Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Spring Top Sew-Along 2011

So recently I came across this:




I had been thinking about making a top based on the Cure Blossom pattern, and this was the perfect opportunity to get in and do it! Here is a sneak peek at the finished top:




I need to get a good photo in good lighting, hopefully tomorrow. The top reminds me of Yummy. 

There are still a week or so left to enter, so why not give it a go?! I've got another top in mind IF I manage to get it done. There are already some fantastic entries, so why not head on over to check them out?



Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Easter to All! (More Pink too)

So far it's day 3 of the 5-day long weekend. Happy Easter to everybody, and Happy ANZAC day for tomorrow!

Yesterday, I celebrated two young children's birthday's with Hyper the Clown. Before heading out the door, I asked my other half to kindly take some photos. I do feel sorry for him but he gets used to it hehe




The wig is from my Cure Blossom cosplay, the top is a custom made one based on a blouse that was given as a gift from Serbia (what you can't see so well is the double-breasted pink buttons look that I love!), and I made the skirt and belt myself. What I love about doing what I do with balloons is that it's a fantastic excuse to dress up and not receiving strange looks ;)

I will be putting up a post about the party at my other blog, A Rainbow of Balloons if you want to learn more!

PS.. Do you recognize the butterfly clips from my tutorial? Hehe... They've been adorning my living room curtain, yay!



Wednesday, April 20, 2011

How Cure Blossom Transformed



If you read my last post here, you would have seen some behind-the-scenes pictures of the construction of the toile.

And so here are some pictures of the finished costume. It was very exciting to see everything just fall into place and no major issues at all! 

The sleeves were made from my custom sleeve block, very easy to do I tell you what! It ever interested in a tutorial, more than happy to help. 

The wig arrived the Friday the week before I was to go, so that was quite lucky. It came from China actually is in two parts. There is the base wig and then the ponytail which attaches with a large hair grip. It was lucky that I finished the costume in time, as I procrastinated a little thinking the wig mightn't show up; one of those things that is handy if you order earlier!

My wrist accessories were made in such a hurry on my sewing machine before I caught my flight to Brisbane. Mostly thrown together in the last hour and the sewing in the 10 minutes before the taxi arrived. I know, cutting it close!

When I arrived at Brisbane, I still had hand sewing to complete. That is; the lining of the dress and sewing flower accessories. The brooch was made after a hurried trip to Lincraft to buy the supplies. Lincraft, how I love the organisiation and the range of thee. So so much better than my local Spotlight.

I made the balloon mini-me to carry around on the Sunday of the convention. She was very cute (if I do say so myself hehe) It's quite funny that it was someone's balloon interpretation of Cure Blossom that first made me aware the character existed. My how things can come a full circle!


 Something about me that may or may not be obvious, is that I love the colour pink. Funnily enough, most of my costumes are of that colour in varying hues. This one here I also made, which I'll give you a gold star if you know what series I am from. It's a little harder because it never actually exists in colours other than black, white and grey.

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If you guessed Imperial Officer from Star Wars, I am impressed! It's intended as a Barbie-fied version really, just for laughs. I made all; the hat, jacket and skirt. I was miffed as I couldn't find my pink gloves before I left Darwin, and well I don't have a proper rank bar; so I pinned by favourite Pegasus brooch to my shirt.


Sunday, April 10, 2011

Cure Blossom Cosplay... Complete!


Do you remember this post about my plans for Supanova? Well much to my amazement... I finished my costume in time! If in time includes the hand sewing I did at the hotel.. Which it does totally count as it was finished before the day I was to wear it.

For me, this outfit was the first thing I utilised my skills from my Fashion Design course. I drafted the costume completely from scratch, which feels good I tell you what. No commercial or online tutorial in site. Well I did get some inspiration from We Got to Live our Dreams like People on TV. Can I just say I love looking at blogs that have designers and their toiles and the creations that become. Very cool.

You know how it is, right? You're making a sewing project and you're all "look at me, I'm taking photos" the whole idea of documenting the journey. Well I started out that way, taking photos... then when it came to the construction of the costume, I got absorbed in what I was doing and the photos dwindled and died.




 You can click on each picture to view larger version

This is the first version of the toile. The next Friday evening I went to my bestie's (and partner in fashion) house to help me fit it to my body. What we discovered is that I made it way too short. I didn't want to start from the beginning, so I added calico pieces to the bottom to extend it.


 

The neckline has evolved in the process, starting up too high, then an odd shape, and finally to where you see it in the above booby shot. Which I think is the best of all three. Something valuable I learnt with the toile from my last Cert IV project, is not all necklines will suit. So don't forget to play around!


This is about where my zest for photo-taking dwindled. Alas! I did think that was all but realised I still had these extra 3 on my SD card! Lucky you :D hehe



I do hope you are ignoring some of the messier back-grounds! And that my friends is where the photo taking well and truly died.

But I can tell you the hardest parts of the construction on the costume was making sure the criss-crossing straps lay nicely, and ensure that the skirt wouldn't show too much booty. At least I achieved the straps challenge! +1 sewing to me.

Look out for my next post which is the finished garment! I'm excited to share it... But I will make you wait. Just a little mind you... So I'm not throwing out too many posts all in one day hehe.

If you are looking to make your own Cure Blossom cosplay and have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to ask! I am always happy to help where I can.

Cert IV Series Part Quattro

Slower than a sleeping tortoise, here is the fourth part of my Cert IV series. Sorry, I've been busy with another sewing project that of which has stolen my creative time. More on that next!


( PART IV )
.: Finish Your Dessert!:.

After painstakingly creating the toiles of the garments and fitting and making sure they were prefect... somehow I nearly forgot I needed time to make the garment! I somehow eked in. 
With the bolero, it was my first attempt at making any kind of jacket. I found it quite difficult to source heavy weight interfacing, and as a result it reminds me of cardboard.
The Striped fabric is taffeta, can't remember the outer fabric(!) shantung silk for the lining (the most expensive fabric and you can't see it!) with a screenprint of my own design (more on that in a post to come!)






We had a bit of fun with a photoshoot, where we pretended to be dolls. For whatever reason I don't remember I never scored the original photos :( ergo, what you get to see is a photograph of a photograph (lucky you ;))




The shot on the mannikin is a little boring haha! I contacted an eBay seller who made my dessert yumms with a custom colouring. I loved it! (Of course I still have it!) A fantastic Brisbane lady I purchased from via eBay. So helpful and wonderful was she. The silver-ware was a little difficult to source, but I finally found two pieces from the Red Cross Salvation Army store. The china set belongs to Helen. Me, I don't drink tea but my oh my they were pretty!


Finally, here are some normal pictures of me wearing the dress at Brisnova 2010. Yes, the cake is a lie. One of the nummiest looking pieces from the fake cakes I purchased for the exhibition.


I was really proud of what I accomplished with this dress, it's amazing what you can do with fabric!



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