Category Archives: Sewing

Elizabethan Whovian- The Underskirt

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Hi everyone! I’m sorry I didn’t make a blog post last week. I had plans for the past weekend that took away from blog writing time. So, I decided not to make a blog post last week. Unfortunately, my planed ended up not working out so now I’m kicking myself for not posting anything at all. In order to get myself back into blogging, I’m going to talk about something simple: the underskirt for the Elizabethan Whovian costume.

Although the underskirt of the costume isn’t as interesting as the gown’s construction, I still had problems with it. I used the same pattern for the underskirt for the gown, Simplicity’s 3782. The fabric I used for the front of the skirt is The Doctor’s Favorite Things by Kdowning on Spoonflower printed on cotton poplin while the rest is made out of white broadcloth.

Here’s what the underskirt looks like on my dress form with a hoop skirt under it…

When I was cutting the front panel, I realized I had the fabric printed 42 inch wide fabric, and it wasn’t wide enough to cut the skirt front. Also, it wasn’t wide enough for me to cut the fabric so the design is not symmetrical. So, the skirt front doesn’t look the way I wanted to. I want to eventually get different fabric (non Doctor Who design) and make a new underskirt with a front panel the way I want it to look, but this one is functional and is in keeping with the Doctor Who theme, so I’m just going to use it as is.

I also changed the amount of white panels in the skirt. I ended up running out of fabric before I could make the eight panels the pattern called for, so I used seven. It looks good anyway and I think eight might be too full for my liking.

That’s all for now! Thank you for reading!

Making an 18th Century Bum Pad

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After weeks of working on the Elizabethan Whovian costume, I began to have a sewing idea block. In order to keep myself sewing, I began to work on something I knew I’d need and is easy to sew. Since I needed to make a bum pad for a future 18th century costume, I decided to make that my next sewing project.

The pattern I used to make the bum roll is Simplicity’s pattern number 8162.

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Elizabethan Whovian- The Sleeves

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It’s been a while since I talked about my Elizabethan Whovian so I thought I’d talk about part of the costume I finished, the sleeves!

I was waiting until I posted the photos I took on Time Traveler’s Weekend at the Renaissance festival to talk about the costume. My original plan was to make the costume and wear it to the festival. I was also planning on participating in the Time Traveler Costume Contest that Sunday. In order to keep myself on track, I created a schedule to help me work on the costume. (Finish the sleeves three weeks before the festival, work on the hat and draft the gown’s bodice pattern for three days, ect.) Unfortunately, the stomach flu I had in February threw my schedule off so badly I couldn’t get back on track. So, the costume was unfinished on Time Traveler’s Weekend.

Even though I was upset about not finishing the costume, I went to the festival anyway and was soon thankful I wasn’t wearing a whole entire Elizabethan costume. It was unseasonably hot that weekend and I’m sure I would not have made it more than a few hours fully dressed in my Elizabethan costume. (I was having a very bad time with my seasonal allergies so I was not feeling very great.)

Even though I didn’t finish the costume when I wanted to wear it, I still decided to finish it. The progress on it has slowed because I was also making clothes for normal wear. And when it comes to making normal clothes or a costume, normal clothes take top priority. Still, I wanted to work on the costume and the easier parts of the costume I wanted to work on was the sleeves.

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The Chiffon Undershirt

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When I decided to make my Elizabethan Whovian costume, I decided to make an undershirt instead of attach the sleeves to the gown. The reason is because I wanted the sides of the gown so it will still fit me as I loose weight.

You can see the lace up sides in my sketch of the drawing…

elizabethan-whovian-2

I don’t think it’s historically correct (For the 1570’s at least) to put lacing in the sides of the gown. Despite this, I’ve seen lacing in the sides of dresses in patterns for 10th through 14th century dresses and there is lacing in the sides of one of the dresses from season two of the Outlander. Since this costume is supposed to be worn during weight loss, I though being able to take in the sides by tightening laces as I loose weight is a very practical idea.

Although lacing in the sides solves my sizing problem, another problem popped up. The pattern I’m using for the costume, Simplicity 3782, calls for the sleeves to be attached to the gown. If I make the gown with the sleeves attached to it, tightening the laces on the sides will cause the sleeves to get distorted. There are ways around this, but all the solutions I though of are complex and I wanted to make the costume’s construction more simple. So, I decided to solve the problem by making an undershirt with the sleeves attached. That way the laces can be tightened on the gown without distorting the way the sleeves look.

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Elizabethan Whovian- Dress Design and Fabric

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It’s that time of the year when the Arizona Renaissance Festival reopens! Although I’m very excited about the fair, I had so much going on in my life these past few years that I was unable to go to the festival more than one day and I was unable to make or finish any costumes to wear to it. This year, I’m able to work on a costume, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to go. Still, I’m going to try to make a new costume. Continue reading →

2016 Sewing, Photography, and Art Roundup

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Excuse the reflective beginning of this post, but to put it bluntly, 2016 was not a fun year for me. Also, please excuse the amount of photos in this post. I wanted I worked on this year that I’m pleased with to get mentioned in my post.

2016 is almost over and I’m happy to see it over. This year, like many people I talked to, I didn’t really have a great year. My year wasn’t good mostly because I took care of an ill family member and that family member eventually passed away. When it sunk in that my family member wasn’t going to live as long as I believed they could, I had a very hard time talking care of my family member knowing that there was nothing I could do to help them. But, with the assistance of my immediate family, friends, and faith, I got through it. I feel a lot better than I did a few months ago, but when I decided to go through 2016’s post to see what I can talk about in this end of year post, I felt sad because I didn’t get to do nearly as much as I planned to this year.

If I learned anything from 2017, it is that life is unpredictable in both good and bad ways and no amount of planning can save you from the unpredictable. Although I am sad my family member is no longer with me, I know they are in a better place and that I did my best taking care of them. I also learned how important family and friends are in a person’s life, how much grit and strength I truly have, and what loyalty really looks and feels like. I am a different person now and, although what I went through was very painful, I am glad I went through it. I may be a different person than I was in the beginning of the year, but I am a better person now. And I’m thankful for it.

Since I had a hard time with my personal life, I didn’t have the time or energy to work on anything “artistic”. I would draw, sew, and take photos, but everything would fall to the waist side because I was more worried about other, more important things. Still, I tried to work the last half of the year so I could start blogging again. :) Continue reading →

Remaking The Tardis Jumper

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I mentioned before that I lost weight this year but what I didn’t mention was that while going through my closet to see what fit me and what didn’t, a majority of my costumes and “geeky” convention-appropriate clothing was too big for me as well. I’m still not at my goal weight (Or anywhere near there) but I’m not big enough for my clothes to fit me well either. So, for the past few months I was trying to decide what I wanted to keep and fix up to fit me, what to get rid of, what I wanted to remake, and what to just keep as a memento of how my work has evolved over the years.

One of the clothes I had in my closet that I wanted to get rid of and remake in a smaller size is my Tardis jumperskirt. I made the first one a year ago using McCall’s pattern 7184 and it was too big for me back then. Now that I lost some weight, it’s now way too big for me! I seriously considered taking the skirt in, but after looking at everything I need to do to make it fit me now and after I lose more weight, I realized it was just easier to make the whole thing over again.

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Rey’s Star Wars The Force Awakens Costume- Part 1

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I was unable to go to the 2016 Phoenix Comicon, making this second time in two years I couldn’t go, but that’s how life goes. Despite this, I thought about what costume I wanted to make for the convention. I already had costumes planed for the convention, but since I knew I wouldn’t be able to go, I didn’t finish them by the date of the convention.

The weekend of the 2016 Phoenix Comicon was the hottest on record (With temperatures around or above 110 degrees Fahrenheit) and, since I was stuck at home, I began to look at the costumes I wanted to wear to the convention. I realized that all the costumes I wanted to wear would be too hot to wear during those temperatures.

A few weeks before Comicon, I found out McCall’s has a costume pattern for Rey from Star Wars The Force Awakens. Since Hobby Lobby had a sale on McCall’s patterns, I bought the last one that was in the store. (I also bought the last Kylo Ren costume pattern, but that’s besides the point.) Since I had the pattern, and Rey’s costume would be perfect to wear to a convention that is held during a time when Arizona has such high temperatures, I decided to make Rey’s costume so I can have it ready to wear anytime I wanted to wear a costume to a convention, but it’s too hot to wear a ballgown or wear any Doctor Who costume I have. I also plan on using it as a back up Halloween costume in case this year’s my planned costume doesn’t end up working out or get finished in time.

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Elsa’s Frozen Fever Dress-Part 2

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After a writer’s block last week, I finally finished the last post about how I made Elsa’s Frozen Fever dress! Although this is the last post about the dress, the posts about the shirt and cape will not be posted for a while because I have yet to work on them. XD

In my last post, I talked about sewing the dress together and talking about how I sewed the shirring into the back of the dress. Today, I’ll talk about sewing sequins onto the dress and finishing the dress.

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Adding Volume to Petticoats

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I was planning on finishing my posts about how I made my Elsa dress from Frozen Fever, but I hit a huge writer’s block. So, today I will talk about how I added volume to the petticoats I bought off amazon!

Over a year ago, I wanted a petticoat to go under a 1950’s style skirt. I wanted to make the petticoat from scratch, but I ended up buying a white organza petticoat from amazon. When I got it in the mail, it didn’t have the volume I wanted. So, I added some tulle in between the layers of the petticoat. I talked about this on Tumblr (Here and here) over a year ago, but I never talked about it here.

A few months ago, I realized I needed a long, black petticoat to go under some dresses/skirts I have and want to make in the future. Again, I thought about making the petticoat from scratch, but at that time I was taking care of an ill family member so I didn’t have time to make one from scratch. After remembering how well my white petticoat turned out, I decided to buy another petticoat off amazon and use the same process of adding tulle between the layers of the petticoat to add volume.

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