Pause

Hmmm...I know I am repeating myself for those of you that have visited my other site, Crafts Kids Home and Life...so here goes...for another, oh, month maybe, it is time to put this blog on

Batik Dress

Let me start by telling you how glad I am that I am able to blog this. Why you ask? Well, my last computer went fizzle fizzle clunk clunk crunch. I have found that they operate much smoother with a workable hard drive. Imagine that.

On to the dress.
This was another model garment for work. I am beginning to love these :)

These shots were taken at work after it was placed front & center...such a thrill to see it there when I got to work :)

It may not be easy to spot at first, but the print has a border. It is easier to see from the backside. The background "stripes" diminish until all you have are the flowers.

Pardon the fuzzy pic. At least it fits :) Me that is, not the mannequin. It only fits her thanks to the wonder of pins. Wouldn't mind if it fit me this tiny. It'd cost less fabric wise :P

Xmas Swap

The Buffyfest Swap has come and gone. More than enough time for the recipients to get their goodies and for me to show them off.

This year I went with a stuffed stocking theme.

And had fun doing it :)

Ahoy!

Avast ye...thingy! Walk the plank! Arrrgghhh and stuff!

Um, yeah...sooo...this was my pirate costume this past Halloween. Nothing like timely posting :) Actually, it is more like timely picture taking...and posting.

This costume gave me some headaches. The vest did anyway. This is the second one. The first got all wonky. I think it was simply a too stretchy fabric for the pattern. Now the fit, well, as you can see, it was not big enough to wrap around to button at the center front.

But I loved my solution so much better than a simple button. The larger skull and chain are a necklace. I attached the skull on and simply hung the chain over the smaller skull on the other side. Those smaller skulls are earring I found at a costume shop. Pretty neat find!

The flappy shoulder pieces turned out great. I was a little worried at first. It seemed like they were not going to fit. Thankfully it was not too bulky.

The top was super simple. I am glad I was short on time and left the edges raw. The fraying and loose threads is a great look for a rough pirate like myself. Don't believe the rough part huh? Me neither. But it was Halloween, I could go with it.

I also strapped a piratey pistol to my thigh with some of the red vest fabric. Since my dress form has no legs, I could not show that part off. But you can see it in this quick snapshot from an earlier post. (Not the most flattering pic...I will blame it on the angle)
Oh, and the sword too. You can see it there. That one did not live long enough to get photographed. The boys got a hold of it...and not the 6 year old...the 16 year old & his buddies. Goofballs! Gotta love 'em!

Alice'ish

 I say 'ish because it was by no means a traditional Alice costume. But she did inspire it. Too bad it did not turn out nearly as good as I had hoped. The satin got so crumply looking around the lace ups. AT least on it was not so noticeable.

I did like the peplum waistcoat and the poofy sleeve ends though. Comfy :)

The skirt was, well, waaaayyyy short. So I decided to lengthen it by using two different blues. That I did like. Gave it some pop. Oh, and the darker blue is sparkly...not that you can see it in the pics.

And the lace trim, so sweet.

The vest was much too big. But an easy fix. I just need to shorten the straps hat cross behind. I did not bother then since it sat under a closed coat.

Green Steam's Mate

This is what my husband wore when we went to the costume party around Halloween. It was the mate to my green steampunk get up. We did not want to get too into it with him since steampunk is my thing, not his. Plus, I wanted to make something that could possibly be re-wearable. Which my son was quite happy about...he quickly claimed the coat as his.

The cravat was a bit of a guesswork piece. I did find some decent tutorials online, but when I went to make it  just went on memory. Turned out fine. We did have a decent pin he used,  but I couldn't find it for this pic...sorry :(

 The vest is an awesome brocade I got at Haberman Fabrics. The green really popped it.

The sleeves needed some work up at the top, but the bottom turned out great. I love the button detail.

I posted a quick snapshot of us from the party if you want to see the two together, goggles and all.

Wordless Wednesday