Random Encounter

Chances of the machine eating your project are low, but never zero.   Time for assembling the miscellaneous bits! Apologies, but this is going to jump around a bit. There are several little odds and ends that need to be taken care of before this whole mess gets packed up.   Formed a quick sheath out of black shelf liner. Yes, believe it or not you can run this through your machine. It will hate you for it, but you can totally do it. It's not exactly pretty, but it'll serve it's purpose well enough and now I won't have to worry about what to do if someone bumps into me and the sword breaks. Is there anything appliqué CAN'T class up?   Got some matching appliqué for the mask. They're in the same style as what is on the cape, so it looks like the mask is part of the outfit and not just something tacked on because of circumstances. The mask in question is just a sport mask, so it's light and very comfortable, but more importantly there's enough room to fit a...

   Okay, so last time we left off with shaping the cape and getting that sewn together all proper-like. This is a mage's cape, so it needs to be fancy. And nothing says fancy like embroidery .   I don't have my own machine, but buying premade appliqu é  patches is mercifully easy. These almost always have an iron on backing, but let me tell you a secret from many long years of being in scouts:   DON'T IRON ON PATCHES.   Or, rather, don't rely on ironing them. Invariably the glue is cheap and will give out. If you want make sure the appliqu é  stays put, you have to sew them on.   I'm sorry. The under stitching is kind of pretty, in a perverse "wow, that took a moment" way.   I mean, really sorry. Needle drew blood at least three times and slid under a fingernail at least once.   But yes. Brew a pot of coffee and buckle up, buttercup. Since the long side hasn't been sewn up yet, I pinned the appliqu é  patches into place-...

    Last time--if you can remember back that far, goodness knows it was a struggle for me--the hat style and size were determined and all the pattern pieces cut out. To help shape things, the pattern uses a much thicker interfacing and a double-sided one at that. So, you know the score by now. Cut out all the pieces, including the layers of interfacing.     As with every other time with the interfacing, it needs to be ironed to the fabric. Since this is double-sided, do yourself (and your ironing board) a favor and insert a sheet of parchment or wax paper between the interfacing and whatever you don't want micro-glued.     Okay, now take the long strip and make our crown. Pin the edges together, inside out. Stay stitch, then check to make sure the fit is good (I apologize for not having a photo of a shot so ridiculous). Make sure the edges are folded open, not both folded to one side or the other. Then do a regular stitch to lock the whole thing into place....