The Costume (almost all of it)

How much fun is this costume?? I think the loin cloth actually kind of looks like leather. And having a tail is always so fun.



See? And you guys were totally right about the black heels. They do lengthen and extend my legs. And that Avatar girl is so long and lean, I need all the help I can get.


 
The next time you’ll see this will be once I’m all duded up and ready to rock. I'll also give you some details on how I put everything together (including attaching the tail you naughty girl, you!).

Wow! I love this Etsy store!!

One of my girlfriends at work sent me this link and I had to share it with y’all. In fact, it might just be one of you guys. Liza Rietz’s Etsy store has me drooling. I love, love, love her structural pieces. How pretty are these???

LOVE that subtle bias detail at the waist.

Both photos were “harvested” from her store. Permission is pending (I emailed and asked it it’s okay).

Halloween Progress . . . The shoes

You guys were right. You almost always are . . . .
Black heels make it look so much better! I bought mine at Famous Footwear.


Next up: The whole kit and caboodle sans make-up and wig.

Halloween Progress . . . Stripes, and lots of them

So I’ve been wracking my brain on how to make a template for my stripes. Tape? Way too time consuming. Paper? Maybe but it’ll get soggy. Cardstock? Maybe but how to get it around the corners smoothly. Then, mental head slap, why not use fabric??!? I only have 500 yards or so of it lying around. I dug out the rest of that ugly, cheap polyester felt and put that to the test. I knew I needed something beefier than a cotton. The felt was just perfect. So I cut out some larger and smaller stripes in my felt.



I stuffed my pants with newspaper and pinned on the felt templates. Notice the yard is snow free! Yea October in Alaska!!


Here’s a better picture.


Here’s the first run. I did one set down each side and then came back to each side a few times to get the holes and empty spots. I can tell you that I really, really like the Valspar spray paint from Lowe’s. No stupid wobbly spray knob and no mess.



I think the stripes look very nice. I didn’t want perfect moon-shaped arcs.


Look! A dismembered Na’vi on my lawn!!


Here’s the top. There aren’t many of the top because it started snowing on me. Damn Alaska in October! I had to hurry and get done!


Here’s the back of the finished shirt. I cut several inches off the bottom after I was done. I knew it was way too long so I didn’t really do much painting down there.


Next up: The Shoes!

Halloween Progress . . . Tail!!

I wasn’t sure how this spray painting shin-dig was going to go so I wanted to start with something easy and that I didn’t mind throwing away if it didn’t work. Therefore, the tail seemed like the easiest choice. I used blue painter’s tape and made some stripes. I put it on the lawn and sprayed the heck out of it. One thing I learned is that I do not want to be wearing this little outfit when I spray paint it. That paint goes right through.


When I removed the tape, I was pleasantly surprised. It looked good although it smelled like, what else, spray paint.


Then I used the “tail” method in my handy dandy Singer Halloween costume sewing book. I love that thing; bought it at a garage sale for a buck or something. This picture shows the set up right before I sew the fabric together right sides together. Click to make this bigger so you can read the text.


Here’s my tail in all it’s glory.
 

Here’s the “hair”. I used black twine and just untwisted it to make it more hair-like. I probably should have added more hair.


Next up? Makin’ stripes!!

Halloween Progress . . . Loin Cloth

I’m not sure what else to call it but a loin cloth. I used cheapy brown polyester felt and just made a rectangular pocket. I cut more of the felt into strips and braided them together to make the belt.


Here’s a close-up of the belt. I added beads to the last part just by braiding them in.

I added a casing on the back for the beads to go through. I made the belt super long so it can go around my hips a few times.


Next up?? The tail!

Jalie 3024 – Knit Dresses

Well, folks, Jalie made another winner. One of these days I’m sure they will mess up but they haven’t for me yet. I love this dress and it’s super easy and fast to make. I would highly recommend it for those scared of knits and for those who want to try a Jalie pattern but are scared of all the lines. One thing I did notice with this pattern is that they made the pattern lines a bit easier to find. They grouped the sizes together and made the lines slightly different. For example, the size R through V are dashed lines and others are solid lines.

This dress took me approximately 1 hour from trace to hem. This one needs a PatternReview.com rating of easy-peasy-chicken-squeasy. There is no difference between the front and back so there are few pattern pieces and the sleeves are cut on so there are no sleeves to set and nothing to bind on the sleeves. I can see a closet full of these in my future.

Next time I make it, I’ll see if I can fix the dress for the swayback-ed-ness of back and butt.
 

Here it is flat. Simple, neat, and easy.

 

What is your opinion on photo size? Personally, I like big photos because I hate clicking on a photo to enlarge it and then waiting while my slow connection brings up the photo. However, I can see the other side too where you want to read the text and have the option of clicking to make the photos bigger. I’ll let y’all decide and I’ll leave them small this time.

Halloween Progress . . .

If you don’t recall my plans, check here. I have the main pieces assembled. I used Jalie 2215 for both the top and the bottoms. I sort of feel like a blue marshmallow right now. I plan to add some stripes to my suit in the next few days. I’ll have to enlist the help of a friend so I can wear it while she paints me. I was thinking of making little paper/cardstock templates and having her spray paint the stripes on. What do you guys think of that idea? Anyone got a better idea?

And more importantly, I made a muslin of those Jalie 3022 pants. I really like the wide waistband and the back seam detail. I have Jalie 2215 and modified them to work.
 

 

Here you can barely see these back leg seams. I have no idea what shoes to wear with this outfit. I don’t have any blue shoes and I think the boots look okay.
 

 

Here’s a better view of the waistband. It’s an 8” band folded in half so it’s a little under 4” (I didn’t add any extra for SA). Hello, runner’s butt.
 

Here I am. Imagine it with a really long black braided wig, blue face paint and some sparkly decals.

Test Windows Live Writer Post

On my continuing quest to stop using Blogger to upload posts, I have found Windows Live Writer. I have to thank Mimi O and BeanGirl for suggesting it. You can easy add photos and text, change things around without it getting wonky, and the code is actually nice and neat. In Blogger it left bits and pieces of code everywhere which leaves this type-A lady hysterical.

Isn’t my photo pretty? I still have some kinks to work out but so far, so good! You just write in Live Writer, click a button and it uploads it to Blogger. It’s like magic!