Day 6: The beginning

I again apologize for not posting the same day as I did some of the work.
So I went to the Seamstress' office and took out the pattern that I cut out the day before.
We got fabric that would be the rough draft of the cut of the poncho.
So I began cutting the middle part out, the main part.
After I did that, I went over to the sewing machine and sewed it together.
After that, I cut out the sleeves, sewed them to the middle piece.
When we did that, we forgot that in the back the poncho is longer than the front. So we took more of the material and cut and pined them in the back.
I do want the poncho to be a little bit shorter than the actual length that Natalie wears because that was designed to be over a dress and I would be wearing this poncho over pants and possibly a dress in the future.
So after we did that, I put it on myself so I could see the things that need to be changed. First of all, the v-neck needed to be longer and the whole front piece needs to be longer. The length of the sleeves were fine, but they need to be wider. So we took apart the rough draft of the poncho to make changes.
That's where I left off. The Seamstress will take care of making the changes, I am very grateful for that, and when I return on the 15th, we will get started in cutting out he actual fabric.
I apologize for not taking any pictures, I will surely take some the next time I go.
Also, I talked to the Seamstress about the lining and I told her I wanted the lining to be soft. She said that  cotton would be fine, as long as it doesn't stretch too much. So we will get cotton probably this week. In the photo, the lining is a light blue, almost baby blue so we will get that color. I want to keep the poncho as close to the original as possible.

Day 5: The basics

I apologize for not posting on Saturday like I said, I wasn't feeling good the whole weekend and I was struggling through to be able to have my first day making the poncho.
So I went to where the Seamstress' office / working place is and she showed me the basics of sewing and making your own clothing, like the sewing machine, how to cut and exedra.
It was surprisingly easy for me to learn! My favorite was the sewing machine.
The Seamstress asked me to cut out the pattern we picked out over the week so I will do that probably tomorrow.
I have to search for the lining this week, I am having issues with that because the lining thats good for it is a poly lining and it's the lining that's inside of coats or a suit jacket. It's not really soft.
The lining that's in the picture of the actual poncho looks very soft, like cotton. Unfortunately, cotton shrinks if put in the washer and dryer.
So I need to find a material that won't shrink and also is soft.
This detail matters to me because I never liked poly lining material. It was never comfortable to me, I just had to wear it because it's inside of coats.
Now that I think about it, silk would be fine as lining. I see it in a lot of coats too so maybe I should look for that.
But that's really all that happened Saturday, I will be at the office on Friday and stay longer so I should actually be done cutting out the material by then and send it to the embroiderer.
After that I will have to hand stitch certain parts of the poncho so the Seamstress will teach me that and she says it's very easy and fun so I am looking forward to that.
I should be done in no time with this project, it just depends how long the embroidery will take and me hand embroidering the V-neck and sleeves. But I am very excited and I cannot wait to be done so I can wear it and show it off to people.

Day 4: The fabric has arrived!

I know it's been a while, but there hasn't been anything to post.
I ordered the fabric about 2 weeks ago and there wasn't any word of where it was. So I tracked the shipment and they sent the fabric to the wrong address. So I had to wait another week, but it finally came!
I ordered 4 yards of the material just to be safe. If I ran out of fabric and ordered more, the color would be right. There wouldn't be a difference, so we have extra.
Now that I finally have the fabric, we can get started! All I really need is just the lining and that's it!
I am so excited to get started, this will be an unforgettable experience.
I should be starting this weekend, I can't really do a lot during the week because of school, so I will mostly be working on the poncho during the weekends.
Stay tuned, I should be posting the first day of making the poncho on Saturday...

Day 3: Search for the beads

I apologize for taking a long time to post another day. I was pretty busy, but here it is! So for this day we searched for the beads. I assumed that finding them would be a breeze because they were so simple. I mean how hard could it be to find wooden navy blue beads? Well it was, sort of. So let's start from the beginning.
We went over to the craft store and looked around the bead area. We looked and looked, but couldn't find anything remotely similar to the ones on the poncho.
And just to remind you how the beads look like, here you go:

They don't have to be exactly the same, but a least the same color. I could live with a little bit of change. It's not like people are going to be paying attention to the bottom. Even in the movie you don't really notice the beads. So while looking around, my mom bumped into one of our neighbors and it turns out that she does beading. So she was trying to help us find the beads, but still no luck. She suggested we go to another store that has a wide selection of beads and it was pretty close. So we left the craft store and went over to the place she suggested.
We get to the store and look in the isle where they have the beads. They had a pretty good amount so we were happy about that.
We looked around and we did find something!

They are definitely different from the actual poncho, with the beads being glossy or shiny, and having paintings on them, but they still have the same feel. The color is a navy blue and the brown beads are brown. As you see behind is the fabric I am using, I wanted to put them all together so you can see how great they go together.
So our search was short and sweet. Thank goodness!
Also, I wanted to show the ribbons I mentioned, but never took a picture.

So those are the ribbons' colors. Exactly like the original, and it of course wasn't hard to find.

After we found the beads, we went to the embroiderer to see if they could make the design and they could. They could do everything except the stitching around the edge of the sleeves and on the V-neck part.

As you see on the edge of the sleeve.
So I will have to do that part myself by hand. But it's okay, it seems like it's pretty simple to do. But I will definitely practice a few times before I start on the actual fabric.

I also want to mention that I did order the fabric and it should be coming any day now.
I start the basics tomorrow. I will probably modify the pattern I have and things like that. I will definitely take pictures to show what I will be doing.
So that's basically all that's happen since the last post. I am extremely excited and I have already begun to sketch other ideas I have.
One look I'm particularly interested in doing is the coat that Marion Cotillard wears in "The Dark Knight Rises" set photos. I think it's really nice and simple to do so it might be my next project after this. I can wear it to "The Dark Knight Rises" premiere, that would be awesome!
But I will probably be posting something tomorrow on how the first day goes.

Day 2: Search for the fabric

So this is the second time I've searched for the fabric. This time I have overall decided what I am going to get. I went back to the store and the woman that worked there from last time gave me swatches of the one I found and others that are similar. I took them and thanked her, and left. I didn't buy the fabric yet because I still have to consult with the seamstress that's helping me with the project to make sure it will be okay to sew and cut and everything.
So when I got back home, I took pictures of the swatches so I can put them up here.

This is one of them. The color is quite dull compared to the actual poncho fabric, and in person it's pretty light, weight wise, actually too light for the poncho.








As you can see in this second swatch, the color is a little bit more bluer. Like the first one also, it is a little bit too light in weight. It has a linen feel to it too.







This one you can tell has more visible stitches. Also, in person, this is heavier than the first two. But it still is too silky and the color is in the direction of indigo or a cooler purple.

This one is almost perfect. The color is on the right track, it's not a silk feeling, it's heavy enough, and it has a visible weave. The only thing though is that even though the real poncho has a visible weave, it's more softer. But it doesn't have to be exactly the same so this is what I am going to get for the fabric.  I am going to talk with the Seamstress tomorrow if it's okay to use and then if so, I will be able to get the fabric and hopefully get started! I will be posting on this blog the exact day I start cutting it and putting it together. I am very excited and I can't wait to wear it. As I said, if this is a success, I will continue making outfits from movies. I think I will stay in Star Wars because all of the clothes are gorgeous and so unique, but I am interested in making maybe things from 'Pirates of the Caribbean'. The outfit Keira Knightly wears in 'At World's End' when she is the Pirate Lord of the South China Sea (mouth full) is really nice. I would love to walk around my house in that! But it would be a cool outfit to wear for Halloween or maybe Comic-con if I can ever go. Also it's just cool to have that put on display in my room. So we'll see! First I have to complete this!

Day 1: Search for the fabric

So I originally started looking for the fabric on Saturday,  but forgot to post and I didn't search for the fabric again until today. So technically this is day 2. So I will start with Saturday.
So I searched up different local fabric stores by me and went to look. The first one I went to was more for upholstery, but the fabric used in the poncho looked very unique so I still looked around the store and found a fabric that might work. Unfortunately, it is a really dark navy blue so that was unusable, but I got a swatch anyways just in case that was all I could find. The next store I wrote down was extremely close to the first fabric store, but it was closed. So I popped out my phone and searched for more local fabric stores. The next one I went to was a clothing fabric store. So I looked around that one and couldn't find anything remotely similar to the poncho's fabric. But luckily I met a Seamstress there and we talked some and I showed her the pictures of the poncho and she thinks it's a great first project because making the poncho itself will be pretty easy. We talked more and she is going to help me with the poncho because I am not a professional at this so I am so glad I met her. We looked in the books that they had there and we found a pattern that we can modify for the shape so I bought that, but that was the only thing I bought at that fabric store.
She told me of another fabric store out of my city, but close, that is gigantic. So I went to that one and she was right, it was huge! Unfortunately I still couldn't find it there either. But I did find the ribbon colors on the bottom of the poncho.

As you can see on the left there are mixed colors of a mustard yellow, orange and a pink-ish purple color. So I found the exact colors of those. For the beads it looks like it might be African. But I will look in a craft store to see if I find at least navy blue beads. It doesn't have to be exact like in the picture, but close enough.





There were other fabric stores I found, but one was not where the phone said it was, one was in a half broken down building and I didn't think it was a good idea to go into it, and the others were closed. So that ended the first day of me trying to find the fabric.
For today I went back to the store that was closed to see if maybe they had something. Unfortunately it was an interior designer trade place. But the girl that worked there was so nice and said that she is an interior designer herself and has a membership there so I could buy it through her. So she let me look around and I did find something.

(This is the actual fabric of the real poncho)
The fabric I found has a visible weave, like the picture on the left, it's not made by wool (at least I don't think it is) but it has that weave and it is almost the exact color. So I didn't buy it because I forgot the measurements and the Seamstress that's helping me told me sites to look at. But I think I am almost sure that I will be getting the one I found. The girl at the store told me that she has other fabrics close to that one so she will write down the others she finds. But I am absolutely happy that I think I found the fabric. It's a little bit different than the actual fabric, but I knew that I would probably not be able to find the exact kind. But with that almost out of the way, I will be almost ready to get started. The Seamstress is going out of town for 2 weeks, but while she is there she will see if she can find any fabrics if I don't buy the one I found, which I probably will. But that's all the stuff that went on and I am really excited that I've started! Stay tuned for updates to come!

Tempted

Okay, so I love 'Star Wars' a lot and I am a huge fan. I have always loved the costumes in the movies, especially the prequels, and lately I have been really tempted to try to make one of the costumes. When I was younger and first saw the outfits Padmé Amidala wore in all three episodes, I've always wanted to wear them. It's fun to dress up in a unique style clothing and those are my dream clothes to wear. All of her wardrobe through the three movies are gorgeous, but I want to make an item of clothing that I can wear in public. So what really caught my eye was this:

I don't want the dress underneath, even though it's pretty, what I really want is the poncho. I think it is so beautiful and I always loved the type of patterns on it. I read that the designs were inspired by things in Australia. I love to wear things on me that reference movies, but not directly. I do have T-shirts saying the title of a movie, but then I have things that only really real fans would get. Like I have The One Ring from 'Lord of the Rings', but only people that watch the movie and pay attention to stuff like that would get the reference. And I have a chain on my bag that I wear that says "Privet Drive" on it. If you pay attention in the movies, Harry Potter, Harry lives with his Aunt, Uncle and Cousin and their house is on Privet Drive. I like wearing things that are recognizable to diehard fans, so this poncho is a great way of that. But it's a really beautiful poncho and I think that I am actually going to try and make this myself. It would be a great thing to wear in the Fall and Winter and it looks really comfortable. I know that it's going to be a lot of work and I might not be done for months, but I really love this and when I start I will definitely keep this blog updated on my progress. I know how to to the basic hand sewing, but I'm not a pro at doing this. So I will probably have professional help on the cutting and patterns. If I do this one right, I could make it a hobby of mine to make 'Star Wars' outfits, or any other clothing I might like in a movie or picture.