Curiouser and Curiouser

Worn a couple of different ways. =)

I wanted a nice, long tea skirt. I also wanted to work with Japanese fabrics. I thought "Let's go to a place that sells fabric, maybe they'll have some interesting prints."

HOLY. CRAP.

Not only do they have prints, they have prints, man! And of every color and thing you can imagine. Tons and tons of flower patterns. Color blocks. And the colors here are intense, like looked-directly-at-the-sun-for-a-second-now-visible-spectrum-all-screwy intense. Especially red, gold, and pink. Those are the big guys.

Anyway, the place I went (a department store in a mall, except they don't have walls in the shopping centers here, just a bunch of stores out in the open on each floor and it's super neat) was cool enough to put little maps on the price tags of each section, telling you which region the fabric came from. Some from Hokkaido, some from Aomori, and a bunch of traditional Okinawan fabrics (which are really goddamn bright, let me tell you). And of course, cartoonishly bright novelty prints. Just try to stop me from making a bright yellow Power Rangers party dress once I get a pattern.

But I fell in love with this super bizarre linen-y blend that was patterned with deer, birds, rabbits, squirrels, etc. and grabbed a couple yards. It's so light! And I grabbed a polyester shell fabric because, since it's so light, it's just the teeeeniest bit see-through. And I love me some colorful underwear.

I heavily modified a beginner-friendly skirt pattern that _dragonwolf_ had made a red silk dupioni from as well as my own earlier quick version to see how the pattern suited me. I made some heavy modifications: added pockets, made the waistband thicker, used loose pleating instead of gathers, shifted it down to hip-hugger, added liner, made it tea-length. Made the pattern from scratch - my body don't fit nobody's sizes.

If you'd like to make your own, I highly recommend either following along with _dragonwolf_'s posts on the subject or using the original pattern! I did take a few pictures along my process (labeled!) that give you a better view of the print and what I did. =)

Please excuse my ugly stitching. It's functional, I swear.

( WOODLAND. CREATURES. )

I always hated how polyester and satin pucker with stitching, so I just hemmed the lining with the super-efficient Japanese version of Stitch Witchery, which works/looks great.

So yes, it is incredibly comfortable and I'm super in love with it. It took me a couple hours, hand-stitching everything, shopping time not included.

Feel free to ping me about my methods, how-tos, whatever! I'm happy to share. =)

Moral of the story: POCKETS IN EVERYTHING

I decided to try sewing from a pattern for the first time ever. I've been lamenting my lack of a good wrap dress for as long as I can remember, so I picked up Crepe from Colette Patterns. It's adorable, easy, and lightweight, so... why not?

I stopped by the fabric store and stood drooling over the silks for half an hour before remembering that this is my first time sewing from a pattern, and cotton is breathable too. So I picked out a really cute olive green toile and matching khaki for the waist tie.

Although there were some dragging parts (AGH CUTTING OUT PATTERN PIECES AGH), it went pretty quickly. Fusible interfacing is your friend. Your best, very best friend.

I started the dress at about 6pm, and worked on it on and off until about 3am, so... from absolute start to finish, 9 hours? I think, in the future, it should only take me 3 or 4.

First off, the skirt and back is super comfy (huge pockets!) but I hate the way the neckline looks on me. It makes my boobs look even bigger, if that's possible. I'm not sure what I'd do to it (lower it, maybe? Cut it up?) but the sweetheart neckline is just as bad. Looks great on other people, not so much on me.

The cotton is super flowy and lightweight, though, so I'd love to make another cotton version. Maybe a bigger, bolder print, like a floral. And move the pockets up a few inches.

But seriously. Neckline veto.

( Images below the cut. )

Verdict: Easy, comfy, would definitely make modifications next time.

Edit: As requested, pictures (albeit crappy, makeup-less, impromptu) pictures of me in the dress.

( Fotoz. )

My subconscious drove me to buy pencil lead and an eraser the other day. And my hand has been sketching out details on scrap paper for hours now.

Apparently, I'm drawing again.

I'm making these for like, eight people this year. I'm calling them snuggle collars - they button shut to make that kind of collar, or can just be a normal scarf.

The outside is this really nice fleece, and the inside is super-plush microfiber. It's so soft. I want to make an entire bed set out of it. The brand is called "Ultra Cuddle Plush," and seriously lives up to its name.

( Here's another one, this time pea green with brown paisley lining. And the collar up. )

Making them is fairly easy in construction, but microfiber plush SHEDS EVERYWHERE. Also, trying to sew buttonholes by hand? Not so easy, but not as bad as I'd thought. And I chose the buttons to match/compliment the fleece. Button shopping is SO MUCH FUN. ZOMG. The one above is for my hippie mother.

Anyway, I'm really happy with how it came out. I might need to make myself one.

SO. SOFT.

So, the costume I made for the Al-Ashtara game also doubled as a great halloween costume, especially as one of my favorite characters ever, Scheherazade. So I called up one of my favorite photographers and he was all for it. =) The waterfall was awesome, especially because I could pretty much climb right on top of the rocks at low "tide," as it were.

And I love that book.

( Photos below the cut. )

I think I should make one of these into an icon. Any favorites? Not necessarily for an icon, but in general? I tried some new things with this set.

...because all I could think of during this shoot was Ace of Base.

Anyway, here's the finished Vampire Disney Princess dress! I grabbed some accessories and pulled together hair and makeup, but the top hat was in the trunk of her car from the steampunk/fetish night at a club she'd been doing promos for. =) This is also the goth-iest thing I've ever shot - good thing she knew what she was doing.

I <3 Charlie. When I was joking about her waiting for her prince-on-a-white-horse, she muttered that it better be a "2009 or better" horse.

( Pictures under the cut! )

What do y'all think? Looking at them, I think I like 4, 6, 8, and 10.

I definitely wanted to see this dress on a model. So I posted a casting call, sorted through the 50+ responses, and found a girl with not only the right sizes, but the right attitude and the right look.

Gina-Marie said she was available that day, loved the dress, and would let me do anything I wanted to her hair and makeup.

Win.

So, I did her hair up in a loose tuck with a few curls falling down, did her makeup in golds and reddish browns, put her in my great-grandmother's jewelry, and laced her into the dress. She was a fantastic sport, and awesome to work with. When I said I was going to make an anti-lightbox, she was totally for it and worked the space wonderfully.

The setup for the first set of shots is a set of three bookshelves turned around, their backs making a blackout box, an old curtain, and a christmas garland of 72 feet of pearls taped up and around. It was awesome.

And then we spent an hour at the old stone church. We even had a little story going about the character she adopted, which definitely showed her enthusiasm. =)

( More under the cut! )

I'm so proud of how the dress and the photos came out. This is my first model shoot with the new camera - even more in love now.

I <3 my model. We work well together - definitely going to nab her again sometime.

(But now I can sell the monstrosity!)

I have a great idea for a pair of amazing dresses. Big, girly, gorgeous dresses. I could probably get them both done in a matter of days.

Except I need to work on elenuial's game, since it needs to be finished by next week. And has a 1000-word-per-sheet maximum, which is harder for me than the 3500-word sheets for Leash.

I've totally lost steam on the gear dress (no pun intended). I'll do my best, but I think it'll be a case where I go "There, done" to keep myself from overdesigning.

Agh, I want to make them before my motivation goes away...

(as a random note: whoever sent me the puppy as an LJ gift, thank you! It totally brightened my morning.)

Things I am working on right now, in mission briefing form:

Operation Make Calcifer Eat: Calcifer's refused food for about a month now. Could be he's not going to eat because it's cold, or maybe he feels that the pinkies are too freezer burned. Whatever the case, I've turned the tank heat up and brought home some used mouse bedding from work. So now he's warm, and his food will hopefully smell more appealing. Fingers crossed!
Howl doesn't care. He's like a hoover.

Operation Own a Dog: Have talked to and been approved by (!!) a Papillon breeder. She raises horses and working papillons, something that I find intensely appealing. Several thousand dollars in reserve (vet bills mostly, initial dog cost is low for a pet-grade dog), name on list for her next (december-ish) litter. Still to do: approve dog plan with roommates and landlord (a discussion that will be accompanied by numbers and written plans and probably will not be for a month or two at earliest) and consider getting a job as a vet tech. I would like to have the job change happen smoothly before bringing the dog into my life.

Operation Write a Game for Intercon: Um, slow but steady progress? I've sent out questionnaires and gotten responses from half of the players, with only a few people having personality conflicts with other players so far. It'll make casting a lot easier this time around. And elenuial has started writing with me, so this should go a lot faster! My goal is to have casting done by Valentine's day and all writing done... before Intercon.

Operation Steampunk Wedding Dress: I've decided to go ahead with this one. I got 72 feet of strung faux pearls for $3 the other day, and have *perfect* clock gears with which to make molds. I have a couple designs in mind, one of which involves a cream leather underbust corset that cinches shut with big gold buckles in back. And all involve ridiculous amounts of lace and tulle undercoat. Trouble is, I don't know what size to make the dress, as it's not actually being made with anyone specific in mind, so I'll probably make it fit me and take it in/extend the corset if necessary.

Operation Cyberpunk Evening Gown: I love fetishwear as eveningwear. I want to make a big, puffy ballgown covered in latex tubing and bright candy pink biohazard symbols. If the wedding dress is a success, then this will have a better chance of happening.

Operation Get a Better Job: Started networking among the local vet practices. A lot of them will be hiring come April, when many of their grads will be moving on to either DVM school or their residencies will be done, and although I'm hoping to get in sooner than that, PetS* isn't a bad place to work, all things considered. I get to work with dogs, the pay might not be great but it's enough to let me put quite a chunk aside, and the hours are pretty flexible. Still, working as a vet tech can bring me a lot more, I think, and I think I'll be better for it.

Operation Clean the Apartment of Clutter: Not a lot of space and a lot of junk. Tomorrow, I'm going to go get huge Rubbermaid tubs for the following (for starters!): costume bits, rarely-used craft supplies, broken/obsolete electronics, and whatever else needs moving. Then they'll sit in the basement or attic until needed, but they'll be GONE from my living space!

I think that's about it for now. If I have the time and/or energy, a real life update is long overdue.

New LJ theme!

Still fussing around with how to get rid of/change those freaking subject line images, but my old layout was wiped and I've been meaning to whip up a new one.

I usually don't like green, but I think that this one's growing on me. =)