I had dreamed of returning to Venice’s Carnevale for my 50th birthday — I’d gone for my 40th birthday and wanted to bookend the decade in an even more spectacular style. Alas, I’m spending this birthday in the middle of a divorce and having just moved to a new house, which used up all my
Another CoCo has come and gone, and we survived! Well, except for some epically awful concrud, wherein most everyone I know came down with a nasty headcold immediately after Costume College. While I rarely, if ever, make elaborate new costumes for CoCo, I still have a blast attending for two reasons: I love teaching classes
My motto for this website and all my dress-up endeavors has long been, “We’re born naked, everything else is a costume,” which is a paraphrase of RuPaul’s “We’re born naked, everything else is drag.” Because Mama Ru and I have the same philosophy that all the clothes / makeup / hairstyle / etc. we garb
I’ve only been wanting to make this gown for a decade. No lie — my first blog post about it was in 2009, and I’ve loved the portrait for longer. So for my birthday this year, I planned a fancy dress party where I would be the queen, wearing this dress, surrounded by my ‘court’
Egads, I haven’t posted here since Costume College 2015. I did go to CoCo last year, but it was super-abbreviated — I flew in late Friday, taught one class Saturday morning, wore a modern cocktail dress to the Gala, and drove back with Sarah and Francis on Monday. I didn’t make any costumes last year,
This is a custom-made French hood commission for Lady Elizabeth de Belcaire to go with a late 16th-century English outfit made by Mistress Elena Edgar and embroidered sleeves made by Elizabeth herself. It was first worn at the SCA West Kingdom’s 12th Night in January 2015. Since the fitted gown and kirtle were inspired by
For the Investiture of the Prince and Princess of the Mists, I helped sew the outfit worn by her highness Marguerite. I made the yellow damask sideless surcote that was worn over a blue velvet gown made by Sarah. I also made a blue velvet and yellow silk hood that was worn under the coronet.
As I last blogged, I needed a partlet for my Venetian courtesan gown. Well, here it is. I ended up going the simple route because I had a spectacular fail when I attempted a fancy ruff neckline. The saving grace is that it was easy to just hack the whole thing off for this no-neck
I had an amazing time at the Greater Bay Area Costumer’s Guild’s Last Dinner on the Titanic, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of the ship’s sinking on April 14, 2012. This costumed dinner & dance took place at the Bellevue Club in Oakland, CA. Everyone was seated at tables of 10, & our group decided
Some time ago, my good friend Sarah collected some historical images documenting 16th-century women wearing crowns, because it often seems like a rare thing. We see queens & female nobility of earlier eras decked in towering regalia, but crowns / coronets / tiaras / diadems & the like almost go out of fashion for the
Sometimes, you just want to go to an event, even if the historical era is not your bag, baby. Maybe you’re trying something new, maybe the event sounds like fun because it’s at a fabulous venue or it has a great combo of activities, or maybe all your friends are going, or it could be
Beading — Hard to tell but the red dots are faux garnet beads between each curl. About a quarter done. Man, iPhone camera blows for macro pix! Looks better in person, promise. But I’m sick of sewing tonight. Gonna finish off this bottle of wine and call it a night 🙂 *sigh* Wish I had
After much hemming and hawing (no pun intended), I made the overgown. Well, it’s not quite done yet. Need to finish hand-sewing the trim around the incredibly wide neckline. Also need to add sash ties in the back because in my attempt to make the overgown big enough to go over the first gown, I
Technically, both costumes are done now. Pulled a marathon (for me; I stayed up past midnight 😉 sewing session last night and finished my gown. Designed sleeves based on, well, not much ‘cept the fact that I wanted to be able to eat in the dress yet still have a semblance of Floppy Elf Sleeve