Happy Halloween!

The day has arrived and I wish you all a very fun and spooky Halloween!

Pictures of my finished costume will be coming. I will give you a bit of an accessory teaser. I decided to make a decorate a headband up instead of making a hat and my mask turned out amazingly well.

Headband

Close up on the felt flowers

Mask before being attached to the stick

Finished mask. The ribbon "handle" has tea pots on it! :D

Yesterday, my friend Sasha and I got dressed up and went in search of some Halloween fun. We decided to be Flapper Time Travelers but made sure we brought a costume as well.

Me wearing my costume (aka the mustache on a stick)

Sasha letting the statue borrow her costume for a minute.

We ended up finding the Pirates and Wenches Guild at the James Joyce Pub and hung out with them. Eventually a bunch of Steampunks came over once the event at Academy Theatre was over. We ended up sharing the mustache love and talked to some very cool people.

Everybody loves a good finger mustache.

I think a mustache is a good look for Jason especially with a collar like that.

Now on to more Halloween hijinks tonight!

Long awaited update

So I haven't been as hard at work sewing as I would like but progress has been made. I finished my vest, skirt and sash with giant bow. Now all that is left is my hat, mask and bow tie. 

Finished Vest front
  

Finished vest back

Button details. They're purposefully mismatched 

The huge bow I made

  

Front when I tried it all on together. The shirt choice changed later.

The back when I tried it all on. The bow makes me so happy.

So I will be getting the last bit of this costume together this week. I didn't end up finishing everything last week since I had a Halloween event called Beasties at Barrington. NFDC does a haunted story telling even every year the weekend before Halloween and this year I was one of the story tellers. So I busted out my costume I made for Beasties last year when I was a guide. I decided to go much more dead and creepy this year then I did last year. This was the result:

Come play with me!

The best part about this outfit is the fact that the dress used to be a skirt. We try and dress a bit accurate to the time period of the house so around 1900/1910s. This outfit is as historically accurate as it can be since I am not kid sized. 

I went to the thrift store and found a skirt that had ruffles and was big enough to fit over my chest and still be knee length. Then I cut off the elastic on top and the top layer of the skirt. I pinned it at my underarms and sewed a diagonal seam to fit it to me. Once that was done I took the top layer I cut and cut a neckline into it. Then stitched it back to the skirt. With the extra trim I cut off I sewed it back onto the shoulder seams to mask the slapdashness of it all. 

It took about an hour to do this and then I went to town with spray paint to dirty it up. I also spray painted the shirt I found and the Dollar Store teddy bear. This is one of the costumes I am most proud of because of the outside the box thinking I did on it. I tend to have a hard time thinking of ways to use already created garments and turn them into something else. I should find more places to wear this to as it's super comfy and awesome!

Besides finishing my Halloween costume, I still have my jacket in the works and I have a paying costume job. I am making a Regency Short Stay for my friend Jessica. She is in a production of Women Beware Women and they have set it in Regency/Napoleonic era. Since the dresses require the girls to be up on a shelf, Jessie has requested the undergarment that will make this happen. I am excited to get to make this garment again.

Speaking of stays, I think I just might have to buy this long stay pattern for myself: 

1800 - 1820 Regency Stays Pattern by Mantua-Maker

It would be a great challenge and my bust is really to large to use a short stay for anyways. I love the riding corset option on the stay and my hands are itching to do this project. I think for $9 I can allow my inner crazy historical costumer to come out and shine.

On top of the long stay I have been drooling over this Regency coat pattern for about a year now. It so simple and lovely. Regency is not my absolute favorite time period but it still holds a strong/loving place in my heart. The simplicity of it is just stunning. I want to be in photo's like the one below.

Lovely! Just lovely!

I am off now before I just sit and regale you with all the patterns I want to make. Happy sewing and see you soon!

Halloween Costume

I started on my Halloween costume!

So I know in my last post I said I don't like to start a project and have to put it on hold. Well, that's a bit of a lie I guess, as I have put my coat on hold in order to make my Halloween costume. However, I will get back on track with my coat as soon as this costume is done.

I have been thinking long and hard about what to be for Halloween. I had come up with a number of ideas from Patchwork Doll to Silk Spectre from Watchmen. Finally I hit on an idea that I couldn't get out of my head. Mostly this is because the party I am going to is a masquerade and this costume lends itself to the making of a very fun mask. So I am going to go as Lady Mad Hatter!

My Sketch. Pardon the lack of fine art ability on my part.

So Sunday afternoon I headed out to Hancock Fabric. I found a nice vest pattern, green cotton for the skirt and a very lovely blue cotton with a light blue swirl pattern to it for the vest. The orange sash and bow are going to be made out of the same orange fabric that Launces vest was made from in NFDC's production of Two Gentlemen of Verona. Incidentally it's also the same orange fabric that is one of the sides of my reversible bodice I made for working the Renaissance Faire.

I'm making Vest View C (aka the one with the black collar)

I made the skirt first. I used the skirt of a Simplicity costume dress pattern and just created a waist band and decided to use snaps for the closure. I love circle skirts as they go together really nicely and quickly. I got the skirt done in very little time. Maybe an hour to an hour and  a half.

Cut Shirt pieces and pattern

Finished skirt

Back closure

The vest is also going together really easily. I got it cut and the outside put together minus the collar. I basted the side seams closed in order to see how it fit and what alterations would need to be made to it. I was very surprised to find that it fit amazingly well. I was expecting to have lots of altering to do since I'm using such a cheap pattern. I think the fact that it has a curved bust and back seam instead of darts allowed for the fit to be very true to form.

Nice right?

So today i will be going back up to the barn to finish the vest and to make the sash. After that all I have left for this outfit is to make the hat and mask. I'm very happy with how quickly this costume is comign together. I should have a full outfit post for you very soon.