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when i was a spy

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when i was a spy

October 2, 2001 /

I’m such a good little industrial spy!

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My Costume History, Day 222: Princess Leia, Dapper

My Costume History, Day 222: Princess Leia, Dapper Day Version from Star Wars, for Dapper Day 2022

We were returning to WDW Dapper Day in 2022, and I’d put together a little Luke outfit for Kevin to wear, and Chase and I were going to wear our Luke and Han looks from 2019 (my bespin dress). But I kept thinking about how nobody “got” that I was Leia - so I decided I needed a dapper day Leia dress that was more OBVIOUSLY “Leia.”

My inspiration for this came from a vintage shawl pattern I had in my collection - I decided I’d take that look and combine it with the senatorial white and the buns for a new dapper Leia look. I picked up a white matte satin and some lining taffeta at Joann, along with some white organza for the shawl.

I used Butterick B6094 for the skirt section, using that taffeta for the built-in petticoat. I used a different vintage pattern for the upper portion of the dress - the dress itself went together very quickly and I was really happy with the end result.

The shawl I made out of one layer of the organza - I’d originally wanted to do two, but it visually looked too heavy with two layers. I finished the edges and then got to work ironing a bunch of silver glitter HTV rebel symbols. This glitter HTV did not really play nice with this lightweight organza, but it worked ok.

For the belt, I designed variation of one of the Leia belt conchos that would fit over a silver belt I already had. I also bought a plain white purse and created some Death Star plans elements - I did a lot of it with black glitter HTV, and then my husband 3d printed the big gold “closure” piece for me, and I painted it. It worked really well, I LOVE how the bag turned out!

I added some silver star hairpins to my buns, and I got 2 different pairs of shoes - a pair of heels which I wore part of the day, and some white flats I switched to when I couldn’t do the heels anymore LOL

This was so much fun to wear with the boys in their dapper Luke and Han looks. I haven’t gotten to wear it again since then, except for the white backdrop shoot we did later that year - but hopefully I’ll get to return to dapper day with this one of these years.

My Costume History, Day 221: Utena from Revolution

My Costume History, Day 221: Utena from Revolutionary Girl Utena (version 3), made early 2022

For the 20th birthday of my 1st Utena costume, I wanted to make a new one. I had meant to have this done in 2021, but I didn’t rush myself - I got it finished around Feb 2022, and didn’t get pics of it until the end of 2022!

I took one of my duct tape patterns I had of myself & edited it to create the upper part of the jacket - adding on new panels for the lower “skirt” part of the jacket. I decided this time around, I wanted to do a deep blue velvet. I lined the upper inside with some cotton, and the lower portion with some stiff taffeta for shaping.

For the red trim I found this red rose brocade I REALLY wanted to use but it was a horrible pain in the ass for that application LOL I forced myself through it & it’s OK, not perfect, but I do love the texture of it. I used some leftover over white brocade from Anne Boleyn for the pockets & cuffs.

The interior of the jacket zips up and then it closes over the top of that with snap tape. I found these rose buttons on etsy that were EXACTLY what I had pictured in my head. Yay!

Chase 3d modeled & printed the shoulder epaulets for me. They fit SO much better than my previous ones! They velcro on. The tassels hanging off them I made by twisting some white cord - they didn’t turn out exactly how I wanted, but I was tired of working on this at that point so I was fine with “ok.” The jewel is one I bought on etsy for Sailor Jupiter and didn’t use - worked perfect here! Added the gold cord, and my rose and rose holder are the original ones from my 2001 costume.

The underskirt I made by taking some holographic organza, and gathering it down onto a bias tape waist band. I love how it turned out! The shoes are some I bought and covered in my various fabrics. The wig I bought, cut and curled, and my sword is a file from DangerousLadies on etsy and Chase printed and finished it for me. My ring, socks and shorts are all from the 2001 version.

I love how it turned out - tho I’ve hardly worn it because I just finished it at a weird time. I did finally take it to ABC this summer!

My Costume History, Day 220: Roxy from Eegah!/MST3

My Costume History, Day 220: Roxy from Eegah!/MST3k, made for Dragon Con 2021

One of my all time fav MST3k episodes is Eegah, and I have a whole list of silly MST3K movie outfits I’ve always wanted to do. I finally decided to do one for Dragon Con that year, and I picked Roxy.

I found a perfect blue eyelet fabric online for this - I pulled out one of my vintage patterns to use for the top portion, though it needed so much work I really should’ve just winged it LOL. Once I got the top edited down to fit right, I added snaps to the front edges for a closure (I hate button holes LOL) - and put some little pearl buttons I had over the top so they’ve give the appearance of being buttoned up.

I had some velour leftover from my Sleeping Beauty update I did in 2020, so I used that for the little collar. Once I had the top made, I took the rest of my fabric, cut it into 2 long rectangles - one for the front and one for the back, gathered them and sewed them to the bottom of the top. I finished the edges, leaving the sides open. I bought a pair of blue swimsuit bottoms to wear under it, and dyed them so they’d match my fabric exactly.

I added the little ribbon belt out of some pink ribbon I already had. The wig is one I bought - I built it up with some foam and extra hair from another old wig. I ended up buying a clip on ponytail for the back - curled it and sewed it on at the back. Wore my ewok Leia sandals with it.

This was a nice comfy costume at Dragon Con - except the wig was a bit of a pain. And nobody “got” it, and even though I wanted to bring it back, I never did. I had had plans to make Kevin an Eegah costume to match me, but we ended up not going to the event I’d planned that for so I never did. I do think having an Eegah with me would make this much more recognizable. So it’s still something I have in mind for the future!

My Costume History, Day 219: Padme’s “Liberty Dies

My Costume History, Day 219: Padme’s “Liberty Dies” dress from Star Wars, made for Dragon Con 2021

I bought the fabric for this in early 2020 aiming for Dragon Con 2020 for this (along with my husband as Bail Organa) but of course that got pushed back to 2021.

And I worked on it off and on that entire time, so you think I’d have had time to get this figured out, but I didn’t LOL Let’s start with the parts that went a bit easier than the thing that gave me a roadblock for nearly 2 years LOL

I made the surcoat out of a pebbly purple fabric I got in Atlanta - I modified Simplicity 4443, which was a great starting point. Change the shape a bit, got rid of some seams, changed the collar shape and made the sleeves a little bigger, including adding seams for the piping. Made my piping out of some cord and velvet. Chase 3d modeled and printed the buttons for me.

The velvet parts I stabilized the edges and did the swirl design on my embroidery machine. That’s not really accurate, but my embroidery machine was still a new toy and I wanted to use it LOL. Lined the pieces and they snap onto the surcoat. The gathered panels I made out of a purple voile, and backed them in cotton. They also snap into place. Chase 3d modeled and printed the brooches for me also.

The underskirt was the trouble-maker. I got this taffeta for the skirt in Atlanta, and started experimenting with how to recreate the floral part for it immediately. I went through SO. MANY. IDEAS. And every single one failed. I have an older post about this somewhere so I’m not going to repeat it all, but it made me want to pull my hair out.

Finally with just a couple of weeks til Dragon Con, I took the design I’d drawn up, used my silhouette to draw it on some sticky back stabilizer, and then used a heated xacto knife to cut the design out of some purple velvet I had. Then hand sewed it all onto the skirt. I was working every second trying to finish this LOL But I did!!

I also made the hoopskirt, styled the hairpiece and the tiara is 3d printed.

I’m REALLY proud of how this turned out - it was a marathon to finish it but worth it. One of my fav costumes I’ve done in recent years!

My Costume History, Day 218: Scarlet Witch from Wa

My Costume History, Day 218: Scarlet Witch from Wandavision, made for Dragon Con 2021

As soon as I saw this at the end of Wandavision, I was like... oh yeah, I gotta make that.

I did a duct tape dummy of myself to create a pattern for the top - the interior is taffeta and cotton with spiral steel boning, and it zips up the back. The outer layer I made out of black ponte knit - I drew up the little repeating red pattern and printed it on red HTV and sat and ironed it on to each panel. I made the hip panels and side stripes out of various layers of pleather, spandex, and more of the ponte knit with the HTV ironed on. There was a LOT of hand-sewing and my fingers were SORE LOL

The front panel Chase 3-d modeled and printed, and then cast it in urethane so it would be flexible. He got it painted, and we glued it onto the front.

The gloves were more of the same - the ponte knit with the HTV designs, and various pleather and spandex for the details.

I made the pants out of the black stretch hex fabric from Joann - I made all of the stripes out of spandex and pleather and hand-sewed them onto the front panels before sewing up the side seams. I also added the belt buckle to the pants permanently - it’s 3d printed.

The half skirt I made out of taffeta - not what I had originally planned for this but I’d used some scrap taffeta to do a mock-up and I loved the way it flowed! So I decided to go ahead and use it for the real thing. I had to sit and iron on HTV for hourrrss and it was a pain and hard to keep it all lined up. My least fav part of making this. Finished the edge in some red spandex.

I bought the boots and made boot covers for them out of some black suede I had on hand, adding the stripes. My tiara was 3d printed, and I curled the wig.

I was sooo happy with how this turned out! Learned a lot of new things making this and really stretched myself and I’m proud of that. It’s definitely one of my fav costumes I’ve made in the last few years. It currently needs some repairs tho - the front piece glue failed and I need to reattach it, and I want to do it a different way. A project I can do over the winter...

My Costume History, Day 217: Diane from Twin Peaks

My Costume History, Day 217: Diane from Twin Peaks the Return, made for Dragon Con 2021

I really wanted to do a Twin Peaks costume - I decided to do Diane’s blue sweater outfit, because I thought it was something I could just buy parts for and modify it. So I got to work searching for a blue sweater, appliques and a black skirt.

And couldn’t find anything that looked right. I mean obviously I found black skirts, but after looking at prices I decided I could make it for way less out of fabric I already had - so I dug out a skirt pattern and made the skirt in a night out of some black ponte knit leftover from my Black Widow dress.

Then the sweater... couldn’t find anything that looked right, so I bought some blue “sweater” fabric and made it. I just used a shirt of my own as a pattern to get the sizing right, self-lined it, and then made the little collar and added it. I added a little button and a loop at the keyhole at the neck as a closure.

I really thought I could find some close-enough appliques, but I couldn’t... so I guess we’re making that too! I had just gotten a new embroidery machine, so I drew up a design, and messed around with digitizing it. It took a few attempts to get it looking ok and sized right, and the final result isn’t perfect, but I’m overall pretty happy with it. I did them on some blue fabric I had that was close to the colour of shirt, then trimmed away the excess and sewed them onto the top.

The wig I bought, thinned, trimmed and steamed to lay a little flatter. Used some flats and bracelet I already had.

For Dragon Con I experimented with some press on nails so that I could do the specific nail colors when wearing the costume and then taking them off for my other costumes, but I hated how they felt (I’m not a nails girlie...) so I skipped it for Dragon Con. I did paint my nails for the photoshoot and I’ve also done them for a couple of other events I’ve worn it too though!

This became a great comfy, easy costume for Dragon Con, it’s been one of my late-night go-tos ever since. I brought it back for the David Lynch shoot this year too, which was a lot of fun!

My Costume History, Day 216: Princess Leia (Disney

My Costume History, Day 216: Princess Leia (Disneybound, version 2) from Star Wars, made in 2020/2021

I really enjoyed my first, more casual disneybound Leia outfit I did in 2016, so for 2020 I decided I wanted a new one - I wanted something more “on the nose” to wear to Galaxy’s Edge! I wanted it to look basically like a real Leia costume from the waist up so I could take pics around the land.

I started with the jacket - made out of the usual Leia jetset fabric, and I made it basically exactly like the top half a senatorial Leia dress, except with the front open. It’s go the same hood and sleeves. I added a wide waistband at the bottom, and it closes with a hook and eye at the collar and a snap on the waistband. (I didn’t want to interrupt the drape of the front of the jacket with more closures!)

Originally I was going to wear my actual Leia belt with it, but decided that was a bit too much. So instead, Chase 3d printed some lighter-weight belt conchos for me. I glued some fabric on the back and sewed snaps onto the back, so these can easily be removed from the jacket for cleaning.

Then it sat for nearly a year while I figured out what I wanted to wear under it. Initially I was thinking a romper. I did a test with a pattern I had with some Lilo & Stitch fabric - and I hated how it looked on me, so I scraped that plan. Then one day while looking through my patterns I came across a vintage 70s tennis dress pattern, and I thought that would be cute to go under this.

Again I used the jetset, doubled over. It was a pain to make work with this pattern, and the zipper installation was awful LOL. But I like how it turned out, its really cute! I did skip making the matching shorts from the pattern and instead just bought a pair of white terry cloth shorts to wear under it.

I paired it with some white hightops - replacing the shoes laces for silver glitter ones - and some white sunglasses.

I loved how this turned out and it was sooo much fun to wear at Disney! I’ve taken it back several times, and wore it to Dragon Con earlier this year too! It’ll stay in regular rotation for quite a while!

My Costume History, Day 215: Padme’s Lake dress (D

My Costume History, Day 215: Padme’s Lake dress (Disneybound) from Star Wars, made in 2020/2021

This is another project I started for our 2020 Disney trip, got mostly finished but didn’t put the finishing touches on/wear it until 2021.

My 3rd version of the lake dress from 2006 had been disassembled and I still had all of the pieces of the outer part floating around my sewing room. I had gotten them out to use for my new version in 2019, I thought, I ought to do something with these now that I’ve got a new lake dress.

So I decided I’d use them to make a disneybound outfit! First thing I did was to re-dye them - I wanted them to be a little more saturated. Then I took all of the pieces and just started messing with them on my dressform. Eventually I decided I’d do a long dolman shrug - I sewed the 2 back pieces together starting around center back, and then sewed the front pieces the backs, leaving an opening for the arms and gathering at the shoulder to kinda mirror the gathering on the sleeve of the lake dress.

I was torn on the length. The original pieces were very long and trailed the ground and I loved that, but knew it wouldn’t fly for wearing in a Disney Park. I ended up bustling the back to shorten it when I need to, but I can unsnap them if I want a more dramatic version.

I got all that done and then it sat for nearly a year til I could finally wear it. Then I finally had to figure out what I wanted to do for the rest of it - when I do bounds I like to keep them in the realm of things I’d actually wear to the parks and be comfortable, so for this one I decided on a top and shorts.

I bought a white halter top on amazon hoping I could dye it, but it was awful LOL. I disassembled it and used it a basis to make a new pattern and made my own out of a soft yellow knit. I bought some pink shorts and pink flats to go with it. The headband I bought, dyed purple, and added pearls.

This was really fun to wear at Galaxy’s Edge! It was comfy and the shrug was great to keep the sun off me. I also took it on our disney cruise in 2024 where I got some great, very windy photos LOL Can’t wait to wear it again one day!

My Costume History, Day 214: Black Widow-inspired

My Costume History, Day 214: Black Widow-inspired dress from the Avengers, made in 2020/2021

So when we were originally going to attend Dapper Day at WDW in 2020, one of the duo outfit ideas we had was a quick Black Widow and Cap America look for the friday night Disney Springs outing.

I got started on mine early - I used Butterick B6582 (though, I did waffle between that and a different dress style - but I stuck with the Butterick pattern because it would be a quicker build). I picked up a refined ponte knit from Joann, some in black and some in red - even though I was making this fitted vintage-style dress, I wanted it to be comfortable for eating and walking around Disney Springs, and the stretchy refined ponte knit fit the bill perfectly.

The basic dress went together really quickly - I had it made in a weekend. I used a red zipper out of my stash for the back closure. Then I got the Widow symbol cut out of the red and finished the edges and started messing with where I wanted to place it on the dress. My original idea was to put it off center and an at angle, but when I pinned it on, I wasn’t sure.

So I posted to my IG stories to ask for ideas. I pinned it on in lots of different places on the dress, at different angles, even pinned it down smaller to try that. Some of the positions were very TNG-uniform vibes LOL

I just couldn’t make up my mind, and since our trip was cancelled at that point anyway, I stuck it in my closet for a while. Finally got it back out a few months later and just sewed the red panel on in the original place I wanted it.

I did wear it for our 2021 rescheduled trip, but we never did make Chase’s matching Cap vest. Just wore it to dinner at Narcoossee’s our first night. Paired it with one of my widow bracelets from my costume and some red heels.

I really liked it, it was super comfortable and easy to wear! I brought it back on our Disney Cruise in 2024 too, which was fun because I got to meet some Marvel characters in it! This’ll stay in my rotation of Disney trip dresses for a while!

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