Lookee here!

I’ve gotten some work done on some of my costumes already!

Aren’t you so proud of me!

fabric

I managed to pick up some fabric from a fancy dress shop, and it is just the right color fabric for the TARDIS bustled overskirt, and maybe could also be used as a bow for my Belle dress. It’s a deep golden color shiny material, and though it has some holes in it, it is gorgeous.

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I also got fantastic t-strap heels, in a lovely brown, which would be fantastic with my planned Belle dress, as the Belle in OUAT’s Storybrooke has a vintage fashion sense, and I do too.

“It’s smaller on the outside!”

By now, I assume you know about my Doctor Who obsession. Its just a small one…

I always loved the beautiful colors of the Eleventh Doctor’s TARDIS.

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And yes, I do realize that he has a new TARDIS layout. But its much less pretty.

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See?

Not really pretty.

Many people when cosplaying the TARDIS go for the gorgeous and timeless blue box design for the whole of their costume. Some have ventured into an inside design, but normally in way that still incorporates much of the blue box idea.

My plan is to make a Victorian styled Steampunk TARDIS costume, based on the inside of the TARDIS. So coppers and golds with a hint of the aqua and teal, with some steampunk flair.

This is actually a potentially ufo stashbusting exercise, as I have a mostly finished corset in the right color scheme and a bolero that is just a little too big for me. I haven’t yet checked the fit of the corset, but I still have the pattern, if it doesn’t fit right.

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Please ignore the unintelligible scrawl. And the sketches in general, especially the left one. I couldn’t find a manageable eraser to bring the skirt down. Its no longer the plan.

So here is the plan:

Bolero – I have already made it, but its just a little too big for me, and has sleeves that would not match in color. I’ll be taking the Bolero in, and changing the sleeve color. It currently is a brown and pink combo, so it will end up being brown and aqua.

Corset – Also made previously. I haven’t checked the fit, and it was my first corset ever, so I’ll be forgiving if it doesn’t fit. Its a deep gold, with a raised floral pattern. I made it from an upholstery fabric sample and a thin canvas. Its a simple underbust corset from a pattern I drafted myself. I haven’t inserted the grommets yet. and have yet to find lacing. I’ll probably start with shoelaces.

Shirt – Because the corset is an underbust one, I’ll obviously need to wear a shirt underneath, for going out in public. I’m planning on using the same fabric as the sleeves for the Bolero.

IF the corset does not fit, and the pattern is way off, its possible that I’ll just construct a boned bodice instead.

Bustle Pad – I’ll need to make a small one. Don’t know how yet, as I don’t want to buy a pattern for one costume, but I’ll figure it out

Petticoat – If you watch enough of the Doctor’s TARDIS, you can see that the area below the console platform is covered by wells of a black liquid, and the console platform is a light blue, so I’ve decided to make a petticoat out of black and light blue fabric. Or I’ll find some way to stiffen the skirt otherwise. It gets hot in San Diego.

Skirt – 6 paneled skirt to imitate the 6 paneled console, and it will have an inch and a half of fabric between the panels. The front of the skirt will be framed by panels, not divided by two. The panels themselves will be a coppery gold, and the fabric divisions will be an aqua color. I want it to be a fairly full skirt, but not a majorly massive skirt, like a ballgown. The bottom hem of this skirt will be decorated with gears and sequins, to imitate some of the small features of the TARDIS.

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My favorite style years base on this diagram are 1847, 1877, and 1897, and my skirt will reflect one of these.

Bustled Overskirt – I love the shape of a draped overskirt, at least in the back, and so will be adding a bustled back overskirt… because I can. I’m planning to use this tutorial for the most part. Without the bat wings.

Gloves – I’m planning on buying or making evening gloves that reach to the elbows, in a warm copper color.

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Hair – Luckily, I already have red hair, which fits into the colorway I’m working with, and I’ll be styling it into a modified hairdo based on one of Madame de Pompadour’s hairstyles in her episode of Doctor Who. You can see a peek of it in the gifs above!

Shoes – While I’ve been here abroad, I’ve bought a pair of boots that would work perfectly for this outfit, but as they were inexpensive and on sale, I’m not sure they will make it long enough to wear for Comic Con. If they don’t I always will have my TARDIS shoes to fall back on, and it will require less packing if I use the TARDIS shoes.

Necklace – Because I am a bead artist, there is a need to wear a necklace whenever possible, especially when I get dressed up. My necklace here will be based on what I think is the coolest part of this TARDIS. The time rotor. The time rotor is the whooshy thing that moves up and down, and this time rotor is made up of what look like stacked glass bubbles. Its lovely, and deseves to shine in a necklace format.

Props – I’m definitely planning to make a sonic screwdriver pen, based on this lovely tutorial. Look at the awesome pictures she has of hers! Who wouldn’t love to have one of those? I’m also planning on a project to take an old book and put in a swimming pool. After all, “There’s a swimming pool in the library!”

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Cape – I’m also planning to give homage to the traditional TARDIS blue box, in the form of a cape. It will be another elbow – waist length cape, much like the one for my Belle outfit, and will feature the sign on the right side of the cape, and the Police Public Call Box on a ribbon around the hood.

So that’s that!

Got any suggestions or helpful hints? I’m all ears? Or eyes, cause I’ll be reading them… Whatever.

“If it’s not Baroque, don’t fix it!”

Don’t you just love Cogsworth?

I just couldn’t wait much longer to start explaining to you all about the loveliness that is my costume planning, so I’d like to start with my plans for a dress inspired by Once Upon A Time’s Belle.

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Because OUAT is a show on ABC, owned by Disney, the yellow costume is clearly inspired by the Beauty and the Beast yellow dress.

It is a princess seamed off the shoulders dress with a full and actually very large dress. What attracted me to this dress specifically was the very smooth top and the absolutely gorgeous embroidered design on the front. Its magnificent, and lovely, and, well  massive. But I love the interpretation of the dress.

EMILIE DE RAVIN

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This dress, which is worn by Belle in our world around the town of Storybrooke, is also a favorite costume of mine from the show. I love the simple flow of the fabric, and the combination of the lace and the shell of the dress.

Being a redhead, I can’t easily go very yellow with a dress without looking insane and making my skin look weird. But I also want a dress that I can wear in a non-costume friendly situation.

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I’ve decided to therefore combine the two dresses, in a way. In my pitiful attempt to sketch out the dress, I came up with the above. The lace will be around the shoulders and will make up most of the sleeves, with the rest made up of a knit or woven. The lace will only be above the dress, not covering it like the blue dress.

For the con, I’m planning on creating a beadwoven necklace to recreate the neckline embellishment.

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The higher drawing is my interpretation of the actual neckline, and the lower is my design for the necklace. The necklace will be worn over top of the lace of the dress, and will likely be a nearly full bib necklace.

The color I’m planning for the main dress will hopefully be a nice goldenrod or golden, and I’m hoping to have matching lace, but if I can’t get lace to match, the lace will be a warm reddish brown color.

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I’m also going to be making a cape for the con, and will likely be a short cape, not much longer than an elbow length, because I’ll be in warm and sunny California, and it will mostly be made out of curtains. Because that fabric is not easy to imitate.

What do you think?

Documented: UFO #1 – The Crocheted Faux Wrap Sweater

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I present to you a ufo that I have brought with me to finish on my studies abroad.

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To be honest I haven’t gotten very far on it. I accept this.

I also accept that I probably won’t finish it before returning home. That doesn’t mean I can’t hope.

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This is what it will end up being, in the far future.

The pattern is Raeanne Shawl Sweater from the wonderful book Blueprint Crochet by Robyn Chachula, and is created by making small modular squares, and crocheting them into the main structure as it is worked.

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I got this lovely yarn for free, and the marking on the inside says: astro dyed spotted flake.

To me, its a great yarn because it almost gives the illusion of an animal print when used together, and the yarn itself has a very interesting texture.

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Isn’t free yarn great?

So what I’ve been working on so far, and what the picture above is of, is the base, and I’m only about 1/4 done with that section. Then I need to make the cowl structure, and the end of the project lies in the creation of the waistband, which holds the cowl together, and created the faux wrap shape. Then weaving in ends.

My plans for the next few months, knowing that I can almost not finish (though that would be ideal), is to finish the square work on the base and the cowl. Because I also have no method of blocking the piece, it would make sense to only get that far anyway, so the piece can be blocked before finishing.

Maybe now I’ll actually get some good work done on it!

I’m totally not being… hypocritical.

Not at all.

But I had to tell you about my fantastically big project, that can’t even really happen until I return home from my time abroad. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t (completely) planned out this massive project. Well, I guess its kinda four projects in one.

I’m going to Comic Con, or at least planning to. But not this year. No, that would require much more extensive planning, as it would only allow me to have one month of actual sewing machine and fabric time before the Con. I’m going to Comic Con 2014, as it will be both a celebration of graduating and becoming what society believes is an adult (of which I am never quite sure of), and it will be a reunion with some of the friends I’ve met while abroad.

But really, let’s face it, that’s not the exciting part. Going to Comic Con means that I have a reason to make extravagant and unnecessary costumes. So I’m making extravagant and unnecessary costumes. Because I can!

Drumroll please! (dzdzdzdzdzddzdzdzdzdz)

My first, and most elaborate, costume will be a Victorian Steampunk dress that recreates the inside of the Eleventh Doctor’s TARDIS.

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Ain’t it purdy? I love the magnificent color scheme and how it all works together to bring up the fun and free spirit that exists as the Eleventh Doctor.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, watch Doctor Who. You have approximately fifty years worth of episodes to watch, but I’d definitely watch the newer stuff if you are a newbie. Its not only more colorful, but it has better special effects and monsters.

I won’t burden you with a sketch, at least not today, if ever. But its going to be awesome

My second project will be a recreation of the dress Susan wears at the end of the Prince Caspian movie in The Chronicle of Narnia series. Typically its called her Farewell Dress, as she says farewell to the land of Narnia.

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Its a two part outfit, with the white underdress and the blue boned overdress.

I’d also suggest watching Narnia, if you haven’t seen any of the three movies. They have amazing landscapes and effects.

My third costume will be a fall/spring dress inspired by the Belle of ABC’s show Once Upon A Time.

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In the fairy tale land, she is the Belle we know from legend and the Disney movie, but is a little more, well, kick ass. Her Beast is Rumplestilskin, which I find great, and she goes on adventures and saves lives.

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In our world, she is just finding herself, and tends to gravitate towards cute, though rather bookish and vintage – inspired outfits.

So my dress will combine the two, so I have a pretty dress that I can wear without it being a costume.

My final project is to make an outfit inspired by the fantastic Claudia of Warehouse 13

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This will be the only project that will require the least amount of sewing, but in theory could also involve the least cost involved, if I hunt for good deals on accessories.

For each of these, I’ll be posting about in its own post. First, though I promise I’m going to be working on a post about one of the ufos I have with me. Now I just need to charge  my camera…

So in conclusion, I’m insane. This will be a set of stashbusting projects, but it still isn’t quite planned to include ufos to finish it.

Also, watch all of the above. They are all great shows, which is why I watch them of course!

Why, hello there!

Hiya!

I’m here to admit that I have a bit of a problem. Well, maybe its grown to be more than a bit.

I craft too much.

I’m just naturally a craft-oriented person, and love trying new things. Which has led me to do many fun and new things.

But I have this tiny itsy bitsy issue. I have a problem actually finishing crafts before starting new ones. Needless to say, I have a lot of ufos lying around.

I have realized that the only way for me to work on this issue is to air these projects to the public, and work to finish them.

Of course, I’ll still be working on new projects, because I really don’t think that is going to stop. I have accepted that.

I’m currently studying abroad, away from my stash of ufos at home. This is probably a good thing. However, I’ve also been planning a big, massive, and incredibly not-ufo-stash busting project. This is most definitely not a good thing, at least for my ufos. I’ll let you in on that project later.

I did… I maybe… I kinda did, though… bringafewofmyufoswithme. You’ll get to meet those soon.

By the way! You may have noticed that my blog has the name Annabelle on it. Annabelle would be my alter ego, if I truly had an alter ego. Annabelle would finish all the projects that she started before beginning another one.

In parting, I thought I’d leave you with some of my recent finished projects. Mostly just to make me feel better about, well, unfinished projects.

I’m a big Doctor Who fan, which you will likely hear more about in the future. To be fair, I’ve only really seen the new Who, but I’m working up to watching the classic stuff. But the new stuff is absolutely fantastic. So I made TARDIS shoes.

I’ve been making quilts for over eight years now, but I have only made a few for myself. The ones above I’ve made specifically for myself. I have made a number of quilts, though, for an amazing organization called Quilts For Kids.

Glossary – AKA In case you didn’t know, or in case I’ve made up a word, which happens quite often.

ufo – unfinished object

TARDIS – time and relative dimension in space – and/or go watch Doctor Who.

Give me a shout out if you come visit this post!