Making Bucket Hats for Archery

I'm having fun with archery and am progressing slowly.

 

(Bare bow @ 30 yards)

But as the weather is turning much nicer, I've been having a problem with the sun shining in my eyes.

I tried to wear sunglasses while shooting, but the pair that I have don't work (the bow string catches the edge of the glasses and they fly off). I also tried wearing a baseball cap, but the bill interferes with my bow draw.

So, I looked online to see if I could figure out how other archers were dealing with this problem. And the answer?

(Image from The Telegraph)

 BUCKET HATS!

The soft brim can be folded back to prevent interference with the drawing of the bow and still keep the sun out of your eyes. Luckily, I can wear hats and still look good, even if the hat is a bit dorky.

Now, a normal person would just buy a bucket hat, but noooo. I decided that it'd be awesome if I made some bucket hats out of my Doctor Who fabrics.

If I was going to look dorky on the range, I was going to get my GEEK ON. I looked online and found several free patterns for bucket hats, and proceeded to make mockups, and then test versions of reversible bucket hats.

There were tweaks to the patterns -- as most patterns I found were for children sizes, so I had to scale up from a child to an adult size. Luckily, head sizes don't need much shaping so it was just a matter of math. I took my scrap fabrics from other projects and made myself a couple of test hats once I had the pattern figured out.

A head form makes things easier when assembling a hat. It's not necessary. I had forgotten about the head form until I started making this hat with the cat fabric, which made assembly so much easier.

The hats are completely reversible. Now, I just have to get the actual Doctor Who fabric sorted. I'll take more in-progress photos for the next round of hats.

Disaster Averted

I had moment of panic when I pulled out a project for some meeting knitting and realized that I broke a needle.

I think it snapped in my briefcase. It was fine the last time I worked on the project yesterday. Luckily, only one broke. I pulled the needles out of the sock, flipped the needles around, and was able to continue knitting. 

Disaster averted, as I thought I'd have to sit for an hour without a project. Later, I will need to pick up a replacement. Or maybe I can find a very small pencil sharpener?

Doctor Who Pajamas

I love doing small sewing projects, especially projects where I get a really cool unique thing that can be used immediately!

In this case, I took the Doctor Who Tardis fabric (cotton flannel) that I got at Joanns....

.... and made myself a pair of PJs

...and a nightshirt

Because I've made these patterns before, making them took a total of 3 hours (1.5 hours over two different nights). Most of the time was serging all of the edges, because cotton flannel tends to fray over time (especially in the wash). The weave that makes flannel soft will cause it also to fray.

Consequently, every edge goes through the serger before seaming together.

My pajama drawer is getting a bit full.....

It's the Little Things: Geek Jewelry

It's the little things that make me happy. The movie, Labryinth, starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly, is in my all-time top 10 movies of all time.

I love the puppetry that Jim Hensen's company put into the movie. The door knockers in the movie are funny and memorable.

I recently acquired these adorable earrings from an Etsy seller in Ontario.

Aren't they the most adorable things! I think the artist really captured their facial features. I can't wait to wear them.

Lack of Girls in Merchandise

Remember the other day when I was very happy about the new fabrics at Joanns that I had found? Well, I'm not as happy as I was then. I'm still very happy with the Doctor Who fabric, but it's the Big Hero 6 fabric that's leaving me a little cold.

When I first saw this fabric print, I was pleased as punch and got a yard of it. However, I didn't look at it too closely. When I got it home, I noticed something.....

Do you see it?

There are six heroes in Big Hero 6: Baymax, Hiro, GoGo, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, and Fred. There are only four in the fabric print.

If you're familiar with the movie, you can easily see who is missing....the girls -- Go Go and Honey Lemon. Also, if you look closer, Wasabi's coloration in the print doesn't match his character. He looks more Asian.

 
Yeah. I'm not happy about that. It was my mistake to not really look at the fabric.  Disney has a trend of leaving out females in a lot of their merchandising of movies, and apparently, this isn't an exception for this licensed fabric.

Come on...girls LOVE female super heroes and strong female characters in movies. We want to buy these things! It's not just boys who love superheroes. We have purchasing power and the income to make our own decisions. Help us to make you bigger profits!

It's not really that hard, is it?

Geek Network Activate!

There are times when  my social network provides some most excellent geek information that I need to immediate act upon.

In this case, my friends posted about the Doctor Who fabrics at Joanns Fabric store. There's a Joann's Fabric store that is a 3-minute walk from work. Guess who went shopping?

They had several different cotton fabrics -- the Tardis, the exploding Tardis (ala Van Gough) and Daleks.

And a flannel fabric, from which I shall be sporting new pajamas soon!

Normally, you can only get Doctor Who fabrics via Spoonflower, which makes custom fabrics. The price for yardage is not cheap. However, these are much more affordable, and they were on sale @ 40% off.

Plus, they also had some Big Hero 6 fabrics too! I love me some Baymax.

 

I might have picked up a yard or two, here and there.... I already have plans and am sketching out ideas.