Random Encounter

  Obligatory photo in the hotel room because the second boots hit asphalt, all bets are off.   Wore the hat through the airport because both it and the box were too bulky and there's no way that's getting crushed. Big hit. No, seriously. If you ever want walk-by compliments, I highly recommend wearing a silly hat through an airport. It will make someone's day. Think of yourself like the frozen watermelons they give polar bears in July.    Truth be told I was really only planning to wear the costume one day. Locals tend to bristle when you point this out, but Atlanta in September tends towards the hot and humid. And you gotta walk. A lot .   Also, technically the hotel I was staying at isn't even on this map.    What? You think I'm making "stays at host hotel" kind of money? Flattered, but no.   Anyway, flipping through schedule and saw a FF shoot. Told myself I'd go if I got ready in time. And if they didn't look bothered. And if I got ready in t...

   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-...

No, as a matter of fact I'm not drawing him the same way twice.  Thank you for noticing.  Trim came in! Time to get into the real meat and potatoes of this. And by that I mean actually cut some blasted fabric. None of this "sewing counter the size of a garage" crap here, thank you. You'll take your "not nearly large enough breakfast bar/floor" work space and like it.   If you're wondering why this has been cut into two sections, again, it's because of the pile. Since this drapes over the shoulder, if it is cut out of a single piece then one side is going to be a nice raspberry pink instead of a cherry red. Which would stick out even more up against the cherry red coat. But if they're cut into two different pieces, then I can make sure the pile is running down on both sides are the same--and appropriate--shade of red.   This illustrates what I'm talking about with the color shifting. Hopefully. Blogger doesn't let you preview an uploaded ...

snip, snip, snip Welcome back! Starting work on the cloak this time. Don't have a pattern for this, but I do have a general idea of the shape. Or at least a starting point. Picture courtesy of fanplusfriend.com   This is noticeably different from the original sketch, but it'll work a bit better with the actual jacket. At least it shouldn't need the weird belts and straps pulling from the opposite shoulder. Assuming I can pull something like this off.   Honestly if this was red, not black, I'd be giving serious thought to just sucking it up and buying it. No shame in just buying a thing--but it's not red. So I won't.   Anyway, capes are generally just semi-circles and rectangles. The general idea, if you were curious, is this: The level of award winning illustrations you've come to expect from this blog.   So! With that in mind, time to pull out the computer paper and muslin and start playing with shapes. The "8-bit" version, if you will.   Basic sh...