I don’t have a ton to post about today!! Mostly since I did a second post last week.
We’ve had Kevin with us since Tuesday last week, so that’s been fun.
I don’t know what this snapchat filter was supposed to be but it look like the Lunchlady’s yearbook picture.
Friday Chase got off work early so as soon as I got home, we headed on down to see an early showing of Antman & Wasp. It was really cute! Then we went and had dinner at this little place I really like, and Kevin had a super good waffle I wanted to steal.
And then I went to bed at 9 because I’m trash.
Saturday morning we got up and made the trek to Southaven, MS… according to the Joann website, our Joann only had 4 yards of black taffeta in stock, but the one in Southaven had 8. I needed 6, so we went to Mississippi. Not that that is that much further away than our Joann… our Joanns is in south Memphis and takes a half hour to get to. The Southaven one maybe takes 40 minutes instead of 30. This is my life now, with the only fabric store a half hour drive away……
(I’m going to go get my in memoriam tattoo dedicated to Hancock Fabrics sometime soon.)
But I did have a successful shopping trip.
I got my 6 yards of lining for Amidala – which I’ll get to shortly because I cut into it yesterday. I also got the main fabric for the 3rd costume, cotton for the lining (that’s the patterned orange fabric on top), a zipper, the 2 American Duchess patterns (finally found them! and simplicity was $1.99 each!), and just some fun fabric not for anything. (I also went to Michael’s and got some felt and the dye you can see in the photo — got those Sunday actually).
So here is everything for Dragon Con costume #3:
Everything except a trim I need to get – I found a trim I liked but it was on sale for 30% and it was $7/yard and I think I need like 10 yards… so I’m gonna wait til it goes off sale and I can use a better coupon.
But I got this “cayenne” matte satin – not quite the fabric I wanted but there wasn’t much else in that orange tone — I’d originally wanted a stretch fabric but the only orange they had in stretch was like, safety orange, which wasn’t right. So the satin will do… and I got the cotton just for lining it to make it comfy.
The patterns shown here I didn’t buy this weekend – both are out of my stash and i’m using components of them for this costume. The shorts from Bombshell WW and the bodice on the other one for the top – that’s my fav bodice pattern so of course I’m using it LOL.
I decided I thought I might try to dye that satin a bit of a brighter orange. So I got some poly dye yesterday at Michaels…. but now looking at it in the bright light of my sewing room, I think it might be ok? I’ll need the dye for the trim either way, so it didn’t buy it for nothing if I decide not to dye the satin….
Chase found this fabric just randomly, it’s a really lightweight, comfy feeling spandexy type fabric. I ended up buying a couple of yards… I think I might make a maxi dress?
Saturday afternoon Kev and I went over to stay at my aunt’s house for the night. They were out of town so we were staying with Daisy!
Ash came over and 3 of us swam around for a while, then we went to get dinner to bring home. I reaaaaallly wanted the same thing I’d had the night before and I talked Ash into driving the 20 minutes to get it……. only to get there and discover they close at 2 on Saturdays. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
So we ordered Red Robin to go, took it home, ate it while watching Jurassic Park.
Ash headed on out after a while, Kevin and I watched some more of the movie… I had hoped to get a little bit of work done on the prop I’m working on that night, but I was worn out so I went to bed early again! (Although then I ended up getting sucked into HGTV and laid there for an hour and a half watching stuff…)
Sunday we slept in a bit and then cleaned up and headed home. Ran to Michael’s and Target, then back home and I finally got started on Amidala.
I got my lining for the robe cut first.
Since my main fabric for the robe is really… I dunno how to describe it… floopsy? I specifically wanted a taffeta to line it to help give it a bit more structure.
I used good ole Andrea Schewe Simplicity 5840 — I added about an inch and a half to the front edge of the front panels (since one side needs to be longer than the other… I cut them at the same time so I’ll trim one down), widened the sleeves quite a bit and added some length to the hem.
And I also cut two openings into the back, as seen below. The outer robe is open in the back
With what was left of the taffeta I cut some godets to use in the seams.
Originally I was only going to do them on the side seams, but once I got those in, I still had two pieces so I threw them into the back. Even though there’s not a seam there, but it helped give a bit more “oomph” to the back panel.
After I sewed it in, I ironed it out…. this is your PSA for ironing because look how much better it looks LOL
Chase helped me get my robe fabric laid out and cut.
It went about as expected.
So I did get the lining fully assembled last night. And then I went ahead and put together one sleeve…
And discovered just how much of a pain that outer fabric is to work with. I’m not super psyched about this sleeve, the lining isn’t sitting right and I’m like 100% sure that’s due to the outer fabric stretching slightly as I sewed the lining in. I may take it apart and redo it.
The good news is…. cutting ALL of the outer robe pieces only took 1 bolt. I still have an entire untouched bolt of this stuff in my closet LMAO.
So, a lot of times when I’m writing a blog post, I get distracted by stuff and today it was shopping for supplemental fabric for the underdress. Which led me down a huge rabbit hole of going back to my references and completely rethinking the way I’m making this costume. Just in the last half hour. LMAO.
SO originally I was going to make a robe, and an underdress. The silk I have for the underdress was SUPER expensive so I tried to buy the least amount I could possibly get away with. My plan was to supplement the silk with a cheaper fabric in the areas that wouldn’t be seen – ie, the upper sleeves. This morning I found a “close enough” supplemental fabric for $9/yard, more expensive than I wanted but I thought about going ahead and grabbing 4 yards so I didn’t get stuck. But then I started looking at my references again and thinking, what if I just made a PLAIN robe, made the collar and sleeves out of my silk, and then just attached the drapes at the openings to the plain robe?
Which I didn’t really want to do because how do I keep it all from shifting? Then I decided… I’m making this whole thing as one piece. There’s not going to be an underobe. It’s going to be one full dress. I’m going to permanently attach the “silk underdress” pieces into the openings of the robes. Use the satin I’d bought for lining the underrobe instead as a base for each opening to keep them from stretching too far. Opening in it will be at the front – will make it a sort-of crossover closure, so there’s still a good bit of fabric behind the opening edge. I think this makes the most sense for the construction and I’m glad I went down this rabbit hole before I went much further.
So, tonight… get the other sleeve made, maybe go back to the first one and redo? Get the outer parts of the robe sewn together and maybe start getting lining attached. I’m excited! I can’t wait to get to the beading.
Speaking of beading, I bought some black felt I’m planning to use as the base for each beaded applique. I know I have a TON of gold beads including several tubes of bugle beads in my stash I need to go thru and figure out what else I need… but all that stuff is over at my aunt’s, so I’ll have go over there to do that. UGH! I can’t wait for our house to sell so we can just have everything in 2 places instead of 3….
And… wig… I have a massive Arda order I need to place for my Amidala wig, my new Jean Grey wig, my Crait Leia wig, and a couple of packs of wefts. I have the wig picked out. I’m not doing anything face, no lace-front. Going to build up the main part of the wig over foam panels, make the back/top piece separate, I have a ton of loose/wefted brown hair in my hair box I can hopefully for use the braids, if not I’ll probably just either match some locally to the wig or maybe get some from I Kick Shins.
That’s enough for today. I will post my goals tho:
Tonight: finish sleeves, get outer robe pieces sewn together, get my silk washed
Tomorrow: Get all lining attached, basically be done with outer robe
Wednesday: make inner sleeves, start figuring out insets for the lining to go behind the pleated panels in the robe opening
Thursday: Get those panels made and start attaching pleated sections, figure out closure
Friday: Finish it all up?!?! Then I can start on beaded appliques, yay.
This weekend: get the other costume made, i dont think it will take long.
And then it’s just accessories, props, beading, wig work to get done before dcon……
OH! I nearly forgot. I’m STILL slogging away on wedding Padme. This one is taking FOREVER. Here’s a progress shot from last week before I finished the linework:
And the finished linework…
I’m painting now, face is done, but all this white on white on white of the lace and appliques and whatnot is taking FOREVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR ugh.