Finding Sanity

Well, guys, convention season is over for the year, and I have to say I'm pretty relieved.  There's one more I could technically go to, but having just survived two cons in one month, no thank you. 

That said, my costumes were a  rousing success:

Right: Me, as Codex from The Guild

Left: Felicia Day, the real Codex from The Guild

I'm in ur base.

Both costumes posed their own unique sewing challenges.  Codex involved my first corset, and was patterned completely from scratch.  The X-Wing pilot should have been pretty straightforward, as it is ground that many have tread before, and 34 of the people who have tread said ground live in southern California.  However, and this is the ongoing problem with pieces I'm still trying to acquire, everything about the costume is too big for me.  I tailored that suit down substantially so it would not be a gigantic baggy mess, the flak vest is  2/3 the size of a standard flak vest, I'm not even wearing the compad I purchased because it curves too wide and makes my beautifully tailored sleeve poof out in really strange ways... yeah.  I'm really proud of how what I've finished has come out, but I've still got a ways to go.

So, back to normal clothing sewing right?  Well, yes, sort of.  I certainly want to put these costumes down for a little while, though the X-Wing might get a weekend where I just pound the last details out.  But any sewing this month has to be worked around National Novel Writing Month.  I'm on track after day 1, may likely get way off track, but could still come around for a big finish.  I definitely wrote 10k in a day once last year, so anything is possible.

On the docket for the next couple of weeks, though, are my Clover pants mockup, and a Sorbetto top.  I'm getting bias binding and maybe some buttons for the top this weekend, so we'll see how that goes.  I expect the top, at least, will be quick and easy.  The pants are going to require a muslin and adjustments, so that will be an exciting new adventure. :)

Busy busy busy

See that title? That is why nobody has really heard from me much in the last several weeks.  I'm still alive, but as I have mentioned before, right about now we're in the middle of our final push to finish the movie I've been working on for a year and a half now.

The good news is, I haven't shown up to work in pajamas yet, though when I roll out of bed in the morning the temptation is frequently strong.  I mean, I do have some pretty stylin' PJs, but I can do slightly better for work. 

Things that have changed in my wardrobe: not much.  My birkenstocks are my staple shoes, I've acquired one maxi dress that I really love, and today I am wearing the shortest pair of shorts I have owned in years and I don't think it looks terrible.  Of course, my day has mostly involved hanging around home, and now some sewing, so it's not exactly a rigorous day of getting out and doing things.

As for the curtains I mentioned in my last post?  I gave up after the third time I ordered the fabric, it just didn't come.  Sadness swept over the land, folks.  So I got myself a set of 96" burgundy blackout curtains, and one of them came in the mail today. :/  I am not having the best of luck with curtains- three tries and no luck on the fabric I wanted, and now only half my curtain set is mailed out?  I mean, how do you even do that?  Fortunately, the customer support folks at Overstock.com were very helpful, and will be shipping me the other half of my curtains sometime this week.  Also on its way is a slipcover for my comfy, but rather blah couch.  so, in the next week or so, my living room should look a whole lot better!

I've been sewing a lot lately, which is a good thing.  No new costumes yet, though I need to have one of those done by Friday (ha... ahahaha...), but I did try my hand at making real clothes!  It needs a few fixes, but here's my first attempt:

It's based on the Crepe pattern from Colette, which is my new favourite pattern and sewing site.  They have lots of tutorials, tips, and tricks, as well as a few free patterns.  They've got a set of mini bloomers there I have my eye on making when I can catch a breath, and their pattern shop is just full of so many amazing vintage inspired things, I just want them all. 

Next on the sewing docket: a 1920's flapper style dress.  I'm making it to wear to a party at work next week, and I have all the supplies.  I'm patterning it all myself, which is a first (yikes!).  All I have is a sketch on a post-it, my dress form, and a whole bunch of tailor's marking tools.  I'm working on the muslin tonight. which will probably double as the lining.  So far, I have a skirt, which I am so happy actually fit when I put it on.  Breathe one huge sigh of relief there.  Now I just have to do the top, which shouldn't be too hard.  I say this now, before I've started, of course.  But I do have a fair amount of confidence that I can get a workable muslin done tonight, which means I can get my actual silk cut and potentially even sewn tomorrow.  I did my best to keep it simple, but we'll see how that goes.  At least my accessories are done, and I broke down and got a wig because I realized I have waaay too much hair for a 1920's do.

So that's what I'm up to in the world of clothing lately.  I doubt I'll be back in any sort of regular fashion until sometime in October, after this project has finished, but I'll try to be less absent than I have been.