What I wanted to find at this year’s trip to the LA Garment District was something to go with this hot pink and silver (polyester) sari I’ve had in the Stash for years: I made a sketch of my costume concept in Tara Maginnis’ drawing class at Costume College (shown at left). The idea is
Anyone have a source — either online or that they can scan and post — for what one of those little lace caps looks like *not* on a woman’s head? I’m wondering how I should make mine. It doesn’t have ear flaps afaik. In the portrait, it mostly looks like just a back veil. Easy
I bit the bullet and commissioned the lovely and talented Sarah to make this gown for me! She took my concept, tweaked the pattern she and Bridget made for my 1580s doublet, and *ta-da*, created a fabulous ensemble for 12th Night. She rocks and a half 🙂 All I made was that beaded girdle I’d
It came down to the wire, but I did it! I finished the outfit in time and, despite some trouble actually getting to the event due to weather and map issues, I had a wonderful time at the Elizabeth and the Pirate Feast! But first, the finishing pieces…
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 pirate lady costume is so goddamned girlie! It’s Foufy McPouftster. It’s dandy, it’s fey, it’s don’t-you-think-I-look-good-in-this-hat. Jack Sparrow would laugh me right off the gangplank, but he might want to shag me speechless first. Well, no, there’s not enough cleavage for that 😉 But it is the least “AAAARRRR” pirate you can imagine. It’s
Finally! The gown itself is done! Finished the last rows of the blasted ruffles and hemmed and trimmed the skirt. I love the ruffled skirt now — when I put it on, I realized how perfect the ruffles go with the polonaise. Ruffles give extra fullness, as a petticoat would, but better. The pouf of
Note to self: Never, ever sew anything with more than one ruffle ever again. The ruffled skirt is killing me. Hemming and trimming the ruffles was a piece o’ frickin’ cake compared to actually gathering and attaching the ruffles. All nine goddamned rows of ruffles. I used to think it’d be neat to someday make
Finished the crown. I printed out tiny versions of the White Tree of Gondor and practiced painting over the print with dimensional gold paint. Had to trim a lot of branches from the tree so the details didn’t blur together with paint (what kind of sacrilege is that, to lop off parts of the White
Started the crown and veil. Got sidetracked by Valentine’s Day and my birthday, but I finally had a half a day free to work on these pieces. A while ago, I made a paper template of the crown and cut it out of buckram. Because I didn’t have a long enough piece of buckram in