters.  

Leave me some suggestions in the comments!!

Tennant Suit Part 3: Finishing the Jacket

Let's see...I left off with the jacket right before I was supposed to put the lining in.  As I said, I really wanted to have the three welted pockets on the inside lining, just like the original jacket.  After learning what NOT to do the hard way on the pants, I finished those and got back to work on the jacket.

Before tackling the inside, I decided that I didn't like the top welted breast pocket of the original pattern.  I mean, it looked fine and (UGH!) I actually did a pretty good job on it, but it was completely the wrong kind of pocket for the Tennant suit.  So, instead, I took it upon myself to construct a box pocket from scratch.

Voila!  It was actually a really easy pocket to form and, fortunately, it fit right over the first one, so you can't tell!  Hah!  The hardest part was getting all the stripes to line up.  Because of the pattern, you can see the left side is a bit wonky, but I'll still call this one a win.

Those freakin' LAPELS!  They were the WORST part of this suit!

I dunno, guys, I'm kinda liking the vest look...

After attaching the arms and sewing the back of the lining, I was ready to inset it into the suit.  Now, I could have made things easy on myself and simply did the pockets before sewing the lining into the suit, but the Tennant jacket pockets were situated partly on the inside of the striped fabric and Rassilon-forbid I do it any differently!

Here's an in-progess shot of the first welted pocket of the lining:

It's hard to tell in the pictures I've seen of the Tennant suit, but I think the welts are colored differently from the gabardine lining.  Luckily, I was able to scavenge some gold lining from my steampunk dress (blog post pending).  

First pocket done!  Now, the trick to this high one was that it had to be long and thin for the sonic screwdriver.  Also, I had to position it just right so I could reach into the pocket without having to unbutton the suit.  The corners are a bit off, but I figure it's on the inside, so whatever.

Now, it's about midnight, I get the final pocket done, then THIS happens:

One day and two Joann's later, I finally got another spool of Seal Brown.  I've never used up a whole spool of thread on a single project before.  This should give you some indication of how much late-night seam-ripping went into this suit...

After finishing all three welted pockets on the lining, I then began the arduous task of sewing the lining to the jacket.  This involved sewing perfectly straight lines to match up the hems from the back of the jacket and the front of the lining so you don't see any stitches.  Needless to say, sewing in a straight line is not something I'm known for...

The final part of the suit was sewing the back flap and hem, which all had to be done by hand so it didn't show on the outside (Time Lords are anything but tacky, celery notwithstanding).  At the last minute I remembered I also had to make the back cinch, but that was pretty easy, considering.  Also, I should mention, this last part happened the afternoon of October 31...

And, there you have it.  My Tennant Suit is complete!  I wish I had pictures from wearing it on Hallowe'en, but sadly they were all too dark.  As soon as the weather warms up again, I'm heading out to the lake for a proper photoshoot.

Well, what did you think?  Does it look authentic enough?  For someone who only took one semester of Sewing class, I figure it turned out pretty well.  Thanks for reading and stay turned--next up are some steamy projects!

Tennant Suit Pt 2: The Trousers from Hell

You may remember from the last post that I wanted to learn how to make welted pockets for the inner lining of the suit.  Since the pants pattern had those pockets in the back, I decided to put the suit on hold and start on the pants, then go back and finish the lining once I got a few pockets under my belt.  I have to say, if nothing else, I learned a great many things during this project that I will use later on.  Unfortunately, it was in a "here's what NOT to do next time" capacity...

The pattern I chose for the trousers was Burda 7447:

The several languages before English should have been a clue...

I suppose I could have found a men's pattern, but I figured I may as well make something that would actually fit well, so I went with a women's instead.  I mainly chose this one because of the back pockets, which most of the other pants patterns I found lacked.  

Of course, again it turned out that I would probably have faired better simply adding the pockets on my own without following the pattern.  What I didn't realize was that the pants pockets in the pattern were single welted--they only had one fold that shows on the outer fabric to frame the pocket opening.  For my Tennant trousers, I needed a double-welted pocket.  Plus a button.  Plus a button loop.  Naturally.  

On the left you see my original attempt to make a single-welted pocket.  That actually worked quite well.  Then, imagine my shock and horror when I flipped the pants over and realized that it was not the pocket I had been anticipating...

After I ripped the whole thing back out, I realized that the patter only allowed for one welt.  In order to make it look the way I wanted, I would have to completely re-enginier the entire pocket placement.  Joy.  The photo on the right is my new and improved model.  After many hours of toil.

I'd like to take credit for the fact that the top and bottom welts match
perfectly, but, alas, it was simply an unexpected miracle.

Above is my first, mostly freehanded, attempt at a double-welted pocket.  The hardest part with these pockets is getting the corners even.  As you can see, my technique could still use some work.  Happily, the button loop was not too hard and I even managed to get the one blue stripe exactly in the middle.  Huzzah!

SUCCESS!!!

Here's the finished pocket on the other side of the pants.  Sadly, the welting was not perfect (hence the wrinkles) but after hours of trying to get them right, I figured that I really didn't want anyone inspecting my backside closely enough to notice any sewing mishaps.  

Other than the pockets, the pattern worked fairly well.  I learned how to make yolk pockets for the side (I highly recommend these--they are much easier than regular pockets!), how to install a flap zipper in the front (agony!!), and, after many years of terror at the very thought, how to use the buttonhole maker on my sewing machine (with mixed results).  

Come back for the Tennant Suit Pt 3: Return of the Jacket!

Stargate Command

So, today I realized that I hadn't yet saved the link to this blog in my Bookmarks Bar so that I might have easier access to it.  (Read: "So that I do not forget it exists--because, that is really what the Bookmark Bar is for".)  Since I save so many useful links up there, I have come up with a system for shortening each website name so that I can stuff as many as possible up there.  Most of them consist of initials, like A03 for archiveofourown.com or DA for Deviantart.com.

Following this ingenuous system, I went to my website, hit the "+" button, and proceeded to type in the initials "SGC" for SteamGeek Crafts, before saving it to my Bar.  Then I immediately began to giggle a gleeful fan giggle.  SGC just also happens to be the nickname for Stargate Command, the secret Air Force facility underneath Cheyenne Mountain that monitors alien activity in the TV show Stargate SG1.  Now, whenever I think of my blog, it is synonymous with this:

I just might go here and order a patch now...

Job well done, geek.

Trust Me: I'm the Doctor. My Tennant Suit Journey Pt. 1

So, I got it in my head that for Hallowe'en I was going to be the 10th Doctor from Doctor Who.   I already had a sonic screwdriver (yanno, just lying around), so why not build an entire costume around one small accessory?  Seems legit.  For a couple of months over the summer (yes, I plan my costume that far ahead--doesn't everyone?) I looked around at thrift stores and whatnot for a brown suit with blue stripes so I could emulate David Tennant's suit in the show:

I can't even...Gah!

You wouldn't think it would be that hard, right?  WRONG!  I mean, it wasn't like I was looking for the original pairs of GAP pants that the suit was made from.  I just wanted something close, vaguely similar, even.  Turns out this was too high an order.  Thanks, world, way to make something that should have been easy super-complicated.

Fine, then, if life gave me lemons, I was just going to make my own freakin' suit.  WRONG AGAIN!  Guess what I discovered: there is no fabric currently available that even remotely matches the suit pattern.  Turns out life had handed me rocks instead of lemons.  

Finally, I was able to track down (via Pinterest, my go-to craft haven/ time waster) a fan-made pattern available on Spoonflower.com.  It was pretty expensive and not the best fabric I could have hoped for, but it would do in a pinch and by now I was determined to prove the world wrong--I was going to make this suit or go starkers for Hallowe'en!

After a couple weeks, my fabric arrived in the mail.  I was overjoyed (and a little frantic--it was now September 26 and I had less than 1 month to make this suit).  The colors were actually not too bad and the pattern did look pretty close to the original suit.  I'm not a fan of printed fabric (poke too many holes in it and you get white spots and runs) but time was running short.  The hardest part was guessing how much to buy.  At around $20/yard, I did NOT want to buy more than I needed, nor did I want to end up with too little, because that might lead to an embarrassing situation... 

Above is the fabric, all pretty and pressed, just waiting for me to hack it to pieces with my trusty sewing scissors.  Because there was no way I was making this from scratch, I found a couple of patterns that I hoped would serve my purposes.  I ended up with this Burda 7134 for the jacket portion.  Turns out that was a mistake, but more on that later.

Really, Heather, "advanced difficulty"?
What did you think was going to happen?

  Blithely unaware of the terrors that awaited me, I began the first cutting.  Things began smoothly enough, got the front and pack pieces all sewn together with little mishap (though basting turned out to be a nightmare, thanks to the white inner core of the fabric).

"OMG--it really looks like a jacket!!!"

Those pocket holes became the bane of my existence...

Now, I wasn't going to attempt anything fancy, mind, not like the faux-pockets on the real suit (where the opening was behind the flap instead of under it like usual) but little did I know that this pattern had some pretty odd ideas about pocket formation.  I won't traumatize you with the gory details, but let's just say it would have been easier do if I'd just winged it myself.  Which I eventually did in some places after a whole lot of seam-ripping.

What is this madness?!

Like the pockets, for example.  Look closely and you can see that the pattern just had me tack them on without properly tucking the edges under, thus leaving a ragged edge underneath.  Classy.

Eventually, I got the two front pockets sewn (mostly) to my satisfaction.  Here is where I had to stop.  I did some extensive research on the Tennant Suit because if I was going to do this thing, I wanted it to be as authentic as possible.  This Site is definitely the biggest help in that area--this bro has made a bunch of the Doctor's many outfits and is very detail-oriented.  

Anyway, I needed to learn how to make welted pockets for the inside of the lining (the jacket has three pockets on the inside) before I moved forward.  Luckily, the pants pattern I had picked out had welted back pockets, so I figured I could just replicate that part in the jacket lining after making the pants.  I eventually did, with varying degrees of success...

Stay turned for Part Two: Trousers from Hell.

Greetings, Geeky Friends!

Why, hello there.  I see that you have stumbled across my humble blog.  What good taste you have.  No, really.  If you think steampunk, geek stuff, or anything to do with TV shows like Doctor Who and Supernatural are cool, I can tell we're going to be fast friends.

Seriously, this is me EVERY DAY.

Since we're friends now, I suppose I should tell you a little about myself--you know, just in case someone asks you about this new friend you've been going on about and you're all like, "Uh, yeah...she is invisible and I know nothing about her..."

I read a lot of geeky blogs and I've done some fun geeky projects, but my family mostly doesn't appreciate them (ok, what they don't appreciate is the mess I leave in my wake).  Maybe you will.
I graduated from K-State with a Masters in Children's Literature, so now I am unemployed and sit at home writing Supernatural fanfiction and watching Once Upon a Time.  Ok, in addition to a couple real novels in the works.

So, that's me in a nutshell.  I hope you enjoy your stay at SteamGeek!