Coffee has been absorbed. Family members have been given their tasks for the weekend. The studio is heating up for a productive day…three hours after I started this post. Let’s take a quick look at the state of things to kickoff this schedule-free weekend!
First, a few movie thoughts: Captain Marvel was a delightful film. Monica had better be in Endgame. I want a movie version Kree Starforce uniform for my purple Twi’lek, but I don’t want to make it. Life is hard. Representation is good.
Catching up on the last post: The Dr. Seuss tea time hat was a great success! Using an old party store hat as a base, I added a mini tablecloth made from scrap fabric and lace, and I threw together a teacup and saucer from plastic canvas. The kiddo filled in all of the plastic canvas with yarn. The crocheted mouse is basically an egg shape with ears and a tail, then stuffed with Poly-fil. The eyes are beads and the nose is craft thread. The cheese is more scrap fabric, interfaced with heavy duty iron-on, and stuffed with Poly-fil. All pieces were tacked to the hat with button & carpet thread. I added elastic to keep it on her cute little head.
Storm is progressing. I might have to take back my statement about polyethylene tubing for panniers. I was forced to take out the bottom hoop because of twisting, and I’m still really frustrated by the shape the rest of the hoops are making. I’m considering placing a hoop steel order, but that will depend upon how the gown looks after this weekend. I’m just starting the back pleats, which are slightly wider than depicted in the AD book to emphasize Storm’s traditional cape. I’m hand stitching them down and loving every moment…I just wish I had another couple of months to get this all done. Whatevs. Sleep is for the weak. The ensemble is about 50/50-machine versus hand sewn at this point. Most of the interior items were done by machine–petticoat seams, gown back and skirt seams, boning channels on the stays and stomacher. All of the trim will be stitched by hand unless I find an acceptable gimp braid that will hide the machine stitches. The goal is to have only hand sewn stitches visible. We’ll see how I feel about that in a month. Oh, and I also need to embroider the stomacher. I finally finished sketches for the stomacher, fan, and garters last night. The fan will be painted on what I believe is home decor silk and I’ll fancy it up with some sequins. The garters will have French text and modern lightning bolts done by machine as soon as I get that digitized. I already know that I don’t have time to spend on hand embroidery for the stomacher, so I will probably transfer the design to the taffeta in white pencil and use free-motion embroidery to fill it in. Don’t think that I haven’t been scouring my embroidery library and Urban Threads for some X-Men logo-shaped flowers that I can pass as 18th century inspired. Haven’t even touched the wig yet. I have a lot to do.
With March moving along faster than I can deal with, I still have three events before The Great Philadelphia Comic Con, April 12-14. Use my promo code– SHASTA19 –for a percentage off of your General Admission tickets.
First up is the Art of the Belly Dance Festival in less than two weeks. I’ll be learning, volunteering, partying, and performing. This year has a Heroes & Villains theme, so I need to pull out a costume that I can sweat in both onstage and at the after-party. There’s also a balcony decorating competition, for which I do not currently have the decor brain.
The last Saturday of March, I’ll be attending Winterthur’s “Costuming the Crown” opening, which features a costume exhibition and panel with the costume designers. I really want to make a nice 50s day dress from one of the vintage patterns that I was gifted, but time is not on my side these days. That Sunday, Mini-Me and I will be heading to the Museum of the American Revolution for their “Fashioning Eliza” event. Obviously, our budding theatre nerd wants to wear her Eliza Schuyler party dress…that I haven’t started yet. Again, there is not enough time for this hobbied life and tough choices are going to have be made. There also isn’t enough extracurricular money to order her a pair of AD Kensingtons that she’ll outgrow within the year. But she’d be so cute.
And finally, the convention prep outside of what I’ll be wearing: What do I do about my table? This part will require a longer post about showing my value as a hobbyist cosplay guest, but I’ll start with: I have a crap-ton of prep work and packing to do. I take guesting very seriously–perhaps more seriously than I should having only ever spoken on panels and helped out at booths, rather than holding down my own table for an entire weekend. While I’m not inexperienced, speaking as a costumer and as a con attendee in the last decade, I know what I expect of other people. In short, I want to help people have a fun time, make sewing more accessible for new learners, and I don’t want to be bored out of my mind.
Bonus Update: Sadly, I’ve pushed Livewire out indefinitely. I’d like to say that I can get her finished in time for Free Comic Book Day, but I have so much love for this character, that I won’t do her a disservice by turning out anything less than a well-made suit. I’m going to start drafting a good bodysuit pattern as soon as Storm is complete. This will make a couple of other future costumes easier too. The time and effort will be well worth the wait.
Thanks for hanging in there, Team!
Green Linen Shirt 