Daisy-Head and Confused

via Wikipedia

I've mentioned the Daisy-Head Mayzie costume I've made a couple of times, and the blog gets a lot of search traffic for that, so I figured it was time that I showed it off.

A friend of mine asked me to make the costume for her.  It was a last minute thing and we didn't have any time to ensure a good fit.  The shoulders ended up being too wide for my liking, and the torso too long, but considering the rush, I was pretty happy with the fit, and so was she (and she was the one who had to wear it, so that's what matters).

The pattern I picked Simplicity 2325 (view B).  I went with cotton for cost reasons and because it was supposed to be worn to an outdoor event in August.  While it looks like I changed the pattern a lot, most of it is pretty superficial.  IIRC, the bodice has separate pieces for the pinafore and the dress, so I simply omitted the pinafore pieces.  The skirt is actually all pinafore, so I just made that in the dress fabric, leaving the ruffle off.

The collar and sleeve scalloped edges probably caused the most problem because I had trouble getting them to lay flat.  I made several patterns and muslins before I got one that worked.

This pattern took more time than you would think that it would.  Due to the bulk of the skirt and the gathering involved, sewing it to the bodice was cumbersome and time-consuming.    It wasn't hard, per se, but I certainly wouldn't recommend this pattern if you want something you can knock off in an afternoon.  The difficulty her would probably be for an advanced beginner.

The contest rules go up tomorrow and the contest starts October 24.  I hope you'll be participating!

Poe-Pourri

This week's post is my costume from two years ago: Edgar Allan Poe.  I know, I am a cliche.  It is difficult to find modern female sewing patterns that emulate the look of late-Georgian and early-Victorian men's clothing.  I had considered buying men's patterns and adapting them to fit me, but that seemed like too much work.  Another option was sewing men's patterns and padding or binding my curves which applicable.  In the end, I decided that it would be better to use women's patterns: if any of the pieces turned out well, I could use them in my daily wardrobe, I could see the idiots I worked with at the time making inappropriate comments about my body if I disguised my figure, and I had never tried to turn a male pattern into a female (and it was not the time to experiment). While I was searching for patterns that would work for this costume, I happened across Butterick 4815, a double-breasted vest.  I sewed this in a beautiful brocade of black, gold, green, purple, and magenta.  The pattern featured birds of paradise and other Asian-inspired designs.  I wish I had bought more of this brocade because it is utterly stunning.  The vest itself isn't too different from any other vest pattern.  The changes I made to this pattern were raising the front a little so there was an extra row of buttons (their vests came up higher back in those days) and put actual welt pockets in (which meant I could wear my pocket watch). While questing for patterns, I hit dead end after dead end with the big four.  This caused me to resort to more obscure pattern companies for the rest of my costume.  Most of these actual ended up being reproductions of authentic late-Georgian or early-Victorian era patterns. The next item I made was the coat.  I wasn't too pleased with this.  I think it makes me look bulky.  Some of that was probably the fabric selection (taffeta), and some of it was probably that I was wearing it over a vest and blouse.  The pattern here is Buckaroo Bobbins Outing Jacket.  But the pattern has such potential that I think I would like to try this again as a non-costume garment in a different fabric.  The sewing of this one was a little tough because some of the lines were mismarked.  Additionally, because there are so many variations on this pattern in one envelope, it made following the directions a bit tricky.  IIRC, the only change I made here was to lessen the poofiness of the sleeves.  I would recommend this for an intermediate, and I bet it would be a great addition to a steampunk costume. May I also state that I spent hours sewing on this gold trim by hand. The blouse is Laughing Moon 103, view A.  This is meant to be worn with a corset; given that I was cross-dressing, I did not wear one.  The fit was still pretty good, even without the corset, but it was a little tight around the neck. I expected it to come down further than it did (it ended at the waist), so it was fortunate that the vest covered this up.  I won't be wearing this blouse again for that reason.  This is another pattern i would recommend for an intermediate.  It does have boning (which I omitted because I don't need the support), so bear that it mind if you want to sew this. The pattern I bought for the pants, and fully intended to use, was Laughing Moon 106.  I ran out of time and never got to the pants.  What I am wearing is my tuxedo pants from Burda 7986.  (I will post pictures of the tuxedo at some point in the future.) The reason I ran out of time to make the pants is because I was busy making myself the hat band (not featured) and tie at the last minute.  I had commissioned someone to make those for me, as well as gloves, on Etsy, and they flaked.  This led me to staying up until midnight the night before, and getting up at 4 AM the day of, to finish these last minute items. The raven is from Etsy, and so are the tie pin and earrings.  The boots are Vegetarian Leather combat boots.  This bottle of absinthe I gave to my husband as a birthday present.  It should surprise no one that I already owned the Poe tome and the top hat.

Catfishing for Compliments

Readers have likely surmised that I enjoy a good pun (and bad ones as well).  I had it in the back of my head for a while to dress Theora as a catfish for Halloween.  I found the idea utterly hilarious, though I knew she would hate it.  Last year, I found the time to finally get around to the costume. The pattern here is Simplicity 3667. I used D, the dinosaur, but omitted the legs, cuffs, and spikes.  I added fins and a sad looking tail (you can see it flopped to the side in the bottom picture). Theora is Siamese, which tend to be a smaller breed, so I used the smallest dog size (based on the spine measurement).  I had to cut the leg holes bigger, but it was a pretty good fit. This was an easy costume; I knocked it out in an afternoon.  The tiny little legs openings might present a bit of a challenge, but it's no more difficult than baby clothes.

Letting the Cat out of the Bag

Today's Halloween costume is from seven years ago.  I apologize for these photographs, as I took them myself with the timer, and my crappy grad school apartment isn't exactly the right sort of backdrop for this costume. Anyway, this year I was the Michelle Pfeiffer Catwoman.  (The previous year, I had been the Lee Meriwether Catwoman.)  In the movie, her costume was made out of PVC, leather, and latex.  It also featured a corset.  Latex was out for me (allergies), leather was out (vegetarian), and I didn't have the skills at the time to attempt a corset (seven years later, I still haven't tried).   So it was a PVC jumpsuit for me. Like the Harley Quinn costume, I did not use a pattern.  While it worked for Harley, that was not the case here.  I did not have enough experience to work without a pattern, and this ended up chafing my armpits all night and being too loose in the waist. To create the bottom half of this, I held the fabric at hip level and pinned it together along the crotch and butt.  From there, I tapered he legs and sewed hem together.  Not the best way to make pants, even with a stretchy fabric.  My bottom-heaviness makes pants difficult.  From there, I did the top piece in four parts, with a zipper in the front middle.  The zipper was under a lot of stress due to the poor fit, so I had to replace it once and very nearly a second time, but the second zipper valiantly persevered though the night. The headpiece was quite difficult.  I think this was my fourth attempt at it.  If this one hadn't worked, I probably would have just given up.  The key here was to add a middle piece, which you can probably see most clearly in the second picture.  To get the ears to stand up (which should have been a bit larger), I used electrical cable ties which I cut into pieces several inches long.  I hand stitched the ears on. Onto the stitching.  I wasn't going to attempt to replicate the stitching in the movie costume, so I just haphazardly did a narrow zigzag all over the place.  If I had more foresight, I would have did the stitching before sewing the seams.  It was quite arduous attempting to get the machine into little nooks and crannies.  This is why there isn't much stitching on the sleeves. I am my own worst critic, I know, but it embarrasses me to look back upon this, seven years later, and see the vast improvements that could be made.  I did learn from my mistakes here, and hopefully others can benefit from my experience.  I did receive a lot of praise for this costume, but the best thing to come out of the party that I went to is that my now husband proposed to me that night. :) Remember, I'm running a Guess My Costume contest to celebrate Halloween.  I think it will start October 23 and feature seven days worth of hints, with the grand reveal coming on Halloween itself.  I will be posting rules as we get closer to the start.  Would readers like the prizes revealed before or after?

Misgivings Day with Medusa

Today marks the annual tradition of Misgivings Day, started by the Queen of Halloween herself, Ghoul Friday.  It's a day to start getting into the Halloween spirit (if you haven't already - I started in July) by decorating, making costumes, or whatever strikes your spooky fancy.  Personally, I am spending the day working on my costume for this year.  To mark the occasion, I wanted to present you with the costume I made last year: Medusa. The pattern I used was Simplicity 3647, view D (cape omitted).  The dress is black Kona cotton (the pattern called for linen, but I didn't want to spend that kind of money on what was already going to be an expensive costume) and the waist-piece is a stretchy snake-like print with chiffon drapes.  The trim, which the pattern did not all for, was a Greek key design similar to this.  In the first picture, I am wearing a shirt and tights under the dress because it was freezing the day of my party.  We actually got three inches of snow that day! Sewing this dress was super simple.  That is, easy except for the sleeve hems.  The had a narrow hem, which usually isn't a problem, but this fabric kept fraying and rolling.  It might be more prudent to just finish the edges, fold up a 5/8 seam, and stitch that in place.  That is probably what I would do if I made this again.  However, if you go my route and add trim, I would suggest doing that before you've sewn most of the costume together.  I didn't plan to add trim at all, but it happened to catch my eye when I was looking for something else.  Overall, I am pleased with how the dress turned out.  It has actually made its way into my everyday wear clothing. The waist-piece, or whatever you would like to call it, is another story.  I really did not like this piece.  In fact, I almost didn't wear it.  I took it off shortly after the party began because it was just too annoying.  It kept falling down and twisting.  Frankly, I think it made me look like I had no waist and huge hips.  The greens don't match either, but it was really the best I could find.  If it came down to making another Medusa costume, I would omit this piece entirely and come up with something different. The headpiece was the trickiest part here.  It's fifteen rubber snakes hot-glued to a headband.  The glue came undone periodically over the course of the night and snakes flopped in my face, which I suppose made for some appropriate serpentine action for observers, but it freaked me out a little.  I would use a stronger adhesive if I did this again.  I would also try to find hollow snakes, because this was heavy.  You can't tell from these pictures, but the front of my hair was green at the time, so it went well with the snakes. Onto the rest of the costume.  Just wearing cosmetics is enough to make something qualify as a costume for me.  I tried to show off the fantastic colors a little in the first picture.  Both the lipstick and eye shadow come from Sobe Botanicals.  The anklet and arm cuff come from 88 Links. Thanks for reading!  I will be doing more posts on previous costumes as the season progresses, and the Guess My Costume contest should start in late October (there will be prizes!), so stay tuned.  Enjoy your Misgivings Day and be spooky!

Someone Special II

Last time, my entry for the Sophistique Noir September theme of Someone Special featured the lion costume I made for my husband.  Victorian Kitty herself requested more pictures, and who am I to turn down such a request?

The husband wasn't home for this, so I used Azzurra for the model.  He wears a larger size than me (he's three inches taller and quite a bit broader), so though this costume is too big for Azzurra, you can still see how a female figure could get lost in it.  Conversely, if you were really busty or hippy, then that could also present a problem with the fit.

The tail is stuffed with poly-fill.  It was supposed to have an odd bit of fur on the end, which I didn't like.  Instead, I used the fabric from the tummy portion and made a couple layers of fringe with it.  Hubby liked to sneak up behind me and whack me with it. As I was attempting to take pictures, I accidentally set it swinging, which Lydia took as an invitation to start batting at it.  Sadly, I didn't get any good action shots of that.

Here we see one of the spats, a glove, and the headpiece.  The gloves were super simple - just two pieces sewn together and then hemmed.  The spats were a bit more complicated, as they involved elastic, but weren't too complicated.  The headpiece, as I mentioned before is just elastic encased in fleece.  The ears were actually a bit finicky to make because the pieces were so small.

Completely on a different subject, has anyone else in blogland been having issues with captcha on Blogger?

Someone Special

The Sophistique Noir theme for September (how is it possible that it is September already?!) is Someone Special.  Cliché as it is, I chose my hubby.  And with Halloween fast approaching, what better item to feature than a costume I made him a few years ago?

The husband has ridiculously curly hair.  At one point, he decided he wanted to grow it out.  For a long time, it just got bigger instead of longer.  As Halloween approached that year, I was trying to think up costumes for us.  I had already decided to be a privateer (and was leaning towards the same for him), when he came downstairs one morning with a serious case of bedhead.  The leonine nature of his coiffure lead to me announcing he was going to be a lion that year.  He just yawned and asked if there was any coffee, which I took as consent. The pattern in question here is Simplicity 2853 (which includes a gorilla, bear, and cat in addition to the lion; if you want to make a leonine, simian, ursine, or feline family, the children's version is 2855).  The costume is unisex, but is based on chest and hip measurements.  It isn't abundantly fitted, but I think a particularly hourglassy lady might have some trouble with the fit. I did not make the hood for the lion costume (since hubby had a mane already) and just made the ears.  I measured his head and cut a piece of elastic accordingly, which I covered with the same fabric as the costume.  The ears were hand-sewn onto that.  I imagine attaching the ears to barrettes or clips would also work well.  You could probably could use a plain old headband too. The suggested fabrics listed here are fur, long-haired fur, fleece, faux leather, sherpa, and suede.  I used basic polar fleece.  The party I hosted that year was entirely inside and he got hot pretty quickly.  If you're in a cooler clime than we are, this would probably work if you're going trick-or-treating or partying outside and don't want to wear a coat.  Otherwise, I would suggest a lighter fabric - while it won't look as good, it won't matter how nice the costume is if it's too hot to wear.  Flannel would probably work, but still might be too hot for some.

As for the sewing itself, I think I knocked the main body of this off in the evening and finished the gloves, spats, and ears the next night.  Though tackling heavier fabrics (especially fur, ugh) can be a challenge, I think an amateur could tackle this costume.  The really tricky part was aligning the front belly part (because it needed to be symmetrical).

I will be posting more past Halloween costumes this season, with the big reveal of this year's coming on Halloween itself.  Stick around for the pumpkiny goodness!

 

A Harley Quinn Romance

Today's Red and Black entry is another blast from the past.  This one comes from Halloween 2006.  My husband and I, for the first any only time, opted for a couple's costume for Halloween: The Joker and Harley Quinn.

I didn't use a pattern here because spandex is pretty forgiving (in terms of getting a fit, at least).  I wrapped the fabric around myself, safety pinned it in place, and then cut it accordingly.  The diamonds were a little difficult to sew on because the fabric needed to be stretched for that, which basically meant that I had to be wearing it.  It was easy enough to put them on the left side (using my right hand), but not so much on the right.  I am ridiculously right handed.

The gloves were easy: I traced my hand, cut it out, and sewed it together.

The headpiece was a little difficult.  It's a separate piece from the costume, and I had a terrible time getting it to lay flat.  In the end, I think I made three of them before one worked.  The points on the headpiece (dunno what else to call them; does anyone know the technical term?) are just curved pieces of spandex and stuffed with polyfill.  If I did this again, I would line them, because little pieces of the stuffing kept creeping out through the fabric.  I attached two jingle bells at the end of the points and added elastic around the face opening for a tight fit.  

Hubby's costume was created out of thrift store finds.  For the jacket, I cropped it to the waist, flipped the pieces around, and sewed them on as tails.  The fabric went against the grain for that, but for a thrift store costume, it wasn't too bad.  The flower was just some yellow satin I had in the stash.  I cut out a few flower shapes, layered them in a staggered fashion, and sewed them together.  The vest is just a satin blouse.  I cut off the sleeves and altered the neckline.  From those pieces I cut, I made the tie and pocket square.  His shirt and pants, thankfully, I didn't need to alter.

His costume is great because it shows how you can make a fabulous costume without spending a lot of money or time, or having a lot of talent.

We won first prize at the Halloween party we went to!

A Pirate's Life for Me!

This post is going to be a blast from the past.  I was a privateer for Halloween 2009 (for those of you that don't know, a privateer is basically a government-sanctioned pirate).  This costume was a bit of a rush job because I had to sew six costumes over the course of two months.  I apologize for the poor resolution of these images - I can't seem to locate the original high-res pictures.

First up here is the blouse.  It's Simplicity 4914, and if you want it,  I suggest you buy it as soon as possible.  It's been out of print for several years and I imagine that supplies are quite limited.  I actually didn't make the blouse to wear with the costume, I made it much earlier to as an everyday wear item.  It's a beautiful black-on-black brocade featuring phoenixes (phoenices?) and dragons.  I wish I had bought more of it, because it would make a fantastic vest or dress.

The blouse appears as though it would lace up the front, but it actually has a zipper in the back.  Unfortunately (though you can't really tell in this picture, but you can in the pattern link), the blouse starts to end at the actual waist.  I usually have to wear something under this, which is unfortunate, because the brocade is both quite heavy and lined.  The sleeves are also ridiculously short, so I lengthened them, but that only adds to the weight of the garment.  For those reasons, I don't get to wear this as often as I would like to.  Don't get me wrong, I love the blouse and get a ton of compliments on it, but it isn't as convenient to wear as I would have wanted.

Anyway, onto the pattern review.  The construction of the blouse itself wasn't too bad.  Some pretty precise marking is necessary here for the sleeve's grommet tape, and the front was a little finicky, but this could be tackled by an intermediate, I think.

I think the only pattern I hated more than this coat pattern (Simplicity 3677) was the tuxedo I made for my sister's wedding, and the only reason I hated that more was because a good chunk of the instructions weren't translated from German to English.  This pattern wasn't really difficult, but it was quite lengthy.  Nothing wrong with a lengthy pattern, as long as it produces a nice garment in the end, but this most certainly did not.  I know that I frequently bemoan Simplicity for calling for more fabric than the garment actually needs, but this had nearly two yards left over.

That was the least of this pattern's sins; if you look at the pattern picture, it doesn't have the best shot of the front.  I made this coat two sizes larger than what I normally wear because the blouse was so bulky.  Even two sizes too large, this coat would not close over the blouse.  I tried it over something with a slimmer silhouette, and it still didn't close.  It isn't actually meant to close - despite calling for twenty-eight buttons (which I had to special order), this coat contains no buttonholes.

And again, the sleeves here are just too short.  Do people think that pirates loved walking around with exposed wrists?

The facing here looked stupid and the instructions for the godets were crap.  There is nothing redeeming to this pattern and I would recommend it under no circumstances.

The breeches/bloomers are from the first pattern.  They're made out of crepe-backed satin.  They were so easy that I think I completed them in about an hour.   Basically, it was just cutting out the two pieces; sewing them together; folding down the waistband and inserting the elastic; and sewing on the bias tape into the legs and inserting the elastic.  Very simple.  They probably are not historically accurate for any era, but these would make a great start to a beginning sewer's steampunk costume.

There are two things I made here that I didn't have a pattern for: the wrap and the bandanna.  Both were super easy: the bandanna was just a square of satin (made from the excess from the failed coat) and the wrap is just a triangle of costume satin from Joann's.

A breakdown of my accessories:
Rose choker: $7, Hot Topic
Striped knee socks: $5 - $10, Hot Topic
Shoes: $20, Journey's
Hoop earrings: Claire's