Costume College 2014

My one big event each year, that all my costuming revolves around, is Costume College. In this one event I learn all sorts of new things, I am inspired by almost every costumer around me, I catch up with old friends, meet new people, and I get to play dress up all weekend long. I'm not sure there is much more I could ask for out of an event.

This year my Costume College vacation started after I completed my last final for the Summer semester. Despite needing the full class time for my final, an accident and the resulting traffic we got to the fabric district around 1300. I have a love-hate relationship with the fabric district. I love all the fabrics that can be found but hate the process of finding them. That process is always extremely draining to me. This year was no different but I did find a few perfect fabrics for a couple projects I have planned

The brown and beige wools are going to become a bicycling outfit.

The navy blue fabric is a nice lightweight linen. I don't have specific plans for it yet, but I think it would work well for Ren faire.

The lilac colored silk taffeta is for my next big project, a Game of Thrones dress.

I also found two feathers that have no purpose but to look pretty with.

Costume College's official start is Thursday with registration and the pool party. I decided against wearing anything because of how drained I was feeling.

Friday I re-wore my chemise gown from last year. It was probably the best choice I could of made because its easy to wear, and I was still wiped out from the day before.

A first for me this year was teaching at Costume College. I taught a class on how to make Death head buttons. I know I was visibly shaking I was so nervous but I had a lot of positive feedback. It was worth the anxiety for me when at the end of the class a couple different students approached me with their completed buttons.

 If you were in the class and have any suggestions I would love to hear them. It was requested of me during the class to put my class info online. My goal is to have a tutorial up as soon as possible.

For the Ice Cream social I was going to wear Captain America again but decided against it. I was hot and wore out by that point, and knew if I took one costume off I wouldn't be putting on another. Thankfully my friends rock and they helped me re-accessorize my wig so I had a different evening look.

During the day on Saturday I again chose not to wear a costume. The heat really got to me this year! I know it was the best choice though. I was able to recharge my batteries, attend a couple classes and enjoy the Gala without feeling tired. 

I wore Phase 1 of my Robe de style to the Gala. I really like this dress and cannot wait to finish it. I think one of the best parts of wearing this dress is taking pictures with the other Robe de Style wearers.  I'm crossing my fingers that the pictures that were taken on the vintage Brownie camera come out. How cool would that be?!?!?!?

Photo from Gina White

 

I finished out Costume College on Sunday by wearing my Victorian Explorer costume. I'm glad I postponed wearing it. It felt at least 10 degrees cooler that day. I also had two limited classes so I was off my feet for most the day. 

Photo from Gina White

This year I did extend my vacation a few days to spend more time with friends and visit some of the local museums.

Now that I have finally caught up on sleep and most of my stuff has been put away I am left with the ideas and inspiration that Costume College always brings. Stay tuned! I plan to get started soon.

Happy 4th of July!!!!

I hope everyone has a fun, relaxing and creative weekend!

Motivation for fighting a Mundane Monday

Week of June 30, 2014

Mondays can often be downers. It’s the beginning of yet another work week. That’s 5 whole days before you’re free, be it to craft and create or to attend the next event. But instead of letting the weight of a new week stifle my creativity or energy I’ve collected some links to use as inspiration. I’m sharing them here to give you a little Motivation for fighting Mundane Mondays.

1. A Damsel in this Dress posted the step by step process of how she created her Katherine of Aragon inspired Tudor gown.

2. Jennifer from Festive Attyre shared a Regency Turban Cap Tutorial. This seems so much easier and I am sure will have more attractive results, then trying to wrap something around my head.

3. While she was poking fun at the hecticness that is the month or so leading up to Costume College, I got a good laugh at Time Traveling in Costume's post. Tornadoes would be a good excuse.

4. I love clever ideas that don't require high tech items. Katherine from The Fashionable Past has one such solution for transferring patterns. Who knew a Pyrex dish and a cellphone flashlight would work!!!

5. Fashion through History provides a step by step guide to how she made an 1850s shaped crinoline.

6. A Damsel in this Dress also has a 3 part series on looking the part. Undergarments, Make up and Hair, and Accessories. 

I'll leave you with a few teaser pictures of what I have been up to this week.

And the picture I have been studying to help make the dress that will go with those shoes.

Motivation for fighting a Mundane Monday

Mondays can often be downers. It’s the beginning of yet another work week. That’s 5 whole days before you’re free, be it to craft and create or to attend the next event. But instead of letting the weight of a new week stifle my creativity or energy I’ve collected some links to use as inspiration. I’m sharing them here to give you a little Motivation for fighting Mundane Mondays.

Week of June 23, 2014

1. Because I was sick last week I completely forgot to mention this blog. WearWhenWhy posted some research and progress she has done on some beetle wing embroidery. I have eyed this type of embroidery on Civil War era dresses for some time. Something about the contrast of the green beetle wings against the white fabric makes me giddy. But the fear of a whole new era has kept me away. After reading her blog post, and searching through Pinterest again, I decided to take the plunge and start a practice piece. A dress may not be in my near future but a bag will be.

2. Shear Madness's Challenge #3 ends in a week. Challenge #3 is all about Costumes made from items not normally found in a Fabric store. While I couldn't think of anything clever to meet this challenge I am looking forward to seeing the entries of those who did enter!

3. I stumbled across this website of Lolita type Cosplay aprons and outfits by accident, but am happy I did. It looks like it might still be in start up mode but I hope it takes off. So much cuteness!!!

4. The Pragamatic Costumer shared how she took a generic Big 3 'Historical' pattern, Simplicity 3723, and with a few tweak was able to get "a fairly decent bustle silhouette".

5. Have you ever thought you've seen a costume from a movie somewhere else? You probably have! Hollywood liked to recycle its costumes. This tumblr link shows several costume and costume pieces and where they have been reused.

This week's Mundane Monday will be a little short. My brain is being overloaded from Quadratic Functions. There is little room for much else besides solving for vertexes and x or y. 

I promise my weekends are full of creativeness and I should soon have pretty things to share. :)

Motivation for fighting Mundane Mondays

Week of June 16, 2014

Mondays can often be downers. It’s the beginning of yet another work week. That’s 5 whole days before you’re free, be it to craft and create or to attend the next event. But instead of letting the weight of a new week stifle my creativity or energy I've collected some links to use as inspiration. I’m sharing them here to give you a little Motivation for fighting Mundane Mondays.

1. The Dreamstress has a reoccurring feature on her blog that I look forward to. Rate the dress is where she shares a different dress/outfit that she tells a little about and asks her readers to vote on. I enjoy seeing various different and often times new to me, dresses.

2. Do you want unique one of a kind shoes? Or at least not ones that look exactly like everyone else's who bought from the same source you did? American Duchess shoes how you can customize a pair of her Pompadours.

3. Katherine from the Fashionable Past shared another 1920s undies tutorial. This time a silk and lace Envelope Chemise. A girl can never have to many pretty undergarments.

4. Loren over at The Costumer's closet has been sharing her beading progress on her GoT dress. She finished one motif and posted a picture of it pinned on her dress. I LOVE the gold embroidery contrasted against the dark gown.

5. I had seen Morgan Donner's Ascension Day project pinned on Pinterest before but I just found her blog. Oh My Gosh!!!! Soooooo many pictures, so much research. Forgive me while I get lost in her blog for awhile.

6. Tyranny of Style shares an article about Disney World's Festival of Fantasy Parade's costumes. I found the use of a 3-d printer interesting and of course loved all making of and final product pictures.

Picture of my kitty helper because I lack any sewing update pictures for this week. Sorry I'm slacking this week I caught a nasty bug over the weekend.

Motivation for fighting a Mundane Monday

Week of June 9, 2014

Mondays can often be downers. It’s the beginning of yet another work week. That’s 5 whole days before you’re free, be it to craft and create or to attend the next event. But instead of letting the weight of a new week stifle my creativity or energy I've collected some links to use as inspiration. I’m sharing them here to give you a little Motivation for fighting Mundane Mondays.

1. Working on various projects over the weekend I kept going back to my Pinterest boards for inspiration. The boards I kept referencing were the Cosplay, 20s, and 18th century boards.

I was happy to find more than one extant example of a hat with bows like this. I have seen it on re-enactors and thought it was super cute.

2. American Duchess has a new Edwardian style up for pre-order. The Savorys are a multi-strapped beaded beauty.

3. Demode's 18th century hair and wig styling book has hit the publishers. You can still pre-order it, and its due to ship out mid-July. She even has a preview of a few pages.

4.  Loren has been sharing her progress with her GoT Cersei's gown. I like watching as it comes together and am grateful she is sharing her critics and tweaks to the Simplicity and McCall patterns.

5. After seeing this tutorial on smooth beading I was reminded of a similar tutorial made a few years by Jenny Rose. I decided to refresh myself with it and then got lost on her other beading pages.

6. Katherine released a tutorial reproducing a 1920s combination based off an antique she has in her collection.

7. Another tutorial I bookmarked to use later was A Damsel in this Dress'es tutorial on How to make a Kirtle and Burgundian Gown.

8. There was a tutorial for Elsa's shoes I also found interesting. In the comments she does say she needs to find a way to keep them on better and that they are a bit uncomfortable, (but her friend didn't find them to be,) but its a wonderful starting point. And if I can't fix those problems they would still be super cute to wear for photo shoots, just maybe not to cons.

9. One of my GoT groups shared this site that has close ups of the costume's embroidery. I had seen some of the pictures before but this page is more extensive then most and there were quite a few I hadn't seen before.

10. When a fellow costumer shared a progress pic of embroidery she was doing with beetle wings, I was reminded of plans I had of doing some also. This also prompted some Google searches. My favorite inspiration was this tumblr page. 

Mundane Monday's Costumer Spotlight - Jen Thompson

Our next Costumer Spotlight is Jen Thompson.

What started you in costuming? What was your first costume? 

I have been obsessed with costumes since I was a little girl so it’s hard to pinpoint a true “first” costume, but the first costume that I actually sewed myself was made to wear to the Texas Renaissance faire while I was in college. My first few costumes were just wench bodices with hitched up skirts and flower wreaths, but they were the gateway costumes that inspired me to start researching historical styles and drafting my own patterns.

Many of us are not fond of our first few costumes when we look back on them, but can you tell me a couple things that you did like about yours? What about them inspired you to continue and make more?

I’ve never been overly judgmental about my first few costumes. Actually, I’m always a bit amazed by how fearless I was and how I jumped right into sewing some pretty complicated outfits right from the start. For example, my wedding dress was only the 3rd or 4th historical outfit that I had ever made, and attempting something that big and important with so little experience seems a bit insane to me now, but I somehow managed to pull it off. I’m a big believer in the whole “fake it until you make it” mentality, and even though my first costumes were held together with lots of hot glue and safety pins and they were FAR from historically correct, they made me feel beautiful, were tons of fun to wear, and my sewing skills and historical knowledge improved by leaps and bounds with every dress that I made, so that’s all that really matters.

When I started doing research into historical fashions your 1560 Venetian gown with the cutout sleeves was one of the first costumes I discovered. Will you share with us, why you choose to undertake that dress. Are there any interesting things you learned while making that dress?
I’ve always been a bit of a cheapskate when it comes to costuming, so I love figuring out ways to manipulate fabric and embellish it so that you end up with something really eye-catching without having to spend extra money on it. Cutwork in particular has always interested me because is very inexpensive and low tech to make, but it has a great wow-factor thanks to the high contrast and intricate patterns. All it takes is patience and time, and I discovered that working on repetitive patterns like this is actually very meditative and soothing. 

Renaissance faires are how I started costuming.  This was one of the first gowns that I came across when I started researching historically accurate costumes. It still wows me to this day.

What is your favorite costume of all that you’ve made and why?
Such a hard question! My answer would probably change depending on my mood, but right now, I think my favorite costume is my 1790s ikat open robe. It is a relatively simple dress, but it is so fun to wear. I adore fashions from the 1790’s, and the combination of the cotton print with the train and turban makes it feel somehow casual and glamorous at the same time. I’m pretty laid back with fashion in real life, so this dress feel more like “me” than some of my other more fancy outfits. 

 
Which  of your costume did you learn the most as a costumer and what did you learn?

I think I learned the most on my 16th c. Moroni outfit because it was such an ambitious project for me at the time in regards to research and techniques. I’ve always admired the historical concept of a “masterpiece” where you create a challenging and somewhat showy work of art to graduate from the journeyman stage and show the world that you have mastered your craft. I always looked at that dress as my own personal “masterpiece”, using the traditional meaning of the word. It’s one of the few dresses that I’ve ever made that I was completely happy with and wouldn’t change a thing about it. 

 
What inspires you most when choosing what costumes you want to make?

I seem to fall into two categories when it comes to inspiration. About half of the time, I fall in love with a particular fashion plate, painting, or surviving dress, and I am either trying to recreate that one dress, or maybe I’m working to create a very specific type of dress from a particular time and place. But I am also equally inspired by mental puzzles and difficult challenges, like the Historical Sew Fortnightly. I think my desire to recreate specific dresses shows my love of history and research, and my desire to work on challenges allows me to express my creativity and love of problem solving.

Are there any fields in costuming that you think are interesting or intimidating that you still want to learn? What about that specific part of costuming makes you want to try it?

I am totally blown away by people who make their own shoes, but I’m not sure if this is something that I will ever try myself. It seems so technically difficult that I can barely wrap my brain around the process. But I’m fascinated by the idea of making shoes, and I have AMAZING respect for the few costumers who can successfully create their own footwear. They are my idols!

Any big projects planned for the future that we can look forward to following and /or its big reveal?
I am hoping to make a 1900’s mourning outfit for the DFWCG’s Mourning Tea Party in October, which will require a whole new set of underwear and some fun experiments with new patterns and a giant Merry Widow hat of DOOM! ;) I love exploring eras from history that I haven’t worked with before, and I’ve never made a true Edwardian costume, so I’m really looking forward to learning some new things with that project.

And in true Mundane Monday fashion please share a couple links that you found interesting or inspiring this week. 

- All the Pretty Dresses – I think this is such a cool resource to supplement what you can find in museum databases. Best of all, a lot of these entries include photos of the insides of dresses, which helps you learn so much about construction techniques. I think Isabella is doing such a wonderful thing by collecting all of this information in one place.

- Kleidung um 1800 - Sabine is my research idol, and I love the way she blurs the line between hobbyist costumers and academics. Her articles on regency short stays are truly groundbreaking, and her Regency clothing always make me feel like I’m peeping through a window in time. She is amazing!

- Bunka Gakuen digital archive - this is my very favorite place for historical costume research and inspiration. I love this site like crazy and have spent hundreds of hours obsessing over the fabulous eye candy here.

You can follow Jen at her blog, Festive Attyre.

I am extremely grateful to each Costumer that agreed to be featured in a Spotlight. They helped the blog from falling into radio silence while I was busy with end of semester work. BUT finals are over and I can get back to using my energy towards creative things again. If you don't already, I would highly recommend following each of these ladies' blogs. They all inspire me on a regular basis with the many different, creative, and beautiful things they do.