Ingredients

Oh now.

Stuff and THINGS

Two shades of blue felt, some white ricrac and some red wool.
WHAT COULD IT MEAN*?


*Fun, that's what. Bwahahahahahaaaaaa!!!

With heartfelt apologies to Mr E A Poe

Once upon a midnight late, while I pondered on my fate,

(a horde of boisterous Makie scientists as never seen before)

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

Then a crash and burble-blatting, right outside my bedroom door.

"Tis just the cat," I muttered, "bashing at my bedroom door:

Just the cat... Please, nothing more!"

September was a long time over, one day alone left in October,

Leaves were strewn in ember-wrought jewelled gusts upon the floor.

Eagerly I wished the morrow; Halloween about to follow,

Ghosts and ghouls released to borrow tricks and treats and games and more

For skellingtons and be-sheeted ghosties knocking on my house's door

Ghosts and Ghouls and nothing more.

And the blatting grew more strident and the honking ever violent

Filling me, filling me with fantastic terrors never felt before;

So that now to still the shrieking in my head, I lie repeating,

"Tis just the cat demanding breakfast at the bedroom door;

Just my fat cat wanting breakfast sitting at my bedroom door,

Just the cat and nothing more."

Suddenly the crashing ended and, as I'm certain they intended,

"Plink?" called I, "Or Melchett? An explanation I implore.

You know the humans are both napping, there's a housewide ban on blatting,

Also sounds described as splatting, slithering, whooping and all crashing,

Especially at the hour of four thirty..." here I opened wide the door.

Darkness there and nothing more.

Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, hearing,

Faint sounds of splashing and pirate calling from underneath the bathroom door

And as the silence slunk off, broken, there came a slingle tentacular token,

And a greenish glowing light from underneath the bathroom door,

A trembling green and purple tentacle underneath the bathroom door,

This and water and nothing more.

Tentacle? Check. Hook? Check. Mayhem? CHECK.

Back into the bedroom, sighing, always at the Makies sighing,

Then I heard a tapping and a scratching louder than before.

“Surely,” said I, “Surely not an escapee Makie.. I’m losing the plot…

Let me see then what the threat is, and this mystery explore,

Let me see what’s tapping and scratching and… growling at my bedroom door.

Oh please, the wind and nothing more.”

Open here I pulled the portal, willing it to be a mortal

When in there stepped a stately Maiden of the days of yore…

Looking down my eyes espied a rather oddly dressed-up Blythe,

Who raised her hands and growled and cried and perched outside my bedroom door.

Perched upon an orange pumpkin dumped outside my bedroom door,

Perched and growled and nothing more.

Aspen, who is rather miffed at the glue dot keeping her nose-costume on... 

Well. This fluffy vision soon beguiling my worn temper into smiling

By the fuzzy boots and gloves and tunic that it wore.

“Though thy head is fur-behatted, thou,” I said, “were nearly splatted,

Hanging around on a precarious pumpkin sat outside my bedroom door…

Tell me where the others are, let me know just to be sure”.

Quoth a Makie: “Eat my Shorts!”

*le sigh* Hi Melchie... 

Another coughed as if to squelch it, but it only could be Melchett,

And as I turned and looked I saw her and…what’s that? Another more?

Melchie was a calavera, and as I started to blink and stare a

Blythe trotted out from behind the pumpkin sat outside my bedroom door

A new Blythe with long yellowish hair that I had never seen before,

Sitting and smiling and nothing more.

Say hello to the long-anticipated Elin! Wooo!

“Oh great!” I moaned, my resolve fleeting as all four then fell to speaking,

Talking all at once and squeaking of blood and guts and gore,

Of mad experiments and plotting, of delicate things they could be dropping,

And of things that needed chopping right there on my bedroom floor,

Back to bed I went and left them, partying on my bedroom floor,

And as I went, I vowed “NO MORE!”

Oh, you could at least attempt to smile... 

That's better! 

Hope you all have a glorious Halloween/Samhain/Nos Galad Gaeaf! I'll be celebrating by shutting the girls in the bathroom with the giant squid and hiding things from trick or treaters! Stay spooky :) 

Glorious Wolf Hat by Manon of De Belles Poupees, Voodoo Necklace by Fil of Mok.Me

More photos on the flickr, woo!

Snip... snip...

Today's been a bit of a cutting out day. Which means that tomorrow might just be a sewing day!

Tiny pieces!

Hopefully we'll be able to have a bit of a fashion show later this week.

Steamplink and Madame Von Melchie

Ahahahaaa!

Finally, I can let you into the sekrit of the costumes we've been working on for the last month!

Just put some gears on it and call it steeeeeeeeempunk!

Steampunk is fantastic, as far as I'm concerned. I've got a whole Pinterest board devoted to the collecting of steampunky ideas, and I've been dying to make a Makie-sized steampunk costume for ages. Happily, the Makie Meet gave me the perfect excuse to make two!

Here's the Steamplink. Obviously involved in the science side of things, she's probably an airship engineer or the like.

Okay, yes. The gears have no purpose. So hit me with sticks. 

Her boots and belt are from Collectible Kitbash and are seriously high quality. The boots have even got hobnails on them!

Up, up and awaaaaaaay!

Madame Von Melchie is more of a lace-and-arsenic sort.

Shall we dance? Or shall I poison you? Either way is good...

Her hat is essentially felt, fabric, glue and more glue. The skirt has wire in the hem to help it hold its shape. There's a 3-layer bustle on the back, which is happily not held together with glue. That's a chicken feather in the hat, by the way.

No, she wouldn't take off the fluffy bunny slippers.

I'm delighted with the costumes, especially Plink's wings and goggles. Many huge hugs to the Jo for sending me the watch faces!

Today has involved...

• Needles and thread
• Fabric glue
• Scraps of this and that
• 5 snaps
• Miscellaneous watch parts
• 23 naughty words
• 6 rivets
• 1 very large hammer
• 12 exceptionally naughty words
• A pair of rather small boots
• 1 metre of watered purple ribbon
• Feeding wire into zig zag stitching
• Bamboo skewers
• An argument over the wearing of fluffy bunny slippers

... but I think we're nearly ready for next weekend's Makie Meet! Pfooooof!

Garden Party Dress

So here's a little something for those hot afternoons when you've got a formal event to go to.

Taadaa!

This light Korean linen wrap dress features a tulip skirt and ribbon belt for that all-important waist definition.

Cool and just that little bit sassy.

Okay, okay, so it's pinned at the back, again.

Naughty pin!

But really, who wants to make an effort when the weather is so lovely? Might as well go outside and enjoy it!

This is my photographer, hiding in the blueberry bush. 

Tutorial: Sunny Sundress Variations

Yesterday, we learnt how to make a basic sunny sundress.

The 'classic' Bird-on-it version

Today, I'll demonstrate a couple of simple variations to give a different feel to the outfit. They're all achievable with about two minutes of your time, a little scrap of ribbon and a needle and thread. 

Firstly, why not stitch a bit of ribbon to the centre front to make a halterneck? The dress is still easily removable (pop your Makie's head!), and if you only secure it loosely, you can simply snip it off if you get bored with it. 

I didn't even sew this, just tucked it in. Cheaty photos are awesome!

How about converting to a sweetheart neckline? 

Yes yes. You're a sweetheart. 

All you need to do for this look is to pinch together the fabric at the mid-bust and take a couple of stitches to hold it in place. In the picture below, I've also added a wide-placed ribbon halterneck. This gives a 1950s 'wiggle dress' look.

Wiggle wiggle wiggle!

There are so many things you could do! Why not try adding straps, tiny buttons, little silk flowers or even a few sequins?

Looking forwards to seeing all your variations; link me to your photos!

Makie Me a SUNNY SUN DRESS!

Aaah, the birds are singing, the sky has shed its usual sort-of-greyish colour for a gloriously glowing blue, and humans and Makies alike are out enjoying toasting their bones and, of course, looking faaaabulous at the same time!

Prof Plink prepares to leave the library and head into the great outdoors.

This tutorial will help you create a stunning sun dress with multiple possible customisable variations. It's so ridiculously simple that you can stitch one up by hand in half an hour... and probably in less than 5 minutes by sewing machine. But who wants to be inside with a sewing machine today, I ask you?!

I used some cotton scraps for this version but just about any fabric you've got lying around will be fine. If you're one of these people that doesn't have fabric lying around (weirdo), you can pick up 'fat quarters' of all sorts of fabric online. These are the perfect size for creating Makie clothing and are generally very economical; prices range from 50p to £4 ish. Quilting cotton is excellent for beginners. It's easy to sew, cheap and comes in all sorts of exciting prints.

Here's most of the things you'll definitely need, and some things you really, really won't:

The cake. OH, THE CAKE

Essential supplies:

• Fabric. 
• Thread in a matching (or contrasting!) colour. 
• Needle, either hand or attached to a sewing machine. 
• Pins
• 1/4 inch wide elastic, about a 6 inch length (not shown cause I'm a muppet)
• Ribbon

Optional but highly recommended supplies:

• Penny Arcade D&D podcasts (for bringing the Jim Darkmagic Magic)
• Earphones so's not to upset the neighbours with the above.
• Glasses which are the correct prescription instead of  your six year old sunglasses which are not, therefore you cannot see out of them properly, isn't it time you got some new ones, you plonker. 
• Graze.com "High Tea" series carrot cake and complimentary teabag. 
• A napkin to cover your horrible garden furniture, which was in the shed when you bought the house (the weather hasn't been nice enough this summer to consider replacing it!

OKAY! 

First, cut your fabric into a 16cm by 16cm square. I find it easier to make a paper template to cut around, although you might like to draw straight on the fabric with some tailor's chalk. 

Square cut, oh yeah. 

Making sure that your fabric is the right way up (so your birdies aren't flying in a funny direction), fold over 1.5cm at the top edge and pin. Sew close to the free edge to create a little tube at the top of the fabric; this forms your elastic casing and the top of the dress. Remember that your stitches will show on the outside here, so make 'em neat as you can!

Make sure the birdies are flying the right way up on the main dress!

Next, fold in half, right sides together. The open edge will be the back of the finished dress. Sew along the back seam, stopping just below the elastic casing. 

Fold in half to make the back seam. S
top sewing just below the elastic casing (facing towards us in this picture), leaving the tube open.

Turn up the bottom of the dress and stitch a neat hem. If you're feeling particularly lazy, you could glue this with some fray-stop. (If you're machine-sewing, you might find it easier to hem before stitching the back seam because of the small diameter tube.) 

Instructions say a NEAT hem, Dr Duckie... 

Turn the dress the right way around. Feed your piece of elastic through the top casing. It may be helpful to put a safety pin on the end of the elastic to give you something to pull through. 

Elastic threaded. Long tails make for easy tying. See what I mean about the stitching showing?

With both elastic ends sticking out of the dress, slide it on to your Makie and tie it above the bust so's it's nice and snug. Snip off the excess. The dress gathers at the back and your join will be nearly invisible, yaay! 

Make sure you've got enough stretch in the elastic to get the dress on and off!
Snip off the loose ends close to the knot.

Nearly there! No woman likes looking like a sack of potatoes, so add a ribbon belt for some waist definition. You can simply tie this on, or add snaps and elastic. I've just stitched mine at the back.

Belt, check. Sunshine, check. Looking fabulous, CHECK!

And there you have it! Celebrate and bask in the sunshine!

The best thing about this dress is that it gives you a great base for some customisation and versatility. Try altering the skirt length; cut your fabric as a 16cm by 20cm rectangle for a maxi dress, or you could go to 12-14cm (depending how daring your Makie is!) for a miniskirted version. Play around with different fabrics, different waist ties and contrasting coloured stitching... or if you're really brave, why not try some embroidery?

Tomorrow, I'll show you a couple of neckline variations that'll be great for adding a bit of individual style, so don't throw away the rest of that ribbon!

Project Runway, Makie Edition

Tim Gunn has nothing on us!

Today's challenge: recreate and reinterpret this faaaabulous vintage look, as modelled by Millie the Minx

Millie, rocking a handbag, beret and gorgeous stripy dress. 

Dr Duckie, designing for her model Plink, decided to keep the simple directional lines provided by the striped fabric, utilising a scrap of Paul Smith shirting fabric she's had floating around for ages. For a more modern look, she's updated the skirt, reducing volume. Lengthening to floor level gives this the option to be worn as a sunny-day maxi or an elegant evening look.

Plink, modelling Dr Duckie's creation.

Dr Duckie adds contrast stitching for interest instead of the slightly more whimsical rick-rack of the original.

Topstitching? Isn't that how you broke your machine last time?

And in the finest traditions of Project Runway, the model has been sewn into her dress!

Yes, the back could be tidier.

Am I through to next week, or is Heidi going to be sending me home?

Effortless Elegance

You don't need a whole host of draping, cutting and sewing skills to produce an elegant Makie Couture look; this design took all of five minutes to put together (and three of those were spent digging out the fabric).

Yes, we probably could have found a more classy posing location.

This slightly bustled  strapless evening gown features achingly trendy unfinished edges, classic lines and is quite literally a rectangle of jersey fabric, twisted at the back and held in place by two dressmaking pins. Not a single stitch was sewn.

Black and White makes everything look like a Vogue shoot.

This photo shoot definitely illustrates that I've been around too many weddings this weekend.

Oh, what? At least I'm not asking you to do all the cheesy poses.

Although it did mean I got to snaffle the plastic diamond-topped pins from the corsages, which are perfect for Makie up-dos. Similar to constructing the dress, I've found I get a really good hold on the wig just by twizzling the hair and pinning in place. If only mine were so well-behaved.

And twist and pin and done. 

So there you have it. Classyness and poise, all with a bit of fabric the size of a hanky and a couple of pins. Worth a go, yes?

Haunt's Hold Couture Collection

Here's a gorgeous bit of Makie Couture that reminds me rather of a Ghost catwalk look.

Grisette rocking the Mean and Moody look.

This is Grisette, a Makie named after a courtesan who definitely knows how to pose for the camera. She's totally rocking the pink hair and this rumpled linen number. I love the simple lines, the unfinished edges and the slight flare to the sleeves. Great work, Michelle!