The final stretch -Jane Porter WIP

by
No comments yet

With all these snow days here in CT, I was able to get a huge chunk of work done on my Jane Poter costume. Makes me wish I can quit my day job and just spend time in my studio.  A girl can dream. :)



And here it is. I'm so excited for this costume. This has been a great learning piece for me. With Anastasia it was the bare minimum with no lining or interfacing, all of my edges were unfinished ( I know all of you pro out there just shuddered). It was just a basic,yet huge, dress. With this costume I learned how to draft my own pattern, line the dress, and all of my edges are finished (yay). Not to mention I made my first bustle pillow. 

Now this bib thing was the bane of my existence for a week and a half. I drafted six different patterns to get one that would work right with the costume. At one point I thought I should make a paper mâché version of it. Boy that was one messy mistake. But practice does make a difference and the sixth version ended up being the perfect one. 


I had many ideas on how to make the bib close. I finally went with one that was more Victorian to go along with the costume. As you can see, I went with the classic buttons. 

All that is left for me to do are all of Jane's accessories. More on that later. ;)

See you on the other side of the snow!
Amanda 

No, I'm not dead

by
No comments yet


Welcome to 2015! Hope your new year is treating you well! Mine is going better now that everyone in my household is now over being sick. There was a point where all of us were down for the count starting at Christmas. Lots of orange juice was consumed to battle the virus. 


Now that I am all healthy, I started working on my Jane costume for Connecticon 2015. I will have to say that it is very nice to get back in my sewing room. 


I couldn't find any blouse pattern for the top of the costume. I truly searched and searched but could not find one. So it came down to me having to draft my first pattern. Yieks!  But it was a good learning tool for me. I was able to see how certain lines tailor the top beautifully.  Before, I never really paid attention to what I was constructing. Now I will be more aware of how patterns work. 



The first image was my draft/scratch top that I made using an old t-shirt that I loved as a pattern. For the sleeve I had to do some research on to see how to create that poof in the arm. The sleeve choice that I decided on was called a "leg of mutton". I'm not joking. That is really what the sleeve is called. Thankfully there was a tutorial out there that showed me how to create this look. And presto! The leg of mutton sleeve is done. 


Ta-da! The main part of the blouse is complete. I still have some minor tweaks to do to the lines for the chest.  All in all, I feel this is my favorite piece of clothing that I have made. I made everything from scratch including the pattern. It was a big step for me in my journey in costuming. 


Hope you are enjoying your year so far!

Planning for Connecticon 2015

by
No comments yet

In the costuming world, it is never too early to start thinking about the next convention's costume choices. I am one of those people who don't like to leave anything until the last minute. I did that with Rhode Island Comic Con and I forgot a ton of stuff ( like my actual dress). So here I am in November, plotting out my costume choices for the next convention.


My next dream costume ( the first being Anastasia) is from a movie that I loved dearly as a kid. Even though I skipped though all of the scary parts in the beginning of the movie. My main costume is going to be Jane from Disney's Tarzan.  I can't tell you how excited I am to be doing this costume finally. Here are my costume resource pictures.


I think I have a thing for yellow dresses. Hmmm... :)

It is nice to have three costumes on my plate for the cold Connecticut months that I have ahead of me. Keep checking back to see my progress on these costumes!