Busy weekend! Lots to talk about.
Let’s do the weekend events first!
Saturday we met Ash and Gabe for Midtowncon and lunch. I had been planning to wear my TOS uniform all week, I even decided on a new hairstyle (one of my fav things about that costume is the fun of getting to play with different hairstyles), made a new hairpiece, got the uniform steamed, everything ready to go. Then woke up that morning and looked at the weather forecast and the high for when we were meeting was only supposed to be 63. Yikes! I was thinking I may have to go get Crusher out instead. But I stuck my head out the front door and it seemed fine, so I stuck with the TOS uniform.
It ended up being totally fine, the weather was beautiful, just right to enjoy being outside for a couple of hours without being sweaty.
Midtowncon was fun, we checked out the various booths, the toy shop and the game store. Then went and had lunch.
A “real” pic for posterity when we got home.
I’ve GOT to take those boots to a cobbler. I bought them in 2023, and they were an investment piece — they used but real leather and I paid a bit more to get something that would last me a good long while. Well within a few months the sole of one boot started coming off at the toe. I used some strong double stick tape to put it back together temporarily (and it’s still taped LOL) Then one of the heel caps came off and got lost somewhere (probably dragoncon), and now at lunch I noticed that one of the heels is very wobbly like the entire sole area/heel is loose. So they just need a good tune up I guess.
Worked in my sewing room the rest of the day, then we went to see Thunderbolts that night. It was really good!
Sunday was May the 4th at the Redbirds. I haven’t done a Star Wars event in a while so it was fun to be back out in Leia.
Once the gates opened, it was non-stop pics.
Chase ended up having to play line coordinator and picture-taker.
Good times
So a few Leia thoughts.
1. First outing with my new boots. The pro is that they are actually really comfortable – though I have to wear 3 pairs of socks with them because they are too big. But thankfully they aren’t as big through the calf as I remember being them when I first got them. I absolutely hate that whole zipper/velcro tab situation on the back still. I almost unpicked the tab to remove it the velcro portion the other night, but I just feel like I need to take it to a cobbler and have them do everything along with removing the zipper. I could probably remove the zipper myself, but it’s sewing up the back seam I can’t do. I want a professional to look at it and tell me what can be done. If they can’t do anything about the zipper or it’s going to be too expensive, I’m going to at least remove that tab before I wear it again.
2. I’ve always felt like my dress is too short! I’ve felt like that since I first debuted it. Not really a lot I can do about it, but seeing pics of it in action again I’m just like yeah… it’s like maybe an inch short. Which leads me to my next point….
3. It needed a bath BAD.
Glad I got it out thursday and had time to wash it. I soaked it in oxi-clean in the bathtub for a bit, and got the stain remover out for a few spots, included one random BLACK smudge on the front?? (I can only guess it came from having my shoes in the same box) Thankfully that came out, and the lipstick and makeup stains on the inside collar looked better.
I did put her in the dryer on the lowest heat tumble for about 15 minutes, and then hung it to dry the rest of the way. Some stains didn’t come out but the most obvious ones did — there’s still a sort of orange-y spot on the sleeve and some black marks at the hem.
Something happened in between the washing and drying with the hooks on the back of the collar. One of them got twisted or something, because they would NOT stay closed while wearing it Sunday and I’ve never had that problem with it before. The bottom one was twisted so I couldn’t get it latched at all, and the top one kept coming undone. Thank goodness the middle one was a champ LOL
And with that I say it’s time to remake this costume. I bought 8 yards of jetset from joann as soon as they confirmed they are closing just to have on hand. Between the stains, the collar now messed up, and the slightly too-short of it all, as Rafiki would say “it is time.” I also need to do the new belt. I slapped another layer of paint on top to hide the worst of the chips, but it’s definitely looking like the “landlord special” with all the layers of chips and paint at this point.
I’d love to do it for Dragoncon but not sure I’ll have time. We’ll see – I haven’t worn classic leia to dcon since 2006, it’d be fun to bring back, and at the moment I don’t have a Leia on the docket for this year.
Went to dinner with my parents last night, and then came home and I just laid on the couch cuz I was exhausted LOL
Let’s move onto sewing news now:
I worked on my little Padme disneybound outfit.
Got my fabric for the capelet dyed.
The first cut. I really should’ve gave more time to figuring out this shape. I wasn’t happy with it and didn’t have enough to recut. I ended up adding an inset to the back so I have 2 seams back there. Not a big deal, it’s just a bound, but still annoying I didn’t plan better.
I got the bottom edge of the cape trimmed with some leftover green fabric I had on hand. Discovered that that fabric just like… rejects needles. It was really annoying.
Snapped one needle in half while hand-sewing snaps on. Got a new one and had such a hard time forcing it through the end hem of the trim that when it finally got through, it jabbed me in the thumb I was holding it with and I have now officially bled for this project LOL (I put on thimbles after that)
I still wasn’t thrilled with the shape of the capelet so I ended up gathering the back to shorten it and having it connect to the dress at the straps instead of center front. It also helped with the capelet feeling “granny like” – when it was coming around my arms I just felt like I was wearing a granny shawl and I didn’t feel like it looked flattering. Moving the bulk farther to the back helped with that.
It snaps onto the front at the straps, and I still need to add a snap at center back, but other than that it’s done.
I did quite a bit of work on codename “Dark Lady” but not much to show for it, because most of it was prep work. I was drawing up and designing the trim for the costume, and I finally got that finished up and a spoonflower swatch ordered on Friday.
This weekend I did do a mock-up for the basic top, and then got my real lining and fabric layers cut and partially sewn together.
The project manager
Tonight I’m going to finish sewing them together, press and then figure out how I’m going to do a closure on it. I may do hook and eyes because I know I have some black hook and eye tape leftover from another project.
A few weeks ago I posted a long blog post about my current Sims family, which I’ve actually been going back and editing and updating the family history. Well my latest kid is supposed to be like, a little 50s style scamp with slight country vibe to him. He wore overalls and boots and had a kind of Dennis the Menace look. Tell me why when he aged up to a teenager the game made him look like this:
Blonde emo hair? Mardi gras mask? A weird ill fitting suit with neon panels on the sides? Loafers and socks? WTF game can you not pick up on my vibes here? LMAO
(I absolutely changed all this of course, i just thought it was funny)
Ok so now let’s get onto the contact drama.
So last week I said things were going fairly well? But that was after only 2 days of wearing them.
So the good news is that I have gotten much better at getting them in and out. Still struggle with the right eye a bit. And I do still struggle with telling if they are right way or not and I definitely put one in backwards one time last week and had to spend another 20 minutes getting it out and back in correctly.
I wore them for a while at work Tuesday and it was ok. I put them in after work on Wednesday and it was ok-ish but all I did was go out to dinner in them. They felt really irritating the whole time. Thursday I had a crash out over my glasses sliding my nose while trying to cut fabric, so I went and put the contacts in and couldn’t see shit, but that was the night I put one in backwards so I figured I had stressed my eyes out. I took Friday off after that.
Saturday was the big day because I was excited to do a test run in costume. I got them in that morning, and it was just bad and blurry. I thought maybe I did one backwards again so I took them both out to double check they were in right and put them back in. It seemed slightly better so I went and did my hair and makeup and got dressed and by the time I got dressed, my vision was so bad I couldn’t even see myself in the mirror anymore, I was just a blur. Like way worse than just not wearing my glasses. I had to go take them out because there was no way I could walk around in those for a few hours, I’d be running into shit. I had planned to wear them with Leia for the redbirds game Sunday too but I didn’t even try.
So that was incredibly disappointing, and I’ve been feeling really really down about the whole thing. Like I know these aren’t my exact RX but he said they are close. (and yes I cleaned them thoroughly like every time I failed at getting them in my eye I put them back in the solution and cleaned them before trying again) My aunt called and talked to me about a bit because she also wears contacts for astigmatism and also struggled with it at first and had to go through multiple brands to find one that worked. Last night I was so worked up over it and just kinda crashing out that I had to take a xanax to go to sleep because my brain wouldn’t shut up about it.
I just really need a break from my glasses. Not just for costuming but in general. My nose gets so irritated throughout the day, by the end of the night I’m often holding my glasses up off my nose for several minutes at a time to get some relief. Like if my contacts aren’t going to be that much better than just not wearing my glasses (because I can function without them — I just can’t quickly read small text, including my phone or my work laptop, or do basic sewing things. But all of those things are like 85% of my day so I’m stuck in them. If I’m just walking around a store, watching tv or a movie, I don’t need them, I see ok. And I can read my phone if I need to, it just takes a second longer for me to squint to see it. But with the contacts on the last couple of times, my distance vision was now blurry too.)
I go back tomorrow. I’ve got to figure out some way to get there. I thought I’d be fine to drive in the contacts, but as it is now, definitely not. I don’t want to put them in there again and have to struggle for 20 minutes in front of them again. I may have to beg a ride from some one (Chase will still be at work)
I just wanted this to be easy (crying face emoji)
Anyway goals for this week:
1. Finish assembling top of bodice for “Dark Lady”
2. Get sleeves and collar cut and assembled
3. Skirt fabric arrives Wednesday, get that cut and assembled and sewn to bodice.
4. Pattern/mock-up vest
I have no plans for next weekend and I’m hoping to keep it that way. This project is straight-forward enough that I’m thinking I could have it mostly finished by end of next weekend if I stay on target. Then I can swing into Scarlet Witch and hopefully be mostly done with 3 dcon projects by the end of the month.
June’s goal will be Belle and sewing for other people — Chase needs sewing stuff for 2 costumes, mom needs one, I may be updating one of dad’s.
July will probably be more sewing for other people, and then I’m hoping I’m done enough with my stuff I can tack on the 5th costume I wanted to do for dragoncon. Aaaand maybe the new Leia? Since I have all the stuff for it?