A yuletide at Winterfell, and a snow chaser

I'm being forced to admit to brainfail - I forgot to pack Catelyn's wig and my prescription meds but missing 1 day won't hurt as much as leaving the wig at the other end of a 3 hour train trip.

Last Friday night I rewatched - new for my hosts for the weekend - the last 2 episodes of GOT Season 5 which helped me spot that my version of the dress could easily be disguised as a Septa's dress.  So I borrowed some fabric scraps and pinned myself some dodgy veiling, and borrowed bagpipe ropes for her belt. I kid you not, the belt is from a set of bagpipes!




We could see a storm brewing as we drove to the restaurant - and lightening struck the ground in the car park just in front of us. EEEK, at least we were safest as we were still *IN* the car.  The Secret Creek Restaurant menu was fantastic, and I'd already emailed back & forth with the restaurant to check there'd be me-safe food. For once I ended up with far too much to eat - usually I have to go without, but not there. Deliciousness!



Between us we won the trivia contest - not that we're obsessed with the show or anything, and Jo won best costume in her Melisandre. It was a great night and I hope they do it again next year, cos I'll be there with bells on. Or carrying my own bell ... I've found a vintage  brass hand bell (interstate) on ebay and should get it soon. I just need to find some grey linen, or dye some and hand hem it for my own grey veiling.

Because of course "Winter is Coming" the next morning we woke to snow and then sleet which melted the snow (the snow I woke to below). I left town at lunchtime so missed the real falling later in the day.


But I did get the hilarious sight of sulfur crested cockatoos shrieking and flying around as snow drifted down. They're very playful - for fun and not simply for food - so I wasn't sure if they were having a fine time chasing snowflakes or expressing their annoyance at it.



I'll post pics of the steampunk next week - I got sick yet again and am behind with things. Going to a sewing retreat for a long weekend and not taking my little silver laptop.

Catelyn got finished and worn to Sydney Supanova

What can I say ... I'd have liked to get the chemise done for a smidge more character recognition. Though it may not have done as nobody seems to expect to see the mother. It's the hot young things that most people want to cosplay.  I've alway's gone for characters or costumes that interest me, rather than what may be popular.  It was great to be with the zeitgeist however ... so many other Game of Thrones costumes that we saw and a few more we heard were there.

Catelyn gets a darker dress in Season 3

At the Popcorn taxi evening, Michelle Fairley said how happy she was to get a new dress for Season 3 ... she had the least amount of costume changes compared to the other women.

So if yesterday you hear a how in the wind, it was me seeing that her new dress is a dark teal or blue ... a colour that really suits me but is unlike my fabric.  And it looks to be the same style, thankfully. Hmm this one looks almost black & s probably the funeral/mourning clothes.  But I'm sure I saw her in dark teal, so that's what I'm going for.



Upshot is I aim to dye my minty green not a blue-green close to the photo I've previously posted, but a dark teal if I can figure it. I'm thinking 2x teal and 1x grey or black for the dyepot.  Seeing as it's 6.5m x 140cm I'll need more than one packet of dye to get a darker teal.

So yayyyy that the new dress colour suits me so much better, but not so yay that it'll be a challenge

parcels and what Sesame Street calls "sometimes foods"

It's been a good parcel post this week.  I bought a selangor pewter jug and goblets on eBay, partly for more upper class regency reenactment and partly cos it reminded me of Game of Thrones.

It will get used, so it's not entirely impulsive and just for the pretties.  However another parcel that arrived the same day was Buried in Treasures: Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving, and Hoarding.  The co-incidental timing didn't escape me.  There's hoarding in the family, and I know I've a tendency to find it hard to let go of things.  This is to help me not get to the level of stuff that it becomes a problem for me. It started to while I was so sick if only because it had become disorganised, because you can't organise too much stuff.

Most of my stuff is sewing & costume related, but I can do an overall cull. I've done it in the past when I moved home a lot, however staying in the one place for so much longer has meant a build up of things.  Plus I can learn to think about objects differently.

The other thing that arrived was the costume patterns. I spent time this evening reading them and might even use the Tailor's Guide stays pattern as the base for my hobbit bodice.

I'm off my food today - there's a bug going around work and I came home at lunchtime yesterday and slept til 5.30pm.  I was ok enough to go to work today but didn't want brekkie.  I did get to eat a chicken quiche for lunch, and it was very chicken tasting. That is rather than faint hints of chicken I could see the pieces and taste it.  I'll buy it again, though it was fairly pricey, simply cos the filling was quality.  I got it at from the frozen section at an IGA on the way to work, and it's by a Queensland company Glutenfree Bakery.  I don't have a photo of it, cos it's in my tummy.  As it was frozen I heated it in the microwave at work, but if I was at home I'd take the time to heat it in an oven after defrosting. Last week I bought a twinpack of their Chicken Pies. YUM. This is something I've wanted repeatedly in the past 5 months and I finally found one I could eat.

a better pattern option for Catelyn

I went into the grotto and wasn't expecting to find some more patterns I hadn't returned to the proper drawers. Actually the room's a mess cos of a whole variety of those actions. or lack of actions.

Did I mention my discontent with the Betzina pattern being drafted for a stretch, and I'm not using a stretch fabric.  So imagine my delight at finding this pattern today.  It's a half size, so shorter & short-waisted and narrower shoulders. IE the likes of meeeee

Thanks to a brilliant friend I have an image not of Catelyn's dress but one of Sansa's that has a similar seamlines on the front.

On the improving side of the grotto, I managed to score an Aneboda set of drawers from ebay. With a seller who'd deliver, which most can't. I literally hit the "buy now" button 5 minutes before the hospital phoned me with "Surprise!!!! surgery tomorrow".  The seller was kind enough to deliver it on Monday, and did all the carrying as I'd explained about my surgery.  So I can't yet put it under the cutting table, as I need to move stuff of the table, chock it up higher and install it.  Plus I may take the legs off if I can, it's a teency bit too high.   Another advantage of ebay buying is that it's already assembled, so I'm saved the aggravation & time that takes. I'm looking for another set, to go back to back under the cutting table. As this set was white, I'd prefer to get another white set, not a beech set. That will slow down finding one, but I've remembered gumtree too. I really need to get the other fabric cupboard together, but that's a job for in another month.

plotting for my next Syd'nova costume (in June)

I'm starting to plan for my Game of Thrones costume for Syd'nova, and I've decided to go with Catelyn Stark and her blue-green dress.   I've already ordered a dark auburn wig, and will be getting a slightly longer also dark auburn wig to combine.

Although my dress will be linen not silk, the close up pic I found isn't a full body shot. I have 2 pieces of powder blue linen that I'll dye.

So the front has at least 8 panels, and probably the back too, though I'm going to have to watch Season 1 again & hope for some peeks at her back. Cos I may have to guestimate the opening/closure too. I have some unbleached lawn I can use to make the high-necked chemise. I think the sleeves are longer than the dress sleeves. 

I've got 2 dress patterns with a shoulder princess line I can use as a starting point.  V9220 I've used before, and I'd have to change the neckline and sleeve length as well as the other changes. 7472 I've not used, but the v-neck is very close to what I need, and is closer in length. I'll need to add a smallish amount of hem volume, but that doesn't worry me.