Project - 55G

This is what Sister has been calling it. 55G - Steam-Stilt Girl. She was going to wear it with a pair of stilts.

The bloomers. She's actually wearing the stilts in this one.

The back of the "corset" and the bustle. I had a lot of fun
with the bustle!

The front of the whole thing.

"This isn't a real corset! I can still move in this! Thanks, Anny!"

The word fabric is some sort of canvas from Hobby Lobby, the bloomers and blouse are from muslin, and the skirt is black broadcloth. No process pictures here, since I wasn't really set up for that sort of thing. My sewing machine was in the dark office at the time.

And I think that's all I've got in the project buffer for now... Though maybe by this point (my posts are scheduled) I'll have some other projects done and ready to post.

Project - Gandalf!

My super-awesome cousin decided he wanted to be Gandalf for the Renaissance festival this year. Backing up some, last year we were taking care of Isaac and his brothers while my grandmother was in the hospital. We took them to the festival with us, and they all loved it. Isaac wanted to go again this year, and he asked me on the way home LAST year if I could make him a Gandalf costume this year. I was all over that, and he loved it.

As usual, Jayne was helping.

The robe on its own.

Robe, hat, and scarf. There's a grey wig stitched into the back of the hat
for the long hair.

Look! A picture of someone wearing something I made!
This was before we went in. The band around the beard was
because the hair was falling out like crazy and getting everywhere.

Isaac had Quala thrown in jail this year for a whole list of reasons.
He had to sing some Rush to get out.

Gloating.

The robe was made of some really cheap grey fabric from Wal-Mart. The hat was out of felt with some wire run through the brim. The "staff" was a prop from my fairy costume a few years back, as was the leather belt. The scarf was some bargain-bin shiny silver stuff from Hancock's that I wish I had more of. None of the pictures show it, but there's also a small chainmaille bag on the belt that he's got his money in.

As an added treat, have a picture of my sister and I in costume.

My patchwork corset, ridiculously long skirt, and too-many belts,
and Sister's Halloween costume from last year. We're still not sure what she was.

My corset is actually pieced together from upholstery sample books, and the skirt used to be a curtain. Sister's get-up was all fabric she purchased. Look for a post on that one next week.

Project - Underbust Corset

For the festival, my sister's friend commissioned me for a corset. She came up and we spent a couple hours picking out fabric and going over the general construction, taking measurements, and communicating ideas. I put off the finish until very early on the day I had to deliver, so I didn't actually get a picture of the finished product. I'm not even sure she got to go to the festival, so I'm not sure it's been debuted yet. I've got to get better at photographing my things.

Jayne, my trusty overseer. Please pardon the massive mess.
I was drafting this and about 4 other things at the same time.

Side view, since this gets the most fabrics in one shot. This is pretty much
just the shell and the lining. No bones, no biding, no grommets, and no laces.

And this is at about 4:00 the next morning. Various size knitting needles to
insert the grommets, and hammer and tools for setting them. This is right up
there with ruffles on the list of things that I hate.

 Made with all cotton/poly-cotton fabrics. I (obviously) didn't hand-bind this one since I was so pressed for time. It was still a lot of fun, and I hope that I get to see Sabrina wear it one day. Maybe I'll bother her about it some more...

Project - Saki Morimi of Eden of the East

Greetings, one and all! I promised some pictures of projects, and here's one I finished today. My sister is going to Tokyo in Tulsa this year and has asked for a Saki Morimi dress from Eden of the East: The King of Eden. Of course, I had to go and watch the entire show and both movies, but it was well worth it. Excellent series, I highly recommend it.

And here it is! Well, 3-ish photos. I didn't take any of the drafting process...

This was about 1 "day" of work. I watched some TV, ate some watermelon...
Generally just a lot of goofing off.

Jayne has decided that this dress is his, not Sister's.

Fully assembled, necklace included.

Fabric covered buttons, bias tape, band, gathering...

Ruffle detail. I. Hate. Ruffles.

Overall, from start to finish, I'd say this project took about 8 hours. The fabric is just some cheap broadcloth from Hobby Lobby: 2.5 yards of pink, .5 yards of white. I'll make sure she gets some pictures in this one for me so I can show off the product while she's wearing all of it.

I've Tried That - Fairy Wings

My most favorite and popular Renaissance Festival has been my fairy costume. While I just kinda made up the wing process as I went, this is almost exactly how I made mine. Thanks, Mommy Blessings!

Photo belongs to Mommy Blessings

To follow her wonderful tutorial to make some fairy wings for yourself, just Click on This Wonderful Link!

Do you want to see my costume? I bet you do. Here you go!

Here's the costume minus the wings. There are various pieces of jewelry and some belts and tails that go with it.

And here I am wearing it! I'm teaching the hubby to dance the Korobushka.

My wings, though I am not wearing them. This is my sister (in the black) and her friend Sabrina (in my wings).

Adventures in Corsetry - Where I got the "Pattern"

I'm finally doing it. I'm finally drafting my own pattern from my measurements and using spiral steel boning and making a victorian-esq corset.

What I hope to get from my corset:
- An amazing outerwear costume piece
- Something I can coordinate with for years to come
- A workable pattern to make many more corsets
- KNOWLEDGE! Knowledge of the proper way to fit a corset and draft a pattern.

Now, a confession: I've already started. I have the pattern drafted, traced, allowanced, and cut (all together took 4 hours), the mockup shell pieced (1 hour), and the boning cut and tipped (1.5 hours). Time: 6.5 hours so far

And I have pictures of the whole process! Yippee! But the terrible part of that is that I have no way to get the pictures from my camera to my computer. My cables and card readers are all in storage and I don't have a clue how to get to them. So today you get the fruits of my research.

I wanted something that would give me some reduction, cover my hips a little, and go over my bust. This ruled out the conical Renaissance stays that seemed to be popping up in all of my searches*. After 2 full days of searching, I stumbled across exactly what I wanted.

Your Wardrobe Unlock'd.

On this wonderful website I found a .PDF file of 54 pages that goes in depth on how to draft your own Victorian corset pattern based on your measurements. Click here to download it yourself.

I took my measurements, wrote them down where I wouldn't lose them, and them went to have the document printed. Like I said, it's 54 pages long, and I wasn't about to subject my parents' printer to that. For less than $10 I had it printed, covered, and spiral bound. Go check with your local printer (mine is at the college) to see what kind of sweet deals you can get!

So, that should save you 2 days if you're trying to find the same thing I was. It's worth the time and the money to have a pattern this good. I'm so very pleased with my mockup at this point.

*This seems to be the go-to for drafting "corset" patterns. It isn't what I wanted, but I drafted one anyway and it looks like it would be a great one. This resource truly is a gem, if not quite the one I was looking for.

Oh, the thing's I've found...

I've got enough material to blog for a few days at least. Today there will be some pictures, though. I finally pulled the picture of Karen's bag off my camera, and got a picture of the wonderful Sauteed Summer Vegetables. And it's been raining like crazy here for the first time in months, so I have some pictures of the sky to share, too. Also coming today, costume talk. It is supposed to be dress-up day, after all.

First off, The Karen Bag. It's made of denim because she walks everywhere and it needed to be sturdy. She works two jobs, so it needed to be big enough to carry her uniforms. It's blue because that's her favorite color. I now present The Karen Bag.

I made it using a bag I made from a pattern my mom had a couple years ago. It's big enough to use as a school bag with a laptop, charger, and textbooks, and small enough to use as a large purse. The only problem is that it's really deep and it has a large opening, which would make it all too easy for pickpockets. I wouldn't carry it at a festival.

Time for something mouth-watering. The vegetable dish.

Oh, how I love this thing. Pardon my messy stove. Admire my collection of cast-iron. And drool at the glory that is nothing but fresh vegetables. For the recipe, click this link.

Rain! Glorious rain! It hasn't really rained here in about a month and a half. The last good rain we had was on my birthday, June 28. A couple days ago, a couple friends in Stillwater contacted me to let me know what was heading this way. Wind, rain, thunder, and lightning. Loss of power, downed trees, and a little fear. I stood on the porch and watched in true Okie style. The photos that follow are in order of occurrence.

One friend sent a picture to me titled Aftermath. It was a picture of all the trees around his place that had lost limbs. I sent him the last one, also titled Aftermath.The sky was absolutely beautiful all through the storm, and when it had blown over, this is what it left behind in the sunset. We've been having weather like this for the last few days now.

And now for the actual Friday report: I'm getting a lightsaber! More specifically, I'm getting this saber. Sorry. It won't let me post an image of it. I'll get you one when it gets here, which might be today or tomorrow. Anyway... It's my birthday present, precious. I need a costume for it. There's nowhere to wear it 'cept conventions and Halloween, really, but that works for me. And it gives me practice modding patterns. See, I'm not going with the pattern-book costume Jedi mess for me. I want to still look like a female. I don't want the long skirt business, either. After a long-ish search, I found this:

Character design by commander-13

Very close to what I want! The top's a bit too racy for me, and I'll be wearing it mostly in colder weather (Halloween will be it's debut), so I figured I'd add another layer. A long sleeved shirt underneath should do well. Off to the pattern stash! For the under-layer, I found McCall's 7899, printed in 1995. I then looked at it again and discovered that for the tunic, the same pattern would work! I just use some different pieces and lengthen it, leave the sides open for the ties I want, and ta-da!

Tops A and F for the top half of the Jedi costume.

Instead of a narrow belt, as is shown in both the Jedi picture and the pattern example, I'm going with an Obi style belt. I like the width of it and the corset-y influence it has on one's shape.  While thinking about it this morning, I figured out a way to modify this, too. Instead of overlapping ends I'm going to make it just long enough so that the points meet and have them tie together there. I'll put a narrow belt over that in the middle to hide the tie and to put my various pouches on when I get them.

And for the pants, I'm using Simplicity 8186 printed in 1998. They've got pockets and they are tight enough to show I'm a woman, and loose enough to move around in. I haven't yet decided if I'm going to make anything with a hood or not. An asymmetrical mini-cape would be fun, I think.

Now I think I'm done for the day. There's still a lot I want to blog about, though. My experiences with Molten Front dailies, the tiered skirt measurement generator I found yesterday, my pick-nick dress, and the pictures of my new house dress that I haven't taken... Those things will have to wait, though. Now it is time for caffeine and an egg.

-Anny

Arts and Crafts

The Muskogee festival is almost upon me! Aside from working on my sister's graduation present, I've got to polish my fairy costume up a bit. Having made it last year in about a day for the Norman festival, it needs some work. I constructed a whole new shirt for it, lengthened the bodice, and modified the skirt. So yeah. Everything but the wings changed. And I made some more accessories.

 Here's the modified fairy costume (minus the wings, belts, and tail). The shirt is a bunch of squares with some elastic. Three rows of shirring on the top, a channel for elastic in both sleeves. The bodice was made using a Simplicity pattern. Rather than using grommets in the front, I used watch bands cut from flea-market finds. At the shoulders are two rings that are tied together to give it length and make it fit me better. The skirt was found at a garage sale. It has recently been chopped up, filled in, and gathered to add character.

This is a lovely little wallet I discovered at Insatiable Need. I love Stumble! This is just big enough to hold an ID and a couple bills, but small and slim enough to be tucked inside a corset. If I could have found the first one I made, there would be a picture of it up here, too. Below is a picture of the inside.

And finally, these beautiful little flowers come from Momfetti. I've already linked this site once, but it bears repeating since I've now made three of these cute little things. The mostly brown flower is a ring that I plan on giving away. See below for a story. The mostly green one is on a clip to go in my hair. Of all the modifications and accessories I made yesterday, these were the most painful. I stabbed myself in the cuticle and burned myself with some hot glue.

And now it's story time! Last year at the festival I hadn't been there ten minutes when I heard a little girl behind me say "Grandpa, it's a FAIRY!" He played along and told her he couldn't see me. This went on for a minute or so and I finally turned around and started talking to the little girl. She asked me why her grandpa couldn't see me. "It's because grown-ups don't believe in magic," I told her. We talked for a minute or so and then she started to loose interest. As she and her grandpa turned away, her grandpa mouthed "Thank you" at me. If that happens again this year, I'll be giving the brown one to the girl.

Sarah's graduation present will be posted after she gets it, since I don't want her finding out about it.

I don't know how updates are going to look next week. There should be a recipe for meat pies up sometime. No promises as to when, though.

-Anny

Dress-up Day

Today is a good day for a costume. I think I shall share a pirate one that I didn't make much of but pulled together from thrift store finds. First, however, I have decided to give you all a boring schedule! I'll be updating about specific things on certain days. Like today, and hopefully every Friday hereafter, is about costumes. I don't have enough costumes to keep this up for very long, though, so sometimes there will be a crafty tutorial instead. So here it is, the list of what to expect:

• Monday - Stuff I've learned - Various lessons I've learned in my 21 years that I think everyone needs to know.
• -Tuesday - World of Warcraft updates. They'll likely be about what Immortal Kings has done in raids or about a new way I found of being a better warlock.
• Wednesday - From the Kitchen. Yep. I'll give you a new recipe every week, and they will have been tested in my kitchen and tasted by my picky husband.
• Thursday - Sharing of the Links. I'll try to post a couple new finds that I found exceptionally awesome.
• Friday - Costumes or crafts. See paragraph above.
• Saturday - If I update on a Saturday, it will be about movies, because I love them.

No, I will not update on Sunday unless I feel that it's a life or death situation. Seriously though... A life or death situation based  around blogging? Don't think so.

Enough boring! Let's play dress-up!

No, I'm not the mostly shirtless guy. That's Cameron from Barely Balanced. They are my favorite show at any Renaissance festival, and I was very surprised to find them at the Norman Renaissance Festival three years ago. Enough about them. Now it's about me!

So where did the pieces come from? The black lace on top of my head (seen better in a different picture with a model) was snatched from my mom's Bag o' Belly Dance forever ago. The blue chainmaille necklace I made. The apple-seed necklace, barely seen here due to the bag, is from a yard sale. The people running it were going to throw it away because they couldn't get it un-knotted. I did, so they gave it to me. The shirt is a hand-me-down. The purple thing around my waist is a scarf I got from Wal-Mart on sale for $3.00. The silver and black dagger is from Scarlett's Midwinter Festival, which is no longer running. That makes me cry. The two belts are from my favorite thrift store back home. I got the bottle at this festival the year before, and ten minutes before we left for it the year this was taken, I finished the bottle holder. The dagger on my leg was a gift from a friend when we went to the Texas festival. The pants I got from Salvation Army, as well as the boots. I made the bag.

So. This just goes to show you what collecting a bunch of stuff will do. The rest of my costumes are primarily made my me and have a lot more layers, but this one was just "Oh! I have this that I could put here, and there's that that I could wrap on my head, and OOH! This dagger would go great here!"

Here are a couple more pictures of the costume on someone else.

Tomorrow will be a rant about Lord of the Rings: Movie vs. Book. You could probably skip it.

-Anny