1950's Wedding Dress

I am making a wedding dress for a gal from the Chanhassen based on the above dress. I am so glad she picked this one because it was my favorite out of the 1950's patterns I found!

The neckline is so classy, and I will carve out the sleeves to make it sleeveless.

The wedding is in early September, so I only have a month to complete it. Go, Go, Super Stitcher!

New Look!

Gave the ol' blog a new look! What do you all think? A new title and everything.

I have not been keeping up with my vow to draw more... though I did do a few and they turned out rather better than I thought!

No more news on the costume front, though I plan on writing up on the new Harry Potter film (while trying to keep long winded rants to a minimum).

Also, more people should totally "follow" my blog :D

Drawing

I have decided that I am going to learn how to draw.

I have never been very good at it, and my costume renderings are never very detailed because of it.

I've also been inspired by looking at Makani's fanart, my desire to redesign the Harry Potter costumes, and Lea's amazing drawings of our Belly Dancing Disney Princesses :)

My goal is to draw at least one new thing a day to improve my skills. If any of you (ehhhm.. Lea..Lauren..) have any advice, please feel free to throw it my way!

I feel pretty! Oh, so pretty!

(Photo by Moments Shared Photography)

CONvergence was amazing! No wins, again.. Boo!

Pictured are the Hogwarts gals in their Yule Ball best!

Future Costumes planned: Belle Ballgown, Belle Blue, Jasmine, Alana (Ariel's Sister)- a functional mermaid costume, possibly Rapunzel.

What's with all the Disney, you ask?

MN Princesses and Company, a new costume and entertainment crew, devoted to walk in parades, socialize with enchanted children, and flounce about in pretty dresses. Look us up on Facebook!

Costumed Fantasy!

I recently watched two movies that, even if they were terrible, could be watched solely for the costumes. As it turns out neither were terrible, but I did like one more than the other for both costume and story.

From Costumes By Ally

From Costumes By Ally

Both amazing costumes! Colleen Atwood, who did Alice in Wonderland and many other Burton films, is one of my favorite designers. However, Beatrix Aruna Pasztor could give her a run for her money.

Alice in Wonderland:
The costumes were fantastic! Atwood's work always is. She has a very distinct style that I find quite appealing. Her period work is more inspired by the select time period spliced with her own eye for creativity and design. The designs are also complex (youtube costume link).

However, the design of the Mad Hatter I thought was a bit too much. There is a great flashback scene, where you see a bit younger Hatter while working for the White Queen. Both his hair and makeup in this scene better fit the character. I found the bright orange and the extreme pale face far too similar to that of a clown to make me comfortable... (I don't like clowns...)

The Secret of Moonacre:
My favorite of the two! This is a movie I would have been obsessed with between the ages of 8 and 12. Such a sweet story with fabulous costumes. This is definitely a costume movie based around a time period, set in a fantasy world.

The Maria's (The lead's) dresses have fantastic cage bustles in the back, but not underneath as you would think. The bustles are actually built into the dress! Each dress has beautiful embroidery, so intricate and detailed. I also found the men's styling to be intriguing, with Robin's (Evil De Noir's son) period, yet contemporary punk look. Not to mention the great scene when you get to see undergarments like the bum pad! All great costume movies have an undergarments scene!

Life, the Universe and Everything

So, the CONveregence masquerade did not go how I'd envisioned it. :( Our group didn't win anything and I worked well over two months solid on these costumes for this single purpose. However, the costumes photographed beautifully (photo below by Scott Traczyk off of Flickr)! Our skit was dead on ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnNfVZKmpmg )! We did a fantastic job, the best year yet (aside from the awards part...)!


Next year, the plan is the masquerade scene from the Labyrinth. However, someone mentioned the idea of belly dancing disney princess' and I LOVE this idea. Anyone interested in that? Maybe next year might be too soon, being that we did regular disney princess' in 2009 for the masq. But I have more ideas for the latter skit.

For those of you wanting me to make you costumes, let me know asap, cause I may get pretty busy in the next year!

Anyways, now that CONvergence is finished for the year, I should probably get to work on my WEDDING DRESS! I finished the pattern this evening, took apart the mock up and laid it out to get an idea of how much fabric I need for the skirt, lining and flat lining of the dress. Two yards more than I thought for each! Now I need a total of 14 yards! Let's hope I can find some decent and reasonably priced ivory silk at SR Harris!

I am in love with my dress and I am really excited (and nervous..) to start working on it.

Now for some awesome news! I have been offered a stitcher job at the Opera for the season! I am sooooo happy! I get to start work there in August, right after I finish my current build for the Chanhassen!

I'm a little sad that I may not be working on Jesus Christ Superstar at the Chan in the winter, but a steady job will be so nice! And I'll probably get to go back the Chan next summer when the Opera is in their off season (For HAIRSPRAY! So cool!)

I love my job :)

Wedding Dresses!

(Justin Alexander Dress- 2010)
Let me say, for the first time in this blog, I am obsessed with wedding dresses! Aside from prom, which tends to be tacky, a wedding gown is the only dress an average woman gets to where in this era that is completely extravagant. It can be a ballgown or a chic, slender silhouette. It's a combined fashion and costume. It can be as simple or as detailed as a bride desires.

I've made one wedding gown for a client so far, simple, but it turned out quite beautiful. I just used a commercial pattern to save on the cost of time. After that experience, I would love to do it again, but explore into designing them myself and perfecting detail work.

Now, I am working on my own wedding gown (mock-up image below). I am creating the whole pattern from scratch and have most of it completed. I just have to finish a few detail decisions. Like, whether or not to use tulle or chiffon in my skirt. Tulle is actually in right now, according to Brides.com. The top is completely lace, a lace which took some time to hunt down. Half the cost of a wedding gown is just the fabric...

I do, however, have one problem with the wedding gown... well, with one type of wedding gown. The satin, strapless, A-line gown- I call, the "Every-Dress". It's a very popular and very affordable silhouette, but I've seen much better dresses. Like I said, this is the one time we get to dress up in a gown, something we wouldn't wear every day. It should be unique, and I don't mean one-of-a-kind, but something unique to the day. There should be something special about the dress and it doesn't have to be expensive to do it.