Warning: This post deals with emotions and feelz big time. If you’re only interested in happy fun time, this is not the post for you. In this post, I type, uncensored and honestly, about my biggest insecurity. If you want a real, honest, and raw blog post from a real person pouring her heart out, read on…
I’m still shaking from the most moving musical experience I think I’ve ever witnessed in my life…
Well, it seems the Dressing Gown costume will have to wait at least another day, if not longer, because I need more duct tape for a mannequin, because I want this sucker to be STRONG and not collapse with the beating I am certain it will get. I also have some plaster laying around the house, I wonder if that would work to make a more durable mannequin? After the removal of the tape, of course – I’m already planning on compressing a bit to make up for the bulk of the shirt and tape, I’m not about to go standing in one spot with plaster on me all day!
In the meantime, I’ve been researching the heck out of my next costume. This one I want for Christmas, because it’s just so darn cozy-looking – pretty much my style for winter. The problem is, even though the movie has been out for almost a year now, pretty much no one has made costumes from this movie, which I am just aghast at – I guess it shows me how hardcore of a nerd/crafter I am. I haven’t even seen the movie yet! So, the fact that no one has gotten down and dirty (literally) with these costumes means that I have the immense joy of doing ALL of the initial backbreaking, hair-pulling, teeth-gnashing research. Thankfully, there are some folks who managed to take pictures at different angles at exhibits, which helps so very much. But that’s about as far as everyone else’s research goes. I found one other person who was looking into making this outfit some time ago for a friend to match his own.
I’ve been researching for 24 hours straight.
…With some breaks to eat and such, of course. Which reminds me, I really should put another pot of coffee (with cinnamon!) on soon…
Ahem. back on topic.
“Miyu, what is this awesome movie and costume that requires so much research?” you may ask. Well, lovelies, I shan’t keep you waiting any longer!
THE MOVIE:
WARNING: LOTS OF PICS AND TEXT BEHIND THE JUMP!
Hello blogosphere… It’s been a few days since my last update. Here’s why:
I finished sewing up the front of the bodice. It sits very nicely on me now! Without all those hooks and eyes on the front, there’s no puckering, so the front is nice and smooth and flat now, ideal for decorating.
So I set about to make the pattern to cut out my velvet pieces. However, the base bodice itself is made of a slightly stretchy material. This means that no matter what I do, laying it flat isn’t going to give me an accurate pattern. Add to this the fact that the velvet has just a little more stretch than the base fabric, and it means that, after cutting and sewing everything together, it may not fit me properly.
I have a solution, though – I’ll be making a duct tape double, a mannequin in my exact size and proportions. This will save me so much time and hair-pulling, since, for the first time in all the years I’ve been costuming, I’ll be able to drape, draft, and fit things properly to myself! I’m so excited!
I pulled up my video in progress (which is about my Broadway PotO Chandelier bead), and ALL OF MY FILES seemed to be missing. I knew I still had them, all conveniently in a folder, but Windows Movie Maker couldn’t find them! This could possibly be my fault, as I had created another folder to put that folder into, but other than that I hadn’t moved it!
Therefore, a good half hour of my evening was spent re-teaching WMM where all my files were, then another half hour was spent re-configuring all the data that had apparently decided to just shift all over to wherever it pleased. It’s finally looking like a video again, and not like a toddler got a hold of my computer.
This post is totally relevant to costuming. It is not only because I say it is, but also because it’s about my spiffing new necklace I made out of that bead – which I will be wearing with my Christine outfit (and also every day, of course).
And, because I dislike leaving a blog post without any sort of pictures to look at, here’s a picture of that necklace:
I have since gone through and tightened up all the sloppy chain links. What can I say, it’s a chain I’m not allergic to that I got for $7 – I don’t mind having to do a little work to pretty it up.
I wanted to make the PotO Dressing Gown for Halloween this year. I made one before, very horribly, out of definitely not the right materials (heck, I didn’t even have enough of the materials). No pictures seem to have survived of this monstrosity before I chopped it up and turned it into a horrible blouse. Yep, you heard that right – I used to stink at sewing. Then again, I’m a perfectionist.
Still, I really missed having a PotO dressing gown. Over the years I managed to accumulate several vintage dressing gowns, slips, nighties, and various bits of that type of lingerie. If I wear a few of them together, it makes a barely passable Christine. (My friends thinks it looks great, I am shaking my head at myself in my imagination and hoping everyone thought I was a very nicely-dressed ghost the last time I wore that out to club)
In order to make a new dressing gown, I insist on doing it the right way this time – by making the foundation garment first. This particular interpretation of the dressing gown is going to based more on several stage versions, with a few nods to the movie version, in the same vein as my chandelier bead necklace. As such, I’m making the Elissa/Slave Girl bodice instead of the white corset from the movie. I’ll also be making the slave girl rope skirt to go with the bodice, and at some point in the future maybe I’ll tackle the Elissa skirt.
Woohoo! Hello blogging world! *waves* This is my first blog post ever!
I’ve been meaning to start a blog for some time now, particularly for my crafting. What made me finally decide to do so was the decision to dress as Christine Daae from Phantom of the Opera for Halloween this year (really, it’s just an excuse to make things I want to wear – I don’t usually get to go anywhere for the holiday, but I wear costumes whenever I feel like it). This means that I must suck it up and stop being terrified of my sewing machine. Really, you’re going to laugh when I show you my cute little sewing machine my dad gave me. There’s absolutely nothing scary about it!
…Other than the fact that it’s a machine, and I am notoriously afraid of machines. I don’t drive, and the only reason I get along okay with blenders and juicers is because they give me tasty nutritious foodstuffs.
Well, alright… I get along just fine with sewing machine once they’re set up. It’s the whole bobbin-making and threading and tension-setting that terrifies me…
Anyways, Halloween is approaching quickly, which means I absolutely have to make friends with my machine. This is a good thing, as it means I’ll already be on a roll when I finish this costume, then I can get working on finishing all the dresses and skirts I’ve been sewing by hand for way too long (then, since one skirt can take a month of hand sewing, I get distracted and lose interest, so I have a lot of unfinished projects).
Bear with me, this site will be under constant construction until I get the hang of this blogging thing down…
Moonlit Costumes 