ACG on ice

Christmas parties abound. This year, the ACG decided for our Christmas party to go ice skating. We initially tossed around the idea of roller skating, but with the December heat setting in decided that the freezing air inside the ice rink would be a really nice change. I didn't make anything new for the occasion, but instead pulled out my American McGee Alice costume - which has not seen much love of late.

I did my best to get some on-ice photos, but I tell you now, it's not easy when moving on skates. Kerry was the one who did some damage and left trails of blood across the ice when she flopped down. Unfortunately, I didn't get it on camera - I did however get the display of war wounds. :D

 

We rounded out our evening with a swim, pot luck dinner and delicious red velvet cake. Merry Christmas!

Supanova 2011 Take 2 - Saturday

Saturday, I arrived bright and early in my Saber Lion costume. Trust me, the hand fan was out and flicking away as the temperature rose throughout the day. A polar fleece costume is probably not the best idea for daytime in Brisbane's November weather, so I made the change into my new American McGee Alice costume. There was a marked sigh of relief as I peeled off the suit and cool air wafted over my skin. The day was full. I sat in on Cliff Simon's Q&A Session (Baal from Stargate), shopped, chatted, filled up on slushies, shopped and shopped some more. Coming home with a couple of my Christmas gifts taken care of. There's a lot to be said for my brother not being able to make it along (the poor sod had to work - in Kuala Lumpur). *sarcasm* I feel his pain.

I don't have any construction shots of my Alice costume, as I made it in quite a rush, but it is a very simple costume. The dress is from a simplicity pattern with a few adjustments. The skirts are cut slightly shorter so that they fall just on the knee and the neckline is a little deeper in the front. The apron is simply drafted off the bodice pattern to match the game costume design. The front and back are almost identical, but the necklines match that of the dress. The skirt is slightly gathered onto the waistband and the hem is rounded. The pockets are small round ones that I gathered up, ironed flat and top-stitched on. I painted the designs on with dimensional fabric paint. The back of the apron is constructed by rectangles. The waistband actually does up on the side back with some hooks and eyes, the bow is purely decorative with the pieces stiffened with tulle inserted and a couple pieces of boning in each edge of the bow. The skull I managed to pick up in a discount store around Halloween. I painted it white and then used a large mattress needle to stitch it to the dress (which I now realise I have to remove so that I can wash it).

Add some black and white striped tights courtesy of "We Love Colours" and my new boots from "Girls Obsession", 3 petticoats, the classic vorpal knife and wig and there you have it. It's all made out of cotton and linen so it's quite a cool costume to wear. Quite frankly, it is just begging to be worn again some time, I just need to find the right venue.

Supernova 2008 Saturday

And Saturday. It was a long and exhausting day, but I had such a good time. I caught a few acts and saw the cosplay. There were some amazing costumes around and I tried to get a heap of photos. Cherie and I headed in at about 9 and we got there to park. Turns out it only costs $6 per day for on site parking. So really, this is fabulous. Because next year we are thinking we will drive again, and that way we can take lunch (instead of the greasy crap they sell there) and if we want to do two costumes in a day, we can.

As for my costume for the day, I was Alice (From the computer game American McGee’s Alice). I originally made this Halloween last year. And believe me when I say that I had been desperate to make it even then. Though, after wearing it once I decided that I really needed to make some adjustments to the costume. Apron, petticoat, wig to name a few. And this time, I am really happy with how it turned out. It was not nearly as recognisable as my Chi outfit on Friday night, but there were still quite a few people who went hey, it’s Alice. But it is not one of those costumes that is easily recognisable. However, I love it. The blood splatters dried nicely on the front of the apron and I had my knife too. I even managed to get my brother to take some good photos (he has a shaky hand so some were out of focus even on my camera). I was even surprised about my boots. I was worried that they would kill my feet again after last time I got blisters. So I padded up my heels with blister stop and put on my long black socks. And I was surprisingly comfortable. So yay. I did have shoes in the car if I needed to change. Thankfully I didn’t.

Afterwards, we had intended to do a huge ACG dinner out at JoJos in the City. But we were all way too exhausted to move from the hotel where everyone was staying. So instead, we did a takeaway evening. Most ordered Pizza and the rest of us made a trip to KFC and Hungry Jacks for dinner. It was actually really nice just hanging out, and I didn’t get home to almost 11.00. So I pretty much crashed when I got home. But, photos of the day...