Autumn dress progress

This is the Autumn dress so far. I've cut out the sleeves too, but haven't assembled.

In the real Autumn Princess dress, you can see no darts or princess seams.

I'm trying to decide whether the gathering at the sides that naturally occurred is ok.... or if I should just cave in and do darts.

hmmm...

Celine

p.s. This is what my room looks like right now! You can see my assembled quilt top, a half assembled underbust corset, a pair of jeans half re-fashioned into a skirt, my books and patterns, pairs of fingerless gloves not yet assembled, and half of a Medival dress made from a sheet. The results? A very messy looking room.

Kind of reflects my mood at the moment. Lots of momentum, but scattered in many directions.

Green taffeta formal--finished!

I used some green taffeta (60% off!) black polyester for lining, black velvet ribbon for the waistline, and New Look 6824, though I altered the neckline and skirt's length.

What with the fabric being 60% off, and the 50% off coupon I had, this dress only ended up being $15!!!!!!!!! WOW!

Merry CHRISTmas, everyone!

Celine

progress

I've outlined the circles on the hem and I'm currently sewing black seed beads on. I calculated that, at one complete circle/disk a day, it'll take me 8 days to finish just the beading part. (I'm doing two tiers of eight on the front of the dress, rather than doing it all the way around, which would be sixteen cirlces!)


I decided to space the beads farther rather than closer apart. I don't want to have a lot of stress on the fabric because of the weight.... and I don't want to use lots of beads.

Jump bodice!

Yay!

I realized after I assembled this that I didn't need to baste the lace and satin together everywhere.... but, that's ok. I know now.

Ooops!

Should have posted this before my previous post... oh, well!

This is the fabric I'm using for the green taffeta Christmas dress

Green taffeta bodice

meant to post this sooner.... I finished the dress last Friday!

A GREEN taffeta dress!!!!

(EDIT: I just started this project.)

I LOVE this dress (I guess it's Bella's Birthday dress?) from New Moon (which I haven't actually seen, but I stumbled upon a costume study at The Art of Clothes. I'm not a "Fan-pire" or a "Twi-hard", by any means, nor can I either recommend or negatively review about movies I haven't seen. I am NOT talking about Twilight. Please keep that in mind!)

Hot Topic had an exact replica for $99 last year... they marked the price down (after the buzz about New Moon was over) eventually to $23 (WOW!)... and sold out right away.

So, I'm sewing it for myself... I have to say, I LOVE the color! Gorgeous!

Don't know how or if I'll be able to put the roses on my version. We'll see.

Celine

p.s. WHY does she wear Converse with this beautiful dress?!!!!! Converse are casual. I don't get it.

My latest project...

I've knitted four of these for almost all of the females in my life for Christmas. I couldn't resist making one for myself too, with left over yarn.

Inspired by this Cable Knit Funnel scarf from Bloomingdale's for $50. The yarn for mine was about $3, and took about 3 days to make. Hence, $47 in savings, as I love knitting anyway so the labor doesn't count.

How I made them:
I used about a skein of yarn (or less...depends on the yarn and the size of the skein.) per scarf. The scarves are all 20in long, and 10in wide (about 30 stitches on size 13 needles). Keep a measuring tape handy...

So, you cast on, and knit a row. Then you purl a row. Then knit. Then purl--and on, until you have about 2 or 3in of scarf. One side is flat, and the other has those "ridges". After that, knit a row of the same stitch you just did, so that the "ridges" are on the opposite side of the scarf. Repeat the process, on the same side, until you have 2 or 3 in. and so on. Cast off when you've reached approx. 20in of length. Sew the seam with yarn and a large darning needle so that it's a tube, and you're done! (Comment if you have any questions).

I forgot how much fun knitting was! Can't wait to see everyone wearing theirs! (good thing I made them in different colors... LOL!)

Celine

my plaid "vintage" dress

I wore this for Thanksgiving dinner. I love this dress! It was supposed to be vintage-y, but that was before I knew much about clothing in general... about a year ago.

I used a GREEN plaid fabric I found at Wal-mart for $2 (WOW!) and New Look 6352. I did view B, but lengthened to knee length. I also raised the neckline.

An

The Tangled dress

My littlest sis is attending a Medieval-themed party, and all of our dress up dresses her size are ripped beyond repair (They're used a lot!). So, I took it upon myself to sew her one. (Though it's worse than pulling teeth to get measurements! She's always had a lot of energy... LOL. I love her :)

Anyways, she's been really excited to see Tangled, (coming out this Wednesday!) so I'm making the Tangled dress:

I hadn't thought of it until Atlanta did her version for an Etsy client. Great job, Atlanta!

Autumn dress trim

I'm embroidering the trim for the Autumn dress. It'll be mounted on some thicker brown cotton.

The design is a cross between Susan's Narnian dress in (surprise!) the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, (Susan shouldn't even be in Narnia... anyone nervous?) shown in the trailer:

 pic from The Wardrobe Door

I also took inspiration from Eowyn's Sheildmaiden vest:

pic from Costumer's Guide


Anyways, pics coming soon..ish. Who knows.

Good idea.

This is the under dress of the Jump dress. I'm not going to have a separate beaded vest and dress, but I confess I was wondering something:

How does the dress not stink after a few wearings? It's probably tricky to wash....and because the sleeves are see-through lace, I don't know how they could sew in dress shields without them being noticeable....

This image has the answer. The lace doesn't cover the armpits, greatly decreasing the needed washings.

The costume designer was smart. I wouldn't have thought of that.


Photo from Sunday Couture's Titanic Jump dress research page.

Sheildmaiden chemise

Bodice loosely based on New Look 6352. Sleeves and skirt drafted/draped by me. 

There's a hand sewn  eyelet just above the elbow on both sleeves. This is for the cord, to "lace" up the sleeves... don't know how to describe it, but it will alllll make sense. Don't worry.

Sheildmaiden: inspiration post

I'm actually finished with this project, believe it or not. It was a very quick project... everything worked out!!! (Seriously, when does that ever happen? LOL)

This will be used in a Medieval play I'm involved in... sometime this Spring, I think.

It's a cross between the real costume that Eowyn wears in the Lord of the Rings:

...and the Simplicity pattern (4940) version:

 I used an old pillow case and a sheet. Sounds weird, I know, but I LOVE how this costume turned out!

<3 Celine

Resources:
 Costumers Guide: http://www.costumersguide.com/shieldmaiden.shtm
Maggie's version: http://www.costumersguide.com/maggie_costumes/my_sm.html
Katherine's version: http://www.koshka-the-cat.com/shieldmaiden.html

another family project

I made a table cloth for my youngest sister's doll's table using some left over blue satin from the Alice dress and some trim I had in the stash.

Origanally she was supposed to hem the edges... but she's pretty young, and as I suspected, she quickly grew tired of it. I ended up whipping it together with my machine.

This was a fun project. I just might make a few more.

Celine

the Alice dress: FINISHED!!!

I meant to get more pics... but we lost our camera's charger and it ran out of battery as soon as I took this. :( Maybe I'll take more some other time.

Also: I just realized that I forgot to mention that this dress was for my "little" sister! (She's not really little anymore... ) Anyways, doesn't she have great taste? The color looks gorgeous on her.... brings out her eyes.

I had lots of fun with this project. I like sewing for people, I've decided. (Though I'll probably never sew for money. I like giving... and once it's a job, it's work, not a hobby!)

hmm... I must say I love the cap sleeves on this dress. The dresses I'm currently in love with all have cap sleeves. (But don't worry! I'll finish my other projects first.... lots of events/contests/family projects to sew for...)

Celine

p.s. My cousin had some scary health problems this past Friday, and early this morning he had surgery that was SUCCESSFULL! Praise God!

Jump!

I'm going to replicate the Jump dress from the Titanic*.

I won't be beading the jacket, and I'll only put those black medallions and the fringe on the hem on the front of the dress, to make it more cost-efficient... and besides, the point d'esprit will be covering it anyway.

Here's my drawing. I've already decided to change a few things, but it's close.

Here are my materials for the bodice. Just 1/2 yd red satin, 1/2 yd black tulle and 3/4 yd black Casa Collection lace from Joanns. I'm assembling the bodice first, then I'll line it and work on the skirt, etc. This is going to be more of an ongoing project, just buying materials as I go along.

I'm going to draft/drape the pattern myself, going off of pics of this out-of-print pattern, Simplicity 8399:

and I'll also be basing it off of this Regency pattern I've had for ages, Simplicity 4055:

*Just a note: I haven't seen the Titanic... I am not necessarily recommending it, just talking about the costumes!

Here are my costume study resources for this dress (and where I found the pics):
http://www.costumersguide.com/jump.shtml

http://sensibility.com/resources/titanic-project/titanic-pattern-resources/

http://costumersguide.com/maggie_costumes/my_titanic.html

http://www.kartanonrouva.net/couture/restitanicjump.shtml

Alice cap sleeve

NOTE: I meant to post this a LONG time ago! My apologies!

Inserting elastic soon. I used Simplicity 4055 's cap sleeve as a base, but altered it so that it wasn't so gathered.

alice bodice

Here's a pic of the bodice. I'm using New Look 6824 for the bodice, but I made the front longer and come to a point; I also made the bodice overall more fitted. The dress will fasten with a zipper in the back.

The middle panel of the bodice front was too wide, and overall ill-fitting... so I put a dart up the middle of the bodice. I'm going to overlap a bit of fabric when I put the bead buttons on so that it looks like it buttons down in the front, making it less obvious.

"Alice" inspiration post

Yup, this is my current project.

I'll be doing a fairly close replica of the Down the Rabbithole dress from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland:

 Except that the skirt will be just-below knee length with no ruffle or embroidery, and my material is satin (no organza overlay).

I may even make the gloves....

Well, that's all for today :)

Celine

p.s. Check out http://alice-kingsley.livejournal.com/ !!!!!! Pretty impressive replica of the DtR dress!

The Marian dress.

Marian: "All my live I've been fighting for England! Do you think that I will let you KILL England?!"
(Robin Hood BBC series; second season finale)

Sorry, just had to include my favorite quote of Marian's, even if it's from a different version than the dress is from! (to other devoted Hoodies--you know what scene I'm quoting, don't you? *sob*)

The Inspiration:
This dress in the 2010 Robin Hood (which I have not seen, but I don't think I'll ever like it NEARLY as much as I love the Robin Hood BBC!!!!)

And  Pearson's Renaissance Shoppe has a licensed replica for sale:

I like my version better, I must say.

My sister found those feathers and tucked then into the bark of our climbing tree. I spent Wednesday's afternoon reading The Phantom of the Opera on that branch.

Close up of the laces. I used --get this-- the cotton string we tie up our rotisserie chickens with! For the white chemise I used a sheet.

Very peasant-y.

I thought my new handbag looked very "Marian"... don't you? That's why I bought it.