The Dress Fail That Turned Into a Skirt

I was out perusing fabrics, like you do, when I found this fabric:

It is green with metallic grey (which looks purple) and a bit of yellow.

And I fell in love with it. Plus it was on sale! A yard and a half just waiting for me. I thought I would make a little summer dress with a circle skirt. And I wasn't going to use a pattern--mistake number one.

With my mom as a personal consultant, we went to a fabric shop to find another color to mix with my lovely patterned fabric. She suggested this yellow, which I never would have considered, but which looked very nice with my fabric:

This yellow matches the little bit of yellow in my fabric perfectly.

The skirt part was easy, since I have made circle skirts before. I tried to find a basic online pattern with instructions for a dress bodice that was very cute. Mistake number two. 

And mistake number three is probably my lack of dress dummy. If I had one, I think I could have salvaged the top. I know what I want for my birthday...

Anyway, the top was not working out, but the skirt was definitely worth saving. So I added a band and I already had the zipper! Of course, I also managed to seriously mess up the zipper twice (have I mentioned that I hate zippers?) and it took some serious motivating to rip it out yet again to try to fix it. The band around the top didn't fit right either (again, a dress dummy would be great) which helped motivate me to tear it all out again. Third time is the charm, right?

Well, almost:

Ugh, silly zipper...

Good enough! I decided at this point that I was over it. My mom said no one would notice besides me anyway...

Side note, I ended up using this tutorial (not exactly because I found it after I purchased my zipper) which is the best I have seen thus far: The Absolute Easiest Way to Sew a Zipper.

I sewed a little hook and loop at the top of the zipper to help keep it closed and hidden. And then my mom came over to pin my hem (do you see how much I need this dress dummy?) and that's that!

A pretty spring-y skirt! I wore it to Cat and Drew's wedding and got several compliments on it (and was told that I look like a Disney princess! Life achievement right there!). And yes, that is a matching bow in my hair! And the skirt is magical because it really spirals out when I twirl! I love it! I want to make a closet full of different circle skirts! And I think I need to make a cute tulle skirt next. Or more plaid circle skits because I am seriously in love with cute plaid skirts.

NDK 2014 Costumes Part Four

First off, my wig is on its way. Yay! Of course, once it gets here, I still have to style it. Oh well.

Second of all, I am starting to hate this costume. Mostly because of my lack of pattern and issues with making a circle skirt with this particular fabric. I knew what I was getting myself into, though, so I guess I can't complain to much.

I tried to finish the skirt and other small, blue pieces, but got frustrated and decided that I needed a break. I wanted to work on my bows with my gold fabric.

The back of my handkerchief

Sorry it is so blurry. I threw together a little draw-string bag to carry my stuff around in.

This site: Cupcake Cosplay: How to Make a Sailor Moon Fuku has very good directions on how to make bows. I also used it for the waist band (thing) of my skirt, which, due to my fabric choice, sucked... Anyway, I basically followed the "bows" section of the page to make my bows. The only thing that I really changed was not stuffing the bows. I used interfacing (despite my hatred of interfacing) on all of the pieces instead. Of course, then I had to finish the skirt so that I can attach the back bow... Here are some pictures:

Back bow

Here are the tails of my back bow attached to my finished skirt.

It isn't sewn on yet, but here is how it will look!

My front bow!

I also worked on my leotard. Since I decided not to show my midriff, here is my solution in action:

I used my gold ribbon to separate the pieces. And yes, this is how I did it because I don't have a dress form...

I couldn't just sew it on because the leotard is stretchy and I would never get it back on. So I sewed the ribbon down in a few places like this.

Jasmine may not have been the best choice for a conversion to sailor scout mostly because of the style and fabric I decided on. Even the gold was slippery and made it impossible to get straight lines even with a ruler and pins. I think everything will look alright in the end, but it's been a tough one. I am still really worried about the skirt and wondering if I will have to re-do the whole thing. But I really don't want to. Well, you live and you learn, I suppose. 

Side note:I have worked on all of this in my living room where Remus is a pretty constant companion. He usually dozes under a blanket, but I tend to throw all of my costume pieces around and sometimes he gets buried.

My cute helper!

NDK 2014 Costumes Part Three

I finally started working on my Sailor Jasmine costume.

I tried buying a wig at a local costume store, but it is way too cheap and thin to use so I am going to have to return it and order one online. I found the one I am going to use though: Jotei long black wig.

I decided not to a) bare my midriff and b) not replace the middle of the leotard with skin-toned fabric. I decided to keep it solid and put some gold under the bust. This idea was partially inspired by this: Sailor Jasmine by PinkPetalEntrance.

I bought a pair of while gloves. I thought gold or matching blue would be better, but those options weren't available, so white it is. I'm not sure how many people in our group will do gloves, but mine have the added benefit of covering the tattoo on my wrist. 

I fudged making a pattern for a circle skirt--how silly is this?

I know it is difficult to see, but this is my pattern that I measured and drew (it is 1/4th of the skirt) on several pieces of paper taped together...

But it looks nicer cut out. The waist is bigger than I meant it to be, but it has to be gathered and such so it will be OK.

I also cut pieces for the handkerchief, and the pieces for the top of the skirt, the tops of the gloves, and the bands for my hair.

A glove band.

I got some gold fabric, gold ribbon, and other miscellaneous things I will need, but haven't done anything with them yet.

I've been hitting some snags with this one. Part of it is the fabric that I am using. I am also using horsehair braid for the first time and feel completely at a loss. Another part is the fact that I am not using any patterns (except for the little one I had to make myself for my skirt), which is not something that I am used to doing. I figure that it is only a costume and most of my mistakes won't be visible in the end... These are the things I tell myself, anyway. I will post more when I have more to show for all of this work...

Here are some of my references for the skirt that I (and probably several of my group members) use:
By Hand London: Circle Skirt Maths - explained!
Tutorial-Putting in Horse Hair Braid/CLAMP Ruffles by RuffleButtCosplay

I will post more references as I get to them.

Oh, and in case I didn't tell anyone: we decided to do ruffle-y circle skirts instead of pleats because no one wants to sew those... In case anyone was confused.