Op Shop Refashion: Denim pants to skirt

This refashion has been sitting on my pile for a while. I wanted to turn this pair of denim shorts into a skirt. The first step was to cut the legs open.

The front seam doesn't sit very well when you convert it, so I have to open it up and stitch it flat.

I has to rethink how this would work, given that it was raw edges that I was pinning down. I decided to seal them instead. 

 This would mean that the edges wouldn't fray and would be more comfortable to wear.

 After that I patched the gaps with dyed cotton napkins and a bit of lace.

 Back and front: 

 This is destined for my Christmas craft stall! 

#lovelypennypatterns

Steampunk Botanist Costume / Cosplay

Last year we attended a Steampunk Murder Mystery night and it was great fun, so when another one came up this year we jumped to get tickets.
Unfortunately I had re-purposed my Steampunk Seamstress dress for my Ursula costume, so I had to think of something new. What a shame! 😆
Luckily I had picked this cotton dress up at an op shop, because as soon as I saw it I knew that it had a future in Steampunk.

But what kind of costume did I want? I have this metal ornament and it made me think of the Tinman from the Wizard of Oz:

Or the garment could be a coat over another dress?

But I didn't love either of them. 

Steampunk biologist? 

Steampunk Marine Biologist - I have beaded fish, an octopus necklace? 

That idea nearly made it up, but then I had a sudden thought when I saw the dried plants outside our house: botanist! 

I gathered everything that I could possibly use at home, as I was determined not to buy anything for this costume. And it turned out that I have a lot of flowers, brooches, pins, scraps...

Accessories

I did end up buying one thing: a hat that I could decorate. I could have used one of my own, but didn't want to permanently alter them. Off to the op shop!

You have no idea how tempting this one was... I should have bought it anyway. 

The next one was also tempting, but not quite the Steampunk I was looking for.

 And then I found it! Plain, just ready for things to be added to it.

I saw the hat as an eclectic collection, of things haphazardly stuck on throughout interesting travels. 

After burning my fingers with the hot glue gun, I was really happy with how my hat looked. The white flower at the back and the green beading I wore in my hair for my wedding day! 

I decided to wear my pearl jewellery, but also craft some small bottles that I could pin/hang from the dress that I could put live plants in on the day.

Perhaps... I can be a little bit much 😉

Outfit 

Onto the outfit. I decided to use the grey dress as a coat, but put it over my Poison Ivy top:

And the underskirt from the Dragon Age Inquisition cosplay:

Combines to this, which I wore to the shopping centre afterwards... one lady said she loved my dress: 

From there it was a matter of adding layers of detail to the grey coat, and that was an awful lot of fun!

 Some eco-dyed fabric on the back, as well as the fabric necklace I made myself last year.

 More flowers and brooches keep coming out of boxes and places and being added to the outfit. IT weighs a bit!

And the flower from my friend's wedding to finish off one shoulder.

Final outfit

All dressed up and ready to solve a murder! 

#lovelypennypatterns

Hades (from Hercules) Cosplay

The next local nerd convention is fast approaching and I'd been thinking of what my cosplay was going to be. Looking up the guidelines and noting the prizes this year gave me extra incentive as well!
Merida from Disney's Brave had been on my to-do list, but instead I decided to continue with my Disney villains stint and do Hades from Hercules.

Outfit

The question was, how did I want to make the dress? Hades wears a two-piece, with an under-shirt and toga over the top: not so flattering for a woman, generally.

I have my favourite dress pattern, so rather than stuff up something made from scratch I went with it again:

But there will be some adjustments. I like the sleeve detail from this Hades cosplay version:

And this version, where the neckline is very feminine.

And the front drape from this one:

My sketch ended up something like this:

I had some leftover grey silk for the single shoulder, and found some black cotton in the bottom of a box for the rest of the dress. I'm still trying not to buy new fabric, instead re-using what I have.

 Planning the diagonal look on the front. I pinned it wrong the first time, had to swap directions!

 The final dress would look something like this:

I debated painting the pattern onto the trim. 

But decided I would use the scraps of black that I had leftover instead. This dress was made entirely from leftovers - I didn't buy any new fabric! 

My husband said that the fabric lines gave it more visual presence, which is good. 

It was really starting to look like the real thing at this point!  

A size trial and I discovered that it needed to be taken in under the arm, but still pretty good!  

Accessories

I ducked out to Bec's Costume Box at lunch one day, my all-time favourite cosplay shopping spot, to have a look for my wig. Did I want stand-up hair like the male Hades? Or curls? I definitely didn't want straight hair. I settled on this:

Onto the jewellery - aren't I lucky to have a friend who works with clay! We sat down one afternoon and she produced beautiful earrings, and I produced my rough brooch, earrings and necklace.

Then I managed to paint them myself, and I'm happy enough with the results. The brooch, on the right below, is bigger than I expected! I need to put felt on the back and a big clip so that it will attach. Who says the lady of hell can't have some frills?

I was thinking black gladiator sandles for my feet, but my friend suggested heels for some imposing height. I found the perfect shoes in town, and they were on sale!

Next? Makeup! A bit of a trial for turning myself grey. Black lips, very simple eyes. Disney characters are pretty 2D!

I needed to be grey all over. To prevent overuse of paint, I bought some grey tights for my legs. My arms, neck and shoulders had to be done though.
Final dress, hair and accessories below!

Can't wait to get all dressed up on the day!

#lovelypennypatterns

Dragon Age Inquisition Cosplay - Orlesian Skirt

My Dragon Age Inquisition cosplay has been only a thought for a couple of years now,  but I'm determined to finish it in 2019. So I got the pattern out one night and cut out every piece of the layered skirt.

Layer 1 - Underskirt

I scrounged some fabric from my many boxes and made a simple, full-length, A-line skirt that I could wear on its own, separate from the cosplay.

See the odd black pattern on the back where I JUST ran out of fabric? Ha ha! This pattern uses a lot of fabric.

Layer 2 - White cotton underskirt.

Looks like I mostly forgot to take a photo of this in progress, but you can see it on the final skirt.

Layer 3 - Moth wings

These were the complicated part of the skirt, because I had elected to do them in satin for the more formal ballgown look. And satin is slippery.
I did them as separate 'petals', so that the layers and drape would look more like the original gown. 

Once sewn, all of the moth eyes were fabric printed on using the lino cuts I had designed and carved for this project.

It's always a slight risk printing directly onto your finished, sewn product, but I was confident. As long as I let the black dry before I put the copper on, it would turn out fine.

Each part was a top layer, sewed together with a bottom layer, and turned through so that the seams were on the inside. A lot tidier than simple hems, particularly with the satin.

It was a LOT of sewing with very slippery fabric....

And I had it draped everywhere!

But it was coming together according to my plan.

I sewed the wing designs on rather than paint them, so that the effect was subtler. 

Lots and lots of pinning followed, trying to work out how the individual layers would hang. The white underskirt and all of the satin were sewn together as a single skirt, with a substantial, solid waistband to hold all of it up.

But can you see how it all came together?

I think you can really see the moth wing effect at the front!

The finished skirt! 

Just the matching corset top to make, and the hand-painted stand-up butterfly collar.....

#lovelypennypatterns