This black silk robe a la francaise is about 80% hand-sewn, more than I ever intended. I've retrimmed it 4x now!
Recreating the pink portrait of Mary Queen of Scots had long been a dream, & I finally did it for my birthday.
My drag alter-ego is Leonard Autie, hairdresser to Marie Antoinette. He sometimes gets a new suit for Carnevale.
Between finishing Aouda and the impending start of NaCoFiMo, I’m feeling fairly inspired to costume right now. Except the next thing on my docket is an Elizabethan corset, and I hate making corsets. It shouldn’t be that hard, that’s not the problem. I just find corsetry terribly boring and annoying. Stupid fiddly bone casings, then
I do believe the event was a success! People came dressed in a fun variety of costumes and seemed to have a good time. The food and drink were excellent, and one person said “great idea to have an event in a bar!” Everyone was enjoying chatting so much that we didn’t do any organized
I finished my outfit today (whew!), and I’ve made some, IMNSHO, kickass party favours. Just gotta print and assemble all today. I also hope to finish one or more photo albums of our travels. I’m encouraging everyone attending to bring their own travel photos, scrapbooks, or memorabilia to share! It’s going to be an afternoon
Man, it took a heck of a lot longer to make this skirt than I thought it would. And I’m still not finished — have to hem the lining. Tomorrow, though, because I’m beat. Aouda’s skirt in the solid grey part of the sari looks beeeeeeeyoooouuuutiful. So much better than using it as an overskirt.
OMG. I can’t believe I didn’t try this in the first place! A comment from Kendra made me realize I hadn’t really tried the grey part of the sari as a full skirt on its own. I knew from the measurement it wouldn’t work with a hoop, but I hadn’t tried it over just a
I fixed the sleeve-poufyness (mostly), but now I can’t decide what to use for Aouda’s underskirt — black satin or burgundy silk. So I pinned ’em both up and took pix to compare and contemplate. Both of these are just pinned up (so they’re a bit messy), and both would, aside from the fabric color,
Hmm… seeming success is a bit thwarted… While laying awake at an ungodly hour, I had debated the sleeve shape. The more I doubted having enough sari fabric for a hoop skirt, the more I felt that a narrow sleeve would look better, more balanced. So when I got out of bed, I poked through
I cut the sari! Scary, but it’s looking good. I debated which part to use for the bodice — either the choli end, which has a tight repeating pattern, or the end of the sari that hangs over the chest, which has a big wide pattern. Decided to use the choli for the bodice and
Sewed the lining of Aouda’s bodice last night (tried it on the dressform, fit weird, need to try it on me). Massive mad props to Kendra, who draped a pattern on me last weekend!!! I gave up on the Simplicity one and just went to the expert. The muslin looked awesome. Just doing a double-check
I hate fitting!!!!!! *$&)*@#_*!@#&$()& Time for a beer now before I torch my sewing room and the dummies and everything.
Tried to fit the Aouda muslin on my dressform last night. I’m hoping that even though she’s a bit boobier than I and I can’t corset her, this dressform will be a smidge better than trying to pin stuff on myself. At least for the first muslin. ‘Cept nothing made sense to me. Dunno if
Tickets for the GBACG’s Around the World in 80 Days are on sale! It will be on October 21, 2006, from 1pm to 5pm at the Duke of Edinburgh Pub, Cupertino. I need to get crackin’ on my costume! I’ll probably use the Simplicity 9761 pattern as a base, and I have all the notions
Shortly after Gatsby 2005, I bought this dress off eBay. It was listed as 1920s, but I think the style is more ’30s. It’s a somewhat transitional shape — neither fully straight nor fully fitted in the bust or waist. The waist is dropped, and the handkerchief hem is just around the knees. The dress
My first and probably only occasion to wear this gorgeous antique was the Time Travelers Gala at Costume College 2006. The event’s theme was Tango Argentina 1910s, so this gown fit right in. I accessorized the dress with a rhinestone and pearl headband atop my hair piled on my head. I wore long, dangly rhinestone
