C Party

I feel like I have not accomplished much of anything sewing-wise lately, but then I remember that I have put a full costume together in just on a week. Last night, I attended my cousin's birthday party (she is also a costumer like myself) so of course we had to dress up. The theme was the letter 'C'. She dressed up as Cinderella.


At first I was thinking of something along the lines of a vintage cigarette girl. But then, it came to me that I should do something that I would wear to supanova, so that it would be less work in the long run. I have always wanted to do Tia Dalma (Calypso) from the 2nd and 3rd Pirates of the Carribean movies, and what more of a perfect opportunity. I am very pleased with how it all turned out and am really happy that I have had a costume wearing run through before a whole day at supanova, and I don't need to change anything. Phew!

The first thing I worked on for this costume was the stays. They are made from the JP Ryan strapless stays pattern. I was a little worried that I would not have enough boning to complete them, but after a trip to Bunnings, I tested working with cable ties. I was surprised at how well they worked out, though I did add a couple pieces of my heavy plastic boning at the center front and back for strength. It was great that I was able to do a complete run through of the pattern before making a full historical set, and great to find out that the pattern is perfectly sized for me.

I then worked on putting the skirts and the belt together. The best thing is that I did not have to hem the skirts because the fraying is perfect for the character. It took a heap of beads to fill the belt out, but I am pleased with the results. The hardest thing to find were the decorations for the stays. I hunted around a lot of places to find a string bag to use as the netting. There were $6 ones that were tiny, but I managed to find a decent sized one for $3.50 at a health food shop. But my most favourite partis the wig that I picked up on ebay.

There are actually two versions of this costume. The one I have made and another one that has an extra gown / robe over the top. I was thinking that I would make the extra robe for supanova, but I am just so pleased with this, that I am not going to bother. It will save me some time and it means I don't have to spend the extra money for the fabric of the overdress. A happy note in my book.


The part I am most proud of is that I was completely done with a whole day to spare. And then my brother says that he needs a costume. Originally he was going to dress as a cardboard car, but we were giggling about Dogma (Kevin Smith film) and he said Cardinal Glick and I said Buddy Christ. From there, he goes on about how now he would like to dress as Christ. So after a quick trip to the fabric store yesterday morning, I came home and whipped up his costume. Thankfully it was very quick. It is just a white robe underneath and two pieces of fabric (4m each) sewn together and draped around him, with the help of some safety pins. It's good enough for my satisfaction, and I am quite proud that I was able to put it together in only 4 hours.

Supernova 1 - God, Dogma

We have progress. I have been slowly working of getting my costumes ready for supernova. I will post more photos as I get everything done, but as of now, my God corset is fixed and ready to wear. The main change that I had to make was to cut it down around the neck and arm. Which meant pulling off all the old binding, and re-binding it. Only this time I actually did a good job. I think the only issue that I really have is that since I have lost weight since I last wore this, it is now lacing almost closed.And in more progress, I mentioned that I have been slowly working on getting my mum's 1840s undergarments made up. This is the outermost petticoat - and starched to the nth degree.

It has been mostly complete and just sitting around in my sewing room for quite some time, so I figured that I should just finish it and clear out some space for more of my current projects. Mum is happy with it, and rather pleased that she is getting more of her historical pieces together. To date, she has her corset, chemise and now this top petticoat.

God / BSG

So my plans have changed. Again.

What can I say, I sometimes decide to change my mind. No, but seriously, I was intending to wear my God costume to Supernova this year. However, after wearing it for a few hours in the afternoon on Sunday I decided that it really was not exactly what I wanted to wear. For a start it is a little hot to wear. Which is not really a good thing at Supanova. And it is not exactly comfortable. I think I really need to make some adjustments to the corset. Everything else was fine (apart from ribbon coming off my over tutu). My issues with the corset are that I didn’t cut it down enough to get rid of the seam allowances. It is fine at the hem but it digs in a little bit under the arms, and I think that the neck strap is a little big (also needs trimming). And I had one bone start to poke out. So to fix it, I really need to do quite a bit of work. For a start I have to redo the section where the bone is poking out (not too hard – just need to stitch / tack at the bottom really). But to fix my other issues I have to completely re-do the top of the corset. Basically remove the binding, trim back the edges, adjust the boning lengths and re-stitch on the binding again. So really it is not too bad to fix. I am just not a fan of remaking things. I may try to get around to doing it when I have some free time. Not that I get that much free time, between costume commitments, work and makeup jobs I get pretty busy. If I don’t get sick again, I should be right.

So, instead of God, I am going to make a costume from Battlestar Galactica. In point of face I am going to be Kara Thrace, Starbuck. Who is really one of my favourite characters in the whole show (so glad that she came back alive). One day I intend to make the whole flight suit but since I am on limited time (2 weeks to go), I am going to make the outfit that she wears on Caprica. Which is really simple. I need the two singlets that they all wear underneath everything (charcoal and light grey), charcoal trackpants with a grey waistband and a raglan sleeve zip-up jacket in charcoal with grey sleeves. So it is a pretty easy costume to make. I am also waiting on some last minute E-bay purchases to complete the costume. I have bought her dog-tags (coming from the UK), and a replica gun (coming from America). The gun needs to be sanded and painted but that should be fine. Oh and I need to get some shoes that work. But thankfully she wears black leather sneakers. So, comfortable. But one of the best things is that I don’t have to wear a wig. My hair is now short and blonde so it works perfectly for the character. I am also thinking that if I get enough time that I might make the arrow of Apollo. Just because I can. And then I can make the storage container that they put it in (basically a postage tube with a strap painted black). At this stage everything is just a plan. I have yet to get fabric (leaving work early tomorrow to get this). So hopefully I can get my fabric. I will be very annoyed if Spotlight don’t have the right colours.

But I really have to say that I am getting very excited about going to Supernova. It is fast approaching and I really need to get everything finished. As it is, I have started my Chobits, but I really need to get more of it done. I just drew up the sleeve cuff today so that I can finish the blouse. And after that I need to do the two skirts. Hmmm, Thank God for Easter. 4 Days of sewing heaven.

Ancient Tales

Yesterday was our Ancient Tales Guild Meet. We traipsed over to the Botanical Gardens for a photo session and then moved on up to Mt Cootha for a picnic dinner and star gazing. We had a pretty good attendance.
Rebecca was the Roman Goddess Flora,

Donna was the Egyptian Goddess Nefertiti,


Bec was the Goddess of Wisdom from Discworld,


Kerry was a Nymph,


and Cherie and I had our surprise costume: God and Metatron from Dogma.



I was very pleased with how my costume turned out. I had blue tartan boxer short underneath my white skirt – two layers of white georgette and 4 layers of fine tulle with a white ribbon binding. Then I had the corset. A silver vest, heavily boned and laced up the back. My finishing touches were my super long brown curly wig, the silver jacket and the orange thongs. A great combination and a fun character to play. The only gripe that I have is that it is a lot hotter to wear than I expected. Mainly because the jacket and corset are made out of cheap acetate satin (the only stuff the right colour). So I have decided that I will not be wearing this outfit to supernova. I had planned it for Sunday but I really think that I will be too hot. And the corset is not the most comfortable thing to wear all day long (the 4 hours was enough). But I have to admit it is a neat costume and we got heaps of photos of everyone.


And our posing with the chair...