Like the kind of thing that you can wear out in public and people who aren't in your fandom just think "Huh, that's interesting." Nothing suspicious about it. But little do they know: BAM. You're a raging nerd baby.
That is me. This is my life now.
Which brings me to one of my latest creations:
I will be the first one to admit that I have an unhealthy obsession with Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit. So much so that it's taking over my fashion choices. But let's be real here-- who wouldn't want to wear the Mark of Gandalf on your back? You never know-- it might score you a troupe of dwarfs that will take you on an adventure. And I'm all about that adventure life, yo.
This was actually really quick and simple to make since I already had the vest which mostly fit, so I didn't have to do any alterations to it. But here is what I did do:
Similar to the LOTR Biker Jacket, I started out by flipping the vest over and traced out the back panel onto a piece of newspaper. Please take note of that creepy face in the upper right corner because it haunted me for this entire project.
I then cut my pattern piece and measured it against the back. I made sure that my pattern piece was slightly larger than the seamed-out panel on the back though because it's a lot easier sewing if you're not having so hand sew through multiple layers of denim.
On a separate piece of paper, I traced out my Mark, making sure that it would fit nicely onto my other pattern piece. I decided to go with the mark that Gandalf puts on Bilbo's door in the first Hobbit film, akin to the general rune for "G" that he uses in other parts of the films. Though to be fair, I have recently learned that the mark that he used in the movie was more of a Peter Jackson invention, rather than a strictly canonical mark, but that really doesn't really bother me much. If' you're interested in what I'm referring to, check out this informative thread.
Anyway, I digress.
Once I was sure that my pattern pieces were just how I wanted them, I pinned them down, traced them onto felt and cut them out.
After cutting them out and putting them on top of the vest though, I thought that it looked a little plain, so I decided to make an adjustment.
(shout out to my foot in this photo)
I took the Mark, pinned it to some red felt, and cut around it, making about a half inch border all the way around.
And then I had to take a quick interlude because someone was hogging all of the fabric. Wow. Jerk.
I liked this look way better so I pinned the grey to the red, sewed that down, and then pinned the red to the black before sewing that down too. I just did a whip stitch all the way around because I like how that looks. I don't have a better reason.
Lastly, I took the whole thing and sewed it down to the vest using the same stitching as before.
Bonus: Look at this picture of Kitty going into warp speed.
And kachow.
More nerd. More Hobbit. With a slightly punk-rock, I'ma-beat-yo-ass-if-you-talk-trash-about-my-wizard kind of vibe. (You can talk trash about Thorin though. Hit me up if you ever want to have a debate about Thorin with me.)
So what do you think? Anyone else out there who would be willing to join Gandalf's gang? Because I'm ready to go.
Linkin' up:
x x
