Hobbit Dress

After Comic Con, I was left with a hopeless longing to travel through Middle Earth (I blame Karl Urban, but I digress). Thankfully, there was a Hobbit ball coming up. 

I dug through the costume closet, but nothing grabbed my attention, fit well (thank you health issues), or screamed 'I would be perfect for the ball!' Drats. Guess I had an excuse to make a ~new costume~

That meant that I had two weeks max to make something. Anything! I turned to the fabric stash. 

Plenty of options resided there, but would anything work together? The cool thing about the Lord of the Rings movies is the diversity of costume eras and classes to draw inspiration from. Each race had styles and embellishments that matched their culture, and all that with fantasy flair thrown in because why not? I could totally keep geeking out over the costumes in those movies, but I'll spare you. 

With that in mind, I pulled down literally anything and everything that even closely resembled something that might be worn in Middle Earth, compared those to patterns I already had on hand, and tried to estimate if I had enough material to make the idea happen. That was quite the mess, if I do say so myself. I finally landed on an earthy palette with some 1700's flair using American Duchess's Simplicity pattern 8161 from the Outlander series as a loose base to launch my Hobbit vision because I can't leave a basic pattern as it is. I did the jacket, ditched the sleeves, and added a peplum. The skirt and stomacher I did leave 'as is.' So all in all, not a lot of changes. ;) 

If time favored me, I also planned on using the undergarments pattern from that same line to make a chemise and bum pad to finish off the look, but that was the lowest on the priority list given how much time I had to put this all together. 

And so I sewed in any moment I could find. I must say, that was probably some of my more focused sewing, and yet, extremely relaxed. I don't know what was up. :P But that is why I don't have any 'in progress' shots. I would turn up my music and just sew. For the little bit of hand sewing that was involved, I turned on Gilmore Girls. I maybe got through two episodes, and I was done with the hand sewing. All this leaves now is the finished look. :shrugs: That might not be a bad thing. 

The really cool thing with this whole thing? Most of the fabrics were given to me or found for a steal at the thrift store. SCORE! Costuming on the cheap! :fist pump: The one downside to being able to use my stash - the fact that I have a stash to pull from. :P 

Let's do a supplies inventory:

Blue floral 'vest'- given to me

Brown linen/burlap stomacher - on clearance in the remnant bin at Joann's, maybe $3 max

Rust cotton sateen - given to me

Plaid wool flannel for skirt - Thrift store, 8 yards of material for $2/yard but I only used about 6 yards

Jute String - $0.99/yard, 3 yards at Joann's

Grommets - 2 packages of colored eyelets (because I only wanted to use the brown ones and the package had about 5 different colors, so in order to get enough of the color I needed, I had to pick up 2), $6.58

Chemise and petticoat (underneath) - repurposed from other costumes

Grand total: $24.55

WOOT! 

Now, I didn't have the time to make the structural underthings to :really: make the look. But now that I have the outfit, it won't take much to make those. Right? :sheepish grin: What I really noticed was lacking was pockets. The skirt had slits for pockets, but I just didn't have time to throw them together. Maybe someday. 

Until next time! 

SG

Comic Con Recap

Right before I go to comic con, I always get a sense of Why am I doing this? Seriously? You're paying to go to this thing? because as I explain to people who aren't into movies, TV shows, books, comics, games, etc. it sounds :really: stupid. Yeah, you pay to get in the door, get a glimpse of famous people, pay for pictures with them, pay for art and nerd bling, stand shoulder to shoulder with a horde of people, wait in line for anything and everything... blah blah blah. But then I go, join forces with thousands of other nerds, listen to panels of topics that pique our interest, stand shoulder to shoulder with them (literally, the convention center was packed) to celebrate the things we love, soak in the geekyness all around me, and relish every moment. I probably float on that high for a week and then I crash from how much overstimulation the weekend actually is for my adrenal fatigued brain. :P 

My thought this year wasn't so much to participate in the cosplay part of things. It's been a long summer, and my primary goal was comfortable. I didn't want what I was wearing to become a hassle. I just wanted to be. So for the first day, I wore my :favorite: skirt with the map of Middle Earth printed on it. Subtle. Comfy. And I got to meet Karl Urban. 💓 

Sunday was pushing my friend in her Green Lion from Voltron wheel chair (her brother did incredible work on it!) around the convention. I was really glad that it wasn't as crowded on Sunday so that there was room to actually push a wheel chair around. Saturday was so packed, I'm not sure if we would have been able to do much of anything. 

With all that pushing, I was also very glad that I planned a simple outfit for the day which brings me to the sewing part of the post.
Phew that was a long intro. :P 

I found this really cool print last year during my birthday fabric shopping spree, and from the instant I saw it, I knew it was destined to be a skirt. With Comic Con looming on the calendar horizon, I knew I needed to get it done otherwise the project just wouldn't happen. I whipped out my tape measure, elastic, and rotary blade and went to work. 

It was done in less than 30 minutes. 

Granted, it was just a basic A-line with an elastic waist band. 

And it suited the job perfectly. 

But I still want to change it up a bit. 

Instead of just an elastic waistband, I'd like to smooth out the front by gathering the skirt into a flat band and then have elastic around the back with a zipper closure. It'll make it look like I put a little more thought and effort into it and it will look more finished. I just didn't have a zipper on hand that matched the color palette of the fabric.

So that will be on my docket for whenever I feel like it. In the meantime, I have a pretty cool new skirt. 😎

Until next time!

SG

Preschooler Elsa

So what was my big project for January? 

Oh, just a little costume from a movie that might have been a smash hit. 

Artist Source

Actually, this dress never made it to the movie, but it was in all the concept art! 

A friend messaged me asking if I could make a preschooler Elsa dress for her daughter to wear to their family trip to Disneyland. Little miss had outgrown the Princess Anna dress that I had made, but her little sister could fit it now! It seemed appropriate to make an Elsa dress for the older sister. 

There was just two problems: I was working on an alteration commission from someone else, and my friend's deadline was just in a couple weeks. By the time I finished the alterations, I had only one week to plan, get supplies, and make the dress. Oy.

I'm pleased to say that it was finished just in the nick of time! But my days were literally go to work, get home, and get sewing. Power sewing to the max. That is it. 

I used Simplicity pattern 1507 as a base for the dress. I traced out the bodice pieces and drew on the straps and decorative bib on the front. I could have made this as two separate pieces, the jumper and a shirt, but I wanted it to be a single piece that you could easily put on without needing to hunt down all the parts of the outfit. So I took the pieces that I drafted and essentially appliqued them onto the bodice. Easy, straight forward, simple enough. The skirt was a similar story. I sewed down the ribbons along the skirt edge, and ta-da! All the sewing is done.  

Then came the details. I had several directions that I could have gone with this. I could do the rosemaling in the traditional style and embroider everything, cut out each of the individual pieces and applique them on, or pain them on. Time was not on my side, so I opted for the fabric paint. 

I've used this before for my Captain America Disney-bound dress. This particular fabric paint doesn't stand out from the material, and it's matte = no shiny. I found some close-ups to get the details and made stencils from that. They weren't perfect, but they got the general idea across. ;) I then turned on Gilmore Girls on Netflix and painted for goodness knows how long. 

But I'm really please with how it all turned out. I couldn't imagine doing all of that embroidery or appliqueing. I doubt that it would have been done in time. ;) 

Bodice Detailing

Close up of the skirt hem

I chose to do buttons instead of a zipper because they're so much cuter. 

I think it took me a week to recover from all that power sewing. :P 

Project Details

Pattern: Simplicity 1507

Materials used: Cotton Fabrics, fabric paint, buttons, thread

Time spent: Well, the sewing was done in probably 4 hours. The painting? I have no idea...

Until next time!

SG

1808 Ballgown - 'Caroline'

It got finished in time for the ball!!! 

Granted, it was finished the day of the ball after I had stayed up til 11:30 the night before working on it. 

All that trim.

So.

Much.

Hand sewing.

I have gained a new-found respect of seamstresses of old. 

The construction of the dress and open robe was pretty straight forward (it helps that I've done these patterns in the past). For the dress, I sorta came up with the pattern as I went since I was changing the Regency Simplicity pattern as I went. I wanted a drop-front gown so that I could dress myself and not have to worry about having someone else lace me into my dress. The open robe is an altered version of the spencer/pelisse pattern from Sense and Sensibility. I can't leave patterns well enough alone, can I? ;) 

After I finished the machine sewing portion of the open robe, I set that aside to do all the hand-sewing while watching TV, listening to sermons, taking my break at work, or sitting the resource room at school in between classes.  That dress was hauled all around town in my project bag along with my portable sewing 'kit' and the invisible thread. Oh yes, all that gold trim on the train is tacked down with invisible thread. That added a whole new dimension to things. Why did I use it? The trim is gold and the fabric is teal. I didn't want thread to show. There are my reasons. 

How many hours in the open robe? I have no idea. The day of the ball, I timed myself. How much time am I actually spending on this thing? Turns out it was about 15 minutes for 10 inches. Whaaaat? Multiply that by 5 yards 10 inches... I'm not going to do the math. All I know is that I love how it turned out. Just like I imagined it would be, even better than the sketch that I drew (because I don't draw very well). 

While I was hand stitching in the evenings and in spare moments, the dress was being machine sewn whenever I had a moment in the craft room. Rather simple and straight forward. Using sketches from the Hungarican Chick, I drafted pieces from my Simplicity pattern that would be transformed into a bib-front. After working out the kinks in my pattern, I chopped up the sleeve pattern (don't worry, it was a piece that I traced from the original) to make the slits and button closures work. And it worked on the first try. Since when does that happen? 

The final result? 

There is an insurance building across the street from the ballroom that had these fantastic pillars. We just had to use them as a backdrop for pictures. 

And the open robe has a loooong train. :Squee!: But how is one to dance with such a long train and not trip? I attached a strap to the hem so that I could sling it around my wrist to keep it out of the way. After I did that, I was going through some fashion plates from the era and realized that they bustled it at the waist (Regency waist - not actual waist) to look like a chunky flower. Kinda cool. But I had already done the work, so the wrist band was going to stay. 

As I was spending goodness-knows-how-much-time sewing all that trim, I came up with a name for the dress. I've decided to dub it 'Caroline' because it strikes me as something that Caroline Bingley would have worn to a ball. 

Until next time!

SG

Burgundy Medieval Gown

On top of fixing up my own costume for the Celtic ball, my sister, Jessica, needed a dress that fit the theme. She came up with the general look that she wanted, and I had to bring it down to realistic expectations since I had classes, homework, work, and ball decorations to do too. ;) 

We found some burgundy sheets in my mock-up material bin, and I started cutting things out. Thankfully, I had done that pattern a couple times before, and it went together very quickly. Which was good because I finished it the night before the ball.

The next thing to add to her costume would be an embroidered belt. With floral swirls. Yeah, that sounds cool. 

After I finished sewing it, I stepped back and realized that we had essentially created Mother Gothel's dress from Tangled. Completely unintentional, but still pretty awesome. 

Until next time!

SG

Scottish Country Girl

I'm still here!!!

After finishing the MotB dress back in January, I needed some super easy projects (pillowcases anyone?), and then I sent my machine off to get a servicing. After goodness knows how many hours have gone onto that thing, it needed some R&R, or just a tune-up, ya know. Then I got it back and started chipping away at the sewing to-do list that grew while the machine was away. First up was making alterations and additions to my costume for the Celtic ball (which was on Saturday). 

Ever since the theme for the ball was announced late last year, I've been planning this get-up. I already had the dark blue skirt/'petticoat', blouse, and yellow over vest thing, but I wanted to add more Scottish flair to the mix. I found a plaid that I absolutely adored (from Joann's, oddly enough), and whipped it up into a floor length skirt. Then I made the shawl. Do you know how long it takes to pull all those threads to make the fringe? Anyways... Those two plaid pieces done, I put the ensemble on Lady Catherine, the dress form, and stepped back. It was quite the mishmash of things. To clean up the look, I made a stomacher using a piece from one of JP Ryan's patterns  and stitched it into place. Much better! The day of the ball, I was able to get into it quite quickly (which was good because I got a late start to getting ready) and topped everything off with a woodsy crown that I found at a Renaissance faire last year. The finished look was exactly what I was aiming for: a Scottish country girl with fashion influences from the 1700's. With flower crown. :P A friend of mine said that it was like a Celtic fairy or sprite and that I needed a special power. Invisibility. That's my super power. But that's a story for another day. ;)

I could probably have dedicated a bit more time trying to work with the tucked in part of the skirt. Oh well! It worked. 

The shawl is tucked into a :really: cool belt loop that was given to me (by a complete stranger, no less!) and held in place at the waist by grosgrain ribbon. 

Until next time!

SG

Princess Anna in Disneyland

I just :had: to show you pictures of the little princess in Disneyland. ;) 

She ran and ran and ran, and didn't trip on the dress. 

Despite being a cotton, it wore well! (you should have seen me at the fabric store crumpling all of the cottons) There was minimal wrinkle-age. 

I could just pinch those cheeks!

And she got to see Anna and Elsa twice! 

Until next time!

SG

Toddler Princess Anna

It's ~*done*~

And of-so-painfully adorable! 

Even though she's still young, I think she understand that this is a special dress. From the moment that we put it on for a fitting, she couldn't stop smiling. Then she went on to explore the stairs and clocks because those were a just as awesome, but we'll ignore that. :P 

'Thank you, Mommy!'

I was so worried that it would be too big. All I can say is, 'Thank goodness for sashes.' ;) Little missy has some room to grow into her pretty princess dress, but it also fits her now so that she can meet Elsa and Anna at Disneyland in her first cosplay. 

I think I'm dying from cuteness overload. 

Until next time!

SG

PS - Once I get 'in action' pictures, I'll post those. Because, seriously, her meeting with Anna and Elsa is going to be absolutely charming. ^_^ 

Toddler Anna Dress WIP

I have another dress from Frozen to show you! 

A friend of mine has a little girl, and she's looking for an 'age appropriate' dress for little miss to wear while they're at Disney Land. Of course, Disney has really figured out how to design ADORABLE kiddos, and they're clothes are equally cute. Anna is one of the top cute kids in Disney movies. 

The inspiration for the dress is Anna's toddler dress from the song, 'Do You Want to Build a Snowman?' You can get a better view of the dress in the pictures in the book A Sister More Like Me illustrated by Brittney Lee (very sweet story and pictures!) Brittney was one of the illustrators for Frozen, and her artwork served as a launch point for the look and feel of the movie. 

I did some research for making the dress itself, but couldn't find much. If you google 'toddler princess anna,' you get a boatload of toddlers in either the coronation dress or the winter dress. :sigh: Of course I made a Pinterest board to reference while putting the dress together. ;) 

Source

I found a pattern that would be relatively easy to alter (I used the same technique for the neckline alterations here as in Elsa's dress), scalloped the skirt, cut out a dozen tulips, and went to town with applique. I must say, I've never done this much applique before. Let's call it a 'learning experience.' Double-sided fusible interfacing is your friend when it comes to applique. I don't want to know how things would have turned out if I didn't have it.

  For the scallops, I did a similar thing as with the neckline - I cut out the contrast 'underskirt' band and zigzagged the 'overskirt' onto it. I wasn't about to try to hem scallops again. 

All that needs doing now is to attach the skirt to the bodice and put in some buttons!  

Until next time!

SG

Elsa Dress

This is ridiculously loooong overdue. It was finished in time for Halloween. :P My job, school, homework, and Christmas trees have sucked up all my blogging time, but now that the term is in the bag (!!!), I have a smidgen more time to sit down and write something that isn't for a class.

The first project that I want to show you is Elsa's 'Let it Go' dress from Frozen (but you knew that already). I used Simplicty pattern 3725 as the base and altered it using Andrea Schewe's tutorial series as my guideline.  

You can see more Elsa inspiration and my thought process for the dress on my Pinterest board. 

I made the dress to be a bit bigger with a tie in the back so that it can be worn for a longer time. 

The fabrics are just from Joann's. Since I hate how reflective fabrics look when photographed, I used the wrong side of the satin as the right side. You still get that gorgeous teal, but not the nasty glaring reflection from the camera's flash. (/rant)

This dress was filled with everything from 'oops' to 'dang it!' I had never really worked with a sheer until I did this dress. One of the moments when I wanted to cry while working with it was when my machine ate it into the bobbin well, chewed it up a bit, and then sewed it onto itself in the wackiest places. (That was the only moment that I wanted to cry. Yeah, there were frustrating moments, but that almost did me in). The only noticeable 'drats' is on the back where the the zipper stops: the trim didn't line up... :( I added a little bling to help, but it didn't really help all that much. 'It's just a dress-up costume; it's fine' they said. So I left it. 

Picture used with permission

The dress was a hit. She wore it for a week, slept in it, and went trick-or-treating with all the other Elsa's that were haunting neighborhoods this year. :P 

Until next time!

SG

Elsa Dress - In Progress

I've finished the Elsa dress, but all you get to see for the moment is a work-in-progress picture. :P

Until next time!

SG

Project Teaser

Can you guess what my next big project is going to be?

If you don't, then what snow drift have you been hiding under? :P

The entire country, if not the world, has been singing 'Let It Go' and all of the covers for almost a year. You should recognize the colors used in Elsa's iconic Snow Queen dress. 

I better get back to pattern drafting.

Until next time!

SG

Ranger's Cloak

Here's the finished cape! 

I ended up needing to dye it again. Unfortunately, it didn't take up much of the dye, so it was dubbed dark enough. 

In between setting up for the ball and the ball actually happening, some of us were able to head outside to take a few pictures.

After looking through them, I've decided that I really need to make a cloak for myself. 

And this is where I say something snarky along the lines of, 'Well, this isn't awkward at all.' 

Apparently Caleb can't keep a straight face in light of such sarcasm. :P 

Until next time!

SG

Once Upon a Time: Belle

We recently discovered Once Upon a Time on Netflix. 

Oh.my.word. I'm hooked!

I love how the fairy tale world is blended with the real world

And the costumes. ;) 

And of course, since there is a Happily Ever After ball coming up, I knew I had to recreate Belle's blue dress (I love her yellow one too, but I can't wear yellow to save my life). So naturally, I went to Pinterest to find all the reference material that I needed. You can check out my board dedicated to the project here. 

And guess what. I had the patterns that I needed in my collection. I already had all the material in my stash. You'll never guess what it is was: a sheet. :P 

Yes, I've finished the entire dress already. But I want to get more official pictures before posting it.  

And I love how it turned out! I can't wait to show it to you, but for now, you'll just have to enjoy the teasers. :P 

Until next time!

SG