I have recently returned from the 2013 US Roller Skating National Championships which was held for the first time in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This is the first time that the nationals have been held close enough to my home that driving was a preferable option to flying, and so I got to visit a few … More Tales from the Road: Experiencing the Impact at Meteor Crater
So sorry that the conclusion to this tutorial has taken so long! I have had the post written since forever ago, but I never found time to take and upload photos. In case you need a refresher you can find the earlier parts of this skating dress tutorial here: Part I: General Sewing Stuff Part … More Skating Dress Tutorial Part VI: Attaching the Skirt
At the beginning of the year I thought about all the things I needed in my wardrobe, I plotted, I planned, I gave myself a year-long sewing challenge. I did something similar last year, and I really enjoyed thinking about making clothes that work in a wardrobe, for multiple occasions, or fill a need in … More Throwing in the Challenge Towel: Sewing for ME!
Ok, so last time we left off with a fitted leotard. Now we have to add elastic to all of the arm and leg holes, as well as all of the other openings. The elastic will (1) give a finish to the exposed edges and (2) keep the skating costume in place during actual skating … More Skating Dress Tutorial Part V: Sewing Elastic
Last time we cut out our skating costumes, so that means we are finally ready to sew! I will be sewing my costumes using my regular techniques, with a mix of the serger and sewing machine. You can use straight pins to hold things together, but I wouldn’t recommend sewing over them – it tends … More Skating Dress Tutorial Part IV: Sewing the Bodysuit
Before I go on with the rest of my tutorial I feel I may need to have a bit of preface or disclaimer. First of all, I realize that there are a lot of “body issues” in skating. Anytime you have girls (or boys) wearing spandex and comparing themselves to each other there will be … More Skating Dress Tutorial Part III: Preparing the Pattern and Cutting Fabric
I have been meaning to do a rhinestone post for a while now, but it seems to work well in the context of my skating costume tutorial, so here we go. One of the most fun parts of skating costumes have to be the flashy brilliance and sparkle. Most costumes use rhinestones to achieve this, … More Skating Dress Tutorial Part II: All That Sparkles
I don’t remember how I found this page, but I thought roller skating fans would enjoy seeing a rink getting pimped-out with a brand new hardwood floor: See the pictures here. With so many rinks being sold and destroyed, it makes me happy to see a rink getting a facelift. And isn’t that floor gorgeous? … More Hardwood Floor Love
Ok, so today’s post is about what we are going to need to make our skating costumes. Since we are sewing something of a specialty item, there are a lot of particulars, but I expect you will probably already have a lot of them about your sewing space if you already sew. If you don’t … More Skating Dress Tutorial Part I: The Info Dump
So a few (well, more than a few…. sorry about that) months ago one of my readers had asked a few questions about my skating costumes, which I could have answered easily enough had I not been so busy at the national championships at the time. A question from one reader turned into a few … More Preface: Skating Dress Tutorial
Doctor T Designs 