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Art Post: Piper Designs (SunDowner)

Blog, my art, sundowner

Art Post: Piper Designs (SunDowner)

May 16, 2002 /

Piper’s various looks…

art old sundowner

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My Costume History, Day 154: Belle from Beauty and

My Costume History, Day 154: Belle from Beauty and the Beast, made for Dragoncon 2012

I still loved my Belle ballgown from 2005, but after a few years, I was seeing some wear and tear. I also just thought it would be fun to make a new one with a different look, so I decided Dcon 2012 would be the time and place.

Well I left this a little late. I had a very busy summer, making 4 Time Lord robes, 3 witches, Wasp, and everything else you’ve seen the past few posts... and I didn’t start on this til the end of July that year. Which is like, completely crazy to me now LOL

I used a warm yellow gold taffeta for the majority of this. For the bodice, I used the same pattern I’d used for the 05 version (cuz I really liked that shape), with some boning and a lace-up back. I layered a couple of different embroidered organza over the taffeta and I loved the effect, plus added some beading and gold trim. For the shoulder drape, I pleated my taffeta down to fit, and added some beading there as well. I felt like it needed something a little more, so I also made some little gathered ruffles and attached them to the bottom edge at the arms.

The skirt was several squares of the taffeta pleated down to a waistband - once I had the basic shape done, I started playing around with my leftover fabrics. I didn’t really have a solid idea of what I wanted to do, so I just experimented. I ended up doing tiers of pleated taffeta, separated with swags of the embroidered organza from the bodice. I finished it off with more of the gathered ruffles, and some beading on the tiers. Used some gold appliques and yellow roses at each gather. Bought the shoes, dyed them and added trim to them, and also decided I needed a new wig, bought it, added the widows peak and styled it.

I wasn’t thrilled with the end result at Dcon 2012. So I brought it home and started messing with it. Decided I liked it better on my panniers than my round hoopskirt, added more beading and trim and restyled the wig. Brought it back for Dcon 2013 much happier with it! Worn it several times since - but I’ve wanted to make a new one for at least a decade. We’ll talk about that one in a few months though :)

My Costume History, Day 153: Time Lords from Docto

My Costume History, Day 153: Time Lords from Doctor Who, made for Dragoncon 2012

@lindenash and I had talked about doing this for a while, and then we roped @chasingphotography and @deweese into it as well! We didn’t stick to one Time Lord reference - I picked elements I liked from various sources to make our own thing.

For the robes, I wanted to use something we could all easily get and use coupons for, so we used this red stretch velvet from Joann. The tiered sleeves were the most work intensive part, because I had to interface and back layer to keep them from stretching - glad to have had Ash’s assistance on that! The rest of the robe was a basic shape, but I did make them all longer to flare out on the floor. My original plan was to put hooping in the hem, but I scrapped that towards the end after testing it. It would’ve been fine for standing still for photos - but we were planning to wear these in the Dcon parade!

The under-robe is an embroidered taffeta from Joann - they are sleeveless and the back panel is cotton, in an attempt to TRY to keep these costumes breathable. I made the upper collar of the robe and the belts out of a cotton velvet, and they close at the neck, and the robe hooks onto the belt with a hook and bar to keep them in place.

The big gold collars Chase & Derek made of fiberglass. They made a base to build them all off of, then fit them to each of us. We couldn’t find enough of one gold trim to glue on the edges of all 4, so we each picked our own. They cast the Seal of Rassilon, and since we ended up with extra, we also added one to the back of the fabric collar piece that hangs down below the gold collar.

We did indeed wear them in the Dcon parade, which was a choice. We were SO hot and all melted out of them afterwards while waiting on the Doctor Who photoshoot. But it was still fun - we haven’t worn them together again, but I’ve worn mine on its own several times over the years, including sticking Kevin in Chase’s costume a couple of times. I still have mine, but the rest have been retired. Glad we got to do it anyway!

My Costume History, Day 152: Sarah Sanderson from

My Costume History, Day 152: Sarah Sanderson from Hocus Pocus, made for Dragoncon 2012

My friends and I had been talking about doing a Hocus Pocus group for years at that point. Finally decided Dcon 2012 was gonna be the year.

For Sarah, I started with the Simplicity Tudor stays pattern and edited it a bit. It’s a canvas and cotton interior with boning and laces up the back - the outer fashion layer is some silk I dyed and embroidered. Did all the embroidery on a road trip that summer!

Could not find mesh or netting I liked for the sleeves, but found some in yellow I liked. It would not take to dye, so I used fabric paint, which did stiffen them up more than I would’ve liked! I tore them up and weathered them a bit.

The skirt is an underskirt of red fabric I had leftover from something else, then an outerskirt of 3 parts - the back part you don’t see green faux suede leftover from Chase’s Green Arrow tunic. The front panels is a red eyelet cotton I cut apart and reassembled to give it a different look, then added red embroidery floss along the bottom for the tassels. The draped section at the hips and sides is a silk chiffon I dyed. It’s a lot - but it’s so fun to swish around in. I reused my Black Canary wig and my Jane boots.

I also made Winnie and Mary - I’ll just do a quick recap of construction here because I don’t have room to dig into all 3! Winnie was a cotton velvet I dyed, made using a modified Simplicity 9891, it’s all one piece except for a purple elastic waisted underskirt. Painted on the details and used some strung gold beads for the trim. The wig was my old Black Widow wig. Mary’s vest was some burlap I dyed and backed in cotton, and the blouse was based on a peasant blouse pattern using some cotton I dyed. The skirt was layers of a plaid flannel with an elastic waist, and some of the scrap fabric added to the front. Ash & I did her wig together.

We had so much fun in these at Dragoncon that year! We’ve only worn them together one other time - for a photoshoot with @chasingphotography for Halloween 2013, and I’m still obsessed with those photos. I’ve worn Sarah on her own a few times - mostly for Halloween events. So glad we got to do this!

My Costume History, Day 151: Batgirl, made for Dra

My Costume History, Day 151: Batgirl, made for Dragoncon 2012

I had several Batgirl looks saved as inspiration for a few years by this point. I went ahead and bought a cowl from ReevzFX before I even knew which one I was going to commit to. When the new52 look came out, I decided, that’s the one!

I had a blue bodysuit from a project that didn’t pan out - I put it on a mannequin and drew out all of my seaming on that, then cut it apart to turn it into a pattern for my Batgirl suit. I alternated between the shiny & matte side of the spandex to give it a different look in some areas, and I used a stretch knit to create the ribbed sections on the legs and arms.

I used a gold wet-look spandex for the other parts. I’d originally planned to do the boots a different way, but the boots I bought didn’t work out, so I decided to just do the boot covers as part of the suit - that way I could just wear some heels I already had. Wasn’t exactly the look I wanted, but it worked in a pinch. I used my Ms Marvel boot covers as a pattern, & then sewed them to the bottom of the black suit.

I hate making gloves, but they needed to match, so I forced myself to make them LOL. Chase cut the bat symbol for me and I sewed it onto the suit, & I made the cape out of some leftover fabric from Huntress - it snaps onto the suit at the shoulders.

Chase made my gauntlets, as well as a little insert that fits into a window on the other side of my gloves. My (first) belt was a piece of vinyl covered in the same gold spandex with some stitching details.

I debuted it at Dcon 2012 and I wasn’t totally happy with it. Brought it home to rework some parts - I moved the bat symbol up a little higher, took up the neck strap of the cowl, Chase fixed up the gauntlets and we made a new leather belt with the details carved in. These little tweaks helped a LOT - I brought it back to Dragoncon 2013 and was MUCH happier with it! I’ve worn it a few times since, to some local cons and events. I’ve had plans for a few years now to 3d print some new gauntlets, because my original ones are pretty fragile and have cracked in places. Next time I decide I want to wear it, I’ll finally look into that.

Princess Leia art project, parts 17-19 — Rise of S

Princess Leia art project, parts 17-19 — Rise of Skywalker plus the hospital dress from The Last Jedi

I wasn’t originally going to do that hospital dress as part of the project but in my quest to draw as many Leia costumes as possible, I ended up adding it just recently. Sticking it in here because both that and Force Ghost aren’t super exciting and don’t need their own posts.

Princess Leia project - day 15 & 16, costumes from

Princess Leia project - day 15 & 16, costumes from The Last Jedi

Princess Leia project day 13 & 14 - The Force Awak

Princess Leia project day 13 & 14 - The Force Awakens

I decided to keep her deleted ponytail in the uniform cuz I think it’s cute.

My Costume History, Day 150: Wasp from Avengers: E

My Costume History, Day 150: Wasp from Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, made for Dragoncon 2012

I had so many different Wasp costume ideas saved in my “maybe” folder. But one day it clicked that I probably had enough scrap spandex and costume pieces in my stash that I could put together this look without buying anything. So even though I was already waaayy overextended for Dragoncon that year, I dug in.

The way I made this was kinda experimental. I made a basic bodice out of black cotton, boning, lace-up back, built in bra. All I had to buy for that was the grommets. Then I built the dress over that - it’s all made out of leftover spandex, and I used my bodice pattern as a base. Made the upper yellow section as an applique on top of it, and sewed the skirt pieces to the bottom. I had JUUUST enough yellow spandex to do this!! I left the a channel in the hem to thread some metal hooping through it.

I sewed the dress to the top of the bodice all the way around — there is no opening on the outer spandex dress. To lace it up I have to pull the dress up and away from the bodice so Chase can lace it LOL. Then pull the dress back down.

The boots and gloves were from my Jean Grey costume - I had the black leggings from a costume that never happened, and made the upper black part of the gloves out of scrap black spandex.

I did have to buy a wig and the headphones - the headphones were some kids headphones I bought online, and when they arrived Chase disassembled for me and repainted them, and added the antenna.

I was really happy with how this turned out - especially since it was so cheap to make!! LOL I wore it at Dragoncon but I still wanted to do the wings, so after Dcon, Chase made the frames for me and we attached the yellow cellophane around it - they connect together in the center and slide down into the back of the bodice. Wore the winged version at GMX a month later, and of course we did the white backdrop shoot not long after that.

Haven’t worn it to a con since, but it’s all still here, had it out for a video not long ago. The wings have seen better days, so they’d need some touchups if I wanted to wear it to a con again, but it’d be do-able!

My Costume History, Day 149: Emma Frost/White Quee

My Costume History, Day 149: Emma Frost/White Queen from X-Men, made for Dragoncon 2012

So remember how just a few days ago I posted about my 2011 Emma Frost costume and said I didn’t want to do the Hellfire Club corset look, so I made a dress version instead? Yeah a year later I changed my mind and decided I was feeling the corset version LOL

So there’s not a lot to this - I really could have just included this with my first Emma post but it’s my countdown and I’m going to consider them separate costumes LOL

The corset is the one I had bought for my Beastly Belle costume back in 2008 and covered in yellow fabric. I unpicked the yellow cover and was left with a nice corset for this! I bought the swimsuit bottoms but I hated how I had a gap between the corset and bottoms, so when I brought the costume back to Dragoncon in 2013, I made an extension for it out some scrap white spandex to make it taller.

The biggest issue with this version was figuring out how to wear the cape now. The cape on the original version connected to the dress with some hooks and bars. Didn’t have that here, so I rigged up some ribbon tabs sewn to the inside of the corset, and some adjoining ones on the underside of the fur collar of the cape. It wasn’t perfect but it worked ok.

All of the other accessories were from the 2011 version - boots, gloves, collar, wig, etc.

I wore this at both Dragoncon 2012 and 2013 - it was fun to wear! I still haven’t shot this particular variation on the white backdrop - it’s on the short list to do eventually.

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