Crocheted Eternal Inner Sailor Scout Transformation Wand

A lot has been going through my mind lately. Between changing jobs, dealing with school, having less money, and just all around feeling lost, something interesting happened to me.

From realizing I am not doing too much in my life, to realizing that maybe I don't want to, and dealing with all of this inner turmoil by spending about $100 on Ebay on Sailor Moon things and cheap jewelry.

After my inner searching subsided a bit, and most of my packages arrived, I sat down for about 3 days and watched the first 40 or so episodes of Sailor Moon. Being in Japanese, they required a lot of attention, and I was less productive than ever. Watching the group of girls who molded my childhood, and pretty much made me the person I am today, I couldn't help but feeling as though I was letting them down.

Now, I realize what this sounds like. 23 Year Old girl letting down imaginary characters, but it worked, right? Another bout of inner turmoil began and I ended up somewhere I think I've been all along.

I like this stuff. I like crocheting, and anime, and games and whatever else most 23-year-old women shouldn't really find themselves obsessed with. But then I realized that if I'm going to use this stuff to make me happy, I still have to work hard.

After everything made itself crystal clear to me, I suddenly had a burst of energy, inspiration and nostalgia hit me like a ton of bricks.

When I was younger, I used to try to cut out cardboard in the shape of these transformation wands to use when I played sailor Moon with my best friend. They were always flimsy, uneven, a little too small, and covered in marker. I started to think about that time in my life, how happy I was, being in my own world all the time, and I wanted to have that back, if only on a small level. Remembering this, and about the fact that I would LOVE to make my own pattern, I immediately started drawing up plans, and around 3:30 AM yesterday, I started crocheting this.

I had SO MUCH FUN making this. I reminisced, I problem-solved, and upon finishing the first wing I felt full from how smart I was feeling. The wings were completely my creation, and I couldn't be more proud. I hope when you make this, you feel as stuffed with nostalgia, magic, love and justice as I did.

Since this is a bit of a prototype, I am offering this pattern for free, but please respect me and the time, energy and planning that went into this creation. I don't mind if you sell items from this pattern, but on 2 conditions:

1. PLEASE get my permission when you sell any creations from this pattern (gifting and trading is fine, of course)
2. I wanna see! Show me your finished product, and let me know where the pattern confused you, or was incorrect. I have only made this once, and some proxy-pattern-testers would be very helpful to me. It is the biggest reason I am offering this pattern for free. Also, I would LOVE to see that other people are finding inspiration and fun from something I created in a very pivotal 3 AM moment.

So, with inner turmoil behind me, 4 seasons of Sailor Moon ahead of me, and a very comforting Sailor Mars transformation wand beside me, please enjoy this pattern.

Eternal Sailor Scout Transformation Pen

Designed by Pam Gabriel

Sailor Moon and Sailor Scouts (TM) Naoko Takeuchi

This pattern can be used to gift or trade with friends and family, but please do not sell products from this pattern without my permission.

PamGabriel@Gmail.com

This pattern is for the transformation wands the Inner Scouts use in Sailor Moon Super S & Sailor Moon Stars seasons. Hopefully I will have patterns for the other Transformation pens soon.

What you'll need:

• E Hook

• H Hook
• Tapestry Needle
• Less than a skein of worsted weight yarns in:
  • Yellow
  • Color of your choice depending on the Scout wand you are making (Blue, Red, Green or Orange).
  • Pink
  • White

• Polyfil, or other stuffing.

Abbreviations:

• Chain (Ch)

• Single Crochet (Sc)
• Single Crochet Increase (scinc)
• Single Crochet Decrease (scdec)
• Slip Stitch (sl st)
• Half Double Crochet (hdc)
• Double Crochet (dc)

Final Dimensions:

Height (From top of star to bottom of stick): 12 ½"

Width (From wing tip to wing tip): 8 ¼"

Handle circumference: 3.75"

Star height: 2 ½"

Sphere circumference: 8"

Wing (From base to tip of Feather #1): 5"

This wand will be made in 5 parts (Star, Sphere, Stick, Handle and Wings), then sewn together. We will start with the star, and work our way down.

Let's get started!

Star (Make 2):

Using E Hook, and Yellow Yarn:

Rnd 1: Using the Magic Adjustable Ring technique, make 5 sc in loop. Do not join.
Rnd 2: Make 2 sc in ea sc around (10 sc). Do not join.
Rnd 3: *Sc in first sc, 2 sc in next sc* around (15 sc). Join with sl st in first sc. Circle complete.
Rnd 4: Sl st in 1st sc. *[Ch5, sl st in 2nd lp from hook, sc in next st, hdc in next st, dc in next st] point made. Sk next sc in circle and sl st in next 2 sc. Rep from * around circle, after last point, make only 1 slst.
Rnd 5: Ch 1, sc in ea st around (50 sc).
Fasten off, and weave in ends..

Putting the Star together:

With wrong sides facing each other (right sides facing outwards), sew together the outer loops only, using a whip stitch. Fill with stuffing before sewing together last point. Make sure stuffing is evenly distributed throughout points. Finish Sewing together. Weave in end(s).

Sphere:

Using H Hook, and Sailor Scout's Main Color (Blue for Mercury, Red for Mars, Green for Jupiter or Orange for Venus):

Row 1: Ch 2. 6 Sc in second Ch from hook. (6 sc)

Row 2: inc in each stitch around. (12 sc)

Row 3: Add 5 scincs evenly throughout the row (17 sc)

Row 4: Add 6 scincs evenly throughout the row (23 sc)

Row 5: Add 4 scincs evenly throughout the row (27 sc)

Row 6: Add 4 scincs evenly throughout the row (31 sc)

Row 7: Add 3 scincs evenly throughout the row (34 sc)

Row 8: Add 2 scincs evenly throughout the row (36 sc)

Row 9: Add 1 scincs within the row (37 sc)

Row 10: One sc in each sc (37 sc)

Row 11: Decrease by 1 (36 sc)

Row 12: Evenly scdec by 2 within the row (34 sc)

Row 13: Evenly scdec by 3 within the row (31 sc)

Row 14: Evenly scdec by 4 within the row (27 sc)

Row 15: Evenly scdec by 4 within the row (23 sc)

Row 16: Evenly scdec by 6 within the row (17 sc)

Row 17: (scdec, sc) repeat () around (12 sc)

(This is a good time to fill your sphere with Polyfil.)

Row 18: 6 scdec (6 sc)

Fasten off. Weave loose end through each stitch in the opening. Pull tightly to close.

Putting the Star and Sphere together:

First we're going to add the star to the sphere. Do this BEFORE embroidering your Scout's symbol on the sphere. There is a good chance the angle of your star may be changed as you attach it, and you don't want a weird wand. I did this by running yellow yarn up from the sphere, through the star, then under one stitch of the sphere, coming right back up to go through the star again. It's pretty tricky, so play around with what works for you. After I attached the 1^st point of the star, I pulled my yarn all the way through to the bottom of the sphere (the Stick will be attaching here, so it doesn't need to be pretty), then pulling it back up to the top. When I brought it back up, I made sure to line it up where the star was going to be sewed down to, so it wouldn't be crooked, then continued to sew down the second Star Point.

To weave in the ends, I brought both ends down to the bottom of the sphere and tied them off.

Bring the yarn down from the right Star Point to the bottom

You can see the top of the (light blue) needle where I brought the yarn back up to the top, and through the left Star Point

Yay! You should have this by now! I used my hand as a size reference.

Embroidering:

True to the Wands when the Scouts transform, their symbol appears in gold, so I'll be using yellow as well. I'm also only using the Planet Symbol. If you're feeling ambitious, feel free to add the extra symbol (Harp, Bow & Arrow, Laurels, or Hearts, depending on your chosen scout).

 

Sailor Mars FTW.

This part is a bit tricky, you can use the stitches on the sphere to help guide you, but it's going to take some undoing and redoing. For this, you're just going to sew in and out in the shape of the symbol, then go over it again to cover the empty spaces the stitches leave. Once again, bring the ends down to the bottom and tie them off.

Stick:

Stick is made from the bottom.

Using Yellow and H Hook:

Row 1: Ch 2, 6 sc in 2^nd ch from hook (6 sc)

Row 2: 2sc in each sc (12 sc)

Row 3: (2sc, sc, sc) around (16 sc)

Row 4: (sc, sc, sc, 2sc) around (20 sc)

Row 5: sc in each sc (20 sc)

Switch to Pink.

Row 6: In FL only, (sc, sc, sc, 2sc) around (25 sc)

Row 7: In BL only, (sc, sc, sc, sc, 2sc) around (30 sc)

Row 8: In both loops, sc in each sc (30 sc)

Row 9: (sc, sc, sc, scdec) around (25 sc)

Row 10: Repeat row 9 (20 sc)

Row 11: Repeat row 9 (16 sc)

Rows 12 - 31: Sc in each sc (16 sc)

Row 32: (sc, sc, sc, 2sc) around (20 sc)

Row 33: (9 sc, 2sc) twice (22 sc)

Row 34 - 35: sc in each sc (22 sc)

Switch back to Yellow.

Row 36: In FL only, sc in each sc (22 sc)

Row 37: Evenly distribute 3 scincs throughout row (25 sc)

Row 38: (sc, sc, sc, 2sc) around (30 sc)

Row 39: sc in each sc (30 sc)

Row 40: (sc, sc, sc, sc, scdec) around (25 sc)

Row 41: (sc, sc, scdec) around, 1 sc (19 sc)

Row 42: Repeat row 41 (15 sc)

Row 43: (sc, scdec) around (8 sc)

Row 44: sc in each sc. (8 sc)

Fasten off, leaving a long tail.

Stuff with Polyfil.

Putting the Stick and Sphere Together:

With a tapestry needle, using the long tail of yellow yarn from the Stick, pull the yarn through the scs of the opening of the stick through the middle of the bottom of the sphere, and back through again until you have gone all the way around. Now, go about one stitch towards the outside of the circle and repeat. This will keep the sphere firmly on the stick. Repeat if necessary. If you are finding your sphere isn't staying on, and the stick isn't staying straight, you may need to stuff more Polyfil into the stick.

Handle:

This is that extra part on the right of the stick that sort of resembles half of a heart. I am not sure what the purpose of it is except to make it look cooler. Either way, I will refer to it as the "Handle" for lack of a better term.

This will be crocheted twice as wide as it should be, then folded in half lengthwise and sewn together with polyfil inside to keep the shape.

With Pink, and H Hook:

Ch 7

Row 1: sc in 2^nd ch from hook, and in each st across (6 sc)

Rows 2 - 44: ch 1, turn, sc in each sc across (6 sc)

Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing.

Fold in half lengthwise, and whipstitch along the outer edge. Sew up one short side, but leave the other open. From the open end, you will be inserting stuffing. Using a stuffing stick (or a chopstick), push the stuffing down into the Handle. The opening isn't very big, so a small stick is necessary, and so is some patience. It doesn't need to be very dense, just enough to keep some shape once it's sewn on.

Putting the Handle and Stick Together:

Attach the open end of the handle to the right side of the very top of the pink part of the Stick. I sewed around twice just for good measure. Fasten off, weave in ends.

Now, shape the handle into the general half-heart you want (refer to reference picture if needed). Now, leave about an inch of the handle to curl up at the bottom of the curve of the handle. Using your tapestry needle and pink yarn, go through the small end part of the handle, the part that is actually attached to the stick, and through the stick itself. Do this 3 – 5 times until it is securely attached. Also be sure the bottom of the handle is in line with the top of the handle, so your handle isn't sewn on crooked. Weave in ends.

Push your needle through all three parts.

Be sure the top and bottom of your Handle are aligned

How the bottom of the handle should look. It kind of represents a Violin Scroll.

Wings (Make 4):

Wings will be comprised of a base and 3 Feathers. It will all be one continuous piece, so there will be no yarn cutting. Once you reach the end of a feather, sl st down the feather towards the base where the bottom of the previous feather is to start the next feather.

If you are having trouble visualizing the pattern as you read, there is a picture diagram below the pattern

Base:

Row 1: Ch 2, 3 sc in 2^nd ch from hook, ch 1, turn.

Row 2: 2 sc in next 2 sc, sc, ch 1, turn (5 sc)

Row 3: sc in next sc (sc, 2sc) twice, ch 1, turn (7 sc)

Row 4: (2sc, sc) twice, 3 sc, ch 1, turn (9 sc)

Row 5: (2sc, sc) twice, 5 sc, ch 1 turn (11 sc)

Row 6: (2sc, sc, sc) three times, 2 sc, ch 1, turn (14 sc)

Row 7: (2sc, sc, sc) three times, 5 sc, ch 1, turn (17 sc)

Begin First Feather:

Row 8 - 15: 3 sc, ch 1, turn (3 sc)

Row 16: 1 sc, 1 scdec, ch 1, turn (2 sc)

Row 17: 1 scdec, ch 1, turn (1 sc)

Row 18: 1 sc, ch 1, turn (1 sc)

Sl st down Feather #1 until you reach the base of the wing.

Begin Second Feather:

Row 8 (Now moving across BASE of wing): 3 sc, ch 1, turn. (3 sc)

Row 9: 3 sc, sl st to side of Feather #1, ch 1, turn

Row 10: 3 sc, ch 1, turn. (3 sc)

Row 11: 3 sc, sl st to side of Feather #1, ch 1, turn

Row 12: 3 sc, ch 1, turn. (3 sc)

Row 13: 3 sc, sl st to side of Feather #1, ch 1, turn

Row 14: 1 sc, 1scdec, ch 1, turn (2 sc)

Row 15: 1 scdec, ch 1, turn (1 sc)

Row 16: sc (1 sc)

Sl st down Feather #2 until you reach the base of the wing.

Begin Third Feather:

Row 8 (Once again along BASE of Wing): 3 sc, ch 1, turn (3 sc)

Row 9: 3 sc, sl st to side of Feather #2, ch 1, turn

Row 10: 3 sc, ch 1, turn. (3 sc)

Row 11: 3 sc, sl st to side of Feather #2, ch 1, turn

Row 12: 1 sc, 1 scdec, ch 1, turn (2 sc)

Row 13: 1 scdec, ch 1, turn (1 sc)

Row 14: 1 sc, Sl st down feather until you reach the base of the wing, 1 sc, sl st in each st to end of wing. Fasten off.

Leave one long tail on 2 of the 4 wings (for sewing), then weave in all other ends.

The pen lines represent where the scs are, and the orange dots represent where you should sl st. The numbers are not accurate. This is just a visual aid to help you out with following the written pattern.

Putting the Wings together:

On both wings, there will be a wrong side facing outwards, and a right side facing outwards. Place 2 of the wings right side against wrong side, and stitch up along the bottom, feathers, and top. Flip inside out, then fill with stuffing. Sew the last side together, except for a small opening about the size of a penny. This will be the area used to attach the wings to the Stick.

Now you can see where the opening should be left for attaching it to the Stick.

Putting it all together:

Now, all you have to do is sew the opening on the wing onto the top yellow portion of the Stick. The only thing you have to worry about here is making sure it doesn't touch the handle. If you need to sew on a higher part of the wing onto the stick for reinforcement, go ahead. This wand is pretty big, and you wanna make sure it's sturdy.

Hooray! We're done!

Now you can transform into your favorite Sailor Scout! Well...maybe not. But you can have a nice addition to your Cosplay, or just keep it around to remind you of where you've been, where you want to go, and the imaginary people you're letting down if you just...give up.

Next time! I'm working on some patterns for deck and dice bags in Pokeball and TARDIS flavors. See you soon!

How to make a Starfleet Uniform Duct Tape Wallet!

I'm a little surprised I'm a Star Trek fan. I never considered myself someone who likes space, science fiction, and I certainly never considered myself someone who would go crazy over a 'bad' scifi from the late 80's. But, here I am. I started watching it just a few months ago, and I lovelovelove Next Generation. So much so, in fact, I decided to make a Red Shirt Wallet.

As an artist, and a professional time-waster, I have spent a lot of time looking through different artistic websites looking for inspiration and ideas. I have seen a lot of nerdy duct tape wallets (My favorite so far being the Sailor Moon Tiara ones!) but I had found a significant lack of Star Trek uniform ones, so I made my own. I've gotten a little bit of criticism for making a red shirt wallet, because they all die in the Original Series, but they are THE BEST in Next Generation, and what with being in love with Riker and all- I HAD to make a red shirt.

Mine didn't turn out -as- nicely as I'd have liked, so instead of listing it, I'm being nice and making a tutorial.

Note: This tutorial is only for the process of making the Starfleet symbol, for the rest of the instructions, you can follow my duct tape wallet tutorial here.

Well, let's get started, shall we?

What you'll need:

- Duct tape! You will need black, gold, and whatever color 'shirt' you want (Mine of course being red, and I will refer to this as COLOR A for the remainder of the tutorial)
- Scissors
- X-acto knife
- Paper and pencil to draw out your Comm Badge, or if you're less artistically inclined, have one printed out at the right size (More on how to figure that out in a minute).
- Your current wallet! You will use it asa guide for credit card slot sizes, etc. (More details about that in my Duct tape wallet tutorial.)
- Coffee, as usual.

How to do it!

First, you're going to be making the sheet of 'fabric' for the wallet itself. One side is going to be completely COLOR A, and the other side is going to be  about 2/3rds COLOR A and 1/3rd Gold. Your sheet should be at least 7" by 7". Mine is a bit bigger, because you're going to want the extra room for when you put your Com Badge on. If your COm Badge is too small, it will be VERY tough to work with. So give yourself some breathing room.

 

 

Next, you'll wanna cover the gold on Side One with COLOR A. Since both your sides should look identical now, use some kind of indication to keep track of what side is Side One. I just used a scrap piece of gold duct tape.

 

Now you're going to finish putting your wallet together. Make sure SIDE ONE is facing outward. That is where the gold is, and you will be cutting through the red to reveal your Com Badge, so having it on the outside is the only thing you need to worry about here. 

Again, if you need a reminder of how to make a Duct tape wallet, you can find my tutorial here.

So, now that you've made your wallet, you're going to be figuring out how BIG your combadge needs to be. To do this, Take your shiny new wallet and have it in the folded position. Place it on a piece of paper and trace it.

 

Now draw in your Com Badge about where you want it. It should be at least 1" x 1", if not slightly bigger. If this is not your strong suit, go ahead and print out a Com Badge, but lay it down on your wallet and/or the sketch you made of your wallet to be sure it's the right size.

Once you're happy with it's size and quality, tape it down on the front of your wallet where you want it to be. Leave about 1/2" of room on top for the black stripe, and don't put it exactly on the edge. Once it's where you would like it, tape it down so it's secure.

 

Using your X-acto knife, cut along the lines. Be sure to cut deep enough to get through the paper and through as many layers of COLOR A to get to the Gold layer. As long as you create some sort of perforation on the top layer, you can make many different layers of cuts until you get to the Gold layer. If you cut all the way through, that's okay! Just place strips of red tape over the cuts on the inside of the wallet. Wait until you are completely done, though, otherwise your wallet will end up thick and unwieldy if you throw some tape in it with every cut you make through the wallet.

Once you have cut out your stencil, remove the paper and the tape of the stencil and start peeling away the layers. 

Using your razor blade, you can continue to make precision cuts as you go along, and use it to peel off the pieces of tape. There will be some pesky strands from the tape. Do your best to either:

A. Cut them.

B. Use your razor to tuck them underneath the COLOR A layer of tape

C. Use a tweezers to pull them off.

D. If you have a Gold marker (preferably Sharpie, if they have those), you can color them gold. I have done this before on other projects, and it cleans the look up nicely.

This part can also be tricky, because depending on how you put your wallet together, half of the Badge area may have 4 - 5 layers of tape above the gold. If that's the case, be sure to cut off any layers of COLOR A in between the Badge that make it look awkward. If it's very thick to the right of the bade, that's okay! As long as the layers are even when looking at the badge itself.

 

As you can see, very close to the right edge of the bade, there is an extra layer, but there are no excess layers otherwise. You can also see that this is not the cleanest Badge! When working with small stencils like this with duct tape, your image won't be as clean as it would be if your image was larger. Don't fret! If you find you're having a lot of problems, work bigger! Try doing a Com Badge as big as a piece of paper to get a better feel for duct tape.

So now we're almost finished.

Lastly, take a long strip of black duct tape, and cover the top 1/2" or so of your wallet. Cut it at the ends, and fold over so it goes into the inside area of your wallet where you keep your money. If, when cutting out your Com Badge, you sliced through your wallet, now would be a good time to patch up any cuts you made with your COLOR A duct tape.

 

Phew! All done!

 

The way I made this Com Badge is more or less how I make a lot of my duct tape art (by covering a color, then cutting through to reveal it). Now that you understand this technique, are you going to use it on other wallets? Framed pictures? Something else that's totally cool? Let me know what you make!

Up next: What I've been up to Post #2! This includes some Sailor Moon inspired gear, another geeky wallet, some hats and a purse! I can't wait to share with you guys.

After that: It's NaNoWriMo once again! Is anyone else participating this year?! My SN is CaffeinatedTarantula, feel free to add me as a buddy!