Ok I looked and didn't seen anyone else having posted this already. I would love to see a swap themed on SyFy's Alice or Tinman mini series - if you haven't seen them they're kind of a modern twist on Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz respectively. They don't have anything to do with each other, beyond the fact that they were made by the same people and have kind of the same feel about them.

Would anyone else be game for something like this? I wouldn't really feel comfortable being in charge of organizing a swap until probably mid February or so, just because I've got so much going on right now but if someone else wanted to do it I'd be (obviously) thrilled to join in!

Hello everyone!!

I wanted to share two gowns I made this past year for the 2009 (and most likely part of 2010) renfaire season. I actually made these back in April but I just haven't really had the time to post images anywhere until now. These dresses are steadily getting looser on my friend and I as we loose weight so we're hoping to get as much use out of them as we can. My dress is the Rust and Blue, and my friend Amber's is the Gold and Scarlet. Neither one are 100% historically accurate, but rather, Historically inspired in an effort to use stash. I think the only thing I purchased for this was thread, some buckram, and some feathers for my hat. These dresses were originally made for the Georgia Renfaire season (where we live) but we decided to travel to some out of state faires and have had a fantastic time. The two that these pictures are from are the Kentucky Highlands Renaissance Faire, and the Tennessee Renaissance Faire, both of which are beyond awesome and we highly recommend.

I have wanted a doublet style gown for a long, long time and I've had a pair of 1930's mink coat collars that, while having fallen apart quite a while ago, were still in good enough shape to be re purposed. I'm a huge huge fan of recycling at all costs. I was gifted these by a friend and I couldn't just see throwing them out, especially since they're about 70 years older than me. I cut them into strips and used them as part of the trimming on my gown. The sleeves are tie-on, and the whole thing is worn over a corset, bumroll, petticoat, hoopskirt (store bought, I haven't made an H/A hoop yet, but I like that the hoop I have now gives me a nice shape and washes out fine after faire is over). The redwork partlet I'm wearing in some of the pictures I embroidered entirely by hand. I love it so much and it's my favorite piece in the costume. The rust fabric was given to me, and the blue silk I got at a home decor fabric mart in Atlanta in the remnant bin for $2.30 a yard. There are about 3,000 glass and plastic pearls sewn to the dress, though most of these pictures were taken prior to their attachment.

Amber's dress is Venitian inspired. The gold fabric was given to me by the same person who gave me the rust for my dress, and the scarlet embroidered came from the same interior decor shop clearance table. We picked this dress style for a few reasons. First, it's easier for her to get into herself. Secondly, it looks less like what you see a lot of at Faire. The bodice is boned for stability, but it still wrinkles at this point because of her having lost weight and the dress not fitting like it should anymore. The ruff is hand sewn to the collar and all detail work, beads and trim, including the French Hood, were done by Amber. She wears her dress over a corset, bumroll, and hoopskirt.

Thank you!!


Edited to add: Both my bodice and Amber's were constructed from Simplicity pattern 3782, but I altered both of them so much for fit and style that they're really not like the original pattern anymore. The skirts, sleeves, and accessories were made either by self draft or from various costuming pattern books (Period Costume for Stage and Screen, The Tudor Tailor, Patterns of Fashion, etc).



The two of us with a friend before we headed out to the Tennessee renfaire for the day.



Amber and myself with several friends, including Ik, King of the Trolls who is just a plain out awesome guy. We loves him so very much!

Hi Everyone : )

This is my most recent commission... good way to start off the new year, with a completed project just three days in. I'll be starting another one tomorrow.

This is for my friend Kari. She's a member of the Battle Star Galactica costuming group The Colonial Fleet and is going out to a live auction in LA to work the event in a couple weeks, and she wanted to wear the signature dress that the character "Six" wears for a good portion of the first season.

The outfit looks deceptively simple. I thought the dress would be a snap, a few hours at most... and then I started to look at a series of high resolution photos and realized I was wrong. The dress is made of a high grade red lycra, only three pieces, five if you count the two extra for the bodice. The skirt has no side seams, relying only on the stretch of the fabric and well-placed darts to shape it to the wearer.

About twenty hours of work went into this dress, from draft to details. A majority of that was hand sewing the self-made bias tape around the cut outs and top of the neckline, hand sewing the straps, and hand rolling and sewing the hem/side slits and inserting the zipper. It's a good thing I made peace with hand-work a long time ago, or I probably would have shot myself by the end of it.

Thanks for looking!

Wasn't sure which forum to post this in as it's a costume. But it wasn't made for Halloween and I've seen costumey stuff posted here before. Mods, please feel free to move/delete if needed. : )

This is a Robe a la Francaise that was put together for Dragon*Con 2008. More specifically, for a character from the new series of Doctor Who, the "Clockwork Droids" from season 2. However, it's the same kind of dress seen in Marie Antoinette, Affair of the Necklace, Dangerous Liaisons and other such Rococo/Baroque period movies.

I wanted to do a costume that was big and floofy, and I also wanted to use fabric I already had in my stash. I've wanted a robe a la francaise for years so this allowed me to do all I wanted to, and more. Because there are several of these lovely "ladies" and they all wear different dresses, I could do what I wanted to as far as fabrics and colors went, as long as the mask was right because they all wear the same mask. Oh how I love artistic licensing when it comes to costumes!

I had about eight yards of embroidered silk taffeta, and four yards of gold faux silk taffeta and decided to use them for the gown. I bought the fabric maybe six months ago with no real idea of what I'd use it for. I just knew it had gone from $50 a yard to $4.50 and I really, really liked it.

The gold ruffled trim along the bottom of the petticoat and down the front of the dress was made from the same gold taffeta as the petticoat, by way of cutting three inch wide strips and pinking the edges with a special blade on my rotary tool.

I used Simplicity Pattern 3637 for the sleeves and most of the bodice, and drafted my own pattern for the stomacher, sack back, and skirt. The only thing I ended up purchasing for this dress was about 8 yards of white gimp braid with a white velvet ribbon wound through it, knee high stockings, and thread. It took me about three weeks, something like that, off and on. I could have gotten it done sooner, but I took my time and actually had a lot of fun putting this together.

Dress includes:

Shift: Plain Cotton something or another that I threw together I don't know how long ago. I'm glad it can't be seen because it's hardly worth presenting. Needs to be remade like I don't know what.

Corset: Actually a Tudor corset I've had around for a while as well. I decided to use it because my 1750's stays aren't 100% done and it had the same boned tabs, as well as the same shape as the rococo stays. I've seen historical evidence of women using stays without straps during this period so I decided it wasn't such a huge deal.

Side Hoops with built in Pockets: Sort of like the Shift, I threw these together I don't know how long ago. Not historically accurate in anything beyond the shape. They work though, held up the skirt and didn't get in my way.

Petticoat: Faux gold silk with ruffled edge, and pink gathered self-trim along front half of skirt. Drawstring waist with a separate string for front and back. Silts in sides for easy access to pockets.

Stomacher: Drafted from my corset. Boned in a fan pattern and attaches to corset with ribbon ties. I realize that it's more historically accurate to use pins, but I needed to be able to get myself in and out of this quickly and make sure that it was secure. Stomacher also has the eyes to the front hook and eye closer of the gown. I made the bows out of white silk I had left over, and used over sized gold tone/fake opal buttons to accent the bow centers.

Gown: Bodice from Simplicity pattern 3637. Made from dark red embroidered silk taffeta I had bought with no real purpose in mind. Train of about one foot in back. Bodice and sleeves lined in left over colored cotton from my scrap bin. Sleeves edged in same pinked gold trim and white velvet braid, accented in bows/buttons that match the stomacher. The lace on the sleeves is antique lace I found in my stash. The skirt is hemmed by way of a 6" deep facing to keep the curve in the hem flat, and protect the edges of the skirt as it does drag a bit in the back. Front edges have the hooks to the hook and eye closures and attaches to either side of the stomacher to close the dress.

Shoes: Purchased from Ross I don't know how long ago. Same color red as the dress, I made a cockade out of matching lace on the shift, then added a bow/button and glued on the left over of the white braid. Probably my favorite part of the costume.

Mask: I didn't make this. My friend Mary who does incredible work made this for me. She's also the same person who made the wire mask for my Blue Corseted Ballgown. She used a store bought plastic mask form, and built up on the cheeks, nose, and the swirls around the eyes with Epoxy sculpt. Was then painted with acrylic paints and finished with a crackle medium. Is worn by way of an elastic band that can go over or under the wig. The eyes are covered with a sheer black stretch material so I can see out, but still have my face fully covered.

There are some things on this costume I'd like to tweak here or there, but as of right now it's done, quite wearable and actually very comfortable.

Now for pictures!

Picture of one of the original female Droids from the show:



Some other fabulous costumers I found at Dragon*Con on Sunday Night, dressed from the same episode of Doctor Who as myself.



And here are some pictures of my dress, the shoes, and my mask.










Thanks for looking!

Hello everyone!

Typically I'm a pretty dedicated lurker, but I wanted to share this. I've been sewing for quite some time now, about ten years, and I think this is one of the prettiest things I've ever made.

I'm going to a Harry Potter convention on Tuesday, and one of the events is a ball with the theme of "Masquerade." I'm primarily a costume designer and decided I had to have something spectacular. I also wanted to use up some of my stash, rather than buying anything new. I have an addiction to fabric and I need to use up some of what I have before I go buying more.

I pulled out a piece of this incredible dark blue shot taffeta with a flocked scrollwork design down one of the selvage sides that I've had for a year or so and couldn't decide what to do with it. I started doodling and this is what I came up with!

The bodice is a corset based off of Vogue pattern V2810. I didn't feel like drafting my own and this one was long enough in the torso to go down over my hips as well as high enough to keep the girls from being up in everyone's face. The beading was done in swarovski crystals I also had in my stash, and the silver medallions I actually found in the scrapbooking department a couple years ago at Michaels. I knew I'd find a use for them eventually!

The skirt is just the selvage side cut to length and then roll pleated to a waistband. It was so easy and came out rather nicely in my humble opinion. : )

The second picture is of the mask (can't go to masked ball without a mask) that a friend of mine made for me specially for the dress. I fell in love with some on a website I found a couple years ago, and my friend offered to do it for me for my birthday. I love it and I hope you all do too!

Thanks for looking!

Hi everyone : )

I've been searching for the past few hours with no luck. I think the link to what I'm looking for is on another computer.

I'm trying to find a website that has a pattern for a jacket, online. It's a free pattern and I want to say it's in Japanese, it might be italian or French, but I know for sure it isn't in english. The jacket is very... um, I want to say punk (maybe?) lots and lots of pieces, and I know that one sleeve is short, and gathered like a peasent blouse sleeve, and the other is long and sort of belled out. The pattern is one you'd have to resize the pieces for and print out.

If anyone knows what I'm talking about could you please point me in the right direction? I apologize for being vague, I'm just going crazy because I can't remember who the designer is, and the pictures I could have sworn I saved are no where to be found!

Thank you!

Hiii : ) This is my first picture post.. I hope everyone likes it.

I used the folded flower tutorial, and instead of making a pin using fabric, I used some left over origami paper and some of my favorite beads and made a maiko-style kanzashi (without the danglies because I ran out of paper....) The wig its in is a maiko-styled wig I won off of Yahoo Japan Auctions some time ago. Hope everyone likes

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/romancedinthepast/kanzashi1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/romancedinthepast/kanzashi2.jpg