DC Super Heros - Theresa LaQuey's version

From Andrea ... Today I'm turning the blog over to my sister Theresa LaQuey. We worked together on a project for the first time. Below is her version. You can read my version by clicking this. So ... take it away Theresa.

It was really truly wonderful to be working with my big sister on a project.  She is amazing, has the best work ethic ever and always seems to have a constant "we can do this" mindset.  I had never worked in Spandex before, I was terrified as almost everything I stitch up is vintage, not power stretch.  She held my hand the whole way.  

Also, I must mention, that she was the person who wisely told me to take our mother's Bernina 930 home after she passed.  I have two industrial machines, a singer featherweight and an old Wilcox and Gibbs chain stitch machine but I could not have finished this project if I hadn't followed her advice as the Bernina had the correct stitches on it.  


Remember Theresa specializes in 20th Century vintage and Steampunk. Not too much Lycra needed there.


This is also the same week that we brought a new puppy into our home. (Please take note of the photo of my industrial machine with two other machines on its table, as I had to have all three of them there to get the things together.)

From Andrea ... I explained in the previous blog how Theresa and I helped each other out from opposite sides of the country. One of her contributions was Bat Girl's little belt cartridge. This is how she explains coming up with this clever detail.

The belt cartridge for batgirl came to me while I was dreaming.  Unfortunately for me a lot of my work comes in the deepest part of the night when I should be sleeping and I find myself trying to figure out my projects.  I just tried to figure out the easiest way to get the belt to look correct.  Good for the belt, bad for my sleep.

Andrea helped me so much by telling me which Simplicity patterns to get so that I could modify them for the project, and I also found myself using that proportional scale for another project about a month later. She also told me how to get the logos sized up to the correct proportion.  All in all a wonderful time.  I think the thing I like the best was getting to talk to Andrea almost every day. We had to do all sorts of goofy things, like when I was sent the Wonder Woman Spandex (blue with stars) and she hadn't received her portion and having to overnight it to her.  You see, I live in California, and she lives on the east coast.  

From Andrea ... Simplicity thought I was doing the men and boys and Theresa was doing the women and girls So they sent all the fabric for the female characters to Theresa. BUT I was doing the girls and needed the star fabric, which Theresa had to send to me after she got it and she got her so late because they sent it UPS ground from New York and she lives in California. grrrr.

Back to Theresa ...
My spandex came so late that stitching up the samples in time was really hard.  I actually had a friend come in and cut out all of the red stars for the cape, she and I are still joking about that.

More from Andrea

So, you may wonder how did I get my samples done, if Theresa's fabric came in late and then she had to send me my portion??
Well ... I got all the fabric for the men and boys a week before she did because I don't live too far from New York. So I could start on Thor and Captain America. Luckily some of those fabrics worked for the girl's costumes. I did have to wait for the stars to make the girl's Wonder Woman skirt and if you look carefully, the blue for Super Girl's top is different on my samples than Theresa's. I didn't know Super Girl was supposed to get a different blue so didn't think to ask her to send some of that, too. So I used the Captain American blue.

Theresa ...
Oh, and let's not forget that the new puppy, Harriet, managed to get one of the pieces that I was working on and ripped into our backyard with it the day I was to get the photo samples into the mail.  Err, that was fun.

My big sister is such a great inspiration, she is one of the biggest heroes I know.  I am always so grateful that I have such a wonderful family, and that I got to work with Andrea in this project.

From the big sister ...

Our mother taught us extreme thrift, SO Theresa put her left over spandex to good use! She is a member of the Art Deco Society of California. They have a group of young women called the Deco Belles and Theresa often makes costumes for them. Since there are SO many Deco Belles figuring out how to make something FAST is a plus. She used black spandex for the yoke of these skirts which meant no waistband and no zipper.

SEE! She made all of these in ONE day.

And she does this in-between designing for Simplicity and her custom work ... amazing.

Another benefit of being part of the Deco Society, is access to perfect sized fit models.

My fitting model is a dear.  Her name is Monica Lenk, she has danced ballet and she and her partner are about to open a vintage store. She is a former Miss Art Deco.  I was really lucky she was around.

Next time ... logos explained ...