9:40 PM Guild Busy

My last update on this blog was in February and at that time I was working diligently on the Historical Sew Fortnightly challenge.  As I thought was going to happen, I didn't finish any of the challenges once All-Con preparations were underway and then directly after that we had a Picnic with the Pixies.  Of course, in April Scarborough Renaissance Festival began.  Scarborough runs through Memorial day, so I was tied up there for two months.  The month of June was spent wrapping up preparations for and presenting Costumers' Lost Weekend for the DFW Costumers Guild.

Whew!  That was a lot!  No wonder I didn't get around to catching up on the HSF challenge!

I didn't get any pictures of the fun at All-Con because I was too busy having fun.  But a few pictures were taken of me at Scarborough over the run.

Picnic with the Pixies was a lot of fun.  We had some ball jointed doll enthusiasts join us to up the pixie factor.

Here I am being all kinds of silly with one of the dolls

When you're playing with dolls, you may as well let the wee ones in on the fun.  Sometimes they have better stories

 Best part about this Guild event??  Bones got to tag along!!!  

Next time he's gonna need an outfit.

Unfortunately, we thought the picnic was going to be too muddy for some of the costumes, so we repeated the picnic in April.  I wasn't able to attend because I was working Scarborough, but I saw the pics and everyone who made it out looked Fab!

Costumers' Lost Weekend was Fantastic!  We had a few out of town guests this time, which is exciting.  And we had a day of workshops this year so we had something cool to take home with us.  We also had great panels the first day, as usual.  I'm really proud of our little baby con.  Year 2 was successful.  I'm crossing my fingers everyone is on board to do it again in 2014.

Oh!, but you wanted to see pictures didn't you?

Here I am at the Masquerade Ball with my friend Gypsy James

Aren't we a lovely, group?  We had a lot of attendees who weren't able to stay for the ball and a few who had to leave shortly before this photo was taken.  We had such a great time at the ball!  

I think this is my favorite photo of the whole weekend!  

It pretty much sums up what folks missed!

 Sunday morning several of us gathered for breakfast.  

We were quite the point of interest in the dining hall.

So what's next?

Well, I have a small commission that I am working on for this week.  Then I have a small repair for a friend.  Then I have the DFWCG's Retro Bowl event to attend.  And then I get started on a big commission.  And then I start getting ready for Fall Faire season.

Yeah, I'm probably never going to pick up that HSF challenge again.

As it stands now, I think I have my pattern all picked out for the Retro Bowl.  Though I said that yesterday and I've completely changed my mind again.  I think this is the 3rd time I've promised myself I'd make some 1940s slacks for a vintage event and chickened out on them.  I had a Costumer's Freak Out today over what I was going to try to sew for this thing.  I have no confidence in my slacks sewing skills.  And I couldn't remember what vintage patterns I had at home.  So I searched and searched and searched for something to order that I liked.  And didn't really find anything in my price range that I liked.  Thankfully I looked through my recent Vintage Martini purchases when I got home and have found THE OUTFIT!  I think.  

I hope!

Now I just need to find some fabric to sew it with.  I'd sure love it if I had the right fabric in my stash!  But that room is a complete disaster, so I may chicken out on digging through the piles and just buy new fabric.  Which is terrible, but Time is Precious!!!!!!

In any case, wish me luck.  I'm certainly gonna need it!

12:15 PM Party Snag

I bet you're wondering where Part 3 of my series on finding a pet for the Holidays is aren't you?  Well, Part 3 is the section on Buying a pet and I'm really having trouble putting that one together.  It's really taking a lot of thought due to my personal feelings on the matter and I have a lot on my plate right now.  I'm crossing my fingers I can have it ready next week.

In the meantime, this is my latest drama.

I'm going to this fabulous Victorian Christmas Ball in Waxahachie, TX on Saturday.  I'm pretty excited about it.  Several of us from the DFW Costumers Guild have been dying to attend a proper ball.  So this is just the ticket for us historical costuming geeks.  And I already made an appropriate dress, so all was good.  There would be no fighting to make something new.  I could focus on the mini-garb for my niece and nephew.  Well, that's what I thought.  Until I tried the dress on last night.

Oh dear.  I was aware I had gained weight back from what I had lost over the last year, but didn't realize how much that weight would affect my red victorian dress.  It was bad.  Since these types of dresses are made to fit really well in the first place, gaining weight is not a good thing.  I barely was able to hook the bodice closed and there were gaps at the closures.  NO BUENO!!!  Just about the only way I can wear that dress now is to make a front piece to hide the closure.  Ok, no problem, that's a relatively cheap and realistic plan to pull off in the little amount of time that I have.  Then I looked at it again and noticed the Huge rip in the off the shoulder strap on one side.  And I also noticed many other parts that need to be replaced or covered due to damage from wear.  So in short, the whole bodice really needs to be replaced.  And I don't have the funds for new red silk right now.

In my panic, I started hatching a plan for just getting a lot of heavy lace to sew to the neckline and shoulders and then figure out something to cover the closure area.  But the more I thought about it, the more I really just wasn't buying that look with the natural form fan skirt that went with it, which is also a little plain.  I mean, I'd have to do a lot of work to make it look like it wasn't a hasty addition.  At this point, the plan ended up turning into a major expense and a bit of a handsewing project.

BAH!!!!

The party is Saturday, remember?  Three Days!  Actually, less than that since I work a full time job and have little time after work to sew.

But even as I was lamenting my problem, true insanity took over and the Holy Fabric Stash came to the rescue.  It's funny how these little devils start speaking into your ear about what you might be able to accomplish if only you listened to their cracked-out plan.  At that moment I remembered a nice piece of royal blue taffeta-like material that was handed down to me from someone else's stash purge.  Yes, those little devils won and I was energized with a new crazy plan.  The tag on the fabric said there was about 2 1/2 yds.  Hmmmm, what could I do with that?  I knew it was enough for a Truly Victorian August Overskirt even though the pattern calls for 2 3/4 yds.  But what else?  Was there any hope that I could also fit a bodice into the remaining fabric?  Let me tell you, folks, I was so determined it would work at that moment that I went for it.  I found my Truly Victorian Ballgown Basque Bodice pattern and I started puzzling.  By the grace of the Holy Fabric Stash, and those crazy little devils, I was able to just barely eek out that bodice.  It's gonna be sleeveless and I'm going to have to patch a small amount of fabric on the back tails, but nobody's going to be paying attention to them since they'll be overpowered by the bustle just underneath.  And later I can use some trim to cover it if I want.


Now I'm sitting at my desk waiting for lunch time to come around so I can go across the street to Joann's Fabric to buy something for an underskirt.  I'm using my Truly Victorian 1870s Underskirt pattern.  It's the exact underskirt I used with the August Overskirt years ago when I made my Mina Blue dress.  I also need some tulle for a trick I just learned to stiffen the bustle part of the overskirt for a little more poof.  And I'm looking for some lace for the neckline.  And buttons.  I don't think I have the time to wait for Saturday morning to visit the Button Man on Perth Street.  I guess that will just really depend on how cheaply I can get everything.  I may just be making a trip to Perth at 9am if the buttons I want are expensive at Joann's


Will I finish in time for the Ball on Saturday night?  Who knows.  I can always go back to the old reliable pink polonaise if I don't finish.  It's not formal, but it will work in a real pinch. 


Am I crazy to think I can knock this dress out in such a short time when I've never been able to do it previously?  Absolutely, but I'll never know if I don't try and I know I'll be sitting at the Ball disappointed that I didn't at least try.  I'd rather show up in something lesser because I failed than show up in something lesser because I gave up and didn't even try.

10:29 AM DFWCG 18th Century Picnic

This weekend I had two events I wanted to go to. Both were at the same time. I really really really wanted to go to both. And then something happened and I had a lot to work on at home. At that point, I told myself I wasn't going to either event. Then Saturday morning rolled around and after a period of time I decided I needed to get out for a couple of hours. So I thought about it and dressing pretty and playing outside with some Fabulous fellow costumers won out over standing in line for hours waiting to get a book signed. I had friends going to that too, but there was no guarantee we'd be in the same line, yadda yadda yadda, and come to find out some of those friends were still in line by the time the picnic was over and I was driving home. YIKES!!! I'm glad I went to the picnic.

The decision to go to the picnic meant I had to rush to do some finishing touches on converting my Bourgereau dress to a chemise dress. I just needed to make a small repair on the bodice and corsetlet and then I had to put together a quick and dirty bum roll and figure out what the heck I was gonna do with my hair!

The bumroll I made from a dollar store heart pillow. I was originally going to hit the dollar store for cotton balls and make my own bumroll, but then I saw this heart pillow and said Screw That! What would my fabulous Dragon Con roommate who manages to make amazing things out of strange found objects do?? She'd go for the heart pillow. So I went for the heart pillow. I attached some ribbon I already had to the top and opened up the bottom to take some of the filling out. Then I tucked in the pointed extra fabric to round off the bottom. The result is nearly the exact same shape I would have had to cut out and sew up! Mine is messy, but it's Underwear! Nobody's going to see it and this was a 10 minute job as opposed to a half hour job. I only had 10 minutes. Here's a photo of the bum roll partially finished.


The next major challenge was to get my hair figured out. I have naturally curly hair, which is fantastic for 18th century costuming, but I don't have a lot of it, so I wasn't sure how on earth I was going to accomplish the right hair. I also wanted to wear my big straw hat, but I knew I didn't have time to add all the trims and bobs to it to make it look authentic, so I just decided to go without the hat. Luckily for me, I have this fabulous hair fall that I've used for a couple of other costumes. This fall is just about my favorite hair piece ever! I pulled that out of my wig drawer and did a quick and dirty updo with bobby pins and arranged a nice ringet on the side and fluffed my real hair up in the front. It looked Perfect! Except I didn't have any hairspray. And by the time I got ready and went out to grab hairspray on the way to the picnic, my hair had already fallen a little, but I did my best to fix it in the Walgreens parking lot.

Once I arrived at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens I was greeted by a group of Fabulous looking 18th century ladies and gentlemen! I tell you, the DFWCG has some seriously talented costumers. I am fortunate to be able to acquaint myself with these folks. I took a few pictures, but Crandall was kind enough to take many pictures of our day while the rest of us learned a period dance and played badminton and talked and posed. You can see all of those pictures, once I finish uploading them, at the DFWCG's Flickr stream. The few hours we were at the picnic really weren't enough. It would be lovely if one of these days we could make a longer day out of this particular event.

Here I am in my 18th Century finery.



And here I am after a redux of the pompadour for Saturday night beers. Yep, I went out with my pompadour. It was fun! Although I don't feel as though the picture gets the full volume of the hair. It felt like it was bigger when I was wearing it!