Preparing for the Harry Potter Premiere --- the Cheap Way!

Yes, I've done the costume thing. I probably would again this year, except the group I'm going with doesn't do costumes and it's really not fun to do it by yourself. Plus, little time. So instead I decided to paint a themed T-shirt, which cost less than $10 and took me all of two hours (if even that) to complete.

First of all, since t-shirts these days (even ladies ones) aren't meant for people with curves, I had to do some alteration.
Taking the tee off with pins on proved impossible, so I used my dressmakers wax to mark the pin line.
Sewed a straight line on the wax, then reinforced with zig zag, always a good idea with knit fabric.
Fits perfectly!
Now, how to place the front logo so that it's centered and not running off the sides? I placed the safety pin while wearing the Tee, then used a ruler to measure off the rest of the rectangle.
I wanted the Harry Potter logo on the front, so I looked up a picture on the internet and freehanded the lettering.
Filling in the lettering. It's important not to get too much paint in there, so actually if I just did a single line down the middle and swirled the sides and middle together, it filled everything in nicely.
And done! Up close it's kind of bumpy, but two or three feet away it looks great!
Let dry for four hours, then repeat on opposite side!
I pondered for quite awhile over what I wanted to do on the back. Finally I decided on the Ravenclaw theme because it's cool and suits me and didn't give away any plot things so I can wear it wherever I want and not worry about spoiling fans who haven't read/seen everything yet.

Are you going to the premiere in costume/themed clothing? I'd LOVE to see it! Share your link in the comments!

One Dress. 100 Days. For Orphans.

Have you ever wondered how many different ways you can wear a little black dress (the staple of any fashionable young woman's wardrobe). Well, Miss elaini ous' is demonstrating 100 different styles in an effort to raise awareness for the plight of orphans. Each day she wears a little black dress in a different way, and at the end she hopes to have raised $50,000 for orphans.

Miss elani's story struck a real chord with me. Of course I appreciated the fashion side, and I've also felt a real pull to the cause of orphans ever since I first read the story of Amy Carmichael as a child. However, the third part is what I find most astonishing and inspiring. Like me, Miss elani has suffered from severe health problems over the last few years -- so severe that on many days she couldn't even move. When her health returned, instead of thinking of how many of her own dreams she could fulfill, she instead decided to put her time and effort into helping parentless children in the name of Christ.

She has currently raised just under $8,000 and has only 27 days to raise the remaining $40,000. Will you give her a hand? Even if you can't donate (and you can give in any amount you wish!), you can assist her greatly by posting her story on your blog, facebook, tumblr or twitter!

Find out more about Miss elani, see her fabulous fashions, and donate here: http://misselainious.com/

How to Turn a Skirt into a Sundress - Part Two

At last! Part two appears! I actually finished the dress quite awhile ago, but with movie editing I simply didn't have time to write this post up.

However it is now the inaugeral sewing journal entry for "Confessions of a Seamstress"

Forgotten part one? Refresh your memory here: http://elenatintil.blogspot.com/2011/04/how-to-turn-skirt-into-sundress-part.html

When we last left off, I had just finished the skirt. I then started pulling the pieces I had left together and figuring out what was going to go where. Kind of like a puzzle... (this is why geometry was my strongest math subject in high school)
I didn't have enough of the lining to do this in one continuous strip, but the principle of this bodice was that I wrapped a rectangle around my torso and then pinned the darts accordingly. It's not a perfect method and needs some tweaking, but I think it can work well enough with practice.
After pinning the darts, I cut them open (leaving seam allowances) so that I could easily replicate the pieces.
I then doubled the cut side over and copied the lines on the other side of the rectangle...
And then cut and assembled the blue fabric as well. Voila!
I wanted to do straps, but I wanted them to have more structure than just long square strips. So I took a piece of woven trim that had originally been at the bottom of the skirt, separated it from the excess fabric and...
...used it to trim the center edges of the straps!
Next I started work on the belt. I wanted it to be fairly stiff, so I added stabilizer.
The finished belt.
The bodice was still a bit loose around the waist, so I took in some more darts.

And added a zipper of course!

I have to tweak the straps a bit and then I hope to have a proper photo shoot before summer quite vanishes...

Welcome!

Welcome to the sewing headquarters of Miss Elizabeth Hausladen, often referred to online as 'Elenatintil.'

Or, in other words, me.

My numerous projects have been such a major feature on my personal blog that I decided to start a blog just for sewing. Since I'm going to be majoring in Apparel and Textiles when I transfer to a new college this fall, the timing just made sense.

While I work on getting everything set up and running here, you can browse through my previous work here: http://elenatintil.blogspot.com/p/costume-design-diaries.html

And check back soon! I have several new projects to share with you all!