An Apple A Day Keeps The Doctor Away...Unless It's Poisoned Of Course.

Dearest friends,

It is with a heavy heart that I report the illness of my dear sewing machine. Something went wrong with it in the final phases of making Hermione's Yule Ball gown, which thankfully I had already managed to get to a wearable point. I shall have to actually hem it someday though. I'm attempting to diagnose the problem at the moment though because I want to begin my next project! Seems to be something to do with how the top thread and the bottom thread interact. If anyone has some experience with sewing machine troubleshooting please help me! (It's a pfaff for reference).

In related yet happier news, Hermione's ballgown was a huge success. There was much gawking as I roamed around the movie theatre at the Deathly Hallows midnight opening and some woman at a bachelorette party gave me a free pizza because mine was her favorite costume. Win. I impressed myself actually with how well the skirts came together when I hadn't actually muslin-ed it out. It was tremendously fun to walk in. However, if I were to re-do it I would hand dye the sheers. I don't like how it abruptly switches from maroon to pink. And I would smooth out the bodice a little more. Not bad for a first attempt though! I'm very pleased.

But looking a head to the future I'm eager to start sewing for Halloween! (Assuming my machine can be fixed!). A fellow costumer posed a link on her facebook to this wonderful artist's page creating more accurate versions of the Disney Princess costumes. While in Florida Kat and I had tossed around the notion of doing the princesses for Halloween. Though I believe she has decided on a more literally princess (Cleopatra), the idea was solidified in my mind when I saw the rendering of Snow While. I love the 16th century German interpretation so that's what I'm doing! I got fabric at Sew Low when Kat and I went last week! The only fabric I'm not 100% enthused about is the yellow for the skirt I picked out so that may be changing before the dress is actually underway. :)

That's all that's new at the moment in the way of costuming. I'll hopefully be updating more as things go along.
Cheers!
Thera

Yule Ball dress finished!

Back

Fighting You-Know-Who!

Free pizza. Win!

Triangle Torture and the Tonys!

Hola friends!
       Ive been plugging along with the bodice of Hermione's gown. I want to have this thing done by the time Kat and I head off to Hogwarts (side note- this is a literal statement. We're going to Disney/ Universal at the end of the month!!!) and that doesn't leave me much time. When I say "done" I really mean "mostly put together" though so we'll see. :)
       I think I finally have the boob pieces done after many many many attempts. I ended up cheating and adding a seam in the 2nd and 3rd triangles so it wouldn't pucker. I still think I could have draped it correctly if I could have done it on a dress form but oh well. It's done and made up in the actual fabric. I think I may need to take it in a little though and I want to find some nice bra cups to put in since I'm not very well endowed.
       Yet another trip to Sew Low (and Sewfisticated!) yielded the sheer fabrics that will make up the ruffles on the skirt and shoulders. I love love love the darkest one but the lighter one is not exactly what I wanted but I think it will be ok. I know what I have to do for the skirt but I've been rather lazy about starting it. When it comes down to the ruffles I think it will get a little more fussy.
        But tickets for the midnight movie release went on sale yesterday so that's been motivation to get this thing going.
That's all I've got for tonight. So sad the Tonys didn't feature the costume design award on air. Oh well.
Cheers!
Thera

Bodice so far and new fabrics!

Triangles!

Patterns, Pirates, and Banana Ice Cream

Hello Friends,

     It's been a while since I've updated the blog and I'm terribly sorry! Though to be fair, Kat and I have not done much sewing as of late. Blame it on contentedness though so I suppose that's a good thing. (We usually have sewing circles when one of us is being tortured by a member of the male gender). So all things considered, things are going well! But July 15th is fast approaching and I've got to get cracking on my Harry Potter costume regardless. Also, in semi-exciting news, a google image search of "Hermione Yule Ball gown" leads you to this blog (see last post) which Kat and I had a freak out moment about. :)

I'm currently hard at work watching Pirates of the Caribbean and attempting to draft the bodice pattern for my yule ball gown. I'm massacring a simplicity pattern but it currently looks nothing like what I started with so I won't even bother listing the number. I'm having a spot of difficulty with the triangle boob dart part but other then that it's going well. I just can't get it to not pucker at the top so far.

I took a solo trip to Sew Low (read that out loud lol) and got some lovely fabric for the base of the gown. It's a shade darker then I would have liked but otherwise perfect. I'll just tone down the dress on a whole. They have some lovely maroon chiffon that I'll get for the bottom of the dress. The part that cascades. :)

That's all I've got for now. I'll post some in progress pictures soon!
Cheers!
Thera

UPDATE:
Pictures, as promised!

My attempts at drafting the bodice in a pink muslin. And ice cream :)

The fabric I bought at Sew Low!

Bone of the Father, Flesh of the Servant, Blood of the Foe; You Will Ressurect This Blog.

Dearest Friends,
      We're back! After a little hiatus in which Kat and I worked a lot and did the whole Christmas thing, we're finally returning to our sewing circle with new projects. And that means this blog will be up and running once again! Yay!

Kat is planning on buckling down and working on her reenacting kit. On one of our Sew Low trips back in the fall she picked up a lot of really great linen. I'm not sure what exactly she's planning on doing with it yet, but it's a very pretty color. We also began work briefly on her shift one evening. It needs a head hole and some hemming, but is other wise done. I believe that is first on her to do list.

As for me, I'm thinking ahead to the final Harry Potter movie being released this summer. I have decided to make Hermione's Yule Ball dress from the 4th movie for the occasion. Originally I had real problems with the dress because the movie costumer (Jany Tamime) chose (an admittedly very gorgeous) pink for the gown instead of the periwinkle color the book describes. However I've gotten over it at this point. I want to make something that's recognizable and impressive and this fits that description to a "t". And since this is the very last Potter movie, I can't imagine dressing as anyone else. I was ten years old when I wore my Gram's old wool skirt and a Gryffindor tie to the opening of Sorcerer's Stone to be Hermione. And I'm a big fan of sentimental full circle. (On a related sentimental side note, I've worn that same wool skirt to every other Potter opening, movie and book, except the last movie and Goblet of Fire's book release.)

That's all for now! Check back later for some duct tape dummy pics!
Cheers!
Thera

Hermione's Yule Ball Gown

Done and done!

Finished product

 With Jack :)

At the castle

Maybe if I'm lucky I can find these guys to come with me :)