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.