The Overlock (Day 394)

I made another cat hat today, a plain pink one meant to look like the Pokemon Mew's ears. It's still going to only cost $10. As mentioned in the last post, plain cat hats will be $10, but instead, Pokemon hats with only the ears and maybe a head decoration (like Meowth's coin) will be $15 (with a few exceptions), cat ears with eyes will be $20, and Pokemon hats with eyes, ears, tail, and identifying details will be $25 - $30, depending on the amount of detail and the number of pieces. Hair ribbons will remain $3 each or two for $5, and clip-on cat ears (if I ever get around to making them) will be $5. I figure, the more range of price I have, the more likely I am to make money.

I noticed this a lot at Kin-Yoobi, but I've noticed that I do it too, People would be drawn to my booth by the Pokemon hats, but when they heard the price, they'd be discouraged, and usually buy one of the hair ribbons instead. When I'm drawn to a booth, but can't afford what drew me there, I still feel compelled to buy something from that booth. So if people can't afford $30, they go for $25, if they can't afford $25, they go for $15, etc., etc. So the more price range I have, the better off I'll be.

I also cleaned up my sewing area. I guess this would be a good time to let you know what exactly my "sewing area" is. It's an add on / alcove in the front bedroom of the house. It's probably about five feet by twelve feet, I've never measured, but it's tiny. In it is a sewing cabinet, an ironing board, and a desk. A giant desk.

For the longest time, it was just a sewing machine on the sewing table. The ironing board was in the closet, and there were a bunch of papers and my mom's awards on the desk. Then the ironing board became a permanent fixture in the room. And today, Mom and I cleared off the giant desk and put the surger/overlock machine on it that was given to us about a year ago. It's a big desk, the surger only takes up about a tenth of it, even when it's fully opened, but in all fairness, it's a small surger.

Setting up the thing was a pain though. I actually set it up on the sewing table first, with my poor sewing machine balancing precariously on the edge. I decided that a good thing to do would be to un-thread it, and then re-thread it, just to teach myself how. The instructions were really easy to understand, up until one part, but at that one part, not only was it hard to figure out what to do, it was also very hard to do it. I can't explain exactly what I had to do, but imagine threading a needle through a toilet paper roll, it was pretty similar to that.

One I got it threaded, I messed with the tension a bit (it still needs work) and got it to work on a scrap piece of fleece from one of my hats. The main reason I keep smaller pieces of fabric is so that I have something to test on when the sewing machine acts up, and now I can use them for the surger too.

The surger is also kinda dirty still, it could use a once-over with a damp cloth, and I'll have to *gulp* re-thread it. Because the thread it was given to me with is all different colors. I left it that way to learn how to thread it so that I wouldn't get the threads mixed up. Turns out it was fairly easy to thread, and I could have used all the same color, but.. That's life, I suppose.

Prior to setting up the surger, I re-organized the sewing cabinet for what feels like the thousandth time since I started sewing. I somehow cleared off several shelves inside, but most of that was because there were empty boxes in there that I was able to put stuff in that I rarely used. Like the thousands of buttons we have. No, really, I'm pretty sure there's thousands. Found some cool stuff, stabbed myself on some super sharp scissors, and organized the different kinds of pins that I have. It's probably not much different, other than the fact that my pins are now on the left side of the cabinet instead of the right, but it feels a lot cleaner, and that's always a good thing.

All my little sewing alcove needs is a dressform and that rack that you hang clothes on to steam them. I already have a steamer, I just don't use it. Oh! And a sleeve ironing board and a ham. (No, not the edible kind of ham, the sewing kind.) Oh, and I also need about twice the space that I have now. My mom has been talking about getting rid of the bed that's in the front bedroom, but it doesn't seem to be happening any time soon. If I want more room, I'll probably have to get rid of a ton of stuff in my bedroom or something, but there's a double-sized bed in there, and only a twin in here (and the computer, four chairs, two tables, and two desks). So I'm stuck for now.

Mom says she's going to try to get me a dress form for Christmas! I'm so ridiculously excited, anyone who doesn't sew (and some people who do) can't even comprehend how excited I am! If all goes as planned, I'll be getting a Dritz® Twin Fit Dressform in the Petite size. The Dritz® and Singer® dressforms are on sale, but only the "normal" sizes (small, small/medium, medium, medium/large, and large), and the small is one inch too big at the bust. It's a little upsetting, but on the bright side, I'm one inch away from being "normal" sized! I was shocked when I measured my waist and found that it was twenty-five inches and not twenty-four anymore! I'm so excited and proud of myself! A little upset, honestly, because, in theory, a twenty-four inch waist is "ideal" but that must be a lie, because a twenty-four inch waist is no bueno.

ANYWAY! If I don't get a dressform (*tear*) I'd be almost as happy to get a sleeve ironing board. A tiny one because i have tiny sleeves for tiny arms. I am so tired of trying not to make creases in sleeves and pants when ironing them. Below that, a ham would be awesome, because I hate darts enough already, so at least ironing them should be easy.

Whee! I feel like my little sewing space is almost complete! Only missing *counts on fingers* four more items! And more space... Lots more space. I'll figure something out when the time comes. Currently, my sewing area fits together like a puzzle. In order to have room near the surger, the ironing board has to be pushed to the left, but in order to open the sewing cabinet, the ironing board needs to be pushed to the right. A rolling chair will eliminate one of the chairs in there, and we have one in the garage. A dressform would most likely sit in the middle of the sewing area, and be brought out into the middle of the room when in use. I also cut my fabric in the middle of the room, haha.

As for actual planned cosplay progress, I looked more into wigs for mine and my boyfriend's Magikarp cosplays. Originally, we had budgeted for $50 wigs, because that's what the local store always charges me, but I looked at Cosplay.com's wigs, and they're a lot cheaper, even accounting for shipping. At the moment, we're considering Cosplay.com's S-02 Medium Bob Wig in dark red, and we'd take it to the local wig shop to get bangs cut into it, because I know I can't cut bangs for the life of me. Last time that I only wanted bangs cut into a wig, it was free, he also thinned the wig some, and game me a free wig head. So even if he charges a little next time, I'd still like to go back. =]