Who has too much fabric?

Trick question…

There is no such thing as too much fabric.

This week I moved back into college for my final year as an undergraduate, so the stash I brought up is rather small.

I just got a bit more though! Some is for my costuming, and some is for other purposes.

lace shirt

Last weekend I was out thrifting and found this lovely stretch lace gold shirt. I’m not interested in wearing the shirt, but the lace will be perfect for my Belle outfit!

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This was going to be the fabric for my Susan costume, but unfortunately the fabric is a bit too bright. I found it on Fabric.com, here, and the fabric is named Turquoise Slipper Satin. Next time there’s a good sale on the fabric, I’m going to get it in Baby Blue, if I don’t find other appropriate fabric first.

trim

This trim will be a part of one of my costumes, most likely my Susan one, and it’s still awesome even if I can’t include it.

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This brown lightweight knit is going to be for another wearable muslin for my Belle dress. The previous muslin was made out of a thick knit, but I want to try it with a slightly thinner one to test out how it would hang. I might also make myself a skirt or something with the extra.

In other fabric news, I’ve gotten quite a bit of yummy fabric for my own personal clothing usage!

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I’m planning on making a nice short sleeved shirt out of this soft navy blue fabric.

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When I was on this fabric shopping “trip” online, this mint lacy fabric was one of my first finds, which I want to make into a cardigan, or something cardigan like.

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I thought this brown knit would also make a nice cardigan/shawl like garment. Most of my wardrobe consists of these, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have more, right?

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And finally , I got this really neat bias binding, which I may use to bind seams on dresses and jackets and such.

So that’s my new additions to my stash, and now there must be some project working to use this and everything up!

Trial and error – Or the magical world of culottes

This project has been brought to you by the power of positive reinforcement.

Every time I took a picture of a step in the process I got a bit of a cookie.

Only three cookies were harmed during this experiment.

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I made culottes!

Aren’t they purdy?

And I can spin! And the windy days won’t completely ruin my day! And I can be comfy!

It wasn’t without some trial, though.

A few weeks ago I found this tutorial, which explains how to pattern these culottes.

I’d never heard of culottes, skorts being the only alternative skirt option I knew.

I kinda miss skorts, and there may be a pair in the works… Some thoughts need to be worked out.

So, I did some research. At least, I searched Pinterest, and I attempted some google searches, but most of those patterns looked, well, ugly.

I did find this lovely pattern, which I loved the idea of, except it was sold out… And a little out of my price range at the moment.

And I found Lladybird’s culottes, which inspired me to buy some fabric, and I decided to use that first link above to go ahead and pattern the culottes.

I’m new to knits, being primarily a quilter before last year, but I love to wear them, so it was a logical progression. I’ve made a skirt or two before, but I really like the idea of a bike-approved option.

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I got this fabric off of ebay, and there’s a lot of it. This is also the fabric I’m planning to make my Kaylee-inspired dress with.

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But before I cut into it I made a muslin like a good little pattern-making newbie.

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And I’m glad I did! Except it got fuzzy stuff all over my scissors!

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I found that I needed to lower the rise, in order to get into the culottes, and have a comfortable placement of the shorts on my body. I also needed to lengthen the skirt from the bottom, to make the skirt more to my liking.

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First I made myself a new pattern, but this time I cut out the real fabric, because I was tired of muslins already, and the knit muslin fabric I have currently is all much heavier than the actual fabric. I wanted to know how the actual fabric draped before changing anything else.

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And during this process I found out that my fashion fabric isn’t a knit. Zipper to the rescue! I really should double check these things.

Because I didn’t add seam allowances, because I forgot it wasn’t a knit, it’s a tight squeeze on me up top, but that was helped a bit by my waist finishing process.

Both of the above pictures were taken before hemming, but it seemed like a good length, and with the exception of the tightness around the waist, an all around good fit. I could always remove the seams and add something in later, but I’m on limited supplies and time at the moment, so that will have to wait.

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Then came the hemming and I was done!

Next time, though: definitely need to add seam allowances, and perhaps make them a little longer,

The reason I can’t finish projects

Is because I’ve got too many going at once.

Much too many.

Because I love to start projects.

The satisfaction I get at the end, when I finish them, can barely compare. Except in some cases. Rarely.

I can’t think of an example right now…

So, here are some examples of projects I’d like to start.

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One that I’m going to start soon is a dress inspired by Kaylee’s origin story dress, in the episode “Out of Gas” and “The Message” of the show Firefly.

I’ve got the fabric I’ll use for it, but I haven’t done the proper research yet, but I’m going to start soon. Hopefully.

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I’m also a big fan right now of Amy Pond’s red hoodie that she wears in a few of the early episodes of Doctor Who 2005’s fifth series.

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And I love Kaylee’s turquoise brocade mandarin jacket in the first episode of Firefly.

But I also am interesting in working on: Jayne’s blue sun shirt (Firefly), Amy’s black and yellow sleeveless shirt (Doctor Who), HG Well’s vest in the rocket episode (Warehouse 13). Enough of the frosting. I’m also interested in making some culottes, and some nice trousers. I’m also planning a high waisted skirt for a stealth steampunk look. And I am musing over the idea of creating a ballroom dance dress. I really enjoy dancing, and the waltz is my absolute favorite. But I don’t have anything to dance in for competitions!

I’ve got more ideas, but I’m going to continue on in another direction.

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This past June I happened to find this awesome pennanular brooch at a medieval craft fair, and I have almost nothing to use it with. It’s quite heavy, made of iron I think, so I need something substantial to wear it with. I only have one item that fits this bill, but I’d like to be able to use it with a shawl for when I don’t quite need a sweater.

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I’d also like to work on some lacy hats. I’ve never liked wearing hats, but with the amount of bad hair days I seem to attract, I’m willing to give them a try. And lacy and slouchy hats can look quite cute. The one above is the first in my queue.

There are some other types of projects I’d like to work on as well.

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I’m bringing my sewing things with me to college this upcoming year, but I’ll need an ironing board to go with my iron. I have been seeing a pin go around on Pinterest the past few weeks about an ironing board tv tray table. That sounds like fun!

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I’m also planning on making myself a dressform. Likely out of duct tape, but I also have hopes for a form like this one. Being as I’m unwilling to pay damages for drilling a hole in the ceiling I’m also planning to make a stand for these to lie on and unless I find an awesome coat rack, I’ll probably make it out of pvc, like in this link! Or perhaps I’ll buy an umbrella stand, like this post suggests, to support a slightly smaller stand!

Whew. This is an awful long post, but I’ve saved my biggest project ideas for last.

I already have a thriving jewelry business called BeadsAndQuotes up on Etsy, though its on vacation until mid-August or so. I’m hoping to begin making my own clasps and earring wires, and expand some of my stock. Don’t even get me started on my project ideas for that.

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As part of my jewelry business, I’ve also made illustrated quotes, like the one above, which I love to do but doesn’t quite fit in with a jewelry business. So I’ve been considering opening up a different shop to sell geeky cards and my illustrated quotes.

I’ve also really enjoyed my work with leather. It’s such an interesting and totally different kind of medium, and I would love to continue working with it, but I wouldn’t feel right selling it in either my current shop, or my proposed card shop.

And this isn’t even taking into account my job… or my schooling… or having a life.

Do you have any advice or suggestions?

What light from yonder umbilicus breaks?

I’ve made a bit of progress on the Farnsworth, and the painting is all done. That’s always a big plus.

But today I want to show you what progress I’ve made on something else.

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This summer I don’t have access to my normal sewing supplies, as my summer employment required a flight. My sewing machine would not terribly like my suitcase. And its a bit too heavy. And I’ve got too much fabric to fit into one suitcase, let alone bring clothing to wear along with it.

This also means that I’m not planning on doing any subtle cosplay, as the major components of my wardrobe aren’t with me. And its much too hot here to wear jeans.

But none of this has stopped me from working on my plans.

It just happened to… slow them.

I bought this sewing kit from Amazon, and its a  nice little starter kit. If you are new to sewing, and want something to work with for simple handsewing, this may be a good deal for you, but mostly I needed the scissors and the pins. I’ve had experience with enough unsharpened scissors and cutting fabric for me to need to invest in another fabric pair, even if the kit overall was cheap.

But anyway, back to the point of this post. I have begun work on my white vest for my Claudia costume.

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I was going to try to find an online pattern, and while waiting for my Amazon package I did some extensive searching, but I came up with very few patterns that were close enough to help. I decided instead to make a pattern based on my measurements.

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This is what I came up with.

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I knew it would be a bit wonky, because I’ve rarely created a pattern that was wearable the first time, so I decided to make a muslin. I took an old sheet, traced my pattern, and gave some extra fabric space in the areas I suspected needed to be enlarged.

I unfortunately forgot to take a picture of this step. I was too excited and started sewing immediately. Hand-sewing.

On the plus side, my stitches are becoming more even?

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Here’s what the muslin looks like when I’m wearing it. For being a first drafted pattern and handsewn by a machine lover, I think its a pretty good effort! I’m not quite sure if I want to do anything about the shoulders. The muslin makes the shoulder seam lift up a bit, and I think that might look okay with the final fabric. I’m going to increase the width of the fabric in the front, because I want to have a fairly wide inside seam there, so there is a nice appearance when the collar is folded over.

afront1The front will match, I promise, it just was being too picky for pictures.

I found this awesome fabric a few years ago for my quilting stash, but I haven’t quite figured out how to use it yet. Granted, I’ve been without my sewing machine for all but two months of the year since then.

The fabric is a neon yellow-ish Gatorade color, with a floral pattern in black. Kind of a combination of this fabric, if this one was the background yellow. And without the stripes.

Claudia would love this fabric.

I’ve decided to line my vest in said fabric.

I’ve loved the idea of lining demure jackets and coats in crazy fabric, and this is my first opportunity to try.

I’ve got a heavy lead on a bid for a serger machine on ebay, and so I’m holding off until I know the outcome of that before I cut the fabric and move on, but if I am to handsew it, I’ll be using this technique to build a sturdy garment.

So that’s what I’ve got and where I’m going. Now that I’ve decided on my lining, the project won’t be fully finished until August, when I get back to my fabric stash.

Next step? Seam rip the muslin.

Busy Bee

So you know when you’re buying stuff on Amazon and you just need like twenty cents to get your Free Super Saver Shipping?

That was me today. So I bought one of these. And I don’t know what it is. Or how I’ll use it.

But I will find a way to!

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I bought an altoids tin, and am working on eating the candy up, so I can use the tin.

We’ll see how long that takes!

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Do you see that tiny looking lens in the center of the Farnsworth? I’m assuming that is the camera lens, otherwise I would have to wonder how the image is projected to the other person’s Farnsworth.

I’m hoping to use a scrapbook bubbles for that lens, on top of of a mirror-like paper piece. This will then attach to the black plastic I’m hoping to use for the black top layer of the right side of the device.

By scrapbook bubble, I mean one of those little lenses that you can put over pictures to make that part of the picture a little bit magnified.

Well, I’m sorry to report that I haven’t worked on the sweater. But I will. It’ll be happening. I hope.

But I’m happy to report that I’ve finished the altoids, and I’m ready to start working on my Farnsworth!

Edited: As of right now this project is finished. Follow it from its inception, to (this) further planning, to sanding and painting, to the wirework, to the gold detailing, to the gluing of all the components together.

Post-Exam Relief

So I have now finally finished my exams!

I have been packing up a storm, and still have to leave some stuff here.

It’s been a wonderful time abroad, but I welcome the summer.

Ah summer! You’re so warm and comforting!

This summer I’m hoping to work more on projects and things, and hoping to post more frequently!

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I’m wearing my first subtle cosplay tomorrow, on my last day in town, and I’ll hopefully be posting on it on Saturday!

But before I go I’d like to leave you with a necklace sketch.

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Aurora’s necklace in this picture is gorgeous, and I thought about designing an inspired necklace.

necklace sketch

And so this happened!

I smell fudge!

So my final costume that I’ll be making for comic con is… drumroll please…

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Miss Claudia Donovan from the lovely show Warehouse 13.

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Claudia Donovan is a wise cracking and crafty tech-ofile who works at a secret government institution to track down objects imbued with powers from a certain moment and emotion and time, and she may or may not be my role model.

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She’s probably my favorite female character on TV right now. And I’ve been waiting since October for this season to continue. Only one more month.

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Here we go:

Vest: I can’t quite figure this one out exactly. It looks like she’s taken a sweatshirt, and layered it under a white vest, in which the vest looks to be made of relatively heavyweight fabric that is fairly stiff, stiff enough for the collar to stick up a bit. I’m thinking of making the vest, and flat-stitching it to a bought sweatshirt to achieve the look, without so much of the actual layering and heat involved with actually wearing the quantity of layers. I’ll possibly be stealing the zipper from the sweatshirt to make this, as I’ll have nothing else to do with it. Fairly easy peasy. And I’ve kinda got the sweatshirt that will work to cut apart for this project, and it even has  bright white zipper! The “vest” will also be elbow-length sleeved, maybe a little shorter.

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Shirts: In this outfit, she’s layered a peach camisole under a black three quarter sleeve henley. I’m probably going to go with peach camisole under a black tank, knowing that the heat would start to get to me… In the interest of my personal comfort, I’m taking every effort to make this comfy. Because I can. And if I’m going to be fairly uncomfortable in the interest of heat with my other costumes, I might as well acknowledge it this time.

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Trousers: Claudia in this shot seems to be wearing black jeans, or some other type of black skinny trousers. Luckily I’ve got these already.

Shoes: I couldn’t get a good screencap of the shoes, but while she was moving, I was positive that they were boots, small black combat boot kind of boots. However, in the interest of saving space in my suitcase, I’m going to go with another type of shoe, possibly my TARDIS shoes… or if those didn’t work I would hijack another one of the shoes involved in my other costumes. Because Claudia would totally wear t-strap heels.

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Jewelry: The necklace that she wears in this scene appears to be some kind of robot or alien or something, which isn’t exactly up my alley. In another episode she wears a very cute dark metal bat-wing or angel wing necklace, which I’ll be much more on board with having. Because I don’t have pierced ears, and I’m not planning on doing so, I’ll be skipping earrings, but I’m perfectly good with wearing an ear cuff. She’s also wearing what seem to be black jelly bracelets on her wrists, but I might make get a thick leather cuff to replace them on one wrist. Claudia also wears a lot of buttons, so I’ll be getting some very cute ones for this.

Purse: Claudia gets a lot of messenger bags and canvas shoulder bags, but in the interest of space, I’ll be using one of the bags for the other costumes.

*All images used in the post were screenshots of Warehouse 13 Season 4 Episode 6.

** This costuming plan is subject to change based on the final episodes of season 4. Which could change everything.

Any other Warehouse fans out there?

I am thirteen hundred years older than you.

This was really my first idea, as this dress was my favorite from the Narnia movies the minute I saw it.

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It is the dress Susan wears at the end of the Narnia movie Prince Caspian, as her farewell to Narnia. It’s not even in the movie for very long! Just the ending.

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But its absolutely lovely!

A few people have recreated this dress brilliantly, but I just want to try it out!

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Because its pretty…

And I think I can.

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So here’s the deal.

Underdress: A crisp white undergown, which has a few folds at the neckline, and the neckline itself is far off the shoulders, and slopes to a small V at the front. There are sleeves on the original, fitted to the elbow, and then they puff out and are brought back in with a cuff at the wrist. I’m considering making my undergown short sleeved, because of the warmth in San Diego in summer… and I wouldn’t have to figure out the sleeves. Big advantage. The front of the underdress, at the least, is pleated but for my ease and ironing pleasure I’ll only be pleating the front of my dress. It’ll be easier if I do need to iron it after it being in a suitcase and all. And finally, the undergown is nearly floor length.

Overdress: The overdress is made of a dusty blue stiff fabric with brown embroidery. Its constructed with princess seams, and is boned up until the hips. The front of the dress is mostly open, and the area from near to the top to the hip is closed with what seem to be hooks and eyes. The back is closed with buttons and loops attached to a matching modesty panel. Its also nearly floor length, just like the underdress. I’ll be probably trying like an idiot to recreate this part of the dress and closely as possible. The dress is also trimmed with a lightly gold colored thick ribbon.

Shoes: I’ll be obtaining white or matching blue flats, or sandals, or I’ll be making some sort of slippers in the same fabric. Its up for grabs at the moment. The shoes in the film cannot really be seen, so I can take liberties!

Necklace: I’m sure I’ll make one. It’ll likely be either a simple single stranded in a color, or a clear beadwoven necklace close to my base of my neck, so it doesn’t take away from the dress itself.

Hair: I’m not going to get a wig, but I’m going to style my own hair to as close to the proper style as possible. Hopefully that’ll work out!

Purse: Cause I’ll need one… So I’m either going to get a brown leatherish pouch or backpack, or I’m going to be insane and make a quiver-purse. Using help and inspiration from this site. I might take the crazy route, just to see if I can!

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In case you wanted to see my… lovely sketch.

Any tips?

“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.

belle's cloak

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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?