Another Adventure In Italian Ren Land!

Yup...I'm at it again.
The original bodice pattern I made when I first started the blog ended up getting lost in the move. So I had to start from scratch. I made a few mock-ups then FINALLY managed to get something that fit relatively well. Took forever though. It also took me forever to realize I could have just ripped a pattern off my orange Italian to get it back *forheadsmack*.
Live and learn.

Anyways, Here's the beginnings of the new Italian. Still the same idea as the orange Italian, just tweaking a few things here at there. Pardon the crappy cellphone pictures.

I'll be raising the waistline to be more under the bust than my previous dress. The neckline is now lower cut which will show off a chemise more. I also cut the bodice a bit larger so I can wear a chemise comfortably under it all. The second shot is a close up of the trim. I'm slowly hand beading it. Not sure if I want to add anymore to it. I like the print on the trim and I don't want the beading to over power it. Still keeping the side closures. Its more comfortable than a lace up back for me.

I'll be adding on the skirt sometime this week. I'm hoping to do a sort of mock split skirt with a panel of the cream down the front, just to give it something extra. I'm still debating sleeves. I'm considering doing split sleeves maybe with the top and bottom open to expose the chemise. Still debating it.
I'll try to post some quick pics of my new Chemise soon. I did my first venture into black work on it and I'm pretty proud of it for my first time out.

Halloween Costume 2010 - March Hare

Hey hey All!
Figured I'd so a quick update and post my Halloween costume up on the blog. A nice break from the SCA garb.
We had a Alice In Wonderland/Victorian themed party this weekend which was a BLAST and the folks all showed up looking fabulous.

I went as the March Hare.

Its a costume made of out of my stash. Well sorta. The vest fabric (the most obnoxious plaid I could find!) was on the reminent table at Yardage Town. IT was only two bucks for a yard and a half so I couldn't resist. The rest is all stuff I happened to have laying around. I bought the socks at Target. I love them so. The tie is my husband's. The only thing I wish had time to do was the tea cup belt. I was going to make a chain felt and hang some small tea cups from it. alas, I ran out of time...like I ALWAYS do. I also ran out of time to paint the ears brown so I wouldn't blend in with the other white rabbits.
This was my last real pressing project. Not sure what is coming next. I have some fun period patterns to play with so hopefully I'll be dabbling there soon.
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And for the heck of it, here are all the bunnies from the party.

And with the Hatter.

I hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Completed Viking Garb at Lief Erikson.

Here it is, all finished!

I'm going to have to go back and re-fit the apron dress a bit, it was a wee bit large in the bust. But then I was being really generous with my seam allowance.
Easy fix overall.
General thoughts are it was warm and comfy and perfect garb for cold weather events (like Estrella War). Its not necessarily my style since I prefer Persian and Italian Ren. on my body type but still, I'm glad I made it and I'll probably wear it again to a winter event.:)

Well, tomorrow is the Lief Erickson tourney so I figured now would be as good as anytime to try my hand (again) at some viking garb. I ended up winning a spiffy "Viking in a Basket" prize at a raffle a few tourneys ago so it was time to put it to good use.

Heehee...Shiny.

As you can see, the basket came with everything needed, including the festoons. I already have the brooches from my previous go ahead.

Here are some in progress pics I took. I'll actually be wearing it tomorrow so here's hoping I can get a few photos of the garment on me.
The basket came with various instructions of how to put your apron together. I chose the method you can find here.
Not the exact directions that I used but pretty darn close. This was a VERY simple method so I highly recommend it...because i"m lazy.

Here's the Apron dress with partial decorative stitching done. I stuck a comparison shot of my first apron I did mostly so you can see the difference in shape. The new apron is more of a tube shape. It fits pretty snug and with a belt it gives you more of your waist.

The New apron is the purple one. The Old Apron is the blue one. You can see a vast difference in the shape here on the dress form..umm..ignore how really wrinkled the purple is. Its been pressed out..honestly.

Upclose shot of the decorative stitching. I was more or less making it up as I went along.

The Under Tunic/Dress really isn't that exciting so I just took a photo of the neckline. I was pretty happy with you neat I got the trim to look.
Tomorrow I'll be wearing this sucker completed (Weather permitting. If its hot, forget it!) Overall, Viking garb aren't really my style, but I have to admit, they're a lot of fun to make.

I'm Back! LoJ 2010 Bellydancing costume and Steampunk Progress

Yeah...I have been completely neglecting my costume journal. Things have been a titch busy. But now I'm back and have enough projects lined up that should keep me busy for a while! So hopefully this means that my updates here will be FAR more frequent!

But for now, here are some pictures of my Labyrinth of Jareth costume I made this summer along with a progress shot of my steampunk costume.:)

I'm the green one. Click to enlarge

Originally I wanted to make a basic steampunk lady costume for LoJ since Friday night is the Goblin Clockwork Ball. Unfortunately time wasn't my friend (as usual) so I had to scrap the project. Luckily I didn't even start it so it worked out. Instead I decided to make some bellydancing garb and just accent it with some slight fantasy style details like the leaves and the sparky butterflies (Which unfortunately I never got good shots of) to just step it up a notch.

The Gwazee vest was made out of sari fabric my friend Michelle brought back for me from Srilanka. I have been hanging onto the fabric for years, not sure what to do with it. Not to mention I have a lot of yardage to it. I was deciding between a red and orange costume and a green costume. Green won out after I remembered I had this fabric. Click to enlarge, the details on the print are amazing!

Detail shots. On the left is a shot of the chemise sleeve. The sleeve drape is left over chiffon I had from some project that ended up getting scrapped. the chemise is left over garb material. You can't really see it in this shot, but I sewed in various ribbons and trim to give the sleeves more movement, finished it off with some leaves. The Coins on the bra are a bit chintzy looking but unfortunately I was working on a budget and time constraints so that's all I had available. Luckily the bright gold tied in with the gold/yellow in the vest fabric. The medallion was a raffle prize from my first SCA war. If you take a look at the buttons, they have a sun goddess face on them. Love them! I also made the hair clips which included the green sparkling butterflies on them. The fringe belt I'm wearing in the top picture was purchased. Unfortunately I ran out of both time and steam to really finish off the costume. I wore my basic black garb pants under it all. I wasn't too find of the silhouette with the pants and would have rather made either really voluminous green pants or a circle skirt to go under it all. Well, if I end up digging this one back out of the closet, I can always go the route. Overall, not a bad job for slamming it together in about 24 hours.

And here's a quick progress shot of my Regina Black costume as I continue the major overhaul.

Click to enlarge. As you can see, everything is pinned on right now while I decide on placement and such. I've removed to cog buttons. They were just too dang cheesy for me and replaced them with more period looking ones. Put them on both sides of the coat for a more double breasted look. I returned to the vest simply because I really love that vest fabric I found. But I removed the hastily made clasp covers and instead put more buttons there to act as mock clasps. Also added faux pockets to the vest and will be attaching that watch chain later on. The medal was a random find. Not sure yet if I want it there or somewhere else. I wanted to create this sudo military look to give a sense that Regina was once a part of British armed forces. Just need to make the Medal look more like a medal. After all the details are attached I'll be distressing the coat even more with paint, sandpaper and possibly a lighter. I'll be doing some distressing on the vest as well. I want her to look pretty darn gritty. she IS a zombie hunter/scientist after all.

So that's all she wrote for now! Next project will probably be my full viking garb I plan to make for the Leif Erikson tourney coming up in October. And hopefully I'll also have started a Halloween costume as well. This years theme for our Halloween Party is Alice in Wonderland. debating a March Hare costume. This should be fuuuuun!