Isn't this pretty?

Very romantic, compared to the average bathrobe. I love crushed velvet, don't you? And Juliet sleeves are soooo gorgeous.... unfortunately, it's $99. Probably a bit too pricey for a bathrobe, don't you think? *grin*
from Victorian Trading Co.

Well, have a lovely day!

Celine

the red beaded dress...

Never really gave this dress a name, because the process was so fast.

The dress is made of red satin, and  the stomacher and skirt and overlaid with hot pink "organza"...at least, I called it organza, but honestly I'm not quite sure what fabric it is.

I drafted the whole pattern for it myself. I did two mock-ups (I think) before I cut into the fabric. It was like pulling teeth to get a five year old to do fittings!

Here's the beading on the stomacher in the front. I hand beaded it. The organza overlay is split in the front and has beading on the edges and on the whole hem.

back view. I need to work on my zippers. *sigh*


the beading on the overlay. The overlay, as you can tell, stops five-ish inches away from the satin's hem.

Over all, this was a huge success. She loves to play dress-up in it!

Sewing news....

I bought the "inexpensive fantasy dress" (you know, I need another name for it.... suggestions?) fabric a little while ago.... it's very gray compared to the blue in the pic, but, as the name will tell you, inexpensive.

Next: My 4th of July costume-skirt is in this fabric

with this pattern

pics coming in... well, whenever I have time, I guess.

The project I'm currently working on: my Oktoberfest costume. (See some examples of Oktoberfest costumes here). It'll be in a blue linen-y type fabric, with this pattern for the vest:

I'm embroidering it too, but in the planning stages. (I think the embroidery will be like the embroidery on this dress though.)

have a nice day! It's finally starting to get warm around here.... yay!!!!

-Celine

red velvet re-fashion

The original garments:
an old red velvet outfit of my mom's, circa 2000. The dress was sleeveless with a knee length slit in the skirt, and had a jacket of the same material to go over it with 3/4 length sleeves and a clasp in the front. And yes, there were originally two sleeves.... I was so excited about this project that I seam ripped one whole sleeve off before I realized I needed to take a "before" pic. *grin*

The inspiration:
 First and foremost, Maid Marian's Wardobe from the BBC Robin Hood, season 1. Particularly these outfits:

....and Eowyn's green dress from Lord of the Rings:

The finished project:

I took the sleeves off of the jacket and put them on the dress. Then I seam ripped the skirt at the side seam up to the hips (the slit was at the side too) finished off the edges, and added the belt and a petticoat underneath. Voila!

back veiw. I love that this dress is so easy to move in. The petticoat is pretty gathered, and with the slits at the side I could do the splits if I wanted!

p.s. the petti has stripes on it... they're very subtle, but they match a lot better than a plain white petti.

side view.

you can see the belt in this pic. Love it!

the different ways to make wings..

 I think it would be so fun to have wings like Tink!

Ok, has anyone seen "Ever After" with Drew Barrymore? I'm sure a lot of you have... anyway, when "Danielle" goes to the ball, she wears these gorgeous wings:

(It's a masquerade ball, and she's dressed as a butterfly. It fits into the story...) Anyway, I found some info about the wings in an interveiw with the woman who made the "Breathe" dress here. Here's an excerpt:

"I wanted the inner corset to be as light as a feather at the front but was like scaffolding at the back. Although the wings were very light, as wings go, they were still heavy enough to be in danger of pulling the bodice away from her back at the top, hence the rigidity. 

Sadly, I can't remember the name of the prop maker who made the wings. I think her first name was Nicole. They were made with piano wire and organza and were beautifully and delicately made."

Here's an image of the inner corset:

Anyways, I decided to make some wings myself.  I just used a "quickie" method, but they're still pretty.... I should have researched first, though, because this way using wire hangers would have been more stable.

Here they are! They're more yellow in real life... all I did to make them was cut wings out of some yellow cardboard (?) and stapled  some old curtain fabric to 'em. They fasten with elastic straps on the back.

I put Elmers glue on the edges and sprinkled glitter on.... it's really pretty in real life, but some how you can barely tell in the pics. *sigh*

I gotta say, unless you only have 20 minutes (like I did) don't make them the way I did. They don't last very long before they start bending!

~Celine

Tinker Belle inspired fashion....

the inspiration:

My outfit:

Yes, there are Queen Anne's Lace flowers that are at least a head taller than I am. Crazy, isn't it?

What I'm wearing:
green blouse: Old Navy (on clearance, then on sale! Yay!) And besides, Tink always wears green in the movies.
denim skirt: Old Navy. It was also on sale. This is another one of my favorites. It's so fun to wear!
boots: Ross, or TJMaxx. My fave pair of shoes. 

woops! I had no idea that the dates would be on the pics....

My boots. Love them! Although, you'll notice I'm not wearing them in the other pics. Long story. Basically, it was VERY muddy and wet where we took the pics, so I switched out my nice boots for my rubber ones. I had no idea you'd be able to tell!

Neverland-themed parties and home decor

(pic found on Mateus)
 " A Never tree tried hard to grow in the center of the room, but every morning they sawed the trunk through, level with the floor. By tea-time it was always about two feet high, and then they put a door on top of it, the whole thus becoming a table..."
- excerpt from chapter 7 of Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

Just found this picture, and immediately this part of the book came into my mind! 


I've also been looking for party ideas, and found that "Enchanted Forest" Weddings are a 2010 trend (and here's another great link: http://www.1weddingsource.com/blog/wedding-themes/a-nature-inspired-wedding/). Not like I'm getting married anytime soon (*grin*) but the pictures are gorgeous!

my project at the moment....

 EDIT: This project is on hold for now.... *grin*

It's quite a combination of things. Originally I was going to sew a dress like this from the '05 Pride and Prejudice.

but I already have two dresses that could represent the 1790's.

So, I ended up sewing it a bit more like this dress from the 1780's, just less gathered. This is Jenny Rose's Chemise a la Reine revamp.

So, that's my current project.

Peter Pan

Make Believe has officially started!!!! yay!!!

Looking back, I honestly can't remember when my obsession for Peter Pan and Neverland started. Possibly when I was 5. Anyways, for a good year or so I was OBSESSED!!! I actually thought that one day I would meet Peter Pan, and then we would get married. *grin* I am soooo over that now, thank heavens. :)

Personally, I would only want to visit Neverland. I think it would be sad to never grow up. I don't mind getting older....it's not necessarily a bad thing. I'm more afraid of "the unlived life", to quote Tuck Everlasting.

I still wish we humans could fly, though; and airplanes don't really count. I mean, simply by jumping. I've often dreamed about it. I have to say it feels so real and so natural to be flying, when I wake up I can't beleive that we're restricted to the ground.

Ah, well. Perhaps we will fly, in Heaven.

Paisley!!!

*happy sigh* Last year, we retired a set of red paisley sheets that happened to be my favorites.... and Mom let me keep one of them! The other one we use as a picnic blanket... I had origianally hoped to make this dress from Love Comes Softly (2003):

(pic from Mrs. Darcy's Dressing Room) However, one sheet is not enough fabric for such a full skirt like that. 
Then I decided that I would make an A-line, knee-length skirt... until I realized that I had enough to make a dress, and line it too. 
So, I chose this pattern. The green one, with C's bodice.


More on this later. :)