I forgot to post yesterday! It was a busy day.
Website move is chugging right along. At this point I think I have everything moved and it’s almost time to repoint the domain. At which point I’m sure a bunch of stuff will break and I’ll have to go through and fix it all… but I’m ready for it. I’m hoping by next week’s post I’ll be able to just make the post over there and won’t have to port over yet another post.
She was trying so hard to get comfortable on the back curved edge of this couch. LMAO.
Well I’ve almost finished my Dale dapper day dress. The Simplicity pattern I was using for the top was literally the worst pattern I’ve ever used. There was one piece I struggled with that literally the only way to attach it that made sense didn’t match up to the pictures in the pattern. So I just did it my way and moved on and it seems to have worked ok. There was one piece I was supposed to cut that was never mentioned in the directions. WTF. Also the directions for inserting the boning were under general directions and not the specific directions for the view I was making. So the specific directions just said “prepare and insert boning.” It should have said “Refer to general directions for preparing and inserting boning.” or something because I didn’t think to look there. I put it in the wrong place and had to move it – I only found the boning directions because I went back through everything trying to figure out where that missing piece was supposed to go. Never found it.
Anyway. To top all that off, it ended up being too small. But that’s on me.
It’s kinda cute as a crop top isn’t it?
Front section assembled.
The pattern calls to be buttoned up the back. Which I didn’t really want to do, so I just decided I’d do a zipper back. So when I did my mockup, I determined that it would fit fine with a zipper back. But then halfway through I was like, ooh, what if I did acorn buttons? Wouldn’t that be cute? So I decided to revert back to the original button up plan. BUT… that meant I got to the end and the edges were just barely touching, nowhere near enough overlap to button it up. I didn’t have enough fabric left to just recut the back panels a bit longer. So for now it’s finished except the back closure and hem… I made extensions for the back I don’t really want to us so I’m just thinking about it. I could always reorder another yard. It’s not like I have to have this ready to wear May 2 or anything *crying*
Besides figuring that out I still just need to sew the waistband onto the skirt and add the zipper. And again, I’m not in a hurry. Bulk of the work is done. I am hoping to have it cleaned up enough to take a cute dressform pic this weekend to post for online dapper day.
I was hoping to have Chase’s Chip jacket also done enough for a photo but that’s not going to happen, with everything going on, the ribbed cuff material we ordered isn’t going to be here in time so I haven’t even started assembling it. Pieces are cut but that’s it.
So nowhere to go… might as well tackle another totally random white whale. I was doing some tiktok dressform videos the other night and pulled out Marasiah Fel.
I was NEVER happy with how this costume turned out. It was very slapdash and messy. It was built around a bought bodysuit I modified, and tried to add a “corset” section onto the waist with non-stretchy material… LOL.
I did the swirl pattern with heat transfer and it was a mess, too. When I was trying to get the wrinkles out for the video, it kept peeling up.
And I’m going to tell you guys something kinda gross I did not share on instagram….. when I pulled this out and pulled the boots out of the pants…. the socks I had worn with this the one time I wore it at Dragoncon 2007 WERE STILL IN THERE OMG LMAO
I mean they didn’t stink or anything but I left socks in there for 13 years.
Looking at I realized, I could probably clean this up pretty quickly and easily. Soooooo here we go.
I cut the “corset” panels off the bodysuit – thankfully they came off pretty easily, they were only tacked in places to allow the bodysuit to stretch in between stitches. The back velcroed closed and the two panels of “skirt” attached to the back had raw edges at the top, and were TOTALLY uneven.
Also areas where I’d tried to paint the swirls on because I already knew the heat transfer wasn’t working but they were too dark so I abandoned the idea.
So, my plans to update:
1. Replace upper part of bodysuit. I had cut the straps off the suit I bought and added clear straps. Clear straps got stolen for another project. Now I’m really not into clear straps… I’m a bit bigger now than I was in 2007, so I want to do real straps. I’m just going to go ahead and use some of my leftover jedi Leia material to make a new top with a sweetheart neckline and straps. Probably just going to sew it directly onto the bodysuit, leaving the original top intact – just creating a seam under the bustline. Seam will be hidden by…
2. Make a new REAL corset piece. Why did I want this piece as part of the bodysuit? Why not have it be a separate piece? So that’s what I’m going to do (already have done but I’ll get to that).
3. New “skirts”
4. Do the swirl pattern in vinyl? I haven’t tried this yet but I have the silhouette, I’ve ordered some gold transfer vinyl… good project to test it out, because nobody cares if I screw it up… LOL
5. Update the “tie” piece in the front
6. New tiara
7. Make boot “cover” section of the legs into stirrup straps to just fit over the white boots.
I dug around through my white fabric and found some white lining material and some heavy weight white… I dunno what it is. I actually think it might be like… blackout curtain material?? LMAO
Using my tried and true bodice pattern, I edited it to be closed in the back and have the lace-up in the front, with the front panels dipping under the bust.
Cut that out of my “real” fabric – 2 layers, one outer layer and one layer for boning.
Boning layer. After I got the 2 layers a sewn together, I ended up having to open it back up and take up some of the back seams at the bottom – it was a bit big through there and still is a little bit.
“>Got the eyelets in and calling it finished, except the swirl pattern, obviously.
Fits me better than the dressform. But I’m loving this weird fantasy Ren Faire vibe of it on with my first lake dress half off. LMAO.
After finishing it I kinda started thinking I should’ve just gone ahead and made a full bodice and done the designs just in the areas I wanted. Then I wouldn’t have had to mess with a new top on the bodysuit. But I’d have to order new eyelets to do that, because now I’m out. So this is the way we’re doing this.
So next up I’m going to make new skirt panels for the back of the corset piece (probably just one. I dunno why I had 2 on the original?) and make the new upper portion of the bodysuit.
I also did finally get roped into making masks. I’d given mom all the elastic I had because she was already doing it… but she’s overwhelmed with orders so I dug up what scrap cotton I could, got it washed, and started making some last night.
I hate all this so much.
In the rest of the news, I decided to unpack my MR Leia blaster and put it up in my office.
Looks nice. I also opened the last Amidala doll I hadn’t opened yet. AND! I cleaned my costume closet, Chase helped me get the hooks hung up so I could finally hang my hats.
Moved my Visioncon banner to the inside of the door.
Hats
Squished hanging stuff. There’s stuff hanging up in there that shouldn’t be and I need to take them down (ie, Janet Snakehole and Bespin Leia disneybound dress actually live down in my personal closet… Crusher can be folded and put away… stuff like that)
Chase also had me unpack and put away all my dye stuff on the shelf he cleared out for me in the garage:
Once he finishes cleaning up the area that’ll be my new dye station! Dedicated sink AND a washing machine!
Speaking of dyeing, I did also record the Padme lake dress dyeing video Saturday. It… kinda ended up a disaster. I hope the footage is ok. Got started later in the day than we wanted. I rushed through everything I was saying, forgot to say things and had to stick them in later. It was cold out than I thought it would be and I had to kneel in hose water in 60 degree sun-setting weather. AND then the neighbor behind us decided to start CHAINSAWING on the other side of the fence halfway through the dyeing. Chase and I couldn’t hear each other 3 feet away from each other over the racket, much less the video camera picking up what I was saying. SO FRUSTRATING. I just went ahead and kept working and I’ll have to do the rest of the video as a voiceover. And also I forgot HOW LONG it takes to do the dye by spray bottle so I couldn’t really sit out there for 2 hours spraying my yard of fabric, so it didn’t quite get as done as I would’ve liked. Man I hope this works because I don’t want to buy more dye and fabric and have to do it over.
After that we decided to not do the Leia bun video the next day. I was tired, it was storming, so we’ll do it this weekend.
And to vent a little, because it’s my blog and I’ll do what I want. I’ve gotten a TONNN of new followers on instagram the past 2 weeks. 3 weeks ago I was just under 7500 and I remember this specifically because I talking to Chase about how I’d had such a huge bump in followers earlier this year also, and how I was hesitant to post my friends code for Animal Crossing on IG because I had so many new people I didn’t really know. Today I’m at 9300. I fairly certain this is all tiktok bleedover but at the same time it’s a little bewildering. The majority of it has been really nice and I’m super excited to get to 10K so I can post links in my IG story! But along with all that has come some rudeness to the level I haven’t experienced in YEARS. I’ve deleted and blocked so many rude and weird comments lately. Like I feel like it’s 2004 again and I’m removing every instance of “cosplay” from my website because I’m so tired of people picking at me?? I haven’t experienced this level since then.
(The “weird” comments have mostly been on my Padme funeral dress video where people were just being WEIRD about the fake pregnancy pillow? Like to the point I had to edit the caption and tell people to stop being weird? I mean even if you’re not familiar with the character/costume surely you can get that “character is pregnant/cosplayer isn’t”? Asking what it’s for, why I’m doing that, acting like it’s gross, tagging fetishists in the comments… WTF STOP IT. It’s all non-cosplay/non-followers making these comments, I’m just not used to have attention from the non-cosplay world.)
So yeah I guess it’s a trade off. And it’s not like I’m getting deluged, it’s like maybe 10-12 all together in the last week or so. When I’m used to maybe 1-2 a year. I usually don’t worry with them, I just block and move on but it’s just like… not the time right now? I have no patience for it. My anxiety levels are so high right now and people just out here being dicks to total strangers. Do they have nothing better to do in quarantine? I guess not. Go find something constructive to do with your time, like disassembling old costumes nobody cares about.