MAGAM: February gets a dress

I've already got a plan for February's MAGAM - a superhero themed vintage dress, for a friend's party.

I'm not sure if you'll guess which character it will be, but the pattern I'll be using is the Lilly Rose. I've had it for 18 months, and finally taped the pieces together last year while my knee was in a brace. Sheesh, I finally found something I resented about sewing. I'm hoping Lorna will provide the option to print on A3 paper, not just A4. See ... months later and I'm still whinging about it.





Editing on 16thFeb to add fabric photo:

femme Doctor leaves the production line

I stood no chance of getting the frock coat equivalent made, but it was so hot that I was glad about that.

I need to paint the bullet shaped part of my sonic with red enamel paint, but still got some appreciation from other fans. It's a solid heavy piece of skilled work - turned rather than cast. So, here I am ... though I'm sure 99.9% of those there had zero clue what my costume was but I made it for me & not them. Also I am even more of a McGann fangirl than I was before.  What a charming man. Most of the Who guests complimented me on my costume - it must be something about a well fitting corset.

Daphne Ashbrook told me I was beautiful, and even included that in her autograph for me ... which was lovely to hear (even if my inner voice says that I'm gilded, stout mutton).

And if you weren't sure, it's a femme version of the 8th Doctor.  I only let myself buy brocade, and it's nothing like the screen accurate fabric.

 



The reason my lacing cord is wrapped to the front is that it originally wasn't but I made it half way along my street & it came undone. Eeeek, had to try to fix it asap, and after that I didn't trust it to stay tied properly behind me. Stash used 10.5m (with more to be used in the jacket), and 1m brocade bought & used)

realising that lining is needed (Dr Who costume)

While cutting out the nightgown I realised that the fabric is too sheer to leave unlined, and not self-lined or that'll be a whiter bodice & top half of skirt.  I checked my spreadsheets to see if I had something suitable and had a couple of options.  This is the one I'll go with simply because it's already pre-shrunk.  WIN.

The motif on the white is 3cm (2 1/4") if you're interested.


I had to remind a friend that it isn't the town hall & he doesn't get a vote in whether I do or don't line it.

Tonight I got the skirt & sleeve seamed & overlocked, with the hem overlocked ready to turn & stitch.  Tomorrow night I cut out the facings & linings - after I see Thor 2.  Wednesday I assemble the bodice, make the skirt & sleeve plackets (so I can roll up the sleeves if I overheat).  Thursday haircut + waist & sleeves cuffs, Friday insert sleeves.  Saturday - party on!

coffee first, FBA 2nd

Yesterday I made it to my sewing guild group and the first thing I did was get a coffee.

The next was work on the simplicity blouse pattern I'm using for the Dr Who costume.  I marked the underbust seamline onto the back piece & cut across - I'm gathering the skirt onto the bodice before applying elastic.  I may also have to do a centre front placket onto the  skirt and have the front open properly - it's a mock opening on the pattern.  I need to get the bodice over the acreage and not struggle too badly.  I'll probably put a fastening on the elastic to hold it together. Dang, should have bagsed one while I was there.

This is the only mockup I'm doing, and you won't get a pic on me for the obvious - bingo arms and snow white tummy (with this years gall bladder surgery scars, even though small) don't need to be seen by the world.  Now the coverage across was enough, just, but there was too much underbust exposure (about 4cm).

 

 Below is the worlds dodgiest FBA (aka full bust alteration).  It's not typical of the ones I do, mainly cos I don't want a side-dart and equally I don't want massive spread if I folded the side dart out properly.  I need the extra across the high point of the bust, not at the underbust.  The spread is 5cm across, and the reason the bodice isn't lengthened at CF is that I'm not longer down the CF line, just over the Acreage of Boobage.  You can see that I've added another 4cm underneath, and I'm wanting to lower the neckline a centimetre or 2.

 

It's supposed to be a low-cut front, but it's not quite as low-cut on me as I want for this costume.  I think as there's more to cover that it's higher on my assets than on a smaller cuppage.  I think I made another woman at the sewing group choke when I said there wasn't much point in having a Vast Acreage of Boobage if I didn't display it occasionally.  I'm also thinking of slashing from shoulder point down & spreading across 1cm as it's a snuggish fit across. Hmm, I'm not making it screen accurate ie no lace at underbust seamline & no piped neckline. Mainly cos my fabric isn't striped, so why aim for that level unless it's in all things.

And a refresher of the costume I'm making - pic from timey-wimey.com

dagnabbit, it could have been a 100% stash project

Yesterday I dozed through the Dr Who Episode "Vampires of Venice, and had a massive "D'OH" moment. I'd been loving the main villainess's costume (the matriach) more than the 'Brides' day-wear, but I had completely forgotten the nightgowns which I loved more than their formal gowns. Here's the nightgowns on the left and the matriarch's dress on the right.

And guess what pattern I have unused in my stash but Simplicity 4111 (a Built by Wendy design).

Wouldn't it have been ideal! Yes, there is in my stash a tub full of white fabrics to use in underpinnings. Aiyyyy, I'm not ragey over it but a bit sad. I could still do it, but then I have 5m of red shimmer rayon to use. Though it would be fun to wear a costume I could just sleep in .... at luv2costume's last costume party I made blue/white stripe pjs and then slept in them.

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.

dyepot dramas

Hmm, it looked like it would be a lot darker, but after washing this is the result. It's darker than the season 1 & 2 dress, but nowhere near as dark as her new dress. What I think I'll do is sew the dress with a darker thread, (but don't yet hem) and then just dye the dress and see what happens.

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

unfitted mockup of the hobbit bodice, and other small chores

Today at the sewing guild I took lots of little things in case the spare sewing machine wasn't available/working.

I seperated the chemise-blouse pattern pieces from the corset & pantalettes in the burda envelope, and cut out my size in the paper pattern. Leaving the fabric until the last minute this week (so I can hopefully including in a stashbusting comp).

I can tick off some zips that had to be unpicked from discarded skirts. I'd alreading cut a skirt margin around the zips as the skirts were stained or damaged.

My hobbit bodice pattern to trace and get the initial mockup done. I didn't cut the pattern out as it's on heavy paper, and I'd rather leave the multisizing intact. I'm using the Tailor's Guild pattern, cutting it off at waist level. I cut it out in midweight cotton twill using long stitches and putting an upside down zip on the front edge ... it's the waist that needs to be wider to get on, not the neckline.  When I make the real hobbit, I'll cut the front on the fold and have a 2" gap in the back that laces closed. I'm hoping to get help fitting this tomorrow.

I've just popped it over my speedy fish T to see how close it is, as it's going over a chemise-blouse not too far removed from a T. The fit is closer than I expected but longer shoulder straps (I'm short between shoulder and underarm. A bit loose below the bust of course. I'm going to bone between the base layers, with the "fashion" layer floating on top of them.  An incredibly poor quality photo, but meh, the past couple of days are saying "just keep moving forward" so I'm not going to have another go. You should see the photo attempts I deleted!


I took 6 pieces of fabric to give away, and only had to bring 2 of the smaller pieces home. I'll take them to the Fabric Cave next Sunday.  Plus some others I didn't take with me today.

3rd task i tackled was the UFO nightie I cut out last year and didn't get done. At the time I hadn't enough fabric to cut out the keyhole neck facing such as the one in this version I made *cough* years ago. So when I took El Pres fabric shopping a month ago on her flying visit from Adelaide I grabbed half a metre of the similar but smaller/bluer fabric in Marrickville. The same place I got my hobbit apron yardage. And yesterday got the Catelyn fabric.


So today I planned to cut out the keyhole facing. Except when I opened up the project bag there were no sleeves. None.  And for once I tossed the scraps. So I must have flicked the sleeves by mistake when I cut it out back in July or August - it was before my August holiday. The half yard of tiny print wasn't enough for both sleeves and the neck facing. And I was there YESTERDAY and they still had the fabric, but I just knew that if I cut a sleeve and neckband that when I got back there it would be all gone and I'd have to cut them again. So I grumped to anyone who'd listen.  Mainly cos the timing of it all.

The grumps put me off a little.

Next I got out the dress pattern for Catelyn & found the right pieces for the mockup, but was too grumpy to do an FBA on the bodice, so I packed up a tiny bit early and came home.

At least 2 of my extensive UFO list are scratched off it. I just wish the nightie was going to join them soon.
- replacement curtains for my main room, with block out lining - cut out
- Hobbit, 2 skirts cut out

great progress with my hobbit costume

Today I went to my other sewing guild group, and I got so much done. Thanks to Alison, who brought a spare sewing machine for me to use.  I found out from shifting boxes of fabric that I still can't lift that much weight around yet. (Silly gallbladder, you no longer exist so why did you hurt so much).  I knew it would be worth going simply cos I couldn't simply quit once I got fed up with a tedious task.  And I knew there were tedious tasks to come!   Seeing as Supanova is in Sydney in 5 weeks, well I just need to keep working on this and Catelyn once I have the fabric.

I'd stitched each skirt into a giant tube, but I needed to hem, gather & attach their waistbands.  I decided to not have both on 1 waistband, which maybe now I wonder if it'd be a good idea to reduce bulk. Though this way I can wear one on it's own if it's too hot.  The lighter weight underskirt has 2.7m of fabric around, and the plaid is about 3.1m.  I haven't done the snaps for the waist, and I think they're to bulky to buttonhole.  Here they are hanging on my shower rail.



I also got the apron 90% done, I've just got the press the tie belts, and hand stitch the waistband fully closed.  No pics yet, cos to be honest it would be tediously dull as it is.


Oh and the green linen I'm using for this apron, I won't be getting more of the same to overdye for Catelyn. It's fraytastic and has a woven rib in it, which won't be great on all those panel seams.

I also got some green trim to apply to the bodice, which is just what I was after.  For only $1 a metre, and it's cotton.  I'll preshrink it tonight so that when I need it it's ready.

Next up I'll mock up the bodice so that I can get help fitting it next Saturday at my usual sewing group.

planning for later in the year, Clara O

I've been a fan of Dr Who for years, well before the reboot with Christopher Eccleston.  I've liked various costumes, and am still planning to make Idris.  Most recently the 2012 Xmas episode had me say "ooh, ooh I *have* to have that!".  I like all of the costumes the character Clara wears, especially the blue & black gown.  So much that I hunted down a dobby cotton, as the close ups of her show the fabric isn't a plain weave.  It arrived a couple of weeks ago and it's delicious.  This photo is much lighter than it really is, it's navy not blue!

I also got from ebay the Past Patterns 904, an 1880s polonaise + walking skirt, which arrived today.  I know I'll need to make alterations to it, but it was close enough to suit me. No matter what I chose as a starting point changes will be needed so this will be fine.  There's a skirt in Hunnisett's Period Costumes for Stage & Screen that's ideal for Clara's black skirt ... and I wonder if the one she wore came from one of her productions.

pics of the problematic fabrics

So the 2 blue linens look like this, and if I can't use them for this costume I'm thinking of giving them away. Unless I have another costume I can use them in soonish.

It's not the colour that bothers me so much as how the feel & look & their density.  Ooh, maybe dye the pale one and use it for a bodiced skirt for my working class regency.   Yeah! that works for me.

The hobbit apron fabric is textured and appears differently on each side.

So I could over dye it with pale blue for the duckeggy colours Catelyn wears. Though it's only 112cm wide so I'd need more than if it were a wider fabric.  From memory it was only $10m which is pretty good here. So possibly 6m would sort this for me.

Started sewing the hobbit skirts today, and these are the fabrics I'm using. the checky one will be the sides & back of the bodice, with the floral as the centre front. I want to find a green trim as the decoration.

problems with my Catelyn fabrics

I dived into the cupboard last night for the 2 blue linens for my Catelyn Stark dress, only to discover that the weave is different enough that I wouldn't be happy to use them together. One's paler & finer than the other, which just isn't going to work as a cohesive garment.

Ugh.

I'm not supposed to buy any more fabric but use my huge stash, but as I've already got the wig/s and I'll be wearing it in 5 weeks, well I might just get some inexpensive linen if I can get it.  My fave shop in Marrickville had reasonably priced when i was there a couple of weeks ago. I only got a piece for my hobbit apron that day (yay for restraint) but I may return for Catelyn.

I was a bit frustrated last night when I opened my hobbit pack, as the fabric & pictures where in there but no thread. And I'd already filled the bobbins.  Hence my detour to the grotto to do something else.  Late in the evening I did find the thread/bobbins in an obvious sewing spot, but they weren't where I was convinced I'd put them (in with the fabric).  Tonight I'll start stitching, and change the thread on my new overlocker from the white it came pre-threaded with.

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.

pragmatically not starting any new projects

I've another 2 months to wait until my gallbladder surgery, and I'm trying to accept my limitations as it has severely impacted my life.

I'm being a bit fatalistic about not expecting to get anything finished, nor much progress on anything until afterwards.  {shrugs} it is what it is.  And I've got enough part started projects that I don't want to start any more.

What I can do is plot & scheme for when I bounce back.   Sydney Supanova is 21-23 June, which I'm anticipating to be a month after surgery, hopefully time to make a costume out of stash.  I've a hankering for a Catelyn Stark (Game of Thrones) so I have started trawling for pics ... hard to find any of the skirt section of her dress ... not her dark green coat but the V-neck, panelled dress underneath.  The bodice front has 4 panels on each side, and I'm guessing the back is the same, ie 16 panels on the dress.  I may simply dye the 2 pieces of pale blue linen I have in my stash. 

Winterfest is the following weekend, and I'll wear my regency kit as I'll be with my napoleonic re-enactment group.

Mid July is the Redcoats & Convicts day at Hyde Park Barracks, so I may finish my open robe for that.  Or a more downmarket ensemble as I'm with sailors.   As I'm not actually portraying a sailor I need a role that allows me to be hanging around with Nelson's sailors.  So after perusing the 1811 Dictionary of Vulgar Tongue I'm going to be a bum boater.  Which sounds hideous, but in fact is:

  "BUM BOAT. A boat attending ships to retail greens,
     drams, &c. commonly rowed by a woman; a kind of
     floating chandler's shop"

I love my greens, and a dram or two so it's a great match personally.

Further away, end of September is a subscription ball to celebrate the 1813 crossing of the Blue Mountains ...  it really was a trip to the unknown for them. They thought there was a huge inland sea ... unlike the reality of huge amounts of desert in the middle of the continent.  So I'm going to look for 1813 ball gowns for some inspiration for a new ballgown.

Deadwood on a Saturday night

A nightclub (but not really a nightclub, they have live bands, retro movie screenings etc) had a Deadwood ball on Saturday night.  I met some friends and friends of friends there for a fun evening.  I'd planned to make a copy of Alma's red dress but time and health intervened. I had my fallback plan of historical underwear and a short lived career in the Gem saloon.

I wore my candy stripe corset, and it's now so loose that I can put it on with the back fully laced closed. Also wore it over my bustle petti & bustle pad cos it's prettier that way despite being inauthentic. Oh and I added some eyelet broderie anglaise to the neckline of a regency chemise as I didn't need a wardrobe malfunction.  I figured I'd be lucky if more than 3 people knew it wasn't done that way.  A slightly matted long curly brown wig from my wig box was ideal for the Gem but not for Alma. 

The bustle pad could have been very handy if it was more stable


With a couple of friends, one as Joanie and the other as one of her Chez Ami girls (I was Gem saloon for sure)


A Wyatt Earp with a couple of the Gem's girls


The Reverend Smith showed his concern for all residents of Deadwood!  I saw him when I arrived but didn't spot him again until the evening was almost over, and I just had to get a photo with him.

Selma Bouvier goes to a party

Mrs Miggins you shall go to the Ball

It was so much fun being the cracked Mrs Miggins and I'm so happy with how this costume turned out.  The only thing I'd like to change is the stays I wear underneath.   With my pink cable tie version, I still get a shelf for cameras, but the bodice is curved not flat. I don't think it's possible to get completely flat, unless my chest is under my neck. Though I'd like to get it closer to period.

Though I do work as a pillow

Inara costume for 2010 Can't Stop the Serenity charity screening

I have to applaud the organisers of the 2010 Can't Stop The Serenity.  The venue was the right size and it was so much fun to watch Dr Horrible as well as Serenity.  I'm so glad that it was finally a year I could get to it.

Here's Ripley and I ... actually it's the of the best photo I've got of my Inara Serra costume despite wearing it 3 or 4 times before.
.