2013 in Review + 2014 Costume Plans

This year I've made three costumes and learned so much about costuming. With each costume I learn so many new things. No matter what happens, even if the costumes don't turn out right, I still learn a lot and I learn more skills to put into my next project.

I thought it would be fun to do a post with the costumes I've made this year and also post the costumes I hope to make next year. I've seen other costume bloggers do this, and I think it's a really good idea. To get things started, here's the costumes I made this year.

 For May the Fourth I made Aunt Beru's outfit from Star Wars Attack of the Clones. Although this costume isn't perfect, I've learned a lot from it. Someday I would like to re make this costume in more accurate materials.

Then in the summer I (mostly) made Marion Ravenwoods costume from Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark. I still have a lot of embroidery to do on this, which hopefully I'll be getting to soon. :)

Then I've started the mock up for Padme's Packing Gown from Star Wars Attack of the Clones. I've made good progress on it and can't wait to wear the finished dress!

Now that I've gone over the costumes I've made this year, I want to go over a few different costumes that I would like to make in 2014. Keep in mind that these are just costumes I would like to make. Who know's how many of them I actually will make next year.

Rapunzel from Tangled. I have wanted to make this dress since the movie came out, and I think I'm finally brave enough and have enough skill to actually make this dress. Maybe 2014 will be the year I do!

Anna from Disney's Frozen. When I saw the first piece of concept art Disney released, I knew I would have to make this dress.

Briar Rose from Sleeping Beauty. I originally planned on making this dress this year, but I ended up doing Marion instead. So maybe I'll finally get to it next year.

Some sort of Renaissance or Medieval costume. I've fallen in love with 14th and 15th century dresses and have to make something from this period sometime in the near future.

And now for the Star Wars costumes....

I would like to redo my Leia costume and make it way more accurate and actually finish it (like make the actual belt and do the hair properly).

And last, but not least, Mara Jade from the Star Wars EU books. I think it would be so fun to be Mara for an event or something because I really like her in the Star Wars books. Plus it would be fun to get to wear a orange/red haired wig. :)

These are just some idea's of costumes I love and will someday recreate. But like I already said, who know's what I'll actually end up making during the next year.

It's Christmas!

Merry Christmas everybody! I hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas like I am.

Packing Gown Mock up Progress

I made some major progress on my mock up for Padme's Packing Gown this week. I'm so excited to see it all coming together! I made the under vest mock up this last weekend and then I also have made some huge progress on the under skirt and and skirt mock up.

Here's some pictures of the under vest. I haven't gotten to the sleeves yet, as you can tell. It has three pieces of boning in the front and then there are a total of four pieces on the back. There isn't a lot of information of what goes under the costume, so I was left to come up with a lot by myself.

When I was looking at others costumes, I saw someone did a lace up back for the under vest. I decided that that would be the best way to do this, so I did. This was my first time using grommets and it went well. They're pretty easy to use. For the mock up I only used twelve (six on each side) but when I made the real one I want to put a few more on each side. I still don't know for sure how may I will do.

Right now the skirt is in two half's and is only pinned onto Mannie (my sewing form). It's harder to see in these pictures, but the skirt is very, very full. It's definitely screen accurate in fullness. I still need to work on the back though.

I also completely re-did the under skirt. I have four rows of ruffles which are about 6.5 inches wide. I have three rows of ruffles and on the bottom row there are two layers of ruffles.

I've started working on the bustle pad. I'm going for something like this one here, only not as big. The bustle on Padme's dress is very small.