Mind The Gap

To go with the skirt I finished last night, I put together a quick backless half top, with the shoulder caps of the sleeves removed. (A style sometimes referred to as a cold shoulder.)   These go together pretty fast (about an hour), but they are kind of boring, so I haven’t made any tutorials yet.

So, I started work on my costume for the Satchel’s show this month, wherein I will be wearing some awesome candy cane stripes.  I finished the skirt tonight!  To see a few more pictures and read some quick instructions on how to make this type of skirt, go check out the post on the dance site.

We were so busy in the kitchen today!

With a new serger to figure out, what better way to learn than to grab some clearance fabric and start messing around?  There’s no better way, if you ask me.

This dress came from an old pattern of my mom’s, with several modifications made on account of a) missing instruction papers and b) pattern alteration mistakes on my part and c) stretchier-than-the-pattern-intended fabric.  Even so, I like it quite a bit.  It’s comfy, and not too bad on the eyes either.

Ahh yeah.

I’m really pleased with this little outfit:

The skirt is a simple wrap skirt, made from around 2 yards of soft cotton that was left over from another project where I grossly overestimated.  The waistband and tie are moire left over from a corset and bustle set I did a few months ago.

This kind of wrap skirt is really easy, I think I might make one every time I have some bits of fabric to get rid of.

• Cut a waistband that’s about 1.5 times your waist measurement
• Hem the short edges of the skirt
• Pleat or gather the skirt fabric onto right side of the waistband
• Attach the ties to the waistband (remember to make one long enough to reach around the back and over to the side to tie with the other one!)
• Close up the waistband on the inside of the skirt (so that all the raw edges are encased inside the waistband)
• Hem the bottom
• Add a wide buttonhole for the tie to go through

The shirt was really easy too.  It was a dingy, slightly stained cream-colored top from Goodwill.  A package of teal Rit dye did the trick there, and it matches the little flower stems on the skirt almost perfectly.

Yesterday, Ryan and I joined the brother/in-law Ross and his girlfriend Jane for an outing to the Gainesville renaissance faire.  Since we didn’t have any rengarb, we opted to go as sightseers in Victorian garb.  I figured that if we were supposed to be ‘stepping back in time’ for a medieval faire, then it’s not such a stretch that we stepped back from the 1870′s, while everyone else stepped back from the early 2000′s.   Cheesy, but provides a valid excuse to dress however we (I) wanted to.  The rest of the crew were good sports so I didn’t have to dress up by myself, which I deeply appreciate.

Our initial arrival at the faire was rough.  The parking situation was insane and poorly managed.  We waited in a long line just to be turned around and routed back on the main road to go to overflow parking.  It might have been more efficient to put up a sign a few miles earlier and we (as well as several others) could have just gone to the overflow parking to begin with, which would have saved a major traffic backup of people going to the regular entrance, being looped through, then sent back out onto 39th ave.

After we got through that process, and managed to park, it was time to wait for a bus to get into the faire.  This was something of a free for all, with one person attempting to herd people into lines for each bus.  Overall, it was fairly quick once the herd of buses got back and picked up folks.  (All the buses seemed to move at once, rather than being staggered with 1 or 2 buses every few minutes.)

Once we made it in, the fair was pretty great!  Very crowded, with lots of people in costume, way more than I expected to see.  I highly recommend the Johnny Phoenix Danger Show (we’ve seen it both here and at the faire in Tampa) as well as the Barely Balanced acrobatic show (we had never seen it before).  There were several guests dressed as pirates, many of whom liked my hat, and I theirs, which was fun.  I want to make a pirate jacket some day, and more hats.

We bought fancy soda in big blue bottles so that the fellas can reuse them for beer.  I also picked up a pretty cameo and have been thinking about what to make to wear with it.  (It has some pretty gold and coral tones, I think it would look nice with dark brown, burgundy or purple, maybe with coral or a dark orange-y gold as an accent color.)

I’m also thinking about making something victorian involving pink and cranberry for Valentine’s day…maybe with a bunch of black as well…this would be particularly relevant if we go to Tampa again this year, I could wear it to the gothy club.  I have some awesome pink lace from old curtains that I could put to good use.

In the meantime I’m resuming work on the girl genius costume, which I’m pretty excited about.  I’m hoping to get all of the skirt done within the next week or so…even though that means figuring out how to make, and making, several clocks.  I did already plan how to attach them to the skirt and draw up the related diagrams, so at least that is done.

At the faire we learned about a convention (metrocon) in Tampa that’s going to have a steampunk theme this year, so we’re considering attending.  It would be a great chance to wear fun things.  On that topic, we did pass a group of gentlemen in attire that I feel is best described as gothic steampunk.  We nodded politely.

Being married now means I no longer have to worry about getting things done in time for the wedding, so I’ve been really enjoying spending the time instead thinking about things to make just for fun.

Well, the wedding is done! I was very relieved, and then immediately upon returning from the honeymoon caught a cold which I am still fighting.  The wedding pictures are here if you have not been forced to look at them yet.  LOOK AT THEM! NOW! GO!

Now that the wedding is done, I’m able to work on non-wedding projects again. (Ryan can no longer say ‘after the wedding’ as a means to deter me! BWAHAHAHA!!!…sorry, excuse my outburst.)

As such, I’ve started on a marvelous costume! Most likely to be worn at Dragon*Con 09. I’m working on a ballgown featured in the holiday special of a lovely webcomic known as girl genius (www.girlgeniusonline.com).

The gown itself is featuered here: http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20081215.  So far I have completed the base of the underskirt/forepart combo, and have completed the base of the corset. Most of what’s left is now creative decoration work, which will hopefully be the most fun!

Also, now that the wedding is over, I am thinking more seriously about the idea of taking commissions to sew things for people here and there, particularly costumes or more formal garments (my favorite things to work on are fancy things, you know).

To this end, I even ordered some business cards with my info that I can hand out the next time someone asks if I will sew things for money. The answer is yes, yes I will, at least if the thing you want sounds fun.

Also to this end, I am beginning work on gathering up a portfolio of pictures and such from things I have made in the past (and plan to make in the future). The start to this portfolio was found in the professional pictures from the wedding (where several of my items were featured). Just need to take the time to do up some content…

Fun times, fun times.

Each of my tattoos holds special meaning for me, although I didn’t always realize it at the time. They are a part of who I am, and something I’m proud of.

The first, a fairy star, the continuous movement of energy, with a waxing crescent moon in blue in the center. The moon symbolized both psychic awareness, and the maiden, the color, peace. This was my attempt to stay connected with you, though you had died three months before.

The second, a tramp stamp of a celtic knot with ivy wound upon it. The points of the knot represent earth, air and water. This was me trying to stay grounded and balanced, although at the same time I was reaching out for the desire and approval of men, to try to fill the void, and sense of abandonment I felt. You were still gone.

The third, the red dragon, the one you drew for me. When you gave it to me, you said it was inspired by the anger I had been carrying when we met. This time it represented the new anger I held at the world for taking you away.

Then, another tramp stamp, a four leaf clover on my hip. While still rooted in a need to feel wanted by men, this was also me trying to force myself into a persona that was happy and carefree. Well adjusted and moved past all that sadness and anger. Yup. Totally okay here people.

Some time later, I started on the phoenix on my back, an ambitious commitment, requirement many sessions over a few years time, and a lot of money I didn’t have when I started. It’s still not totally finished, although it no longer looks unfinished to those that don’t know the vision for the final piece. That first day, when I sat for just the outlines, it was my conscious decision to let you go, to heal, to conquer my circumstances. I still stumbled here and there, but with each session, I emerged with more ink added, and more weight lifted.

When I eventually reached a certain point, I was able to let someone else in, really, and not at arm’s length. After we’d been dating a while, we went on a small vacation, and I got a small tattoo, a skull on my finger. Sure, I like skulls anyway, but this was also me saying goodbye to you, and promising not to forget you.

A while later, he proposed, and I got another tattoo I’d been thinking about, a family of penguins. For me, this symbolized happiness (they are just so darn cute!) as well as teamwork, and ultimately, love. I’ve been fond of penguins since early childhood, and mentally associate them with good things. It all started with one little Christmas ornament from a catalog, which I loved as a toddler and carried around the catalog to show it to pretty much everyone. Despite its expense, my parents ordered it for me. Every time their tree goes up, I put that ornament on it. It’s a little penguin on a pair of skis, with a little scarf and hat. To a toddler of course it’s a pingle on sticks instead of a penguin on skis, but I did eventually get the pronunciation right.

Things go swimmingly with this new man. On a vacation to visit friends I get a new tattoo, this one a trio of orchids. I tend to gravitate toward designs in threes, it seems. I’m literally blooming again and ready to step into it and fully let myself believe it’s real, to love without constant fear it’ll all be gone in one instant, again. I think I chose orchids because my mother had at the time been really into them, she had loved you too, and was left to watch me mourn you.

Last night I had some more work done, a snowflake added to my wintery penguin scene. I have a few more sessions to go to add a couple more snowflakes and blend it all together. This piece marks my upcoming wedding. I also kind of see it as my last big step in cleansing all my old fear and sadness, my final test to pass.

He got his first tattoo last night, a decision on his part to mark the wedding and his own journey to this point. He was in good company with his brother and our friends. Although I’m very sad I was not there with him for it, I know that he did not take the decision lightly, and really understands the commitment of a tattoo, and I am proud.