LydMc

Handmade pajama pants are the coziest There's nothing quite like cozying up on the couch in a warm, comfy pair of pajama pants, and it's even more special when the pjs in question are personalized just for you! That's what I thought when I decided to make about a dozen pairs for my friends and family for Christmas.  Making so many pants from scratch may sound crazy, but p ajama pants are actually a fun, simple  sewing project that makes wonderful gifts, especially in the cold, winter season. To make the pants extra awesome, I made several sets with mix and match pockets representing special groups like my three college roomies. Each of the pairs of pants in the set wound up with one pocket of each of the other's fabrics. How cool is that? And so it begins! The first step in this project was finding a good pattern that included pockets and selecting fabric for each person. Since the roomies' favorite color is blue across the board, I decided to honor ...

Just add water! In honor of Comic Con 2014 and Throwback Thursday, I think it's about time to showcase another one of my cosplay adventures! While I've already posted some of my comic con adventures in  A Link to the Blog: The Legend of Zelda Cosplay , this costume is the title character from Ranma 1/2, an anime/manga popular back in the 90s.  If you're not familiar with the show/comic, it's pretty simple:  While training in martial arts with his father , the main character, Ranma, fell into a cursed spring which turned him into a girl. Each one of the many pools carries a different transformation curse, activated by cold water and fixed by hot.  What with a dozen different love triangles, blood feuds, and unexpected dousings, antics ensue. Ranma, Shampoo, Mousse, and Ryoga in a rare moment of peace! The character I cosplayed as was female Ranma, a.k.a. girl type Ranma, a.k.a. pig tailed girl. My cohorts cosplayed as other cursed charact...

The Sushiwoks are back and puffier than ever! Today is a very special day for the LydMc blog: it is officially the One Year Anniversary of the first blog post! Huzzah!! One whole year of delightful, nerdy, and often delicious forays into creativity!  In honor of this momentous occasion, I would like to celebrate with a craft inspired by the blog that started it all: The Sushiwoks! Yub nub! Not only were these Star Wars themed appetizers the first post on the LydMc blog, they were also the ones that put it on the map. Thanks to the awesome sharing of fellow nerds, cooks, and craftspeople (thanks, all!), the sushiwoks started making the internet rounds and page views climbed to the hundreds.  And then, one fine day when I just so happened to get my wisdom teeth out, I sit down on the couch to recover and see the views have jumped to the thousands! As it turned out, ThinkGeek posted the sushiwoks (sushi ewoks) on Facebook making the blog go viral,...

Doc(tor Who) Pile! Just the other night, my friends and I had ourselves a good old fashioned sewing bee... with a nerdy twist. No quilts or costumes this time, but Rice Children, the adorable little bean bags with personality. Beyond filling your cuteness quota, these rice-filled cuties can also be popped into the freezer or microwave to comfort your aches or warm your fingers, just like any rice bag. Thanks to their utter adorableness, they just might also warm your heart (or hearts if you're a Timelord). Children of the Rice The pattern for the basic rice child is super simple: two vaguely butterfly-shaped pieces of fabric for the body (front and back) and two stemmed circles for the head (one face, one hair). Extra pieces could be included at your whim for hair, ears, tail, etc. but that's really about it. The adipose seen above are even simpler, but we'll get to that later. Pika Pieces Using this Pikachu-in-progress as an example, you can see the but...

The Serenade of Water If you've ever glanced at my profile on the right, you already know I'm a writer, artist, nerd and then some. If the blog hasn't proven the nerd part yet, this post will do it. Case in point:  one Halloween I dressed up as Link,  the Hero of Time  from The Legend of Zelda video game series, and then proceeded to do it again for a comic convention.   Yup, that's me, sitting on a rock, jamming on an ocarina. And if that weren't enough, I won a prize. While  I was originally planning to save this post for Halloween, in honor of Comic-Con 2013 I figured it was time to let my nerd flag fly. It's a shirt! ...It's a dress! ...It's LINK'S TUNIC! Since I enjoy crafting and geekery of all sorts, sewing costumes is right up my alley. I'm usually a fan of making things from scratch, but when it comes to costuming and clothing in general, I enjoy being resourceful, finding starter pieces and making it work Tim Gun...