Help Me Obi-Wan Kenobi...

If you asked me 15 years ago if I was a Star Wars fan, I would have avoided you with a ten foot pole. I had heard legend of the crazy Star Wars fans and watched snippets of the original trilogy and prequels, but ten year old me was still not a fan of Darth Vader and was creeped out by the looks of Jar-Jar Binks. Jump to 2015 and the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens; I'm hooked. The use of a strong, force-sensitive female character (Rey) with the careful addition of cute droids (BB-8) and old stars (Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, etc) rejuvenated my interest in the series and need to cosplay any form of the leading ladies' outfits.

Porgs!

So this first outfit was a bit of a last minute addition to my Disney wardrobe and was a result of my last minute trip to Joann's to get thread. I'd been eyeing the fabric since I saw it several months ago, but somehow I managed to talk myself into needing a third dress for my trip. Fabric is a novelty cotton featuring little porgs (cute bird-like alien creatures from Star Wars: The Last Jedi) with R2D2 heads scattered throughout the print. It's made from Simplicity 8910 (the same as one of my other gowns from the trip, so more on this later) and came together quite quickly since I had already discovered the quirks in the pattern. It was super comfy and lightweight to wear and it will definitely be a staple this summer.

Disneybounds of 2020

Happy New Year! I just got back from my 2020 trip to Walt Disney World and had an absolutely wonderful time (despite the fact that I am currently suffering from a bit of a cold and sore throat)! When planning this trip, I scheduled it during my birthday and I knew I had to make a couple outfits to wear while in Orlando to make my trip even more magical. I'll eventually post final shots of the various outfits, but in the meantime here's a few shots of my purchased outfits I wore during the trip.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

After attending several events in the Boston area that have required the use of a hoop skirt, I had determined it was time to upgrade my Amazon hoop to something more substantial (especially since I seem to continuously step on the front of my skirts while dancing). While at Costume College, I purchased the Truly Victorian walking hoop pattern and some hoop steel, only to get home and realize I had not purchased enough steel to make the hoop as patterned. My initial thought was that I needed to order a second set of steel, but I was reminded by my mother of the old hoop skirt I had sitting up in our attic.

So a little bit of backstory here; I have always been interested in costumes. Starting in elementary school, I began planning my halloween costumes months in advance, often roping my mom into making something for me to wear instead of the cheaply made options found at party stores. And for a while, my mom enjoyed making my costumes. This resulted in handmade fleece Powerpuff Girl costumes, a white fleece cape to wear over my Cinderella dress (which I have since repurposed into a new, more adult cape to wear with my current Cinderella costume), and eventually a civil war era hoop skirt and dress made from a purple tie-dye patterned quilting cotton and a series of simplicity civil war patterns. I loved that dress and wore it several times for halloween, but that was the straw that broke the camel's back for my mom; I had to learn how to sew. Jump forward to 2019 with the need for a new hoop skirt that would support my pink ballgown. So with the date for Victoria and Albert Ball looming closer, I decided to cannibalize my old hoops for steel and create a brand new set.

Construction-wise, I followed Truly Victorian's Walking Hoop pattern with some minor adjustments. Instead of just pinning the threaded hoops to the support tapes and stitching them by hand, I stitched the casing in place before threading the steel into the casing. The only issue with this is that the front of my hoops are not perfectly finished, but I'll manage. In terms of wearability, the hoops do the job, except I'm still tripping over my front hem. It looks like I'll have to go back to the alteration board with this gown!