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 2013 Costumes Part Two

Yay, NDK!

I have made some progress on my costumes for this year. Woo!

My Jareth costume is beginning to get pinned and sewn. It took me time and motivation to finally cut out the interfacing. I hate interfacing. I know it's necessary, but I still hate it. So that is happening, slowly but surely.

My little set up on my desk due to lack of sewing table. And that is "Spaced" playing on my laptop there. Love it.

I did manage to finish the vest! Yay! It will be mostly hidden so its a good warm up piece. It just needs a fastener or two--I'm thinking snaps. I will go get those today. Yay! So excited!

Front.

Back.

Though in the process, I managed to irreparably bend two pins...  Maybe I need more pins, too...

I have been doing research for my Rogue costume. Do you know how hard it is to find good unitards in green or yellow? Very hard. Especially because I don't want to spend 50$ for a unitard I still have to paint anyway. Also, depending on the places you are looking for such items, the *oddest* things pop up. I didn't know they made such outfits. Anywho...

I am at the point where I am ready to look at some costume and dance shops to see what I find. I don't want to paint a whole suit, so green or yellow is preferable. I probably won't find that at a dance shop, but I can look at the local costume shop. I can also get gloves there. Rogue's are yellow.

For Isaac's Gambit costume, I have been wracking my brains about the armor on his chest. In the course of my research, I found a brilliant idea: a costume chest! Wow! Epiphany! So that is something else to get at the costume shop.

So that's about it for now. I am off to the craft and costume shops! And the bank... which is less fun...

NDK Checklist and a Moment to Myself

Kurama Shuiichi wig styled: check (and it was very difficult).

Yoko Kurama wig styled: check.

Happy to report that both Kurama costumes are complete.

Under-dress for my Katamari dress: check, but not well done. Since it goes underneath the actual dress, I think it will be OK.

Dress for my Katamari costume: partially sewn together, but still needs trim and paint.

Katamari head: still need to finish covering and trim and paint.

Katamari shoes: still need paint.

Katamari gloves: haven't even started. Or exactly figured out how to make them...

Basically my Katamari costume still needs way more work that I want to think about. One thing at a time.

I would like to take this breather to say that my Aunt Jennifer passed away yesterday, September 12. She was only 40 years old. She was a very spunky red-head, adventurous, and funny. She is leaving behind two daughters, a husband, a mother, siblings, nieces and nephews, all of whom will miss her greatly. Her father and my grandfather passed away exactly six months ago, so my step grandmother is having a difficult time and year. My heart aches very much for my step grandma as well as for Jennifer's husband, and very much so for her girls (the eldest of which has already experienced more trials in life than she should have). I feel a little guilty, pushing her death and the grief of my family (as well as my own) aside for a fun weekend, but I know how much Aunt Jennifer valued a good time. My best memory of her was from many years back when she came with my brother, sister, and me to an amusement park and worried me by rocking our Ferris wheel cart as much as she and my sister could manage. My other favorite memory was of Christmas 2003, a few years after marrying Rodney, with their new baby girl in her arms and seeing that she was more at peace than I had ever seen her before. I hope that your thoughts (and, if you are so inclined, your prayers) are with her and my family. You are so missed, Aunt Jennifer. And I hope that you and Grandpa are happy and together. Peace and love to my family, especially Elizabeth and Abby who I cannot stop thinking and worrying about.

NDK Countdown

For those of you who don't know, NDK is this coming weekend: Friday through Sunday! The main thought going through my head as we rapidly approach the weekend: YIKES!!!

I still have yet to style my wigs. At least the Yoko Kurama one doesn't require much work.

Jareth did not happen at all. The only thing I did for that costume was to find a perfect wig (which I did not purchase) and make the sparkly belt.

Contacts did not happen for any costume.

I haven't planned make-up yet, but I want to try to cover my freckles.

I need to find the caps that go under the wigs (but I think I know which box they are in).

My Katamari costume is not finished. The head is mostly covered, but still needs to be trimmed and painted. The costume is still in a couple pieces, needs clasps in the back, and needs to be trimmed and painted. I haven't even started the gloves yet. And the shoes need to be painted. And we need to make and put on faces and the piece that goes on top of our heads.

Proceed in full panic mode! Step one: sew like a maniac. Step two: paint like a maniac who knows how to paint lots of perfect circles. AHHHH!!! And take a deep breath. I will be at my sewing machine if anyone needs me.

Costumes Part Five

Hello everyone! This update is a little early because Isaac and I are going on vacation for about 10 days. I will not be able to work on anything while I am away (sad), so I figured I would update now and then work and update again after I return. (But I will probably post about the vacation :) )

Exciting news regarding my costumes.
One: I learned what an ease-stitch is and how to do it. (For my fellow amateur seamstresses, here is the most useful link that I found: http://sewing.about.com/library/weekly/aa063001a.htm.) I needed to do this on the sleeves of my Shuiichi shirt and many sites talked about gathering and puckering and puffy sleeves, which helped me not a bit. Glad I found the link above otherwise I would have been out of luck. The sleeves were a bit puffy, but not too bad when they were finished.

Two: I ordered two of the three wigs I need! Woo! Both are for Kurama costumes and were bought under advisement from my friend, Cat. Check her out, she does commissions and she is just amazing: http://www.facebook.com/groups/274681619281442/ or http://www.angrylittlegnome.deviantart.com/.

My wigs can be found here: http://cosplayanimewigs.com/33herewhlost.html and http://cosplayanimewigs.com/28heredareds.html. I will need to make some alterations because they need to look like this:

I will be consulting Cat some more on how to get Shuiichi's hair to do that...

I also think I found a wig for my Jareth costume. Another magnificent suggestion from Cat. I will post more about that once I order it.

Sadly, little progress has been made with my Katamari costume. Kinks are still being worked on by the "professionals" (Cat and Jhenn) for the heads and faces (like how exactly we will see out of them). And I have yet to start the dress, but I have white fabric and fabric paint for the circles. I don't have a pattern for this one and I think I may have to find one if I am going to get up the courage to make it. Free-sewing sounds like a bad idea for me.

Also, no progress has been made on my Jareth costume, either. I'm still scared of it. On the plus side, I have Yoko's costume finished (once I fix up the wig a bit) and Shuiichi's nearly finished! I need to make the pink belt-tie thing and put the yellow trim on. I'm excited! Once everything is finished, I will post costume test and and make-up and hair test pictures.

An Update and Amish Friendship Bread

Sorry for the lack of updates (again). One of my best friends was in town and I don't get to see her often, so I spent TONS of time with her and our circle of friends.

So today is Tuesday: my turn to make dinner! While my friend, Amie, was in town she gave me some Amish friendship bread (AFB) aka a yeast starter. That was exactly 10 days ago. I was very excited to experiment with it. I knew that I would end up with enough AFB by today to make 3 items and still have one left over to continue my starter. One I will be giving to my mom, so I have 2 to work with. (Also, I am going to have to freeze a lot of this if I can't keep up with the baking! Let me know if anyone needs a yeast starter!).

So I'm thinking: dinner and dessert (who doesn't love dessert?). I really wanted to make pizza and chocolate chip cookies. Both of which I have made before (though it has been many years since I have made home-made pizza) so I figured they would be alright.

To begin, it was nearly impossible to find a recipe for AFB pizza dough. I finally stumbled upon this blog post: http://digrat.blogspot.com/2008/11/amish-friendshippizza.html. This was the recipe I followed. Only thing I didn't follow was letting the dough rise for 12-18 hours... because I did not plan this far enough in advance. Story of my life. I settled for putting the oven on very low and leaving it in for about 30 minutes. It didn't rise much. I am not sure it mattered all that much. Next time I will do it correctly and let you know.

For the sauce I used this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/exquisite-pizza-sauce/. The sauce was the main success of the dish, I think. I altered it a bit (no anchovy or honey, to name a couple changes), but overall that is roughly what I made. I used lots of mozzarella cheese and a pre made pizza mix. It was a good combo: mostly mozzarella with a little provolone, parmesan, and romano.

Main problem: The pizza dough didn't cook in the middle very well. I put it in a little longer but didn't want to burn the cheese. Thoughts for next time: Cook the dough for a while on it's own before adding sauce and cheese. I am not sure that will work, but it's worth a try. Otherwise it was pretty good. Due to the AFB, the dough was a touch sweet for my taste, but since the sauce was a bit spicy, it worked out pretty well.

This website came with the AFB and has lots of info and recipes: http://www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com/. Using this I found this recipe for cookies: http://www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com/pantry/afb-chocolate-chip-cookies.

I did not use shortening. I don't have any (and have never used it before) and I did not want to go to the store for the second time today and the third time in the last two days. Instead I used a little more butter. Most sources I found said that butter or margarine can be used in place of shortening in equal exchange. I did not do a full equal exchange because it already had butter in it and I couldn't bring myself to put in THAT much butter. The cookies turned out alright and they tasted pretty good. Next time I should try using shortening, however. Next time. Sigh. Another side note: this recipe makes LOTS of cookies. I feel like I was baking all night.

In other news, I have worked on my Shuiichi costume a bit. The shirt that scared me? I'm still a bit scared. However, I managed to get it mostly put together and (drum roll) I made a collar! I was excited. Of course I made the whole thing before I remembered it was supposed to be blue, not white... so I made a little case for it. Like a pillow case. It worked fine. Right now I am tackling the interfacing (I hate interfacing) which is supposed to go on the shoulders and down the front. It isn't actually *attached* to the shirt yet, however, but is attached to the facing.

During all of this, I learned what it meant to layer a seam. I had no idea what this meant and my google searching failed to clear it up until I found this wonderful video: http://www.ehow.com/video_4438184_sewing-collar_-grading-seam.html. Cleared everything right up. There are some other parts I am going to have to look up later. I will be sure to share those for any other amateur seamstresses out there. I will  post a picture when it is finished.

And I promise that I will be posting about my new little niece very soon! With a couple pictures because she is the cutest baby in the world (surely no bias here...).

So there you have it. An update and my Tuesday cooking. Sorry for the lack of pictures, I just wasn't feeling up for the extra work.

Costumes Part Four

Sorry I haven't updated in so long! Work got kind of crazy--I worked some late shifts and had some meetings, etc. We should be about back to normal now, so be expecting more updates.

So! Costumes!

I am pleased to report that Yoko Kurama is almost complete! I fixed up the ears and the tail (the tail wasn't long enough or fluffy enough for me and the ears weren't fox-y enough). I used a white (that ended up being a little off-white, unfortunately) fake fur and a little bit of quilt batting for the tail. I just wrapped it all up and hot glued everything. So this is what we have now:

I also managed to put in a little pocket. Let me tell you: they are much easier to do BEFORE you actually sew the pants together. I think I have learned my lesson. And the little sash to tie the tunic shut and attach the tail is finished. Yay! Just need a wig now! (And contacts? I still haven't decided. Based on my financial situation, I am guessing no...). My friend, Cat, helped me find some good wigs for all of my costumes, now just to save up and purchase them. I will post links when I make my final decisions.

For Shuiichi Kurama I have finished the pants. With a pocket! I haven't tackled the shirt yet because frankly it intimidates me a little. That is the next step, however. Hopefully next week will see some of that finished.
 I still haven't done anything besides the belt for Jareth. Cat has done my mask prototype, but I haven't seen it. I'm sure it is going to be great! I am scared about doing his outfit, too. I might leave most of it for last.

We have all been working on our Katamari heads! My friend, Jhenn, is amazingly brilliant! She came up with the whole mascot-head design, made all the measurements, and made templates. We all traced the templates onto cardboard and cut every tiny little piece out. So I ended up with this pile of cardboard with no notion of how it would all come together.

Jhenn began fitting it all, and we hot glued everything together. So here are some progress pictures:

Tracing

  

Cutting

Gluing

 Side note, hot glue guns for a project this big got glue strings EVERYWHERE! Leading to various lines such as "Holy glue strings, Batman."

And the finished product on my head! Soooo fun! And isn't Jhenn amazing?! I can't believe that she could visualize and create these! I am exceedingly impressed.

Next step: Cover the head base in quilting batting and cut a piece of cross-stitch mesh to put over the face. Then hot glue it all together!

And this is what I have!

I still need to put batting on the ends. We are looking for fabric to put over the face so we can paint on Katamari faces and still see out. All of us still need to make the outside cases, but more on that later.

Costumes Part Three

Sorry I didn't update on my costumes last week. I made shockingly little progress at all the week before. This week was much more productive.

Here is my belt for my Jareth costume. It sparkles. Need I say more?

All of these tiny rhinestones don't really like to stay attached so I tried Modge Podge on the backside (so as not to cover the sparklies). We will see if they hold up.

And I am almost finished with my Yoko Kurama costume. I just need to make a sash and finish the ears and tail. Oh, and the wig. Guess I need that, too. And find my shoes. Damn.

During the course of making this, I had to have my mom come over to help with the fitting. In case you don't know, it can be difficult to fit things to yourself without help. Especially under the arms. I had to interrupt my mom for this and she suggested getting a dress-maker dummy. While this would be a great idea, I don't have a whole lot of money to spend. The cheapest I found one was about 50 dollars, but I'm not sure it was adjustable (which is not a necessary feature, but it would be nice). The others were closer to 100 dollars, and I'm sure more with shipping such large, awkward objects. I haven't actually looked in a store yet, but I'm sure Joann would have something.

Then I ran across this link: How to Make Your Own Sewing Dummy on eHow. Brilliant, right? I think it would be fun to try. The most expensive part would probably be the stand. Anyhow, I ran the idea past my mom, and she thinks it would be fun to try. So this might be my next project. Totally psyched. Then I don't need help with fittings! Yay! I will post that when it happens.

I also started the pants for my Shuiichi Kurama costume, but they weren't far enough along to justify pictures. It's been a while since I have done pants, it took a while to remember how to put them together! The Yoko pants turned out well and the Shuiichi ones are fine so far. They are a little more complex. I also remembered after I finished my Yoko ones that I wanted to put in a pocket... I will make sure my Shuiichi ones have one, but I will have to go back and add one to the Yoko pants... Ugh.

Oh, I have also added another costume to my NDK list for this year: Katamari cousin. My friends talked about a group cosplay with someone dressed as the Prince and others dressed as his various cousins from the games. If you have no idea what I am talking about, here is a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katamari_Damacy. The basic premise is that the King of the Universe destroyed the stars (or something) in a drunken fit and his tiny Prince has to roll things up on the Katamari (a big ball which sticks to things smaller than it to grow) and make new stars. It is fun and silly. As you go through the game, you encounter various cousins.

It was decided recently that this will actually happen. So Amie will be the Prince and I believe we have someone who will be the King, and two or three others. I think that I will be June, shown here:

And hopefully we will all have Katamari. Hopefully with velcro things to stick on them! Fun fun! More soon.

Costumes Part One

Yesterday I thought I needed a little retail therapy after Pico died. So my mom and I took a trip to Joann to buy fabric for some costumes I want to make.

In case you don't know, I am a pretty big nerd. I love, LOVE Halloween and dressing up in costumes. I also like many animes so I will be attending our local anime convention, Nan Desu Kan (NDK for short). Told you, big nerd. That's OK. Being normal is totally boring.

The fruits of my trip are shown below. Tons of white fabric, some dark blue and pink. Yellow ribbon, gathered sheer fabric (like gathered lace, but not lace) and a bedazzled silver finding. Plus, YARDS of interfacing, which my mother assured me many times that I really do need...

Oh, and patterns. I will be using these as my basic patterns and altering them as I need to. Yes, much altering.

As of right now, I have three costumes in mind. (Yes, there may be more depending on whether or not Isaac wants to do a cosplay with me for NDK).
First, Jareth, the Goblin King, from my all-time favorite movie: "Labyrinth." And not just any Jareth, ballroom Jareth. Mask and all. Here are a couple pictures. Luckily, I have an awesome friend and professional costume maker who is helping with the mask (she already has a prototype!) and possibly the wig. (Here is Cat's deviant site in case anyone wants to see what kind of work she does: http://angrylittlegnome.deviantart.com/)

Second is Kurama as Shuiichi in this particular outfit. When people dress like him, they do not wear this outfit, but it is probably one of my favorites.

Third is Yoko Kurama (same character, totally different look).

I will start with the very last because the costume itself should be easiest. Then I will probably work my way to the top. The Jareth costume is going to be intense. It has lots of little pieces to it (watch the ballroom scene in the movie a few times if you don't believe me).

Problems: The wigs. Especially for Jareth and Kurama as Shuiichi. The white wig for Yoko Kurama should be easy enough, but I am not sure how I am going to do the ears and tail...

Bonuses: I already have shoes for all three costumes! As well as black leggings for Jareth. Awesome.

If I have time: I may do colored contacts, but that's a lot. As a perfectionist, I really want to in order to "complete" my costumes. I would need a gold set for Yoko Kurama (which I could use for other costumes I have), green for Kurama as Shuiichi, and one blue and one brown for Jareth. That might be a hard order to fill, especially if I actually want to use prescription lenses. Well, we can save that for later.

I will be posting updates as I make progress. I am going to start Yoko today. Here we go!