Masquerade

mas·quer·ade

–noun

1.

a party, dance, or other festive gathering of persons wearing masks and other disguises, and often elegant, historical, or fantastic costumes.

2.

a costume or disguise worn at such a gathering.

 (There are other meanings, but these are the most applicable.....)

Ah, the Masquerade Ball! What girl doesn't dream of attending one?  

This post is divided into three categories, parts, or "chapters", if you will....with a really, really, really, really, really, really exciting SURPRISE at the end!!!!!!!

I hope you enjoy!

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Part One: Movie Costumes

 NOTE: I am not necessarily reccomending the movies mentioned in this post... just drooling over their outfits!


Christine's dress from Phantom of the Opera 

 This is a GOREGEOUS dress! Just take a look at the back:

Read the full costume study here

 Danielle's "Breathe" dress from Ever After:

 Did you know they made a corset to support those huge wings?

A very in-depth costume study here.

The  Masquerade dress from Marie-Antoinette

Here's an AMAZING costume study.  
I love her mask:

 Worn with this cloak, which was supposedly not even made for this specific movie!

Margarite's  "Peacock" costume from Ever After

 Cool head dress!

 Rich fabric... and perfect color.

Costume study here. 

Part Two: Some cute, modern "Masquerade" attire
You don't have to be "costume-y" for a Masq. Here are a few modern formal outfits that could also be for a Masquerade ball. (These are basically just ideas, as most of these dresses need to be altered to be more modest.)

my attempt at Polyvore

From Mod Cloth I found:

 

Put on a Party dress: $164.99

Step and Repeat dress: $149.99

New Hollywood Glamour dress

On Etsy.com, I found this:

Prom ball gown black sequin

Part Three: What to Wear (accessories)
Here's some stuff I've found on Amazon.com (probibly my fave place to shop) that's very "masquerade-y"..

Gloves:












These are nice, basic, gloves. You could personalize them by adding Hot Fix crystals, seed pearls, or perhaps some gold trim.

Cloak/cape:

A lovely evergreen is one of the color choices! Reminds me of a book...













Shoes:














GLASS SLIPPERS! I've always wanted a pair... even if they're not really "glass"


Just for fun, I added the Titanic necklace replica. I haven't actually seen the movie, but you have to admit this is a gorgeous necklace!
















A lovely mask is needed of course:















There's also the option of making one, like Amanda Beth did a looong time ago.

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Here's a tutorial on how to do a Marie Antoinette pouf hairstyle....

And now, the surprise.....

You would not BELIEVE how excited I am!

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My "Marie" dress!!! 

I'm not really done, but close enough to where I can take progress pics! YAY!

In a week or two, my final pics should be up.

Special thanks to my sister for taking these in a moments notice. :)

~Celine

100 blessings--continued

26. New clothing!
27. that we can take day-trips (which is why I'm late on this....)
28. cars that work
29. THE INTERNET!!!
30. clean, fun books to read :)
31.  The Book Fae-- where all my fave books come from, really.
32. Other blogs to read :)
33. BLOGGER!
34. new shoes!
35. Earrings, bracelets, ect.
36. blog events
37. Mountains
38. different varieties of trees
39. Sunshine
40. mist
41. the ocean!
42. RAIN!!!
43. THUNDERSTORMS! (really, rain + thunderstorms are one of my favorites of the things God created for us :)
44. Smiling faces
45. color
46. light
47. darkness
48. restful sleep
49. the library!
50. last but not least, my Mom (though I think she was included in #5, why not thank God again, as it was her birthday yesterday!!!!) I LOVE YOU MOM!!!!
Thank you for your insight and your opinion, your wisdom, your patience, and your support..... and also for being my "teacher"!

~Celine

The Romantic Heroine short cape

I recently found a new costuming site: The Peacock Manor. It struck me that her " Late 1800s short cape" is an awful lot like the Romantic Heroine Cape from Victorian Trading Co. for $59.95:

...except that I think I like hers better *grin* It would be lovely for a ball.... or even a masquerade ball, yes?

She mentions how she made it here (scroll down) and even includes an image of the pattern!

I highly recommend her site :)

100 blessings :)

This is from Olive Tree’s idea – post 25 blessings you’re grateful for once a week, for four weeks. It’s called 100 blessings!

1. That Jesus Christ died for my sins
2. that we can be 100% positive that we're going to Heaven
3. that God loves us and continues to forgive us---till the day we go to be with Him, He's working on our character
4. that the government allows my parents to home school me and teach me what they believe is in accordance with the Bible
5. that I even have godly parents-- and two awesome sisters :)
6. my aunts
7. my uncles
8. my cousins
9. that my aunts, uncles, and cousins can come and visit!
10. my grandparents
11. that my grandparents can come and visit!
12. friends
13. nourishing food to eat
14. lots of different clothing to wear
15. foundation and cover up (comes in handy for picture-taking :)
16. lip balm 
17. Vicks Vaporub
18. Tylonel
19. our herb garden! 
20. paper and pencils a-plenty
21. FABRIC!!!!!!
22. costume-y movies to inspire me :)
23. clean family movies to enjoy (yes, there are several out there)
24. youth group
25. new people to meet

At first, I was thinking that I might run out of ideas... but I currently have another 20 in my head right now!

The Lord has blessed us abundantly, hasn't He? :)

Celine

"Marie" stomacher beading..

half way through.... I really like it :)

I am going to fray check those edges though, since I'll be beading more....

Arwen's Mourning dress: 75% complete

The inspiration:

 Arwen's Mourning dress from LotR

in the scene where her (Elven) father shows her what her future is with mortal Aragorn. It's only on the screen for less than five seconds! Fortunately, the movies were so popular that the costumes were (and are) on display quite often....


My original sketch:

 Ignore the Hawaiian flowers, lines, and "January".... I have a bad habit of grabbing the first available paper *grin*

The 75% completed project:

All that's left is hemming, which I strongly dislike, and besides that, there's a lot to hem... :^l

After I find the proper head scarf + crown I'm planning on having a photo shoot.... but who knows? Can't say for sure...

Thank you for reading :)

Celine

"Marie" inspiration post...

I always do an inspiration post for my projects... this is for the previously mentioned silver-y taffeta...

The original, original  idea was my mom's. We wear at the summer clearance sale for a large fabric store, and she said, "This is nice... it would be a nice Marie Antoinette-style dress..." (not like I aim to be like MA... however I wrote an essay for school on her life which I'll be posting some day...) Anyways, then the wheels of my mind started turning...

This is my source of inspiration:

a publicity shot for "Marie-Antoinette" with Kirsten Dunst. (I haven't seen it, so I can't say I recommend it.)
Basically the only elements I'll be keeping are the beading, the black tulle mask, and the pouf hairstyle.

 My other inspiration:

Elisabeth Swan's Gold gown from Pirates of the Caribbean....

 And her wedding gown. The beading is awesome. (NOTE: I haven't seen PotC either...)

 Well, have a lovely day :)

Planning...

Mom bought me six yards of this silver taffeta last night! It's absolutely gorgeous. It'll be a 18th c. inspired ball gown, with pewter and white/silvery beads on the stomacher and sleeves. I'll have a black tulle mask and also have tulle and a black rose is my hair.
Thank you, Mum!!!! :)

This is some olive green cotton broadcloth-type fabric. I'm making a medieval gown (that I've dubbed the "Autumn" dress), and embroidering the sleeves, neckline and possibly the hem with the thread colors shown.

These are the materials for Arwens Mourning dress (check out my previous post).

A close up on the buttons. I took these pics myself.... I didn't want to bother Amelia..... however, my close ups are really bad! She's so much better at this than I am!

My Oktoberfest costume!

My Bavarian dirndl in it's completed state.

To define dirndl: "The dirndl consists of a bodice, blouse, full skirt and apron." --Wikipedia (here's the rest of the article. Very interesting.)

Picking lavender barefoot. I love lavender tea.

The skirt and the shoes and stockings I should be wearing that I took off after a few minutes...they're VERY warm!!!

Now, on to the vest:

The front and back of the vest. Laced in front with a yellow ribbon.

Concerning the skirt: It is constructed like this one. (You'll have to scroll waaaaaaaaaay down, as it was a loooong post of mine :)

Concerning the missing apron: I didn't end up sewing the apron. I left it for last.... and then decided that my outfit didn't need it. In fact, if I had stuck to my original plans, it would look pretty plain.

Princess seamed.

And a first look at my purity ring! Pics coming soon.

Patterns used: Butterick 6196 for the vest. I'm wearing a 18th century shift (or chemise) I've had on hand for years for a blouse/slip..... and as I mentioned before, the skirt is simply two rectangles of fabric, gathered, and sewn right sides together with a waistband. Then I slip stitched the waistband on the other side so that the raw edge of the skirt was covered. The waistband overlaps a few inches and is fastened with two buttons. Comments are welcome if this is confusing.

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Pics courtesy of my younger sister Amelia (THANK YOU!!!!). She's getting VERY good, yes? :)

For Almost Alice week...

at Thoughts of a Shieldmaiden, I thought I'd enter the "Alice" doll dress I made.

I drafted the pattern myself... well, actually I based it off of a few of these patterns... and made it up. 

Very accurate looking, no?