Stasis...creatively speaking.

I haven't really worked on anything lately. I did venture down to Queen St, and picked up some odds and sodds from Sussman's for the fascinators I have on comission, but I haven't really had the chance to work on them. I do look forward to using those peacock sword feathers though.

I actually have been busy though. I recently took on another tutoring job that requires prep work, so that's taken up some time, since I'm trying to create an actual lesson plan than just verbalizing random stuff. Plus any excuse to talk about the sensitive plants is reason enough for me.

Mimosa pudica. Look at it go!!!!!

Yes, I am easily amused.

Anyway, so yeah. Busy life.

I also started watching Supernatural THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT.

That was going to be it, until I found out through Dramatic Threads, one of the blogs I follow, that there were pattern updates. So I looked.

Hello, Snow White's awesome McAwesome battle jacket. I have no idea how close it is to the original but that gives a reallllly nice start point. Like I need another project......

*thoughtful rumination, sacrifice one pencil*

The unfortunately thing about not being a multimillionaire is that I must budget my costuming materials. Do you get the median of everything, or the best of somethings and the mediocre of others? What, in the end, will make the best creation?

Case in point; the T.A.R.D.I.S. dress. I have a budget. I do not want to exceed the budget.. or can't for that matter. Unless the gods of the Ontario Lottery Gaming decree that the winning numbers are mine alone.So, to stay in the budget, I have to choose what I can save on. The blue silk, while on sale, was not what I would call a savings. It put a heavy dent in the budget. But, it is so wonderfully perfect and defines the dress that it can't be done without. So, what do I balance it with?

The hoopskirt. If I was after historical accuracy, I would be more hesitant, but I want the dress to be the feature, not what's holding it up. So, after researching materials, patterns and their ilk, I have decided to purchase a bridal hoopskirt. It has the dimensions I want, it has adjustable hoops so I can reuse it for mulitple projects, and will save so much money that I can use towards trimmings and embelishments. I've purchased from this place before, judge the quality and it will not detract from the overall effect of the outfit. There's still "shortcuts" that you can't take; I'll still need to make the over-the-hoop-under-the-skirt layer less my hoop show through, and I will make up for the cheater hoops by drawing the layer ....that won't even be seen.... into the overall design. Money, I will save. Time, I will still spend.

Having made that decision, I will now looking into ordering the hoopskirt and the patterns for this beast.
But before I do that.... back to designing.....

Suddenly comissions.

Magic and Stitchcraft suddenly has customers. Sort of ish, heh.

My sister has asked me to make a flower piece for her hair, for the wedding she will be maid-o-honouring at. Sounds good. Got some of the fabric that's very close to the shoes, so now I just have to come up with a design. She needs it by August, so I have time to experiment.

Then, at work today, my boss's mother told me she is also attending a wedding in September and is looking for a fascinator of her own. Aside from a few colour preferences and a general idea, she handed me the Carte Blance. So long as it's excting, the skies the limit. :D Can anyone say Peacock Sword feathers?

So, yeah. I have little comissions. Let's see what I can do with them.

In other thoughts,

I have decreed that the cedar hedge on our property is officially called The Wall, as the namesake to its frozen counterpart from Game of Thrones/aSoIaF.

Also, the room rates for Costume Con 32 have just been posted. It suddenly just got real. *squeal of excitement*

Now, I am off to look for fascinator ideas. And make some more concept art for the Tardis dress.

Mwahahahaha....

Occasionally, I feel I get some good ideas.

My documentation for my T.A.R.D.I.S. dress is one of those good ideas.
I feel as if my graphic design friends would be proud of me for this....once I figure how to print it.

On a related note, I randomly searched T.A.R.D.I.S. dresses on google. Had a minor crisis of faith, and decided that the dress needs more dakka. So, while the concept won't change, the sheer amount of detailing and trimmings, clearly must increase.

Time to get the pencil crayons out again.

Suddenly...fabric.

I went to Fabricland.

It was good.

.....

My Visa card cried.

Seriously, though. One must take advantage of the sales when one can.

I got Quetzie's pattern. I now understand why there is so much fabric involved. I didn't see a material I liked for it though, I will have to keep my eyes peeled. I also picked up some more of that black and white material I used for the spats. Now I have enough to make more accessories for future Crafter's Corners, and perhaps something for little ol' me.

And then, the silk. <3 My silk was there. My silk was also on sale, for cheaper than it would have been with the 50% off. Instead of the $19/m I would have paid at the 50% off price, it was on for $16/m. That extra three dollars comes in handy when you kill the whole bolt of fabric. I was worried there wasn't going to be enough. There was just enough. So I took it all. My silk. Mine.

(I clearly have a problem.)

So, now all 9.4 metres of the duponi and I have apparently committed to making a T.A.R.D.I.S. dress. Just in case I was having doubts before, I'm locked in now. Once I, y'know, finalize the design. My mom likes the design so far, but like me is iffy about the top. I'll have to do more research on that section. Also, keep my eyes peeled for the black and white fabric. I'll have to check a store that has more home decor fabrics, since I think that's where I'm likely to find that kind of stripe, but as the seasons rotate so does the stock.

So... yeah. Fantastic.

Now, I just have to update my cost spreadsheet for my supplies, and I might make one to control my spending for costume con. Shouldn't take more than a few minutes!

Ideas... Ideas....

Just fleshing out some more thoughts for Quetzalcoatl. Ideally, I'd like to make this little number first and soon. Give it a test run on, say Hallowe'en or something, and then debut it to my peers for the Friday Night Social.

Currently, I'm favouring this pattern for the basis of Quetzie.

McCalls 6743

It has a few different hemlines, and I'm currently favouring the above style B, or style D.

I like the asymmetry of the dresses. It's got a fun, sassy look to it. It might give Quetzie that night club look, I'm after. Seeing as I don't have the pattern in front of me, I can't see how the fabric is laid out. So, the yardage concerns me, because they're after a hell of a lot of material. My Game of Thrones Maxi dress required less material, and that was bulky. They want a thinner fabric than I used, but still. Do I want to cut out some of the material? I'll know better once I see the instructions.

Rather than self belting it low in the waist as they suggested, I'm thinking of using that gold stretchy belt I have to cinch it just under the bust for more of an old world feel. Plus the gold would pop against the dress (which would be some sort of green tone) Not to mention matching the gold scale bangles I specifically bought for this. :D

If I do go with this sort of look, I might add something to the hemline. Maybe add some gold? Paint or trim, so long as it doesn't interfer with the flow of the dress.

Hm hm hm.... don't know. Work in progress, obviously. Hopefully I can get to fabricland this weekend and take a look at the pattern, since it will be on sale. Not to mention that blue silk..... <3 <3 <3

*happily humming, just add pencil crayons*

I haven't used these babies in years. I literally had to dust them off.

Oh, how they laughed at me for wanting 50 colours of pencil crayons. (They didn't. No one cared.)
But, now I have proven their worth. (I probably got them on sale.)
Now, I unleash my majesty. (I colour like a 5 year old. Staying in the lines is for grown-ups.)

Or, in my case, I print off the line art for the patterns I'm considering using for various projects, and happily colour them in, like a kid with a colouring book. Except I'm shading ballgowns instead of unicorns. With the aforementioned ability to stay in the lines.

Eh. It's helping me visualize. Kinda like how I use my favourite Barbie stencil to draw human outlines. If there is anything scarier than my colour ability, it's my ability to draw human outlines. I could make an abstract painter weep for their mothers. But I draw a mighty stick figure. And you should see my plant cell diagrams. Those 'ill get your cytochrome complexes goin'. (Bad biology humour, ladies and gentlemen.)

Anyways, I had a point to this.

Right. Pencil Crayons. I gave myself a hand cramp colouring buuuuut, I am now creating a binder of ideas for Costume Con, so at least it's for reason. Currently, planning Quetzalcoatl's design.

Oh, 50% sale at Fabricland this weekend. Remember that, if I have time.

I really need to read those books I got from the library. I already renewed them once, and still haven't cracked them open. Ah, well. I have until the 17th.

Oh. And the Tony's were fantastic last night. Love watching that show. Special mention to Cinderella and metamorphasizing dress. I heard the cosplayers cry out as one. I, myself watch it in slow motion twice.

And those are the thoughts for the day. Onwards to Tuesday.

Hmm. Hm hm hm.

Okay.... so I'm getting some more concrete ideas on the T.A.R.D.I.S. dress. Channeling some Truly Victorian patterns. Not steampunk...not at all really. More romantic era....with bell epoch...and then something else entirely. It's becoming a total mash up of time periods, which considering, this is the T.A.R.D.I.S. we're discussing is in essence, perfect.

I think I've figured out how to incorperate the Pull to open sign without it being that white sqaure of doom just in the middle of the outfit. White and Black are very much there, as long as the imporant and vibrant blue isn't downplayed too much. I'll need a hoopskirt, because my crinoline might not have enough Poof....unless I get the ulimate poof crinoline for a more A-line effect. Still working on the top though...I think the pattern I've selected would work...but I'm not sure. And what to wear on the feet....do I go with the proper heels, and my own spats or revel in the glory that are converse shoes, as homage to the great 10th regeneration? ...which could also be worn with spats. Aaaaaaah, I can hear Valentino gnashing his teeth at my haute ideas.

I must make a mock up sheet and see how these idea pull together...not to mention yardage information. If I do end up using that desirable blue silk I need to know how much damage its going to do to my bank account.

And what shall I wear upon my head???

Ah, I love it when a plan comes together.

Alright, let's start to focus, shall we?

So I once again realized Costume Con 32 was now less than a year from now.
I mean, I've been tracking it since they announced it.
But suddenly 900+ days is less than 300+ days.
Less than year to create a collection of majesty worthy of being judged by my peers and in many cases, my costuming idols.

SOMEONE'S GOTTA HUNKER DOWN!

So, it is my goal, by the end of this month, to fully finalize what I am going to create for each category and have an almost concrete design for those pieces that require it. I shall create a binder with all my printouts and sources for documentation purposes and to keep some sort of control on the situation.

As of this moment.

Historical Masq: Decided. Secret-like of course.
Sci-Fan Masq: Tentatively decided. Will depend if I can find a design that represents my ideas.
Single Pattern: As above, thought I have my inspirational piece and a piece of the headgear I plan on using.
Fri N Social: Quetzalcoatl, the Night Club version. Haven't fully created the design, but it's going to be sassy!

So, really, it's all just ideas at this point. But at least I have ideas....right? RIGHT?

....now where's me colour pencils?