12 Months of Disneybounding

It may seem like I have had a slow start to the year, but I have been sewing like a crazy person the last couple of months. It’s funny, over the last couple of years, I really haven’t made a whole lot of new costumes or clothing. And when I think about it, I suspect it’s because I burnt myself out. But in 2018, I feel like I am finally getting back on track. I do have a new costume in the works, which I will post about soon, but the main thing I have been working on lately is filling my wardrobe with work and casual clothing – all made from stash.

And one of the ways that I am spurring myself to do this is by taking on a challenge. One of my good friends the lovely ainead, challenged me to 12 months of Disneybounding. If you’re not in the know, disneybounding is where you dress in normal clothing but it is inspired in design and colouring by a Disney character. And I don’t know if I am crazy, but I have accepted the challenge.

So, how does the challenge work? Well, each month I pick a Disney movie and I dress as characters inspired by that movie. Some months I might only Disneybound once, and in other months it might be four times. And I’ve been posting outfit shots on my Instagram each time I wear something, making sure to use the hashtag #12monthsdisneybound. Keep in mind that I am wearing this stuff to work, so it does have to be somewhat office appropriate.

So I’ll start off with January. I chose Alice in Wonderland for my first Disney Movie.

First up was Alice herself.

I made a new dress out of some Alice in Wonderland print fabric that I bought on my 2013 trip to Japan (yay for using stash). And then I paired it with some black vintage shoes, an Alice headband leftover from my Lolita days (Innocent World) and some Alice themed jewellery. I topped it off with some Alice perfume oil from Black Pheonix Alchemy Labs (BPAL).

Then came the Cheshire Cat.

This one I managed to put together completely from my closet – pencil skirt and a purple review cardigan (which I have never worn like this). I then added my QPOT Cheshire Cat necklace (that was a Christmas Gift) and again topped it off with some heels and the Cheshire Cat perfume from BPAL.

Alice takes tea

On Saturday, I attended an event with the Australian Costumers Guild – a trip down the rabbit hole for an Alice In Wonderland themed High Tea. We made the journey over to Mount Gravatt to the Willows Tea Room where two of our members had booked us in.

We had a smaller collective of members in attendance, but we all had a lovely time. We had three Alice’s – a blonde, a brunette and a red head. We had three red queens – a Disney, an inspired by and a Tudor. And me, as the white rabbit.

The food was lovely and a great spread for the price with an assortment of sandwiches, scones, tiny cakes and cookies and mousse to finish it off. I chose to sip from a cup of Super Hero tea – a tasty green tea blend with citrus and mint. The combination proved a little too rich for me after a previous bout of food poisoning at an ill-fated trip to the pancake manor, but it was a lovely afternoon out.

As for my white rabbit costume, when I was planning for the event, I couldn’t decide which way to go. I have done Alice before and didn’t have any aspiration to repeat it. And I’ve done the White Queen which I wore out and no longer have. I then had the difficulty of tossing up doing the Mad Hatter (done that too), the Cheshire Cat, or the White Rabbit. I decided to be a bunny. I used the pattern that I had drafted up for my Saber Lion costume, so it was a simple matter of recutting it out in white polar fleece. I added a padded fur tummy patch, leather footsies, and a tail. Then came the ears (which I will follow up with a tutorial). I attached them to a plastic headband and hid it in my white hair. I topped the ensemble off with a few piece from my Lolita collection – a vest, a neck frill and a bow tie. I’m not 100% sure that I like how it turned out, but a bunny suit will always come in handy in the future – it’s just not a great idea for warmer weather.

Supanova 2011 - Friday

Supanova Day 1 - Friday night

I'm home. And pooped. I decided to re-wear my White Queen costume again. And as it turns out that was probably for the best. I really can't see me wearing it again. It hasn't worn well and is starting to fall apart. Not only that, it is getting a little too big for me. At any rate, I was glad to wear it one last time. And wonder of wonders it was actually recognised this year.

 There were a couple of big announcements made tonight though:

1. In 2012, Brisbane's April Supanova will be held on the Gold Coast in conjunction with the Gold Coast Film festival.

2. In 2012, they will also be putting on a Brisbane Supanova - in November.

3. And as it is such a long wait from April 2011 to November 2012, there will be another Brisbane Supanova held in November this year.

4. To top it off, Christopher Lloyd (Doc from Back to the Future / Uncle Fester from the Addams Family Movies) will be appearing at the November Brisbane Supanova, since he has had to pull out this April.

Should make for an interesting rest of the year. And, now I need to start planning my next set of costumes. :D

Mad Hatter's New Year's Eve Party

So, what have I been up to lately?

Christmas was nice. I got some lovely gifts, and cooked some lovely food, and we have had our family down. Unfortunately, due to the massive flooding in north Queensland, the road home to Mackay for them is cut off at Rockhampton, so it looks like they are set to stay for quite a while longer. At least until they can get through.

And then there was New Year. I planned a Mad Hatter's party, where the only condition of coming was to wear a hat. I went all out on the decorations, picking Alice in Wonderland theme items and foods. We had eat me and red queen cupcakes, macarons, lollipops and a cookie clock. For decorations I bought a whole heap of red and white paper lanterns, used bunches of flowers, cards, my white queen costume and "drink me" bottles.

It all turned out rather well, so I thought I would share some photos. I also dressed up for the occasion. I decided to be the White Rabbit. I attached ears to a top hat, made white bloomers and knee breeches and a vest with pockets. I was pleased that it came together so neatly. My cousin also took the opportunity to dress up in steampunk - so we have photos.

Adelaide 2010 Day 2

I thought it might be easier to read of my weekend journeys if I put them up day by day. So, we come to Saturday. (I will put the rest of my ball photos up on facebook.)

After tossing and turning on my hard bed through the night, it was rather nice to get all dressed up in Vintage to head out fabric shopping. The lovely Wenz and I were ready early, so we sat down to a continental breakfast at our hotel restaurant "The Snooty Fox". With a full belly, we were ready to go. Our first stop was DKs fabrics. Price-wise, I would not say that they are great (apart from the sale fabric), but they do have a very large range, which is one of the most important things when fabric shopping. I picked up a couple pieces - a remnant of blue dupion silk, and 3m of a blue polkadot fabric that is perfect for a 1920s or 1930s dress. Funnily enough, they actually had the same fabric for sale that I had made my dress out of, only I paid $3.95/metre instead of $14.

Our next stop on the map was to caffinate up for the day. A quick stop for food and coffee and we were back on the fabric road and on our way to Eastern Silk. I shop through Eastern Silk online quite a bit, as it is my place to go for silk. They have a lovely range of items and best of all, free shipping within Australia. But one thing that they have in the store is a larger range of embroidered silks and stripe silks. I could not leave without getting a few metres of a lovely pink and yellow stripe. To me, it screams Georgian. At this stage, I don't know what I will be using it for, but I knew that I would regret not purchasing some. The other lovely touch at Eastern Silk is the decor. It is actually split into to shops, which are a lovely vintage style on the outside with modern fittings. One is all the homewares...


and the other is pure fabric....


After making our way back to the hotel, I decided it was time to relax for a little while. At least until Abi came over to start getting ready for the evening ahead. The reason for our journey south... the annual Australian Costumer's Guild ball. We were a little late arriving to the ball (actually, we were a lot late) we went out for dinner beforehand and unfortunately were so intent on catching up that we did not realise that an hour had passed before we had even been brought our food. Note to self in the future, either get dressed first or get takeaway. At any rate, I had an absolutely fantastic time being there. I wore my Alice In Wonderland White Queen costume that I had made for supanova earlier this year, though I did have a new wig, which is just the perfect colour. (Amazing after all the drama I went through with the first two wigs that I bought). And even better I was photographed with a fellow costumer as Red Queen, her husband as the Mad Hatter and her daughter as Alice. It was great to see so many people that I don't see all that often, and to get the whole experience of the annual ball. I think I can safely say that I will be going next year, and may be convinced to enter the competitions too....