Costume College Wrap-up: Jane

I promised this forever ago, and since the absolutely terrible internet in my apartment is not letting me update my website, I'm finally delivering on that promise!

You've already seen some of the photos of Jane from last Halloween, so I won't go into too much detail, but I wore the Jane outfit again for the Ice Cream Social at Costume College. We were going to have a Disney Princess costume theme at some point, but even though there only wound up being four of us to fit the theme, we still had fun posing for a few pictures together. (Speaking of which, Happy Birthday, gilded_garb!)

The only thing I changed between last October and here, was to take in everything quite a bit, due both to some weight loss and a new corset.




photos by Andrew Schmidt

Costume College Wrap-up: 50s Vintage Vogue

This is the super quick Vintage Vogue pattern dress that I made up right before Costume College. It was amazingly easy even after changing the sleeves to cap sleeves, and I'm proud of my stripe matching, since I had never done the chevron stripes before. I wore it Saturday afternoon, and it was nice and easy to wear, paired with my old giant purple crinoline, and my go-to peek-toe Payless shoes (which didn't hurt this year! - last year they killed my feet). I found the hat on ebay. It was the second one I bought, since this first one just wasn't quite right, but I feel like this one was perfect! I also did my hair and make-up to match, using the Lauren Rennells books. I'm really pleased with the effect!

Costume College Wrap-up: 1860s Gala Gown

For quite some time, I've wanted to make a ballgown bodice to go with my black and gold plaid skirt that I made for Dickens Fair two years ago. Luckily, I had almost a yard of the fabric that I've saved for that purpose. Considering I knew my Candy Bustle dress would be daywear, and therefore, inappropriate for the gala, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to make it (you know, other than all those Gaskell balls I always wanted to go to, but never actually made it to while I lived in CA).

I didn't have much time, since I started less than two weeks before CosCol, but I managed to pull it together, and I like the end result. The overskirt is pleated directly to the bodice, which laces up the back. A lot of handstitching went into the bodice, since the bertha is almost entirely handsewn, plus the binding, and all the pickups, flowers, and hems of the overskirt are handsewn. I also had to handsew the overskirt to the bodice.

I wore it over the cage crinoline and petticoat that I made for the Candy Bustle, plus my corset and a modern camisole (whose straps had to be pinned down below the bodice to keep them from showing). I couldn't find any good shoes for it last minute, so I just wore my ballet flats. I paired it with a tiara from ebay, and vintage gloves I found at Value Village, and stuck leftover flowers in my hair. It was a lot of fun to wear, since we decided to not to the gala food, and instead went over to the mall and ate in the Italian restaurant there. Navigating the hoops through the mall and restaurant were quite comical, and I had to sit waaay far forward in my chair. But it was so worth it, and I plan to skip the gala food next year as well. We did go back to dance and chat afterwards.



First two photos by DA Sandoval, second two by Andrew Schmidt

Costume College Wrap-up: 1869 Candy Early Bustle Gown

This was the project of the year. I was inspired both by classes and some of the gowns I saw at last year's CosCol to make an early bustle gown of pink and white stripes. I bought my first 10yds of fabric at the LA Fabric District last year (I think for $1/yd?), and then set out to find other fabrics to coordinate, most of which I found last November at Hancocks. As you will all know if you read my LJ at all for the last year, this project took me FOREVER. I started the cage crinoline in December, painstakingly stitching all those intersections together (if I remember correctly, there were 156 of them). I started the petticoat sometime in Jan or Feb, I think, but put it aside and never actually finished it until May, when I began the rest of the outfit. And I finally finished the whole thing just before CosCol.

And of course, after all that, I wore it Sunday, for a grand total of around 6 hours, during almost all of which I was sitting down. I wore it to my felted flowers class, and from there went directly to the Fantasy Tea. Sitting for that many hours in that many layers was really not comfortable (due to a combination of the corset and having to sit on the top hoops), but it probably would have been much better if I had been wearing it to a normal event.

I wore it with the chemise and lace gloves I picked up last year from the Costumer's Bazaar (the hat blank was also from there), my corset and bloomers, and the other undergarments I made. I also decorated the hat, and made the matching pink pearl earrings and necklace in the Basic Pearl Stringing Class from Saturday at CosCol.





First two photos by Andrew Schmidt

Costume College Wrap-up: Bathing Suits

I made two new bathing suits for Costume College this year. First, I made the super-quick-and-easy 1916-ish tunic and shorts bathing suit out of the plaid cotton flannel and navy blue wool. I wore that for the Thursday night pool party (or should I say poolside party, since almost no one went in the water) with my matching headband, the Capezio ballet shoes with elastic ribbons, and knee highs. It was very comfortable, though it was amazing how heavy the flannel became in the water. Unfortunately, I didn't stop to think about snapping a picture, so thanks to rebecca817 for snapping the only pictures of me in it. Here is one of them:




The other bathing suit I made was the 1890s one out of the light blue and navy blue wool, with vintage buttons. I wore it Sunday afternoon, while waiting out the terrible noises going on outside from the hotel's strange version of a party, and then afterwards for our own sort of pool party. My roommate, llyrafantasyfae, also wore her Victorian bathing suit that afternoon, so it was fun going around the hotel with her. While this one was very comfortable to wear both in and out of the water, the chlorine did strange things to it. It wound up softening the light blue to a grey-ish blue mottled with some light brown. And it also destroyed the Capezios, which I wore with this suit as well - after two wearings, there were holes going all the way through the toes on both shoes, and they turned reddish. So RIP Capezios. I also wore the knee highs with this one, and left my hair down in its post-teased and curled state (which wound up with surprisingly the right look for an 1890s bather).


first photo of the 1890s suit by Andrew Schmidt


So now that I've posted my wrap-up, how many days left till next year's Costume College? ;)