Phichit Chulanont Hamster Hats

The season finale of Yuri on Ice left me with many different emotions: happiness, contentedness, a bit of disappointment, hope for the next level.  But above all others: inspiration!

There is so much about this show that is praiseworthy.  The plot (and plot twists), the animation, the relateable characters, the healthy relationships.  This anime was a powerhouse from start to finish.  It's been a long time since something struck me so deeply.

In the finale, we got a peek into many of the skaters' minds as they performed.  I think I speak for the entire fandom when I say how sweet and perfect Phichit's inner monologue was.  He's such a bright ray of sunshine.  Optimistic.  Confident.  A skilled skater with a ton of potential.  I think the world needs more Phichits to brighten up the day!  His dream of having a skate show because he wants "everyone in Thailand to know how fun figure skating is" can't get anymore beautiful!

And those costumes!  So over the top!  I adore everything about that idea, and would love to see this in an OVA!

Moving on.  Phichit's imagination made me start thinking about the adorable hamster hats, and how easy they would be to make.  Of course, my version goes for ease over 100% correctness, so there are a few modifications from the ones the skaters wear in the ice show.

First, I started out with this template.  I've used it several times for many projects and love how functional and customizable it is.

I traced it onto a bronzeish-brown fleece fabric.

Then I cut two white rectangles for the cheeks of the hamster.

Next, I cut out two rounded pieces in brown for the ears.

They need to be folded over like this.

Then I added a white part in the center.

I used a blanket stitch to put them together.

I sandwiched the ears in between the two brown hat pieces and sewed both sides of the seam.

After that, I stitched shut the V on the top.

Next, I sewed the white rectangles together, right side to right side, along both short edges to form a band.

 I folded the band in half then sewed it to the brown part, right side to right side.

Since the hats are small (and my head is tiny), I folded the brim up.  This gave it a cuter, fluffier look.

Next, I got a piece of white fleece and sewed a line down the middle for teeth.

I cut out a nose and two eyes (and two white eye shimmers).

To save time and energy, I used a hot glue gun to attached all the added details.

And it's finished!  It took me about an hour!

Arrietty's Bag

With my Arrietty dress finished, I had to move onto making her other accessories.  First was her bag.

It has an adorable, across the chest style.  True to my lazy fashion, I chose to work with fleece because it's easy and you don't need to worry about finishing seams.

First I cut out a pattern from parchment paper.  I measured the distance from my shoulder to my hip for the length (and added two inches).  I made sure my parchment paper was that long.

Next, I decided how wide I wanted it to be.  I picked half the length, giving me a 24 inch by 12 inch rectangle.  I tapered the side to give it that elongated look, then mirrored the cut on the three other sides. 

I traced this onto white fleece for the back/bottom of the bag.

Next, for the top/front, I wanted two pieces that overlapped.  This is the way Arrietty opens her bag in the film.  So I folded the pattern down to the top of the side flap and traced it onto white fleece.

I cut out two of these.

I also cut out a long strip of green fleece, the length from my shoulder, down my chest, to my hip.

Next, layering.  Place the bottom piece FACE UP.  Next, lay down the green strip for the handle, aligning both of the ends with the tapered ends of the bag.  The green strap will be completely inside the bag.  (I'm sorry I didn't take pictures of this step!)

Then, place down the top flap that will be facing out.  It's RIGHT SIDE needs to be facing down, laying atop the bottom piece and the green strap.

Finally, lay down the second inside flap.  None of its seams will be seen, so it doesn't matter how the edges look.

Sew completely around the bag.  At the tapered edges, you will be sewing through FOUR layers (bottom, strap, top one, top two).  My machine did this without problem.  Usually it gets picky when I send fleece through it, but it gave me no trouble this time.

Once it's all sewn, flip it inside out and it's perfect!  All the seams are nice and neat and pretty!

Now all you have to do is sew on the button.

Arrietty's bag has a big, red button.  I bought one at Hobby Lobby for about $3.  I sewed it on the bottom of the top layers, then sliced a buttonhole on the top of the bottom layers.

And now pair it with the dress and you have this:

I may need to add in something to flatten the bag.  We'll see.


~Buttons

Make a Turtleneck

I've had a project in mind ever since I rewatched Miyazaki's wonderful film "The Secret World of Arrietty" (based on the novel "The Borrowers" by Mary Norton).

The Arrietty soundtrack cover

Arrietty wears an adorable red dress.  It has long sleeves and a high neckline.  This is the outfit she wears to "borrow" things from the human's house.

I wanted that outfit so bad!

So, while at Goodwill this past weekend, I spied about two yards of this jersey knit fabric.  I bought it for $2.50!

I thought it would be the perfect fabric to attempt to make a turtleneck in preparation for an Arrietty cosplay dress.

I don't have a pattern for a turtleneck, so I was unsure of where to start.  I had to force my hesitance aside and just DO IT!  I have this terrible fear of wasting fabric, of making outfits I never wear.  Suppress this if you have it.  The only way to learn and improve is to make those mistakes.  I worked up my courage and drew up a small sketch of what I thought was the best way to approach this.

My breakthrough idea was using an existing shirt as a template.

I don't own turtlenecks.  I'm not sure why.  I had to improvise.  I grabbed a tank top and started with that.

Let me add a quick note about fabric direction.  Most fabrics have a natural stretch to them; this is especially true with knits.  Always make sure your stretch goes left to right.  This is what enabled me to get my head inside the turtleneck without adding a zipper.  This also helps the fabric hug your curves and look more flattering.

So, I folded my fabric in just enough to fit the tank top.  From there, I cut along the bottom, side, armpit, and sleeve, leaving about an inch for seam allowance.  At the top, instead of following the dipping neckline, I just went straight up.  When unfolded, I got this:

I now used this as my pattern and traced in on the fabric to get the back.

Sorta hard to see the two layers atop each other.

I cut it out.  Next, I sewed the two pieces together.  First along the sides, from the bottom of the shirt to the bottom of the arm.  Next, I sewed from the top of the arm to the top of the neck.  Like so:

This left my arm holes completely open.

Now for the sleeves.... I cheated on this.  I used an existing pattering I already had.  Luckily it fit perfectly!  If you don't have a pattern you can borrow, look at this tutorial for making sleeves.

I cut out two sleeves.  Fold the sleeve in half, then sew along the long side.

Attaching sleeves used to intimidate me.  Not anymore.  The trick is just remembering you want your fabrics RIGHT SIDE to RIGHT SIDE.  So, turn your shirt inside out.  Keep your sleeves right side out (like normal, the seams on the inside).  Put your sleeve inside your shirt and align the sewn edge of the sleeve with the side seam of the shirt.  Pin it all the way around.

Sew it all down.  Flip it out, and you get this:

Repeat on the other sleeve.

And you're done.  Well, I was done.  You'd still technically need to hem the bottom, hem the sleeves, and hem the neckline.  Since this was practice--and I'm super lazy--I left it as it was.  That's one of the wonderful things about knits, you don't need to finish seams!

Can you tell I have soot sprites on my phone case?

~Buttons