Did I mention before I’m doing an X-Files rewatch? I was going to watch all of Voyager after finishing TOS, but instead I got sucked into one of my OG fandoms. Fond memories of scouring the 90s internet for X-Files fanfics…
Oh and did I mention I’m doing a Scully costume for Dragoncon? LOL
Just a cheap quick thing. Using my Diane skirt, buying a blazer. I went ahead and bought what I thought was an ID badge the other day… it arrived and it was a MAGNET of her ID badge LMAO. So that’s now on the fridge.
So really the only thing I’m doing for this costume is a wig. I knew I had a plain red wig still in a bag I bought for something and never used, so I went hunting for that – but while looking for it, I ran across the short curly wig I had bought to use for Dale back in 2021. I had tried it on with the costume and felt like it didn’t mesh, so I didn’t use it. This was a better length for Scully so I decided to use this instead of the other one. I brushed it out and… we’re ready for a Carrot Top costume.
Gave it a steam to straighten it:
Curled it, let it sit for a bit – here it is right after I took the curlers out:
Brushed the curls into a little flip under. Backcombed the top a bit but a not lot because I do already feel like it kinda looks huge on me. I may take the thinning shears to it.
The front is clipped back into that position because I’d been about to spray it with my Got2b there – only to find my can of Got2b was completely gunked up. Even after running the spout under hot water, wouldn’t work, couldn’t get anything out of it. Meant to get a new can while out this weekend and forgot. So that’s still the state she’s in.
So besides that I did also do some more hair stuff that I have no pics of. I got out Chase’s Leto wig, because I wanted to pluck the hairline to give it a more square hairline instead of round. But once I got it and on the wighead I discovered the lace didn’t back into the cap at all. It’s basically a hardfront wig with a little strip of lace at the front. So that was disappointing. I did go ahead and curl it, which I’d planned to do – just to give it a little more “body” in the back. I need him to try it on so I can experiment with it and see if I can jury rig it into a square hairline somehow. Honestly I don’t think he’d be sad if I messed it up so bad he couldn’t wear it… he hates that wig LOL He hates wigs in general!
And I also did some hair trials for Breha and Lothal Leia. I decided to essentially sacrifice my loose-hair dark brown extensions I sometimes use for Leia to use with Breha. I like to use the ponytails when my hair is dark instead of the loose-hair extensions. Cleaned them up, brushed them out, cut off the hair that was pulling out and braided them. It’ll work fine for that.
Lothal was a little more complicated. I did find a braid I can use for the “halo” braid in the back. It’s not perfect but it’ll work ok. But I didn’t have anything to use for the bun in the back. So I’m just going to make something like I did for Liberty Dies Padme. I’ll pick up supplies for that later.
I spent MOST of last week cranking out the Vader costume.
The first shirt I made I ended up tossing and starting over about halfway through the quilting. I had one night of agony where I could not decide how to proceed – basically, on the first shirt, I had basted every single quilting line prior to sewing on the machine. And when I machine sewed over it, it was a mess, I had so many places where the fabric had pinched and folded over on itself. There was no unpicking all that without having a gazillion holes left in that pleather. That night I laid awake thinking what I needed to do. Did I need to stabilize all of the pleather to keep it from stretching as I sewed? (ugh) Did I need to break down and buy a walking food? (despite the fact I don’t think they make one to fit my machine? I found conflicting info) Did I need to try to sew it on the front instead of the back (tried that the next morning, same results)
And then it dawned on me, it’s the stupid basting line causing the problem. It was keeping the fabric from stretching at the stitch points and causing the fold overs. So I cut a new shirt, started over this time with no basting, just pins every other line. And this time, it worked ok. It’s still not 100% (I really do want a walking food. Need to go in to my sewing supply store and ask an expert), but it works. Also bonus, I didn’t have to sit and do a bunch of basting on every single piece, so that made it go faster.
Front and a sleeve done. I cut each pleather panel larger than the lining so I could just fold it over at the hems and hand-sew it to finish the edges without having the lining and batting creating extra bulk there.
Also the back of the shirt and the butt of the pants are that netting so that he has some breathable parts. That netting in particular was a bitch to work with though – it kept catching on EVERYTHING, pulling pins out. So annoying.
Finished up the pants yesterday. Cotton waistband with a drawstring closure. Added stirrups to the bottom. All done, YAY>
So now all I need to do on his Vader stuff is the inner robe – but need to wait on him to get the shoulder armor assembled so I can make sure it fits over that.
Since that was done, Sunday afternoon i started working on a side project for him:
I’m making him a very quick, inaccurate Bail from Kenobi costume. He’s just wearing his suit, belt and gauntlets from the ROTS version – they’re not the exact same as the suit from Kenobi, but it’s close enough. So I’m making him a “close enough” cape to wear over it using this velvet I bought for packing Padme last year only used part of it for making my velvet trim. Velvet isn’t the right fabric for this, but again, we’re just going for “close enough” so he can match my Breha.
I made a vest out of some leftover Crait Leia fabric to build everything on.
As of last night. Not only is this fabric not right, it’s also not really enough, but I like how it looks for this so we’re just making it work.
Also yesterday I did a mock-up for flashback training Leia:
I’m using JenEyre’s pattern! From this mock-up I needed to make a few fit tweaks – widened the neck opening a little bit and altered the sleeve shape. But it’s a good start for when my fabric arrives later this week. May do a mock-up 1.5 – i do want to test the new sleeve patterns I made.
That’s pretty much all I got this week.
So it’s time for my to-do list:
Lothal Leia:
-Get new belt, paint it
-paint accessories (got paint this past weekend)
-get accessories attached
-hem top
-make hairpiece
Nadja:
-finish sewing on sash
-test out fangs
Breha:
-finished back of belt
-finish edge of pants
-paint buckle/attach
Seven of Nine:
-sew on snaps to top
-figure out borg hand
-order pros-aide for face appliances!
Scully:
-finish wig
-order blazer
Flashback Leia:
everything! but for this week;
-dye fabric
-go pick out pants and boot fabric based on dyed fabric
-do mock-up version x1.5
-get everything cut
Vader:
-make inner robe
-fix spot on cape collar
Lazy Bail:
-get cape assembled
-hem
my brain is on fire lately, but I think I’m finally starting to break out of it. Just need to keep the momentum going a few more weeks. Then i’ll probably take a long sewing break. Also my machine need to go in for a cleaning and tune up so the break will be en-forced by that LOL