Roarin' 20's Homage

With "The Great Gatsby" hitting theaters this weekend, it's the perfect time to do a 1920's themed photoshoot. And with spring finally hitting the Midwest, we had enough light and warmth to actually conduct one! 

Photographer: My Sister

Model: Elizabeth Hausladen (Me)

Skirt: Original Creation

Cloche Hat: Target

Pumps: Target

Blouse: JCPenneys

Pearls (fake): Great-Grandmother's

Editor: Elizabeth Hausladen (Me)

Happy 200th Post! (A Look Back)

Well I am sitting down to write my 200th post here... wow. What a journey this blog has taken me on! I started it just 20 months ago, when I was embarking on a new college adventure that was supposed to lead me to a degree in fashion design. Health issues intervened, and I ended up back home and too ill to get much sewing done, so I turned to blogging about costumes I loved. To my surprise, these posts got readers who found my thoughts on costuming really interesting... and that encouraged me to write more! Then one day I got an inquiry about recreating Regina's Seafoam Riding Coat from "Once Upon a Time" and as I documented that project, the internet suddenly seemed to decide that I was the go-to person for costume commissions of a "Once Upon a Time" flavor. Before I quite knew what was happening, I had a full time job on my hands and blog posts getting 10,000+ hits.

To say I was not prepared would be an understatement.

 I just finished doing my most detailed recreation yet... Padme's wedding dress from Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. It was over 60 hours of labor and I cannot wait to show you all of the photos from the project. It was frankly rather surreal. Here I am, making a living doing what I love best, and not because I planned it. I am so very, very blessed.

 So this post is both a look back and a major thank you to everyone who has clicked on this page, whether you ordered a costume, left a comment, or just were another viewer to lift me up on the Google search engine. I am so grateful to you all, and hope to continue providing enjoyable, informative and inspirational content for a long time to come. Here's to another 200 posts... and more!

Homestuck - Witch of Life

It's always an interesting challenge when I get a commission for a costume in a fandom I am not apart of. Then I really have to rely on my customer to tell me what details are important or not.

I'd heard of the Homestuck fandom, but didn't know much about it. However when my client sent me the above pictures and asked if I could create this costume, I had to say yes! The jacket alone is beyond cool, and I loved the combination of ruffles and beads.

Finding the tan fabric was a bit tricky, but I did find this (sateen, I think) in the home decor department of JoAnn's.

To create the pattern, I modified an existing pattern that I got for $1 on sale. My customer happened to be local, so she was able to come for two fittings, which was very helpful for creating a plus-sized costume. After marking my changes on the lining, I cut, trimmed, picked apart, and laid out the pieces on the sateen to cut the actual outside of the jacket.

Sharp and snazzy, no?

I'd purchased three yards of the tan fabric so that I would have enough for all of the ruffles on both the jacket and dress. They required different widths, so I cut them and labeled them with sticky notes to keep all the pieces organized while I assembled them.

At this point I came down sick again, but was able to still attach the ruffles and beads.

We had a bit of a trial getting fabric for the dress. Originally we had a gorgeous purple and gold striped piece that we wanted to use, but I didn't order it fast enough due to the migraine attacks in March, and so we had to settle for a plain purple. Thankfully my client was extremely gracious and understanding about this!

I just adore the combination of beads and ruffles!

At this point we were down to the 11th hour, and both my assistant and I were working frantically to get the dress done in time for my client's convention. Again, this was due to the migraine attacks screwing up my work schedule. We did get it done, however, but there aren't many pictures from the later half of the construction!

I was quite happy to be able to install grommets rather than eyelets. There is also a piece of boning on each edge to keep the lacing flat.

Despite the rush at the end, I think the costume turned out well and my client was happy with it. She's allowing me to share these pictures of the finished cosplay. Unfortunately I don't know who the photographers are - if one of these is yours, please let me know and I'll credit them properly!

C2E2 - Friday Costume Report

Costume extravaganza! This is only a tiny smattering of all the amazing cosplayers at C2E2...

My friend Jason as Tony Stark

Myself (Lorna Dane/Polaris) with an awesome Captain Marvel!

Impressive Nova Costume (thanks Matt for the ID!)

Jason with Lady Deadpool and She-Hulk

Classic Batman Group

There were SO MANY Doctor Who cosplayers! This was the only Oswin I found though!

Rockin' Star Wars peeps

Snazzy My Little Pony group!

J. Jonah Jamison!

Peter Parker! (he asked to take my picture first!)

Terrific Spike cosplay!

Tony Stark and Tony Stark

Me with my friend Mazzie as Rogue! (love her costume!)

Alicia and Mazzie with a Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch.

See more photos and a detailed write-up of the day over at my personal blog!

Cosplay Interview - Meg

I'm friends with a lot of people who love to pull together amazing cosplays. Every now and then I get to interview one of them... this time it's my friend Meg, who pulled together a simple but very effective Amy Pond cosplay that I'm in love with!

E: So, how did you decide to cosplay Amy Pond, and what made you pick this particular costume?

M: Well, I always really loved Amy. She's Scottish. I'm Scottish. She has red hair. I have red hair. She loves wearing nail polish, I love wearing nail polish.....she's a huge flirt, I'M a huge flirt! And she gets Rory.....and let's face it. Rory's like the coolest guy ever. Who WOULDN'T want him for a hubbie?! The only problem I was faced with was that as much as I loved her, Amy's outfits weren't exactly my style....ESPECIALLY those skirts! Whoo! Way too short for me, thanks! That's why I was SO EXCITED when I watched 'Dinosaurs on a Spaceship' because FINALLY there was a costume that I wanted to do that was fun, and modest. That's why, when I found that amazing sweater in Forever 21, I went: YES! AMY! I can do Amy! And kinda went from there with getting the wig and the nail polish and stuff.

E: Where did you get the pieces for your costume? Any place you'd recommend for hard to find items?

M: As mentioned above, I found the sweater at Forever 21. The jeans were just normal skinny jeans you'd get anywhere.......my wig I got at arda-wigs.com It was the 'Ferrari' wig in the 'dark copper red' colour. It was about 35 dollars....and then the nail polish I got at target. Same with the shoes.


E: What sort of reactions did you get at the con? Any funny stories?

M: Hahahaha.........everyone loved my Amy! I was the only Amy from that episode, so that was pretty great. I went with a group. There was me, my friend Andy went as The Doctor (11, of course!) and my friend Jenna went as Idris/Sexy. She got a BUNCH of reactions from fans!

E: How 'in character' are you?

M: Ha, I wish I could be more Amy-ish...but my Scottish accent is horrible!

E: Have you cosplayed before? Tell us about that.

M: Yes. I have cosplayed before...for midnight showings of movies and at Detour last year. It's so much fun. I love dressing up. I think that's the theatre major in me! I love doing unique characters/costumes that not many people see. For instance, last year at Con I was The Painted Lady/Katara from Season 3 of 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' and I was the ONLY one......I felt super awesome and special and got a LOT of picture requests. It was awesome!

E: What is your next cosplay adventure going to be?

M: My next? Oooh.......well, I'm planning on trying to do a Ms. Marvel costume based off your re-design drawing for CONvergence in July. I'm also planning on repeating Amy (and Wendy from Gravity Falls!) and I hopefully might be doing (a more modest version!) Irene Adler from Sherlock.....or possibly Merlin......I've got a few ideas!

Thanks for sharing, Megs! I'm really looking forwards to seeing that Ms. Marvel cosplay... let me know if you need any help!

Stay tuned for more awesome cosplay as I report live from C2E2 in Chicago this weekend!

Storm's Make-Over for X-Men: Days of Future Past

While I have my reservations about this film (plotwise), I have to say I am liking the redesign they're giving Halle Berry's Storm. It's closer to her comic costume, while still remaining believably functional on screen. Below is our first look at it, as tweeted by director Bryan Singer today.

For contrast, this is the costume Storm has sported in the comics for the past several years.

Things Beginners Want to Know: Part 1 (or SPG Rabbit Vest Questions)

Hello Anonymous! I don't know if you are still following this blog, but I've held off on answering your questions because I felt they deserved a proper post.

on SPG Rabbit Vest - Part 2, by Anonymous on 3/31/13 i'm still very new to the sewing business. did you make two copies of everything? like, a layer for the inside and the outside? how did you piece them together?
oh, and another question i had was how did you connect the red trimming without showing seams? thank you!

Yes, Anon, the inner layer is called the 'lining' and covers the raw edges of the outer layer and gives the whole garment a more finished look and stability. I also used a third layer of a stiff white material called interfacing to add further stability (always an issue when doing buttons).

The red trimming is called "bias binding" and was sewn right sides together on the outside, then folded over and stitched in place with invisible stitches on the inside.

Since my blog is more for advanced sewing, I linked each of the terms to a website/blog that has a good informative post/entry on the subject that I think will help you. I also recommend taking a look at This Book as a inclusive way to learn everything you need to know to begin sewing.