Glitter and my Fridge

This morning I stepped on my scale for the first time in like 6 months (the batteries died and I kept forgetting to get them) and it gave me a Scary Number.  I was not happy.  But last week I started the Couch-to-5k program, so here's hoping.

Now I am a huge proponent of using measurements instead of weight for tracking weight loss, because if anyone knows the whole muscle-weighing-more-than-fat thing, it's me.  But I live alone and self-measuring is highly inaccurate.  Plus, calling my friends up and asking them to come over and wrap a tape around me while I'm half-naked in my living room every few weeks would normally be a bit awkward.  (Note:  I'm normally half naked in my living room when my friends come over anyway because I'm really bad at judging how long it takes my friends to get from their place to mine.)  (Further note:  It's not really awkward among my friends, because I have awesome friends.)  (Final note: That phone call has totally happened before.)

Some of this might be because this is my fridge:

The tuna is for the cat.  I don't like tuna.

I keep hoping someone will come over
and drink the red beer. 

 I don't even like condiments.  Most of those I own because I have to have a semblance of looking socially acceptable (or I needed them once for one recipe).  I can't have people over and offer them a sandwich (Which is totally not happening right now unless you want an American cheese sandwich. With no bread.  But I do have crackers!) and when I ask what they want on it they say mustard and mayo and I don't have any.  Who considers mustard to be an actual edible and tasty thing?  Ick.  The mayo can stay, though, even though as much as I don't like it as a condiment it's useful for things like chicken/egg salad and dips (also not happening right now).  As far as condiments go, I pretty much like ketchup, ranch dressing, BBQ sauce (the normal stuff, not that mustard based crap that's so popular around here), and brown sauce. America seriously needs to get on this brown sauce wagon.

Luckily my boyfriend knows me and didn't blink twice when I asked him to make me this image

I don't even remember where I was going with this anymore, so I'll get into the craftiness I've been up to.

I'm part of the UK Colonial Marines, Hadrian's Wall division.  There is a US group, but I was claimed by the Scots so we've dubbed me their "American Liaison."  Anyway, I mentioned in the last post that I own #01 of Bella's armor from the upcoming Aliens: Colonial Marines video game and I was planning on customizing it.  Here's what I've done so far:

GLITTER!

Shakespeare for the win.

I wish I could say I drew the mermaid, but I got the silhouette off of a Google image search from one of those stock image websites.  I didn't use glitter paint for the glitter outline/scales, though -- that's all sitting there with a toothpick, glue, loose glitter, and patience.

I still have to put my leg armor back together from my boyfriend Scapey drilling out the rivets last time he was here so I could adjust the spacing, and I need to put foam or cloth or something in the shoulders as they rub a bit.  I might need to take a heat gun to the sides also, but I'll see as it gets closer to Dragon*Con. 

Last weekend I went with S & L to the beach to collect seashells (and have a delicious lunch at Poe's Tavern) for my mermaid top.  I have all the supplies for that now.  I kind of started it yesterday, but netting is hard and I have to go out of town tomorrow night to see my parents and have very-belated family Christmas. 

Not pictured: shells, optional cat.

UPDATE! FOR REAL!

So.  I'm crap at keeping a blog.  I know this. And it's been like a year.  I'm sorry.

BUT.  I'm back and ready for updating.  I've got a few plans in the works, and nothing done, so I can keep you updated on all the projects.

Here's my promise: To update at least every other week.  I'm writing it on my calendar.  Right now.

Told you.

So here's what's in store:

I'm getting a mermaid tail within a couple of weeks.  I don't want to mention the maker yet until I get the tail and know what to say about it, but I'm super excited.  I will say I'm getting a latex one, and assuming I like mermaiding (it's totally a word), I'll upgrade to a proper silicone one in a few years (they're expensive).

That being said, I need a top!  This weekend I'm going seashell hunting with some friends and getting some other supplies to start on one next week.

Also in the works: Gaige the Mechromancer from Borderlands 2 (planning on doing the vest first) and Kaylee (coveralls) from Firefly.

Finally, I got SpatCave Studios Colonial Marine Recon Armor (it's the style of Bella from the upcoming Aliens: Colonial Marines video game) at Dragon*Con last year.  I'm proud to say I own cast #01 of it, but I still need to do some adjustments (mostly in the leg armor) and customization, so I'll be uploading photos of that as I do it.

I think that's about it.  I never actually finished my PyramidHead (my cat ate my foam cut-outs) so I'd like to do that for Halloween, but we'll see.

Again, my apologies for not keeping up.  I have no excuses, but I promise to be better.

Lace Bustle: Part 2, Making an Underbust Harness, and Pole Dancing

It's been over a month since I updated, so I know it's about time. I went to 4 cities in 4 days at one point over the holidays and spent NYE in NYC, which was fantastic. Also, I've been taking pole dancing (for fitness) 3x/week, which is ridiculous. Seriously, if you are a female and need something awesome to do, I highly recommend it if it's in your area. I go to Goddess Dance Studio.  It's super hard, but a lot of fun.  I've learned to do things that I would never expect to be able to do.  Also, I totally made my own tutu as I'm taking a ballet/pole crossover workshop.  It was so fun!  And so easy! 

Tutu!

I (99%) finished my bustle skirt after breaking no less than 5 needles on my machine. I definitely need to upgrade machines soon. Six layers of bunched lace plus two layers of interfaced satin make for quite a thick packet for the machine to power through. I'll admit, it's not as pretty on the inside as it could be, but the inside doesn't really matter.  I did decide to edge it with lace trim after all to save on hemming/rough edges, and it turned out quite pretty. The lace they carried at Hancock's wasn't exactly the same color as the main lace of my skirt, but that's unavoidable unless you want to dye all of your fabric (and dying fabric terrifies me).  The only things left to do are to add a hook/button/something so I can hook the train up and off the floor for walking and maybe add a wrist loop. Oh, and make it smaller, because I'm down a few inches in my hips.

(Instructions on finishing the skirt after the break.)

Next I made an underbust harness, but I made it out of the same gold fabric I'm using for the belt so everything would match. I interfaced (I think it's medium weight interfacing) both the gold fabric (I think it's a satin, too) and the lining (I just used a generic brown cotton) so it would have some weight. If I were to do it again, I would use heavier interfacing. It ended up being super easy. I'll do a mini-tutorial on that another day. Also, I finally used hemming tape for the first time on this, so the entire harness is a NO-SEW project (though lots of ironing)!

I still have to finish off the straps.

When I bought the hardware (buckles) from Tandy Leather, I also ordered the contraption the goes on the back of those oversize/interchangeable belt buckles you can get, so I can make my own Ironette buckle.  Any ideas on what to use?  I was thinking Sculpey/Fimo.

Still to come for this costume: Belt buckle/belt, underskirt (basic miniskirt), my experience recovering a bra, glove/armwarmer things, and a mini top hat.

Lace Bustle Skirt, Part 1: Machine Sewing Lace = Epic Fail

This week I've been working on a lace bustle skirt for a steampunk/Weird West Ironette, the back-up dancers from Iron Man 2 (loosely based). Or, them:


The skirt is the first part I'm tackling, which is turning out to be a real pain. I'm doing it out of lace, which is going to be super pretty. I've been doing the initial stages this week. I'm basing it off of this skirt, by Somnia Romantica:


Lace has turned out to be almost impossible for me. I tried to machine sew a single layer (zig-zag stitch over dental floss so I could pull the floss to bunch the material) which epic failed. The top thread on my machine broke every time after only a couple of stitches. I checked everything and tried all sorts of settings to no avail. I even tried using tissue paper underneath to stabilize the material, but that didn't work either.

Instead, I ended up quickly hand basting through the lace, which worked just as well, and probably took just as much time as machine sewing it would've.

Anyway, onto what I've done so far (skip to the end if you just want to see a progress photo):

This is the lace I bought. It's the bff Lauren Hancock line (bought at Hancock Fabrics) in Regal Red, that I got on sale for just over $6/yard. I bought around 6.75 yards (as much as they had on the spool) and used most of it. I have about a yard left (guesstimating), which is good as I'm going to need it for the top. I was planning on using stretchy lace, but that was significantly more expensive, so I went this route. When I cut out my pieces, I cut off the scalloped edge, as I wanted all the edges to be consistent.

Originally, I created a quick and simple mockup out of cheap muslin so I could get approximate pattern pieces for the different parts of the bustle skirt. I'm not normally a mock-up or pattern person, but since lace tends to be pricey I wanted to make sure I didn't screw up.

The next part was easy, just rolling out the fabric and cutting the 6 pattern
pieces. Here are the approximate dimensions for each piece (I'm 5'5" and am having it sit on my hips):

44" wide x 54" long
44x28
80x20
80x15
44x11
44x6

The reason the first measurement is so much longer than the next-longest one is because I want a train. If you don't want a train, then shorten it as you will. The length measurements are all at the middle, at the longest point. They all have the curved edges at the bottom, like in the picture. When I cut my pieces, I left an extra inch or two all around, so I could make adjustments as needed.

After all the pieces were cut out, I did a basting stitch about 1/2" from the top (the flat side) by hand. IMPORTANT: Do not tie off the ends. You want to have the ends loose so you can pull the fabric to bunch it.

Once that was done, I did the bunching and layered it on my dress form (I wasn't sold on dress forms until I tried making stuff last year without one. A duct tape one works fine, if you don't need height/have someplace to hang it (unlike me).). The longest one goes first (the bottom layer), then the next, and so on. Here's what it looks like so far (don't mind my dirty kitchen, my orange belt I'm using as a temporary waistband, or my "helper"):

That's all I've got so far. Kitten (in the pictures) was sick all weekend and then my computer crashed, so I had to deal with that(/am still dealing with my computer). I've got some adjustments to the train to make (you can kind of see how the sides have folded under in the 3rd picture) and I'm trying to decide if I want to use edging like in the Somnia Romantica bustle. I like how it looks, but I'd need around 17 yards of lace trim, and that's before bunching it all pretty like (I have no idea what the technical term for that is). I'm also trying to decide if I want to layer in some tulle for some extra bustle, and if I want to do a red waistband for a skirt I can use more often (and then make a gold belt) or a gold waistband so there's less pieces to make.

To come: Adjustments, trimming (maybe), waistband (and maybe gold belt), finishing, matching lace skirt for underneath, the top, and arm warmer things (maybe).

Hi!

This is my project blog. Specifically, it's my venture into sewing and costuming, but I may throw in a few other things as well. My costumes are for a huge sci-fi/fantasy convention on the East Coast called Dragon*Con. My first one was last year, and I conquered a couple of costumes, however I have much higher expectations for myself.

Now, I'm no professional costumer. I'm not even very good at hemming my own pants (mostly because I hate hemming pants). I do own a sewing machine (albeit a cheap one), and I have some basic common sense. I'm decent at hand-sewing and and sewing a straight line. I'm pretty much self-taught as my mom is, and so sometimes (OK, probably most of the time), I'm not going to do things by the book. I'm also notorious for coming up with the difficult way when there's a much simpler route.

So, with advice from my mom and aunt, friends, the internet, the occasional book, and some creativity from my own brain (and hopefully any of you!), this is my journey into the realm of the needle.

Keep an eye out for the beginnings of Project #1: The Lace Bustle Skirt. (And kick me if you don't get an update within a few weeks. That means I'm behind!)