Whew!
A quick trip down memory lane.
My first & second versions, in 2002 for Dragoncon, and 2006 for MidSouthcon:
My first version, I still very much love it and wouldn’t get rid of it for anything, but as time went by I realised more and more how inaccurate it is, and really wanted to remake it properly one day. But alas, alas, I still wasn’t happy with the second version. It did have some perks over v. 1.0 – a new, better hairpiece and necklace (necklace by Chase) – new armbands. Better shoes. No white top at the start of the gradiation. The underdress was dyed instead of just being yellow, and was a better shape at the bottom. The shape of the back at the waist was better.
But the problem was, I rushed it. I made the whole thing in about a week. So, I wasn’t happy. At first I was just going to redo parts of it, but then I figured, let’s start over from scratch – again! So I sold this one (a rare event for me) and got started on v.3.0.
I should mention that at the same time I was making my v.3.0, I also made v.2.5. This was a fourth one, made for my friend Danielle, who luckily is the same size as me. So I just cut out the underdresses at the same time, dyed them at the same time. I used chiffon on the outer layer for hers, and handpainted the dye on instead of dipping it. I was very pleased with how it came out, especially the front.
And onto my v. 3.0.
I didn’t get many good pics of it. Both set of pics we did at Comic Con, the sun was horribly harsh. We’re looking to either do a good one this weekend here in memphis or next weekend in nashville.
(First pic by Britt Dietz) I spent 20 minutes ironing the whole thing friday morning before the RL breakfast (with help from Ash and Chase, holding up parts of it for me so it would stay on the ironing board). Then, after sitting at the breakfast, and carrying the train on the walk there and back, it got wrinkled again.
The underdress is spandex, which created some problems, but nothing major. I used the same pattern for it I used for the last one (a Vogue pattern), with some more changes to it than last time. I got some $1 a yard fabric at walmart and made a rough pattern to use to cut out the outer layers. I ended up making it 5 parts: two front sections, two back “wings” and the train. I considered adding a 6th segment – a secondary train. The one beef I have with it is when I cut the back off square, the middle section ended up shorter than those on the outer “wings”. I was going to add a second train on top of the middle section (in fact I made it and dyed it – it made the whole back the same length) – but then thought it might make the dress too heavy so I scrapped it. I like how it looks, accuracy be damned in this case. I also left the satin edging off the whole thing. That’s the one thing I’ve always somewhat disliked about the original, and that’s why it’s never been on any of my versions. I was actually going to put it on this one, but decided not to. It’s my dress, I’ll wear it as I like… although, I may go back and add it one day.
The shoes, necklace, armbands and hairpiece are from v. 2.0. The only difference is Chase fixed up my necklace a bit. He still wants to make another one out of shell eventually. Maybe before Dcon? Who knows. I like this one as it is 🙂 The shoes are the same ones I wear with Parade Amidala… which EVERY TIME I wear, I forget the left one is torn up on the inside and rubs the top of my foot. I still have a pretty decent blister from just the short time I wore this friday.
And now the drama with the outer layer. I found this fabric at hancock’s… on a completely blank bolt, no info on what it was exactly or where it came from. LOL I think some fabric fairy left it there for me to find, because as soon as I saw it I knew it was for my lake dress. And all that was on the bolt was exactly what I needed. I used the pattern to cut out the pieces, and then tweaked them a bit once I had them pinned to the underdress. Once I had them cut in the right shape, I sewed the pieces together and went about dying them. I had tested the dye on a scrap piece and liked how it looked. Unfortunately I didn’t really spend enough time testing it, because it took to the dye WAAAAAAAAAY better than I thought.
The yellow turned out BRIGHT GROSS PRIMARY COLOUR YELLOW. I was freaking out, because it was 1am the day I was supposed to be leaving.. The dye remover wasn’t working, I was completely stressed out already… my mom came and helped me, she put it in dye remover again and told me to leave it there. I did, and went and napped in the living room, until finally, around 4am, it looked well enough that I took it out, calmed down, and hung it up in the laundry room to dry.
The next day mum helped me dip dye the rest of it. The placement of the colour isn’t exactly perfect but I was so relieved it wasn’t bright canary yellow that I was happy with what I got. Then I sewed the outer pieces onto the underdress, packed it in my carry on and off to San Diego… 🙂
The little brooch at the tie was a last minute thing. I knew there was one there so I just tossed something together, then went and looked at Benae_Queen’s pics on Padawan’s Guide and realised that it looked nothing like it. Oh well LOL
Am I finally happy? After four tries? I suppose… I think this dress may haunt me for the rest of my days. 🙂