ouat Archives • Jessica Smith Creates

January 21, 2014August 19, 2018

Magic is Power

I let you know earlier that I finished my Belle dress. I’m quite proud of it. I’m pretty sure I beamed through the entire first day of wearing it. But I didn’t get to take pictures of it before winter break, so I held off on this post.

Luckily it only took two wearable muslins before I was able to create the real thing!

So the fabric is a performance knit that I got here from eBay in Mustard Gold.

A few months ago, I had shown you this shirt, which I used as the upper part of the dress.

I used the same pattern from my brown dress, with very few alterations. I did accidentally cut the fabric wrong, which is why I have a center front seam, but I don’t mind it!

The skirt currently is knee length, for the winter, but I’m planning to shorten it an inch or two before the con.

I love the short sleeves, and I’m pretty proud of the arm bands. First time making arm bands and everything!

And it’s got a nice big pocket!

There are some fitting issues in the back. Of course, I didn’t see these until I actually took pictures, so now I’m debating with myself over how to fix it.

I had tacked down the excess shirt fabric by hand, after using a decorative stitch to formally attach the shirt. On second thought, it was a good idea to do this, for fitting, but now that I’m looking at it, I’ll be cutting more of it off. The shirt probably won’t unravel, being a kind of knit. But this also gives me some leeway in re-fitting the back. I think the back will fit correctly if I attach the shirt back up a bit higher.

I worked over the break on the embellishments, though now I’m thinking of other ways to do the necklace.

I’m still considering removing the collar from the shirt. It’s looking a bit too Sleeping Beauty for me. Then I can make a real necklace, since it won’t be covered by the collar.

If I decide to not do that, then the designs will be sewn onto the dress.

Decisions, decisions.

July 20, 2013August 19, 2018

A chipped cup.

There’s no way to have a serger and not test it out with some nice fabric! On a lot of nice fabric!

Since the fabric I happened to have on hand already was woven and not at all stretchy, I wanted to buy some knits, so I could test it on some fabric that needs some of the stretch that a serger gives.

I was going for cheap knits, at first, so I bought remnants of some polyester double knit. The tan, blue, and yellow ones are all pretty scratchy, but I bought them mostly for practice, and to use as muslins for heavier knit projects. The gold dotted one is the one I really wanted. It’s a gorgeous fall gold, and if I wanted to be poetical I would say it reminds me of New England in autumn.

The minute the auction closed on my serger I thought that maybe this machine could give me a chance to try out some ideas for my Belle outfit. I’ve not had much luck with my regular sewing machine with stretchy fabrics, and though I’m working to change that the serger will overall come in handy.

For my real dress, I want a sweetheart necked bodice with a lace overlay, some sleeves, and a skater (circle) skirt.

The lace top to the real bodice is something I am planning to figure out another time, potentially with a coupon and really cheap stretch lace. I’ll be willing to shell out a little more money for better lace once I know how it will fit together.

But for now, I’d like to work on the skirt, see how and where I’d like it to fit, and then the bodice in turn, so that I know how I’d like to make the real dress.

Whenever I actually get around to that.

I started out with this fabric, which I knew I wanted as a skirt anyway, and I definitely wanted to try out a full circle skirt.

So I had folded a piece into a small square, with two folds, and cut out the waist. I then trimmed the hemline, knowing that I probably wouldn’t actually hem it. It is a lovely knit, but I knew that the skirt would already be a bit short on me. When possible, I prefer to give myself a higher waisted skirt. My smallest point around my midsection is pretty high up (as is my natural waist though that’s not quite as high), and I like to emphasize that when I can, which then requires longer skirts.

Then a waistband went on, though I didn’t quite plan it well enough and it came up short in the back. It was really at this point where I decided to think about putting on a bodice. I’m more willing to add extra work to my plate than come up with a simple quick fix for a skirt waistband.

I’ll talk about the bodice in my next post on this project!

March 10, 2013August 25, 2022

“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.

link

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.

link

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.

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.

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.

link (ETA – this link is now broken)

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?

March 4, 2013August 25, 2022

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.

(link) (ETA – this link is now broken)

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.

(link)

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.

(link)

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.

(link)

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

(link)

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!