What I've Been Up To - Part II

 Here's a little more of a sneak peek into what's been going on in my world; my soon-to-be fashion label!
Add Ritzy Raven to your Following list, and keep up-to-date on what's in store!

Goings On

Curious as to what I've been up to that has kept me from this blog?
Check out the below links to find out.

The Valkyrie - Traditional And Inspired Design; A Hopeful Shieldmaiden Builds Her Wardrobe And Her Armor, One Piece At A Time.


Happiness Is A Warm Ray Gun - The Sci-Fi Sewing and Cosplay Adventures Of A Pin-Up Girl.

You can also click on the various tabs at the top of this page to access these blogs plus others, where I post about sci-fi costuming, cosplay,  Viking adventures and more!

Tis the season that I begin my historical sewing once again, and will be sharing here regularly in the coming weeks. Will it be for Dickens Fair, 12th Night, or something else entirely?
XOXO!

Dancing at the 2015 Gatsby Afternoon Picnic

 

A Viking raid with my fellow shieldmaidens, at Dragon Con 2015

An Award!

 A huge thank you to Åsa, at Fashion Through History, for the Sisterhood Of The World Bloggers Award!

Here are my answers to the questions given, and with the exception of the final question, I've supplied links to sources for the requested images.
Included is my list of nominees for the award, or at least an 'additional mention'. Many on my list have already been nominated for the award recently.
xoxo!

1. How did you start sewing Historical/or other costumes?
    A medieval fair and Halloween! Between age 10 and 15, I began to really attack the sewing and costuming process. I'd see historically themed films and feel an insatiable need to wear all those amazing gowns and costumes. I began with clothing my dollhouse dolls in resplendent 18th century ensembles, but I wanted to wear them too. a couple years later with mom's help and partnering with a friend who was working on the same thing, at age 12 I made my first 11th century gown for a local 'faire'. My 1st year of high school, I recreated the Catwoman costume worn by Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns, for Halloween. By pop culture terms, that was my first true cosplay. The rest is history ;-)

2. What other things do you do than sewing/creating?
    Mermaiding, burlesque, cosplay and living history events.

3. What item/project that you made are you the most proud of? (may we see pictures?)
    Currently, that would be my reproduction of a winter velveteen and fur ensemble worn by the Empress Elisabeth Of Austria (Sisi).

4. Do you have a secret shame item/project that you will share? (Pictures?)
    Nope ;-) I'm never in the least bit ashamed at anything I have made, or want to make. There have been times when I knew I could have done a better job, but it's often when trying something for the first time. I use it as a learning experience! I even created a blog for what some might call a 'guilty pleasure' for a historical costumer; Happiness Is A Warm Ray Gun.
I'm never guilty or ashamed, I'm well versed ;-)

5. Do you prefer Books, You-Tube videos or other, for sewing reference? And which are your favorite one/s?
    It's hard to choose just one. My preferences change depending on what I'm working on. If it's historical, I pour over all the material I can find; Youtube videos for techniques & tutorials, hi res images of extant garments in museums and personal collections, books from my vast & growing collection, and other costumers processes and experience shared in blogs. For the sci-fi and fantasy cosplay, I try to find as many stills of the actor or character in the costume as I can, in addition to watching the film or the show a few times over.

6. Whats your best sewing tip/trick?
    Clipping curved seam allowances!! Even if it's a really subtle curve going in either direction. This is a step that may not be new, but it creates a smoother seamline and fit for bodices, necklines and sleeves.

7. What’s your biggest sewing cheat that you do but you know that you shouldn’t?
    Using pinking shears instead of basting to finish the seam edges on the inside of garments. While still historically appropriate for some eras, most times I do this instead of hand basting my seam edges. I know I need to baste them, but when I'm in a hurry to get to the ball, I just don't have time!
I do go back later and at least baste my bodice seams ;-)

8. What’s your biggest inspiration in deciding on up-coming projects?
    Hehe, right now it's Dragon Con or Dragon Con. It sort of takes over my life sewing-wise 6 to 8 months out of the year. Between that, work and Dickens fair, I really should reevaluate what I give my time to if I ever want to sew anything that isn't related to either of those events. like a new burlesque costume.

9. Do you have a favorite era/style that you do?
    I do but don't often, if ever, get to sew for it. The 18th century is probably my ultimate pre-20th century favorite, with a close second being the mid to late 1870s. My 20th century favorite is the 1930s.

10. What is your dream project? (Picture/s please)
     Currently, something similar to these 18th century items:

The much needed pair of stays!

My nominees are:

1. Loren & Isabella - Two Nerdy History Girls
2. Caroline – Anno 1776
3. Isabella – All the Pretty Dresses
4. Merja – The Aristocat
5. Caroline – Dressed in Time
6. Cathrin – Katafalk
7. Elisa – Isis Wardrobe
8. Nora – The Shadow of My Hand
9. Cassidy - A Most Beguiling Accomplishment
10. Lauren - The American Duchess

A Few Updates

Just checking in here since it's been a while.
I wish I had more to share but life got busy, as it does. With that said, I am once again ramping up for DragonCon 2015 in September, and the costuming frenzy is nearing a fever pitch.

At Big Wow; I'm the Doctor's 'Galactic' mechanic.

Over the last two months, we've also had two local sci-fi/fantasy conventions to San Jose; Big Wow and BayCon. While BayCon was very low-key, we made the fun happen by gathering together with good friends, and just had a good time goofing off in costume.
Big Wow was also a lot of fun, and promises to be even bigger next year.

In other news, of which some of you may already be privy to; I've taken up mermaiding.
"What the hell is mermaiding?" You may be asking yourselves. Well, you can read more about that here:
A Description From Mermaid Kat
Mernetwork FAQ: What Is Mermaiding?
and more, in my blog dedicated to my adventures in fins (so far):
Shimmer From The Deep - Freyja The Viking Mermaid

For now, I'll leave you with a recent photo taken this past weekend at BayCon, while I took a quick dip in the pool with my fins. I'll be updating here soon with posts and/or links to all the costuming projects I have going for DragonCon this year.
XOXO!

Photo by Mary Anne Butler

Catching Up

It\"s been a while, once again, since the last entry here and seems to be a habit of mine. Especially as I go about gathering up materials and supplies for Dragon Con costuming.

Here are a few shots from way back in January, taken at the Twelfth Night Ball.

This is the ice blue ball gown I was working on, and barely had enough time to finish...and I still don\"t consider it totally finished. But, it turned out to be a gown "that would do" and is stylishly simple.

A surprise photo with Anders, Photo: Laurie Tavan

Tea-dyed satin slippers; they went from a glaring white, to this lovely candlelight ivory thanks to some English breakfast tea. They show up a slightly deeper shade in this photo than they actually are.

I wanted to add more trimmings made from the blue silk and gold trims, around the neckline for a faux bertha collar (as seen on some extant ballgowns). I\"m still hoping to give it a delicate helping of that, a little extra on the sleeves, and perhaps something on the skirt as well made from the taffeta and gold metal brush fringe. Something along the lines of this, instead of having the metal fringe straight along the hemline as I do now:

Still, I wish I had a good shot of the bodice front. With that said, the gown ended up very much reminding people of Cinderella, and that became my nickname for the evening ;-)

A little more boning at the seams is needed, too. Hopefully as the weather and free time improves, and I’ll maybe head up to Villa Montalvo for a quick photo shoot with this gown. The Villa is the same location we shot my Sisi velvet and mink ensemble, so it should be the perfect spot for a Cinderella-like set.

Striking a Winterhalter pose with Jenny Storm, Photo: Bill Watters

Dancing

Photo: Laurie Tavan

With Daniel and Laura, photo: Christopher Erickson

And then things just got weird...

Photo by Bill Watters

"Quick, Before It Melts!" The Frozen Photo Shoot: Part I

Two weeks ago I finally had the chance to do a proper photo shoot in my Elsa gown, with my "Anna", Lorelei Winter.
Near the snowy peaks above Lake Tahoe, there remained plenty of snow on the ground. As a large group of us were spending the weekend at a friend's summer cabin, we grabbed mittens, costumes, snow gear, sleds and cameras. Many, many thanks to Mary Anne Butler and Bill Watters for the photography skills.

"Anna loves her new flannel petticoat, but do I really need these boots?" The cold didn't bother me, but...yes. Yes I did need them.

I was surprised at how comfortable I was for nearly 2 hours, in what was essentially a strapless evening gown and not much underneath. Sanity dictated that I wear warm boots, and even though they clashed with the gown, I'm glad I did. "Anna" wore her regular boots, but kept sinking into the deeper snowdrifts. Sometimes well above her knees. My boots were built for snow, and (for the most part) kept me from sinking past my ankles. My "ice slippers" would have likely come off my feet with each step

Moments of glamour...

...and lot's of "WTF!" (FYI, Anna is not kneeling. She actually sank that deep!)

Stay tuned. More photos on the way!

End-Of-Year Update Part I

Happy Yule to everyone!

As the holidays ramp up toward the new year, here\"s an update on what I\"ve been up to since I last posted here. Hold on tight, it\"s a long one. First up; the dress(es) conundrum...

Ballgown bodice pre-seam clipping, hence the bunching on the dart seams.

For Dickens Fair this year, I decided to take time away from participating as a cast member and focus on sewing. Even so, other performances and costuming ended up taking much of my time away from my goal of creating a fabulous pastel frou-frou 1830s ensemble. My friend Laura and I were planning on attending the final weekend together in these outfits. Unfortunately time ran out for me, but that really wasn\"t the final reason why I didn\"t use the pale blue silk taffeta for such a project. More on that in a bit.

On Saturday in the middle of the afternoon before Laura arrived to meet me (after spending the morning rushing to finish her outfit), Anders became violently ill.

He played Bill Sykes with the Oliver Twist cast this year, and was feeling right as rain Saturday morning. That is, until he ate some tainted food from one of the vendors for lunch. He was so sick I feared that I’d need to take him to an ER. When the worst of it passed after about 3-4 hours, I got him in the car and we just went home. I spent that Sunday looking out for any recurring symptoms that might surface, but he was almost normal by Sunday night. He’d had just four french fries on Saturday that made him feel "funny" about 30 minutes after eating them, then he blacked out, came to and was violently ill multiple times. Later we heard more than a few other people had come down with the same symptoms that same day, and it’s strongly suspected that it was botulism(!) from poor food handling and tainted ingredients.

So while we enjoyed those few earlier hours at Dickens on Saturday, Laura and I never had the chance to wreak Frou-frou havoc together.

It was also due to two other less intense factors:

1.) I had initially purchased the silk with the intent of FINALLY making myself an 1850s or 1860s ballgown, and while I could have made the 1830s day dress convertible into the 1850s ballgown, I would have had to do some major futzing that would likely compromise the design I wanted for my ballgown.

2.) After weighing the risks, I didn\"t want to wear this pale and wondrous silk fabric at Dickens, where patrons are walking around with drinks, the ground is dirty and hemlines suffer, small children and adults alike with grimy hands that like to shove in crowded areas and patrons are often walking around with food. I didn\"t want to subject my future mid Victorian dream ballgown to any of that.

Last year I had a pale colored dress and a patron spilled food on the skirt. I had to have it dry cleaned and even though they couldn\"t get all of the stain out, it was expensive. Luckily the stripe pattern in the fabric helps hide the faint stain, but I don\"t want to go through that again.

 If we do attempt the pastel 1830s madness thing again next year, I\"ll make it out of something more easily washed. I had initially thought about getting a synthetic taffeta for this, but cost-wise I\"d already spent my costuming funds on the silk.

Next year I\"ll make the 1830s dress in a good quality silk blend, or a lined sheer blue cotton. This isn\"t that I\"m a fabric snob, but synthetics get really warm at Dickens Fair and it can be downright sweltering indoors when the crowds are their thickest.

Natural, breathable fabrics are the way to go. As long as I can hand wash or put it through the delicate cycle in cold water and drip dry, I\"m comfortable with wearing an all-over solid pale color at Dickens Fair.
So in the end, I took this dress and made a few changes.

I removed the sleeves from the bodice, and replaced them with my own altered version of the gigot sleeves from the Truly Victorian 1830s dress pattern. I made them out of a slightly contrasting fabric to the dress. It used to be a grey pink shot taffeta skirt I\"d made 2 years earlier, and wore once.

Then I took some of the trim from the old sleeves, and used that to trim the gathered areas and the shoulder seams of the new sleeves.

The skirt received an update as well. With more of the left over trim from the sleeves, I applied it in a straight line down the center front. I also attached a bunch of lush bows made from the grey/pink skirt fabric for an 1836 skirt decoration style I\"d seen in a fashion plate.

I want to do something like this dress again, but in richer colors. This plum/dove grey/pinkish color scheme is lovely in daylight, but indoors or in the dusky lighting of Dickens Fair, it gets washed out easily. I at least had its pretty luster to save it. If I do a pale blue, I\"ll go for something that looks like a bright sky blue in outdoor light.

This bodice was also worn over a different corset this time, and while it was more comfortable than its predecessor, there is some wrinkling I\"ll need to fix on the bodice with a re-fitting and more boning.

As for the hat, stay tuned. That and the ballgown will get their own blog entries.

 

 Photo by Mary Anne Butler

 Photo by Laurie Tavan