For the first time ever, I did a professional photo shoot for one of my costumes. I am beyond happy with how the photos came out. A huge shout out to Caroline Belge Photography for the wonderful photos.
I just got back from an amazing weekend at Connecticon! I will post a re-cap of the weekend events later. But I really wanted to show you all the finished Anastasia costume. These are just a few of the photos that I had taken of me. I did a mini photo shoot and I am waiting to see those photos.
Photo credits by D Brooks Photo
Loved the sass in this photo! Photo credit shutupkristen
It is time for me to start adding in all of the little pieces of my costume. I am sure that I will be doing this for quite a while. The first thing that I did was add the detial to the circles on the dress. In the reference photos it doesn't show a pattern. But I felt like the dress needed a little sprucing up. I googled photos of Russian decals and came up with this.
There were 13 of these I had to do. Whew!
Next up was adding in the blue sash and jewel. It was a simple add to the costume, but it heighten the look of the costume.
Most of the dress is now done. It is just fine tuning the costume to make it fit like a glove. Now I just have to figure out how to sit in this dress. Hmmmm....
My what a busy week it has been for me. I do loathe having a real life job that cuts into my costume designing time. I was able to have a day off in between the craziness of the week. I sat down for a straight 5 hours to get the majority of my crown done. I have to say, I am kinda in love with my crown.
Believe it or not, I had to use hot glue to make the lines of the crown. There were a ton of lines to do. Not to mention that I would do a line with the glue then quickly press glitter onto it. After all that was done, I modge podged MORE glitter to the crown. I think I will be eating glitter for weeks after this project.
The only thing that I don't like about the crown is that I made it a tiny bit big. So now I have to figure out a way to add padding to the crown so that it doesn't slip off my head mid-convention.
This weekend I wanted to start on my crown for the Anastasia costume. I could have waited until it was close to the convention...but I love crowns! I mean, who doesn't love looking in the mirror and seeing a bright shiny object on your head.
This photo amuses me. The crown is suppose to be "crystal", but because I am a poor working girl I use glitter. Hence "Faking it for the Camera". No? Not funny? Well, it was in my head.
Today my day was spent cutting out many many circles for the bodice detail on my dress. There were 16 dots that I had to cut out and then hem. This is just the first step in the bodice detail. Next up for me is to hand stitch these dots to the dress. After that is the step that I am looking forward too. GLITTERIZING! I can't wait to make this dress sparkle!
In between doing all of these dots, I decided to work on my wig for the costume. I was tired of trying on my dress and not seeing the complete look. This is just a temporary styling of the wig so that I can try the whole costume on. While doing this I realized that I need to brush up on my styling skills. Anyone have any good tips and resources?
Guess what I just made guys.... a hoop skirt! It was a long process but it was so worth it. Just look how it flairs out my Anastasia costume! Just don't mind the see through hoops. I still have to make the pennifore for it.
Don't worry, I will go into detail later about how I made my hoop skirt. Let just say that I made it for under 40$. It will be a staple in my costume closet.
Who else is dying for spring to get here? I am tired of bundling up just to head out to my craft room. With cold fingers and toes, I was able to get some progress done on my Anastasia costume. Yay! The major points of the costume are now done. It is just time for some fine tuning.
Also, I tried on my wig today. It needs to be put up into a bum, but I couldn't resist trying it on.
This year for Connecticon, I decided to up my cosplaying. It was a fine line of picking a well known character and finding something unique that people will get. So I decided to go with a movie that I have love since I was a kid, Fox's ( yes, not disney. That gets me so mad) Anastasia. I am making her ballgown from later in the movie. It's the one below if you don't remember it.
Here is the first picture on the progress of the dress. Nothing special. Just a base dress. 
