Tag: Costume

Clara’s Cold War Dress- Second Version Part 1

Published on by essieofwho

A few years ago, I made my own version of Clara Oswald’s dress in the Doctor Who episode, Cold War. While I made it, I hated how it was turning out and, after completing it, I hated the way it looked even more. I always wanted to remake it, but it wasn’t until 2016 I was able to do it. Because I made and finished the dress in 2016, I don’t remember a lot about the dress itself or how I constructed it, but I wanted to talk about it before it becomes a costume that gets lost in my closet and is forgotten before I can talk about it on my blog.

While doing research into the dress, I found Mariah’s Cosplay Site has a page dedicated to the costume and even has an idea what kind of dress was used in the episode, the Vivienne Westwood Metallic Pannier Dress. After reading it, I decided to make my dress have a similar neckline to the Vivienne Westwood dress, but modify it to accommodate my recent and future weight loss. 🙂 Continue reading “Clara’s Cold War Dress- Second Version Part 1” →

Elizabethan Whovian Hat

Published on by essieofwho

It’s been a year since I started working on my Elizabethan Whovian costume. During that time I’ve worked on it on and off, but progress on it has been slow partly because I ran into more problems with the bodice of the dress, and partly because my day job has kept me very busy. Despite this, I was able to work on and off on the hat for the costume. I recently finished most of the hat, so here is how I made it!

Continue reading “Elizabethan Whovian Hat” →

Elizabethan Whovian- The Underskirt

Published on by essieofwho

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!

Elizabethan Whovian- The Sleeves

Published on by essieofwho

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.

Continue reading “Elizabethan Whovian- The Sleeves” →

Elizabethan Whovian- Dress Design and Fabric

Published on by essieofwho

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 “Elizabethan Whovian- Dress Design and Fabric” →

2017 Personal Sewing and Costume To-Do List

Published on by essieofwho

With 2016 over, I thought I’d talk about what I’m planning on sewing in 2017. This past year was full of life changes, and I believe 2017 will be full of life changes as well. Since of these life changes is weight loss I decided to take a good, hard look at all the costumes and clothes I have in my closet and decided what I should do with them. Most of them I decided to keep, but not use or wear again, but others I decided to remake. I also found some dresses and skirts I loved, but believed I could make out of better fabric or fit better than they did when I made them.

Since I plan on blogging about my progress while making some of my clothes and costumes, I decided to dedicate a post about what I plan on making and blogging about in the coming year. 🙂

Continue reading “2017 Personal Sewing and Costume To-Do List” →

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

Published on by essieofwho

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.

Continue reading “Rey’s Star Wars The Force Awakens Costume- Part 1” →

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.

Continue reading “Elsa’s Frozen Fever Dress-Part 2” →

Elsa’s Frozen Fever Dress-Part 1

Published on by essieofwho

A few months ago, I planned on going to Phoenix Comicon 2016. I ended up not going because I wanted to take care of my ill family member, but when I was planning on going I decided to make and wear Elsa’s dress from Frozen Fever…

Elsa Frozen Fever

I recently just finished the main dress, so I thought I’d talk about how I made it and what it looks like done! Continue reading “Elsa’s Frozen Fever Dress-Part 1” →

Anna’s Coronation Dress- Finishing the Skirt

Published on by essieofwho

After what feels like forever, I can now finally make the last post about the skirt for Anna’s coronation dress! You can read my other posts about the skirt here and here.

I’m not going to lie, I’m very happy this skirt is done. I was getting very tired of working on it and seeing it around my house. Now that it’s done, I can work on long list of to-sew projects that keeps growing every week. (Most of them are repairs or adjustments to clothes so you won’t see them here on my blog. Especially since they are uninteresting and boring. 😉 )

Continue reading “Anna’s Coronation Dress- Finishing the Skirt” →