Just read the Post.

SO.
I was browsing the web, and I came across this page that was talking about cosplay, hoopskirts, and other things that have to do with the fusion of historical and modern costuming.
This suddenly spurred me to look up the words "Marie Antoinette Cosplay" in the image search, and to much dismay, I have returned with unsatisfactory results.
The majority of what I saw was full, frilly skirts and hourglass silhouettes, rather more suited to the 19th century than the 18th. So, I'll write a rough "outline" for any people who plan on doing this cosplay in the future. PLEASE don't be offended, I just wanted to make it aware that people are probably going into a cosplay not knowing the background behind such a character.
Okay, so... LET'S BEGIN.
1. If you decide to do a Marie Antoinette Cosplay, please know that you are doing a representation of a historical figure, and therefore to do the best cosplay that you can, you ideally need to make a dress that is accurate (in style, at least) to the time period. This goes for ANY historical figure cosplay, as thesame principle applies.
2. So, there IS an exception. There is a manga (and anime?) series called "The Rose of Versailles"
Now, while I've not heard of it until recently, I understand if people are doing that as a cosplay. So, then you can have your hourgalss figure and full frilly skirts.
3. okay, so now to get to the actual cosplay info. Marie Antoinette was queen of France in the 1770s and 80s. Therefore, you should do some research in the fashions of the time period, and probably look at some of her portraits.
4. Now, she was also regarded as a leader in fashion at the time so, in my opinion, that gives a person leave to use information that is a bit ahead of the time. But that's a bit besides the point.
5. And IN REGARD TO THE CLOTHES. You should use proper stays and panniers, to get the right silhouette. So don't try to go around in a victorian corset and a hoopskirt. 'CAUSE THAT'S NOT FOR MARIE ANTOINETTE. >:(
And that's pretty much it. oh, and in regards to historical accuracy, I meant style wise, not everything wise. You don't ahve to use real silk and whalebone for the costume. If you want to though, don't let me stop you...
So yeah. there's my semi-rant.
Oh, and if you were wondering what progress I've made, I got another skirt panel done, and I sewed it to the first. It looks so cool! :) But now I'm at my dad's house all week, so any machine sewing is on hold. As for panels, though, I can gather the long pieces and pin them to the bases. So it's a start! And my corset stays came in, so I put those in the corset and laced it up! It's really comfy, compared to my makeshift corset with crap-tastic plastic that digs into my flesh! I haven't sewed the binding down or anything, though, so there *is* the possibility of them sliding out of their channels... at leas a *little* bit. But I'm so excited! :)

More pictures. :)

Hello again. It's time for more pictures.

So here's my hoop. You can see it's REALLY a-line, like, a lot. WAY smaller than I would have liked.
So I definitely need to add a nice, big, fluffy flounced petticoat that's starched and all that, to get it a bit bigger and more dome shaped than the A-line I have now.
And just for the sake of it, here's the picture of me tripping while trying to move back in time for the camera timer.

plaid skirt over hoop.

One of my finished skirt panels! Don't you just love that color? So the yellow taffeta is gathered, then mounted on a muslin base. I gathered it in quarters, at a very scant edge. Then, I sewed it to the muslin base just inside the gathering stitches. In this picture, the bottom curve isn't sewed or trimmed, but I did that this morning. (All the rest was last night.)

So, there you have it! All my picturtes/progress so far! I hope you'll forgive me for taking so long to get them up, and I'll try to be better about it from now on. :)

See you later!

Guess what, you guys!

I finally got pictures!!
So, I've made more progress. And it's real, honest-to-goodness progress on my Belle dress.
Because really, the chemise isn't quite progress on the dress, as I could totally use the on that I have now.
But anyways, onto the pictures! And info.

My new, almost-done hand-stitched chemise! I REALLY like the way the neckline turned out, I think it's a really nice shape for a neckline. And I look pretty good in a square neckline, if I do say so myself... ;P
The only other thing about it is that I'm not sure if I should add tucks at the hem, just because I don't know.
So, let me know what you think! Oh, and did I mention it's hand sewn?

Up next, my luverly wool/poly blend petti! As you can see, it's a seriously bright red color, and goes just past the hem of my new chemise. So it's all cool and stuff.

My plaid petti/skirt. It's not hemmed yet, so I've yet to do that. But otherwise, it's all finished.
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Detail of plaid!

So, yeah! It seems that blogger isn't letting me add more pictures, so another post will be up today!
See you in a bit!

Progress!!

So, link to my Youtube channel is below. And looking 'back' now, I feel like my voice is more nasally than I thought. And I sound more gay than I though too. Its the curse of hearing one's own voice on recording.
http://www.youtube.com/user/KiyoKenshin
I need to update my page, so that the background and stuff is less retarded looking, so that's also on my to-do list.

So anyways, on to sewing!
My dad took us on another road trip this past weekend, to the Grand Canyon. So for the car, I took some white cotton and stitched up a chemise. It's not totally finished, but I've got sleeves and the hem done. It has a really nice square neckline, too, when I put it on. :P
So I did that, and now I need to make a facing or some truck for the neckline. Other than that, I haven' done any sewing. :( I'mma bad procrastinator. Ah well. C'est la vie.
So, in other sewing news we finally ordered corset stays, so those'll be coming in soon-ish. (I hope)
And I'm getting an 'urge' to start sewing. So I'm going to start working on my Belle gown skirt soon. Yay!

Once again, I have no photos of anything. D:
I'm terrible! So if I make another post without pics, you can mentally punch me in the face. And call me a doof. and anything else that you think will motivate me to get these dang photos! So yeah.
I'll try to post by weeks end with those pics.

Belle's Dress Diary

So, I've made a little progress.

I've finished my red wool petticoat, and it goes to a little above my ankles.

I went to Joann’s and got a bunch of white cotton for my new undies and some nice plaid cotton for my other underhoop petti, which is pretty much done also.

But so anyways, I made the plaid petti big enough to be usable as a skirt too, so it fits over the hoop. The problem is: the hoop is not quite as dome-shaped as I thought. So I was like, we need more size near the top, to get the right shape. My original thought was to use the last bit of my hooping leftover from my bustle, and make an overlay cage to fill out the shape, but I contacted Jennifer from Historical Sewing, and she said that I could make a short-ish, flounced piece to fill out the shape. Also, she suggested goodwill for cheap old sheets to cut up. :)

So I'll be going to pick that up later, and I still need to get over to the big SAS to get some blue fabric. (I'll explain why later.) I'm also thinking maybe for the flounces I could gather them over a cord, and hem them with some nylon crinoline? I don't know, I'll probably end up just going with it.

Anyways, so I've a bit more things to go buy, and I still need to pester mom about corset stays. Oh! I also got my muslin for my skirt-ruching base! So I can start working on that. And I got a whole bunch of button-covering materials, and now have 14 medium yellow buttons, 3 biggish ones, and six tiny little gold-ish buttons. Also, I hadn't realized at the time, but my gold fabric is less stiff than my yellow material. So I'll probably have to use some of my leftover twill to flatline that.

In other news, I'm planning another project for after this one! I'm going to make an 18th century gown similar to this:

 

It’s Felicity’s blue Christmas Gown from the American Girl series, and I’m making it, appropriately, for Christmas. I’ve been planning it for a bit, and I have a few of the undergarments to go with it. I’m also working to make it a more historical representation of the dress than a cosplay, but I’m still going to maintain the main look of it. Also, I’m making to be like, the same style for someone of my age, as opposed to the flat-chested style of Felicity and her youth, etc etc. So I need stays, hoops, and at least one petti, for my colonial undies. Shift and pocket would be nice, but I’ve a makeshift pocket and I’ll use a chemise for now. Hoops are done. Stays are a WIP. Petti is done too. Pics later.

Also, my plan is to hand sew the dress. I’m insane. Don’t diss, just deal.

So yeah. That’s why I need blue frabrics. And yeah, I meant to write that. I used to call it frabric as a child.

And finally, I’m going to start LPing! For those of you who don’t know, LP equals Let’s Play. I’m doing Wii Music, so yeah. I’ll link my YouTube once I get my first video up. And I’ll take pictures. Of everything. YAY.

So that’s all for now. I’ve got one minute left on the computer, so I gotta run. BYE!!!

I'm still alive!

No, I didn't die.
I'm just a terrible person.
I start a dress diary, and never finish?
Sounds like me. Terrible, but SO like me.

Okay, well this time, it'll be different!
I ended up finishing both my frilly pink bustle gown, and my friends yellow prom dress.
They turned out well, but I don't have pictures right now, so meh.
If I feel like making the effort to find them and post them, I'll do so later. But probably not.

ANYWAYS, onto more important things.
I'm starting a new dress for halloween! It's semi-historical, but more just a costume of a character that I love.
I'm going to be Belle from Beauty and the Beast!

So, a while ago I did a mock-up for a skirt panel (long, tapered triangle-shaped thingy, with miles of gathers on either side, to form the ruche) and figured out the amount of fabric I need. Approx. 10 yards of pale yellow for the skirt and the shoulder thing, and then around 5 yards of a bit darker for the skirt loops, bodice, and hopefully gloves.

I'm using my own skirt pattern, basically this:

The long one is the ruching panel. The short one is the base for the ruching. And the little crescent is what I'll use for the loops on the skirt.
For the bodice, I'm using the Truly Victorian 1860's ballgown bodice as a base, but without the bertha or the sleeves, and I'm making my own neckline thing.

As for the Belle bertha, I'll probably make my own patter roughly in the shape of a long, wide fish-like thing.

Then, for the gloves I'll be trying out the historical gloves pattern by Butterick, pictured here:

I haven't worked with this pattern before, but it's stashed away in my little drawer, so I should be able to test it out. the only thing is, I would LOVE to make the long gloves, and be all cool and have the three little wrist-buttons, but that doesn't come with the pattern. So I'd be a bit nervous to try it out. But, isn't that the fun of sewing? Maybe if it's too loose I can just make a little dart and tack on three little buttons. <3

So there's the plan. I'm also hoping to make two-underhoop petticoats, because despite that fact that I'm in AZ and it gets balls hot in the summer, late October can be pretty cool.

And I still need to finish my corset, and I want to make a new chemise and drawers. I'm ready to order boning though, so we'll probably do that at the end of the week.

So here's my Outfit plan.

1. Chemise
2. Drawers
3. Corset
4. Wool Petticoat
5. Cotton Petticoat
6. Hoopskirt
7. Gown Skirt
8. Bodice
9. Gloves

I went to SAS yesterday, and bought my fashion fabric, too, so I have my two shades of yellow and I actually got a yard of wool/polyester blend for my petticoat. It's red! And all those sixteen yards of fabric cost less than sixty dollars! Woot woot!

All I need now is to get some nice white cotton for my new undies, I'd like to have enough for my cotton petticoat to go over OR under the hoop, and I'd like it in plaid. TONS of muslin also needs to be bought, to serve as a base for the ruching, and a lining for the skirt (and let's not even mention mockups... that goes without saying), and I'd like a bit of cotton to line and flatline my bodice. We're going to a different SAS on Sat. morning, and I'm hoping to get some of it there. But if not, I'll be getting the rest at joanns. (And now we shudder at the astronomical price difference)

So yeah. We've got a lot to do, (Is it one lump, or two?)

But be our(my) guest!

That is, to follow this dress diary. Maybe for real, now.

Oh yeah, and I actually already finished my wool petti. It broke my machine's needle, but it was a couple projects old, so it was time for a new one anyways. And it's so soft! Check one thing off the list, now. :)

See you all ater!

Starting new, and a Dress Diary.

So, I'm... slow? in the process of making my Sympohnie Fantastique Video, so I'm going to start posting a different project... a Dress Diary!

Actually, I'll be creating two (2) diaries, and I'll begin to describe the first here.

ONE

The Yellow Prom Dress

So, my friend 'commisioned' me to make her a lovely yellow prome dress, from the Simplicity Pattern number 3878.

And the fabric is a sunny yellow satin as a base, with yellow sheer net/tulle with little sparkly polka-dots all over the place. My hand is in there to show the sheer-ness of it.

 Here are the pattern pieces...

You can see here the finished bodice outside part. It turned out well, but my complaint is that the 'cummerbund' is cut on bias, which is how most ruffles are made? But when I stitched it on, there was like an inch of space left over on each side, which I ended up trimming off after I attached the bodice front and back pieces at each side.

 Here's me sewing the net, for the attached slip/petticoat/thingy that is made of the lining fabric, so... yeah.

Oh! Another thing! That skirt panels are made like wedges, but I dislike wedge skirts so I'm going to make it out of straight panels, which are also much easier to hem, since they can just be pulled up to the desired height and stitched in place. We'll see it all fall into place soon enough. :)

So, TWO
The pink victorian ball gown
AND
The never-going-to-be-finished undies!

I'm making myself a ball gown to wear for prom, an LGBT dance, ComicCon/Steampunk Ball, and other things! It'll be pink and frilly, and beautiful in general. My plan is this:

It's pretty, but I kinda feel bad because the design is shamelessly stolen from Linda at Frocks of Ages.

I originally was going to save up and get it, but I'm a poor high school student with no job, so I can't get it yet, but someday when I DO have a job, I'll buy it and set things right. Not to mention that mine will not be nearly as nice as the original. Haha!

Anyways. Here's my fabric. I have a acetate taffeta and some more sheer crap from joanns, and the lining is another UFO from the lining fabric section. But my hand is see-able through the sheer! Trust me! The picture lies...

I made a mock-up dress monthas ago, but that was before I went all kinds off psycho-anal about being period and stuff with proper underwear and crap, so now a new mockup will be needed. I even got fake bewbs, because I'm a guy and have no chest!

Which, now we need to talk about underwear. I have a nice chemise and drawers made from the pattern over at laughing moon (sorry no pic!), and I'm making the corset from there, too. I have the pieces put together and I made it of a fine white-dyed-blue cotton! I messed up, though, because I didn't flatline the blue with my strength layer, so I need to rip it apart and do that again. We've ordered a busk and twill waist tape and lacing from farthingales in canada, all of which should be here in like two weeks, and then once I get to the boning, we'll get that too. I'm also making a bustle from the laughing moon patterns, which the hoop boning should be here by the end of this week. Otherwise, there isn't much to make for the unders, aside from one more petticoat (It's coming from the skirt mockup, lol) That will probably have flounces.

I'll list here my plan for the dress:

Undies

1. chemise

2. drawers

3. corset

4. bustle

5. petticoats I, II, III

The dress itself

1. Underskirt

2. Overskirt

3. Bodice

So, yeah! Hopefully it's not too much for me! Because I can't do much now until my hooping or busk show up...