We are now beginning WEEK FOUR of having no AC at work. UGH. They were here last week on wednesday working on it, had a crane lifting parts in place. And yet its still not working today, what is happening?!
The biggest issue with it is I think this is the reason my face is broken out like a hormonal 14 year old. I’m sweating and gross almost everyday, I’ve gotten multiple pimples and weird dry patches – both of which I usually only get when my skin is irritated and it only lasts a couple of days. This breakout is going on 2 weeks and it’s starting to get annoying and I’m 100% blaming our AC problems for it.
OK! SO! First up, let’s talk about my Misato remake.
So when I left off last week, I had the basic panels of the dress cut out.
I got everything pressed, skirt hemmed, and made up a new collar (since I couldn’t find the collar pattern piece for this pattern!). I had bought white bias tape for the collar but I had tried to make the dress without a closure, so I wanted it to stretch… so I made the trim out of leftover white milliskin from Leia. I also ended up trimming the sleeve openings because they were gaping weirdly after I took the front seams up.
One mistake I made was doing the majority of this in a straight stitch, which I thought would be ok because it’s not stretching THAT much but I put it on yesterday and the side seam busted open. LMAO. So I went back and zig-zagged every seam on the thing.
And remember how I said I wanted to have no closures on the dress? Well that worked ok, I can get the dress off and on without a closure… but it’s REALLY hard to get off and the collar keeps getting stuck across my eyes and it’s kinda panic-inducing. So I opened up the back seam, cut the collar up the back and put in an invisible zipper. MUCH better.
Once I had the dress mostly finished I started on the jacket. I used Vogue V8301 – same pattern I used for Lady Blackhawk and 2007 Utena. It was a great pattern for this – even though the jacket pictured is longer, the lower section is separated by a seam so I could just leave that off. I pinned the upper pieces onto my dressform and just folded them up to create the pointed shape in the front.
So I had a false start on the jacket…
This red fabric I picked was a tad more lightweight than I wanted, and also had a slight stretch I didn’t want. So I figured I’d line it in something sturdier. I cut these two front panels and lined them in some leftover taffeta – initially I was going to flatline it, but I was having trouble getting the pieces sewn together – that slight stretch in the red fabric made it a pain in the butt. So I decided to heat-bond them together.
Aaaaaand that left me with some extremely stiff, weird looking panels.
So I threw those in the trash and started over. Thankfully I’d only done that to the front panels so I hadn’t wasted too much fabric.
This time, I lined them in some leftover blue cotton from Dolores – no heat-bond this time because that was just adding to the stiffness.
This worked much better. The cotton gave it enough body without being stiff.
Rest of the pieces cut:
For the black pieces I decided to use some leftover black vinyl but I used the wrong side. Chase cut those pieces for me based on my pattern. He cuts much cleaner than I do LOL
I had at first wanted to use the shiny side of the vinyl, but I’m really enjoying how kinda flat and graphic this thing is looking, so I decided to keep it matte.
I made a mistake here. I got the outside assembled and pressed, then got the lining assembled and attached… I should have done all my details on the outer shell before attaching the lining but I was dumb and didn’t think of it. So I got the lining in and got the collar made and set in, closed the inside at the neck by hand.
Also forgot to do a red facing on the collar. I remember on the front of the jacket. Too late to turn back now!
Saturday I tackled the hat.
I found an online instructable about how to construct a beret (felt like that was pretty close) which gave me an idea of the pattern pieces. Followed the general idea of that and… first attempt didn’t look right. Looked too French-Mime-beret and not military-anime beret hat thing. So I took that version I’d made, cut it up, opened up some areas to make it stand up in the right shape, pinned in some fabric… and once I had that first version frankensteined into looking right, I disassembled it and used it as a pattern to cut a new version. That’s the one you see above. Pretty happy with how it turned out. I’ve got to figure out how to put a comb or something in it so I can attach it to the wig. Yikes I guess I better find my sew-in combs…
Also Saturday I went in and dug out all my stuff I need for this weekend – my Misato bin was WAY in the back of course so I had to really dig for that. Also dug out ewok Leia and Fires of Pompeii Donna. Or tried to. I checked my Donna bin and Fires of Pompeii wasn’t in there. WTF. Then I started thinking back to a few weeks ago when I went through and cleaned out and reorganized all my bin contents and got all the hanging stuff in garment bags and labeled and realized… I don’t remember seeing Pompeii Donna anywhere. At all. OMG. I had it at dragoncon last year so it didn’t go into storage. Did it get left at my aunt’s house? I felt like I combed through that closet pretty well… did I leave it at dragoncon and I’m just now realizing?! OMG. I started digging thru bins again and this time caught a flash of purple in one that shouldn’t have purple in it (glad they’re all clear!) – it had gotten stuffed into my Belle bin. WHEW, crisis averted but I was really starting to think I’d left it in atlanta!
Anyway, back to Misato.
Grabbed some orange cotton at Hobby Lobby for the shoulder pieces. I thought I’d had some orange leftover from Kate last year but I had ZERO orange fabric (it’s my least fav colour so not really surprising). Had to make-do with what Hobby Lobby had so it was either super cheap looking satin or cotton. I went with the cotton, easier to work with. Made a paper pattern, cut out 4 pieces, sewed each set together and flipped and pressed.
As of last night:
Got the black vinyl for the shoulder pieces cut and attached. Basted the shoulder pieces in place, basted the black stripes in place. Went back and machine-sewed the stripes down, as well as the edge of the shoulder pieces closest to the neck.
This is where I realized DANG IT I should have done all this on the shell and THEN put the lining in, so all the stitching was hidden on the inside. Oh well, casualty of need-for-speed.
I’m waiting to attach the sleeves… Chase made the little yellow “patch” pieces for me yesterday out of craft foam with a fabric backing. I wanted to keep the sleeves flat so it would be easier to sew them on. Once they’re on I can sew the sleeves up and get the lining in and get them attached… and then it’s done! WHEW. Guys I never move this fast, this is giving me whiplash.
Other stuff!
On the 4th we had a cookout at my parents’ house!
Piper was there!
Ash brought her to play with Skye! Skye was a little anxious about it.
While I was out there I pulled out a bunch more costume stuff from my closet to take home.
At this point it’s all loose items, helmets, hats, a few small cloth bins of stuff. I took what I could – will need one more trip.
Luna is judging me.
Saturday went over to Kevin’s for more 4th of July festivities and food.
Showed him the Harry Potter Wizards Unite game and he loved it.
I wish he had an iphone so he could play all the time too!
So Chase’s brother gets in tomorrow… got to straighten up the upstairs a bit for him tonight. Friday I’m off for ABC, Saturday will be at ABC all day! Don’t know that we’ll do anything at the con Sunday.
I’m excited to get back to work on Padme and Hera as soon as this is over…