fairy – 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!

This was my first Steampunk event and my first attempt at Steampunk costuming. I loved every minute of it!

I’m not going to do an event review, because I don’t feel that I can accurately describe the awesomeness (by the classic definition) that went down last weekend. I will comment that my own costuming and crafting bar has been raised, and I would be doing myself and the community a disservice by not stepping up my game over the next year. I had a fabulous time and met a bunch of really neat people. The music, vendors, and general sense of inclusion made me feel like I found an extra family. If any of you are reading this, I miss you already!

Now, what did I wear? Not nearly as much as I packed. I won’t get into the woes of the outfits that didn’t see the light of day, because they will eventually come out, just not right now. On Friday, I drove up in my mundanes, ’cause I’m no dummy, and I changed into my Fairy Flight Corps uniform.

I’ll post a dress diary when it’s not midnight. Suffice it to say, I really enjoyed thinking about the character, and already have a short story planned at the very least. Aren’t the wings cool? Thank you, Mikie! Lots of strangers asked to take my picture in this outfit, and that always (yes, always) gives me the warm and fuzzies. It was comfy and I felt magical in it!

On Saturday, I was presented with many attire issues, the first of which was that I didn’t reconstruct the suede vest that I picked up at Goodwill, so I had an incomplete outfit. I had already made a badass pair of low-rise jodhpurs, an adorable lace top hat from Urban Threads, and a shortened off-the-shoulder Civil War-ish undershirt. I finally got to wear the riding boots that I’d bought for my pregnant Padme outfit, but I had nothing up top. To start the day, I wore a dance shrug that I’d purchased the night before, and it covered my bra straps. I set out that morning to find a corset or a replacement vest. I’m leery of other people’s corsets ONLY because I’ve made a few for myself, and I know where things should fit. Unfortunately, I was at the mercy of my ignorance of Victorian corset construction, so I decided to get over it. Long story short, Mad Girl Clothing by Pendragon is my new favorite shop. Not only did I find an amazing leather underbust vest that I can wear across multiple sci-fi/fantasy universes, but I also purchased a fabulous chibi-Doctor Who corset dress that I am in love with.

After an amazing day at fair, I changed into my corset dress and swayed the evening away to music I’d never heard before, and instantly liked.

My Sunday morning outfit wasn’t anything to write home about, and I don’t have a picture anyway. Since I only had a couple of hours of fun planned, I faded into the background in a sheer black Lolita style top over a black tank and a pair of skinny jeans. Good times were still had.

As I mentioned, I’ll get a diary up soon-ish. Feel free to comment here if you have any specific questions in the meantime.

Thanks for reading!

Tag: fairy

Bringing It Home: Part Two

The Steampunk World’s Fair