Doctor Who – Green Linen Shirt

My last short post announced the wardrobe challenge started by Ashb0 at belle la vie, and I lived through it!

The challenging part for me is that my typical work attire is jeans and a graphic tee; working in a call center fits my “style” rather comfortably. For October, I stayed away from the jeans as much as possible, wearing at least one homemade item per week. By the end, I only missed one post and that’s because I was too busy to take a good picture–more on that later. All of the outfits are on Instagram, but I’ll highlight a few of my favorites here.

Day 8: Literary was devoted to Shakespeare (shocker). I made the earrings, cardigan chain, and skirt. According to Pantone, the bright colors I chose work together this season.

Now, I’m going to take a break for a cute kid alert. The Little Princess wanted a new costume for the faire that would allow her to wear her new bracers, so she finally got the Link tunic and hat that I’d hoped to make her at some point. We didn’t decide until that morning, so I whipped it up in a half hour.

Day 15: Virtual Reality was a day for gaming gear, not necessarily a specific video game, which was Day 16. I knew that I’d end up wearing my Wii hoodie with jeans, so I made it a late night and came up with a Super Mario Bros. dress. I did a sleeveless version of the Colette Laurel dress with a keyhole neckline. The earrings were made by Ashb0 because she’s amazing.

Day 24: Characters – The Doctor was easy. Clearly, I was going to do a Doctor Who outfit, but I have more than a handful of DW tees, costume pieces, even a corset dress, so narrowing it down became making some new bits. Since I don’t have much Eleven love, I decided to go that route. I made a pair of faux suspenders out of red belting that I grabbed at Jomar. They have loops on each end and the belt is passed through them, crossing in the back. The bowtie necklace is made of clay, and I think I might paint it.

Day 26: Ghostly Fashion is the day I was too busy to take a good picture. I had a full day of bellydance–workshops during the day and a show in the evening. My fusion piece was Corpse Bride/Bride of Frankenstein themed so here’s a post-performance headshot (taken during our bedtime routine) and a link to the performance video.

Day 27: Psychosis was more like me than I care to admit. I love saddle shoes and cardigans. I also love “The Bad Seed”…so…there’s that. I made a circle skirt dress with a Peter Pan collar on the first try out of a woven fabric and I managed to make it in such a way that I can slip it on like a t-shirt. When I got to work that morning, a drill had been left on my desk. It was just meant to be.

While all of this madness was happening, I also had to come up with a Halloween costume. I won’t bore you with how it started, but I hope you enjoy the final piece. The corset is by MayFaire Moon and was originally purchased for my X-Wing Fairy. I made the wings out of buckram, play money, cellophane, and copious amounts of acrylic gems and glue. The rest of the outfit is two pieces: an orange underdress with white chiffon sleeves and a white chiffon overskirt with an orange forepart. The fake money is sewn into the skirt trim and origami money butterflies are sewn down the front and pinned into my fro. I used our company logo in obvious ways. Here is my Billing (as in Accounts Receivable) Fairy.

Last month was crazy, and it’s going to take another month to clean and close up shop for the holidays. Regardless, it was totally worth it. I added a lot of jewelry and skirts to my closet. I became so dependent upon the challenge list that I couldn’t remember how to pick out clothes for work this morning. I almost miss wearing a uniform. Anyhoo…

Thanks for hanging in for this two part post! Keep doin’ you!

I always appreciate the opportunity to take a break. Unfortunately, I can’t always predict when I won’t have the willpower or motivation to do things that I enjoy doing when they need to be done. Sigh. After last month’s deadlines, I had anticipated a healthy amount of free (unscheduled) crafting time this month. I spent more time on the couch than I care to admit. On the upside, the Princess and I are caught up on our TV shows.

In order to work on my costumes for the next two events, I wanted to get my duct tape dress form completed. Husband had free time, so he did all the hard work. Following tips from a number of tutorials, we used plastic wrap instead of a t-shirt for the base, regular silver duct tape, then black (less sturdy) duct tape, and finished with “fashion” duct tape to mark common measurement lines. I put the cast over my existing dress form (on the lowest possible settings) and stuffed her with blankets and fabric scraps. The updated form is more helpful than she was in that I can better see how things will fit my body, but the stuffing job wasn’t fabulous, so she doesn’t squish into a corset quite as well as I do. Regardless, I love her new curves.

After the reconstructive surgery to my dress form, I whipped up my entry for the Colette Patterns – Laurel contest. I finally used a Joann’s special fabric that I had planned for another dress two and a half years ago. The sheath dress pattern was very easy to follow, and I appreciated the tips and tutorials on the manufacturer’s website. I picked up neutral shoes and a bag and wore the dress to a spring wedding. All seams were intact when I came home, so it was marked as a job well done. The pictures were uploaded to Flickr and tagged for the contest’s popular and print categories.

For the bachelorette party of the same wedding, I made an animal print headband to match the bride’s theme. I love this style and have two others made from quilting squares. They only take about 30 minutes to stitch up. Maybe I’ll post my instructions one day. Here’s our munchkin modeling for me.

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OH! And, I put up a makeshift backdrop so that no one has to look at my nicked walls and cluttered fabric space in the background. You can see it in the Laurel dress photo. I turned a couple of hook screws into the ceiling and suspended beat up lining fabric from medium sized binder clips. With another couple yards of fabric, I could make a U, which would be ideal, but this works for now.

This Saturday is Free Comic Book Day, and the whole family will attend in costume this year. We’ll be representing DC, Rennie style – Superman, Batgirl, and Wonder Woman…er…Wonder Toddler. In the interest of time and being restricted to shopping only from my stash, she’ll be wearing a red velvet bodice with yellow-gold accents, blue twill breeches (either slashed or pearled), brown pleather cuffs with silver accents, and a gold satin headband with red acrylic gems. The outfit will go over her white undershirt, red tights, and red velvet shoe covers, which might get satin-stitched if I don’t forget. I’ve also coiled her golden lasso and secured it in the bodice lacing. The last thing a toddler needs is a potential tripping hazard, but I don’t mind having something to hold on to in the crowd. My only goal for FCBD is to get a good picture of our little super team; getting through the lines will be a bonus. Here’s a preview; I will post a family picture as soon as possible.

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Progress on the 4th Doctor’s scarf continues. Remember: No more than 30 minutes four days a week…what did you expect?

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For May, I’m looking forward to doing a minimum of sewing for the Steampunk World’s Fair. I have two costumes packed and one to determine, plus last year’s Military Fairy as a backup. The costume conference is two weeks following that, and I have at least one major undertaking that I haven’t even started yet. I’ll try some refitting of older, smaller pieces and then, it’ll be a mad dash to finish in time. I see hot glue in my future.

I think I love this time of year.

Thanks for reading!

Tag: Doctor Who

Bringing It Home: Part Two

May already?