tamarinne | Entries tagged with costumes

So last year, a bunch of Pennsic clothes got left in a clear plastic tub on a sunny porch. Doomy doooooomy doom. Several garments now have sunbleached patches where they were resting against the side of the clear plastic tub and getting the sun on them every day all winter. I'm trying to figure out a way to salvage these garments.

1) Bleach them. Problematic, especially for the dark blue cotton jacket - I don't know how cleanly it will bleach, and then I'd have... what? a baby blue jacket? Bleah.

2) Dye them. May end up with the sunbleached patch still visible.

3) Bleach and then dye them. Might work, especially for the light brown cotton shirt.

Has anyone ever had to deal with a situation like this before? Any suggestions, warnings, etc?

Thank you!

Current Mood: aggravated

Current Mood: aggravated

The Star Trek wedding was... everything and then some. It was absolutely awesome.

( Costumes )

( Makeup )

( The Wedding Party )

( The Ceremony )

( The Reception )

The rest of the trip (before and after the wedding) was a good time - did some shopping, ate some great food, got to hang out with Alex & Alex, and walked so much that I think I've voided the warranty on my feet. It was a great vacation. And in a few days, I'll hopefully have recovered enough to be able to function normally again.

Current Mood: exhausted

The Star Trek wedding was... everything and then some. It was absolutely awesome.

( Costumes )

( Makeup )

( The Wedding Party )

( The Ceremony )

( The Reception )

Current Mood: exhausted

The Star Trek wedding costumes are done. The bride & groom's costumes look pretty darn good. My costume looks like... well, to be honest, it looks like something that was pulled together over the course of a weekend. Coincidentally, that's exactly what it is, but I can live with that - it's not about me, after all. I'm freakin' exhausted and my feet hurt - I've been standing for three days, and I haven't been able to sleep because visions of costume assembly danced in my head until all hours of the night. But life gets better now. I have dinner tonight with Boo and his sweetie, then Vegas on Tuesday. And on Thursday night, I get to see MY sweetie, yay! (Yeah, I know, I'm traveling halfway across the country to see someone who lives in the same city I do. Shaddup. We've been REALLY busy.)

The wedding is on Saturday. Pictures will follow sometime after that.

Current Mood: drained

Current Mood: drained

Sew sew sew!

Only a few more things to finish and the Star Trek Wedding costumes will be done - well, at least the bride & groom's will be done. My costume is still a shapeless pile of fabric. Hey, I've got the next three days to finish, no worries!

But I post because I've just found out the coolest thing about my new dressmaker's dummy. The reason why you want one (if you sew) is because you can iron clothes WHILE THEY ARE BEING WORN. It's perfect for shaping necklines, and nobody sues you for 1st degree steam burns!

(also, a dressmaker's dummy wearing a full-length robe makes an excellent Kitty Fortress of Solitude. But that's more of a bonus feature than a reason for purchase.)

Current Mood: groggy
Current Location: the sewing room
Current Music: the hum of the sewing machine

Current Mood: groggy
Current Location: the sewing room
Current Music: the hum of the sewing machine

The costumes are done! Woot!

Things that I have learned (or relearned):

It takes longer than you think it will.
It costs more than you think it will.
Sooner started, sooner ended. And the sad correllary, later started, sooner tearing out hair because time is running short.
Prep work is usually worth the effort. If you skip the prep work to save time, you'll end up spending more time fixing it. (Translation: iron that fabric, b*tch!)
Few things are more fun than getting to dress up a cute actress. (Well, as Rick would say, there's always *undressing* a cute actress, but that's really a different species of fun.)

*happy sigh* So, yeah. My house looks like a fabric bomb went off and left shrapnel everywhere, my shoulder aches from feeding the sewing machine nonstop from Friday through Monday, and I have some commission work hanging over my head that I really should start any day now. But for now, I'm DONE, I had a lovely dinner last night, and all is well with the world.

Current Mood: exultant
Current Music: Angelic choirs

The costumes are done! Woot!

Things that I have learned (or relearned):

It takes longer than you think it will.
It costs more than you think it will.
Sooner started, sooner ended. And the sad correllary, later started, sooner tearing out hair because time is running short.
Prep work is usually worth the effort. If you skip the prep work to save time, you'll end up spending more time fixing it. (Translation: iron that fabric, b*tch!)
Few things are more fun than getting to dress up a cute actress. (Well, as Rick would say, there's always *undressing* a cute actress, but that's really a different species of fun.)

Current Mood: exultant
Current Music: Angelic choirs

So the prop designer and I have come to an agreement about the dragon - she'll build the head, I'll cover the head and body with fabric and make it look appropriately dragony. This way, we both win - I don't have to be sitting on the bathroom floor at 1 AM having a meltdown because Dragon Head Mark 4 has just imploded (c.f. Jabberwocky) and she doesn't have to touch a sewing machine. Yay!

Here's the thing, though - ideally, what we'd like to do is make the body out of 3 arches connected by fabric, so that the three actors who will be operating the dragon will be able to manipulate the body in some semblance of a snakey fashion. Brilliant idea #1 was to get two hula hoops and chop them in half to make the arches. Sadly, it doesn't seem to be hula hoop season, and we have not been able to find any hula hoops in the stores. Does anyone out there have an idea for a good (and hopefully CHEAP) material that could be used to form the arches? It should be strong enough to hold up the weight of fabric and still hold an arch shape that has terminal points about shoulder-width apart.