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a day at the races, Blog

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February 26, 2001 /

The monkey on your head is wearing a tie.

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My Costume History, Day 169: Anne Boleyn’s coronat

My Costume History, Day 169: Anne Boleyn’s coronation dress from Anne of the Thousand Days, made for Dragon Con 2014

I looove this movie and I had a few of the costumes on my radar. I came across this white brocade satin at Joann one day and thought it’d work for her coronation dress. Then I had to find ENOUGH of that satin to do it, going around to every Joann within driving distance to buy what they had! (And I ended up with an entire bolt for $20 ordered from another store - when it arrived, it was a little dirty and they didn’t think I’d want it and was going to toss it. YES I WANT IT!)

I started out modifying that Simplicity Tudor pattern again, like I did with 09 Anne. I did make some new stays that were a HUGE improvement over my 09 ones, using some leftover Haunted Mansion fabric. Used my same bum roll and petticoat from the 09 version.

Got the basic dress constructed - made the skirt WAY fuller and the back panels longer. (I wanted the train to be EVEN LONGER but didn’t have enough fabric for more!) I had to hand-sew the skirt to the bodice, because it was too much fabric to get into the machine.

I made the underskirt and sleeves out of a gold taffeta. I did all of the slashes on the gold sleeves and added some pearl trim to the edges - the interior fabric is a gauze fabric I dyed and gathered and tacked into the lining layer. I love how the sleeves turned out!

I trimmed the neckline in the same gold taffeta, and added some jewelry, metal findings, pearls, etc on top of it. I also love how that turned out! I made a new “B” necklace as well, much better than my 09 version.

For Dcon 2014, I wanted the crown - so Chase made this crown for me, he painted it and I added the jewels. The next year I took my scraps of fabric and trim and did make the matching french hood she wears earlier in the scene, so now I have both to choose from.

I really love how this costume turned out, it’s one of my favs I’ve made. I love wearing it. As I said, I made the hood in 2015 and intended to wear it again at Dcon that year, but I forgot to pack the underskirt! :( So I wore it for Halloween, and did a cool location shoot in 2017 too. Most happy with it!

Princess Leia Art project part 26 - Jedi Leia I

Princess Leia Art project part 26 - Jedi Leia

I always wanted to make this version of Jedi Leia but never got around to it.

Princess Leia art project part 25 - Shadows of the

Princess Leia art project part 25 - Shadows of the Empire outfit

I have the action figure of this somewhere around here.

Princess Leia art project parts 23 & 24 - Splinter

Princess Leia art project parts 23 & 24 - Splinter of the Minds Eye

For this row I thought I’d post some of the old non-movie outfits I included in this project. This Splinter of the Minds Eye is obviously the same art for both, just tweaked for the look variation.

My Costume History, Day 168: Johanna’s interview d

My Costume History, Day 168: Johanna’s interview dress from Hunger Games: Catching Fire, made for Dragon Con 2014

I started on this costume for Dcon in JANUARY! I found this metallic tan fabric at Hancock use as a base, and some sand coloured chiffon. I got the base dress started... then didn’t get back to it til August LOL

I made a base sleeveless/strapless dress out of that tan fabric - the top is boned to support it, and it laces up the back. I left the seams in the skirt open to add godets later. Once I had the basic dress made, I started adding the chiffon. I just took big sections of the chiffon and started pinning/sewing it into place on the dress while it was on my dressform, then cutting away the excess once it looked right, then started on the next segment.

I took big triangular pieces of my base fabric and layered rows of gathered chiffon onto it. I did have to go back and buy more chiffon because I didn’t have enough from January - you may notice some of the chiffon in the insets are slightly more peachy toned than the rest, and that’s because it was as close as I could find months later! I kinda like the dimension it adds.

The undershirt I made out of stuff I had on hand - the base of it is a faux suede (why did I do that, it wasn’t going to be seen...) and then I layered pieces of cut and painted scrap leather over the top of it. Added some gold nailheads in places. The collar is craft foam and worbla covered in the same painted leather strips, and velcros on. The dress also attaches to the shirt with hook and bars to keep it in place. Chase made my bracelet!

The wig is the first one I bought for Peggy and thought too dark - but worked great for this! I styled it up into multiple ponytails to create the fauxhawk look.

Threw it on the first night at Dcon so we could go take photos on the 10th floor and in the elevators without a lot of people around - got some great shots!! Whole reason I wanted to make it LOL. Also wore it to MCFC later that year and did the white backdrop shoot in 2015.

Was really happy with how it turned out, tho I did feel like a marshmellow in it. Still have it - probably needs some repairs, but still wearable!

My Costume History, Day 167: my second version of

My Costume History, Day 167: my second version of my Marie Antoinette TARDIS dress, made for Dragon Con 2014

OK, so for the background on this costume, you’ve got to go read parts 1 and 2 from a few weeks ago - I originally made my blue sack back gown in 2011, and there’s a long story with the colour being not what I expected and deciding to make it into a TARDIS dress because of that. The idea with the first 2011 TARDIS dress was, what if Marie Antoinette met the Doctor, and how would she show that through her fashion?

Anyway, I’d had a lot of fun with that first TARDIS dress back in 2011, and my plan had always been that I could make interchangeable TARDIS interior skirts. My first skirt had been based on 11’s console, and I wanted to do more. But I didn’t get around to doing that until 2014.

I decided to do the 5th Doctor’s interior for this one - the 11 one had been all warm tones, so I thought doing something more white and cool toned for this one would be a nice contrast. I got some basic white cotton, cut the front panel of the skirt, and then laid on our kitchen floor painting this for a few days. Added a little K-9 too. Got the back sewn on and finished up.

I wanted to give the dress some different vibes this time around - and I was thinking about wearing it in the dragon con parade that year, so I wanted to get the fabric off the ground. Using some matching blue ribbon I made some bustles in the back and I was REALLY happy with how they looked!

I also decided to forego the wig and use my own hair + a hair piece - curled my hair the night before wearing it and teased it up. I also wanted to do a bergère hat, so I bought one, painted it white, and added a bunch of blue and white flowers, ribbons and feathers to it.

I was really happy with this version 2! I did NOT end up in the parade in this (2013 was the last year we did the parade), but still had fun wearing it. Took it to MCFC later that year too. Haven’t worn it since - I really need to get the bustles back in order and shoot this version on the white backdrop one of these days, because I haven’t done that yet!

My Costume History, Day 166: Peggy Carter from Cap

My Costume History, Day 166: Peggy Carter from Captain America, made for Dragon Con 2014

One day at my grandparents house they pulled out my grandpa’s WW2 uniform, and I got to take a good look at the construction - it made me want to challenge myself to make something like that. I landed on making Peggy’s uniform as a good project for that!

I picked up the wool fabric in Atlanta, and I did dye it - just to get a green tint to it, because otherwise it was too brown. It turned out a great olive tone.

I modified a blazer pattern for the top and went through multiple mock-ups to get shape figured out, especially the lapels. Once I felt I was close enough, I started on the real fabric. Lined it with some green poly lining fabric. I did force myself to do real button holes, which was a PAIN on this thick fabric but we got through it. The welt pockets, on the other hand, caused me to have to recut one of my front panels after I messed it up too bad (face palm)

Bought the buttons on ebay and the lapel pins on the RPF. Made the skirt using a basic fitted skirt pattern. Made the belt using my same fabric and a buckle cover kit. Bought the wig online - it was originally a honey blonde and I dyed it to be a natural brown. I couldn’t find a natural brown wig that I liked! Everything was too dark! Cut and curled it (and would cut and curl it several more times even after debuting it)

I also made a little accessory out of my grandpa’s old briefcase, just to use it as a purse LOL. It has a whole little SSR display on the inside.

I was pretty happy with how the uniform turned out. It wasn’t perfect - and I think I could make it better now - but I enjoyed the challenge. I debuted it at Dcon that year, and also took it to GMX and Dcon again in 2015 - both times restyling the wig AGAIN. I’m still not all that happy with the wig, and I kinda want to restyle it again one day - I had the costume out not too long ago for a tiktok video, I should’ve done it then. But I think I’m bettering at curling wigs now than I was back then, so maybe a project for a future rainy day.

My Costume History, Day 165: Rogue as Ms Marvel fr

My Costume History, Day 165: Rogue as Ms Marvel from Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, made for Dragon Con 2014

I saw this concept art for the Avengers cartoon that showed Rogue wearing a green & white version of Ms Marvels red and black costume and I loooved it. I thought, I could make that pretty easily - I still have the patterns I made for my red and black Ms Marvel from 2011. So this would be a quick build!

So off to Joanns to pick up some white and green spandex. Got home and dug around looking for my pattern pieces... & realized I had sacrificed them for my Batgirl costume back in 2012. UGH! So I had to recreate the pattern again and my whole reason for doing this “quick” costume was out the window LOL

But it wasn’t difficult to do again - I based it off my fav leotard pattern, Kwiksew 2004, and added the seams for the shoulder yoke and briefs. Doubled the white spandex in the torso area so it wouldn’t be see-through.

Chase cut the starburst out of some gold metallic spandex for me and I hand-basted it on, then machine stitched it. Added the scarf - it’s just a tube of fabric finished on the ends, and lightly stitched to the neckline of the leotard. It’s not as long as my Ms Marvel one, because I didn’t have as much fabric due to needed the extra lining fabric in the leotard!

Made my boot covers using my Ms Marvel boot covers as a guide, and yes, I had to make gloves for this one. Hate that. I wasn’t going to torture myself trying to follow that fiddly Vogue pattern, so I just did the “turkey hand” method and it worked fine. Not great, but fine LOL

For the wig, I found my old Marasiah Fel wig from 2007 and it worked great for this! Already had the stripe! Chase found my Ms Marvel mask mold and made me a new green one out of latex.

I was really happy with how it turned out, but I didn’t take many pics of it at Dragon con that year - I fell into the “I’ll wear it again later in the weekend and take pics then” trap, where of course, I did not wear it again LOL. I did take it to GMX a couple of months later and got some good photos there, and of course we did the white backdrop shoot not long after. Haven’t worn it since, sadly! Maybe one day!

My Costume History, Day 164: Donna Noble’s Pompeii

My Costume History, Day 164: Donna Noble’s Pompeii dress from Doctor Who, made for Dragon Con 2014

So for Dragon Con 2014 I had planned to make Donna’s beaded flapper dress from the Unicorn and the Wasp. I bought everything for it, and got started... in August. I very quickly realized there was NO WAY I was going to get all of that beading and embroidery done in less than a month, so I put the project on pause, and decided I’d do an easier Donna costume.

Headed to Joann and they had a beautiful soft heathered purple stretch knit that was a decent match for Donna’s Pompeii dress. I modified an empire waist dress pattern for this, making it a little longer and a little fuller in the skirt. Otherwise it was a basic, quick project. I had some gold braid trim on hand so I used that at the neck and bust seam. Wore it with my Wonder Woman sandals.

Fun fact, I fell while wearing THIS costume (and not something more complicated??) Was walking down the (carpeted) stairs in the Marriott at Dragon Con that year and those sandals have NO grip on the bottom, and my feet just slid out from under me. Thankfully it was 8AM Sunday morning so NOBODY was out and about at Dragon Con yet and nobody saw it, not even Chase... he was in front of me and turned around and said, “did you fall?” And I was like... no, I just decided to sit down for a minute LOL

After Dcon 2014, I decided I wasn’t happy with that gold trim on the bust seam. It was very wobbly looking. I had picked up another gold trim at a swap table at GMX and it worked great for this - it was much less stiff than the first braid and sat much nicer! Got the white backdrop shoot done later that year.

I did meet Catherine Tate while wearing this one. She’d already seen me in another one of my Donna costumes earlier in the day, so when I walked up to get her autograph in this one, her assistant asked “Which Donna is this?” And she said “It’s my Pompeii dress, don’t you pay attention to my career?!” It was so funny.

I don’t have any more recent photos of it, despite the fact I’ve worn it a lot - it’s a great easy thing to throw in as a comfy costume, it never needs ironed, I can use my own hair... I’m glad I made it!

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