Costumes By Shada

11 February 2012 @ 04:26 pm

I'm workin' today. Not on anything that would earn me pay, which is both good and bad. But I pulled out the Nightsister Asajj to do a little work.

I finished up the dress, sewed on my sleeves and did a LOT of adjusting to get them to fit correctly. That's what I get for drafting my own pattern. It becomes a challenge to get everything to fit perfectly, and I HATE sleeves anyway. They never seem to work exactly like they should. But I got these to look pretty decent, then seamed them up a little closer to my skin so they weren't so baggy. Hemmed up the sleeves to the correct length, and the dress is looking pretty decent. No collar or hood yet. I have to figure out how to draft that, but I'll come up with it soon, I'm sure. I bought a skirt at the thrift store to use for the fabric as I just couldn't find the right color and type at the fabric stores I visited. I'm pleased with what I found, and it should work nicely.

I then turned my attention to my three different types of vinyl that I'm thinking of using for both the boot armor pieces and my gloves. I'm not sure if this is the best method of madness in order to make this type of thing, but I'm going to give it a shot. I have some hard plastic pieces that I'm using as a base of the armor, and I'm thinking of covering it and then painting the symbols onto it. I'm just trying to figure out which vinyl holds my paint best. Right now, I just have straight acrylic paint, and I'm not sure if I want to try out spray paint later or not. We'll see how this goes. I also got a great suggestion from my friend Kaylle, so I might look into the method she suggested but I need to learn more about it.

Right now, I have a mess scattered from the kitchen to my living room. lol

Tags: asajj ventress, nightsister

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26 January 2012 @ 11:09 pm

Dealz and Stuff

So the Asajj costume is coming along quite nicely. I've got the main part of my "battle dress" (as I'm calling it) done. I pinned on one sleeve, and I still have another sleeve to pin on. Both will need sewn in, but that's the easy part (sometimes). I've learned that I hate sleeves. I especially hate sleeves when you're drafting your own pattern because I never seem to make them just the right size so they fit inside the arm hole that I have in the garment. So obnoxious!

Tonight, I sat down with some new Sculpey III. I purchased some pewter colored Sculpey, and I'm working on the couple of broach-like pieces that are on Asajj's costume. The first piece is the medallion up near the top of her neck. I finished the round portion and the ornamentation that goes with it. I'll work on the little "ribbon"esque piece that goes below it later. Then will come that gigantic belt piece. I'll have to figure that one out.

I also started working on some prototypes for the leg armor pieces that she has. My original idea was to use some 2-liter bottle as "interfacing", to help give the armor some shape. But no such luck as they ended up not being tall enough. So I made a trip to the Dealz store (they took away my dollar tree and gave me this place...which isn't nearly as cool, but oh well), and I found 2 large (and tall) plastic containers for a buck apiece. I cut one of them up and it seems to work perfectly! Then I had the fun task of trying to figure out how I was going to replicate the design Asajj has on her boot armor. I ended up pulling up a picture on my computer, enlarging the part of the image, cutting it out, and then virtually drawing the image using Paint.net. I then copied and pasted the image in my word processing program, and basically rotated stuff, moved stuff, decreased stuff until I got the exact dimensions I was wanting! I am so proud of it. But I have no idea how I'll make it into a stencil yet or what I'll use to get it on the boot armor. lol Oh well. Details. ;-) I also got out one of my aluminum signs that I had originally purchased for use on the Leia Ceremonial costume belt. I started cutting this up for the metal accents on the boot armor, and it looks pretty nice, I think. So I've got a prototype, but no paint, no covering, just...a dollar jug with some paper, aluminum and tape on it. It rocks. ;-)

I think that's where I currently am with the Asajj stuff. Oh, but I did find some really awesome Star Wars fabric at Jo-Ann Fabrics! It's so cute, and I love it! I almost bought some fleece, too...but really. How many projects do I need in life? ...don't answer that. ;p

Tags: asaj, asajj ventress, nightsister

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17 January 2012 @ 11:20 pm

New Asajj Project

I started a new project! I went with some old advice I received back when I couldn't get motivated and pick a project to work on - just start something. So I started something. lol I've taken some pictures and some video, and I'm hoping to maybe get back into the old swing of things with posting progress and some entertaining (or not so entertaining) edits of video progress reports. I really miss doing this. They were fun.

I'd love to pull the details all together tonight and share them, but one corner of my living room is currently housing all of my costuming crap, and my camera is allllll the way over in that corner. And I'm on the couch in the other corner. And I'm comfy. So I'm not moving.

So you'll have to wait. ;p

Tags: asajj ventress, nightsister

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07 January 2012 @ 05:05 pm

Tahiri Jumpsuit - progress

I sent the jumpsuit across state lines, and I got some notes back and some pictures on the fit and everything. I want to get some additional information before I start playing with the pattern again. But I also have the jumpsuit back with pins in the correct place in order to make the fit correct. So now I went looking for fabrics.

I have six swatches I ordered from www.fabric.com. I've never done swatch tests before, so this will be a new experiment. I'm hoping that those will arrive early next week. I also made another trip to JoAnn's to see if they had any new fabric choices. Sure enough, they did! I ended up falling in love with a 97% cotton/3% spandex bottom weight fabric from the Sew Classic collection in Calla Green (I think it's called). I think it's the closest green for the images I've seen of the Tahiri jumpsuit, and it's my personal choice so far. Granted, I haven't seen the swatches. So I'm keeping an open mind. ;)

In other news, I ran into some new Star Wars fabric while I was at JoAnn's! Licensed flannel with a couple of very cute patterns. I bought 2 cuts of it, 4 yards apiece. I'll post pictures when I get the chance.

Tags: star wars, tahiri

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19 November 2011 @ 11:40 pm

Tahiri and Other Things

I'm working on a costume for a friend of mine, now. It's been a while since I've helped anyone with something, and Aly and I have been talking about making her a costume for awhile now. She's a fan of the EU (Extended Universe) character Tahiri Veila, and we're working a green jumpsuit for Tahiri after she's been shaped by the Vong. I have to admit my ignorance at this part of the EU, as I haven't read this far ahead. I gave up reading the books after a while, and I've just recently gotten back into reading (thanks to Timothy Zahn).

The big challenge here is that Aly lives a time zone behind me. lol So we're having to do this by phone, email, pictures and mail. So that's the costuming challenge. ;)

So I purchased a vintage 1970s jumpsuit pattern from eBay (which is just in beautiful condition, btw! I was really surprised!). It has a zipper in the front and a stand-up collar. It's been interesting working with a vintage pattern, but it's rather cool. I wouldn't mind making something for myself later, though I don't know what it might be. Anyway, I had some adjusting to do for personal measurements, and I was aiming to make something that would fit me and then mail it to Aly for adjustments. I bought some cheap $1.50 fabric in a dark olive green (and very itchy, I might add) polyester from the WalMart bin. (Yay! My WalMart has fabric again!) I made a rough draft of the jump suit from this fabric, and it took me about 3 hours. I didn't bother with the interfacing on the collar or the collar facing to make it pretty. I didn't install a zipper, and I didn't hem sleeves or pant legs. I also omitted the dart on the sleeve, which I just found odd in the first place, really. But the pattern it actually used for stretchy knit fabrics, so my guess is that the dart is right under the elbow in order to allow for it to bend a little better.

So anyway...the rough draft is done, and I hope to get it in the mail Monday or Tuesday for edits. :) It fit me, and I was quite happy with it. It's rather large in all three vital areas, though - bust, waist and hips. But I wanted to make sure it was big so we could effectively make it smaller. :) So we'll see how it goes from here! I also need to figure out how to make a replica Qui-Gon Jinn-esque lightsaber. I've got some ideas, but I need to go to the hardware store and actually do some research.

In other news, I think I've decided on another costume idea (which is still not the Princess Leia Ceremonial Gown - why do I keep avoiding that?!). We recently watched the Asajj Ventress trilogy part of Season 3 of the Clone Wars, and I sort of fell in love with her nightsister costume. I'm going to tell myself that I'm skinny enough to wear this and not be too self-conscious about it...because it's freakin' bad-to-the-bone.

Tags: asajj ventress, nightsister, tahiri

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21 October 2011 @ 09:03 pm

Crochet Me a Unviverse

Tags: crochet, leia, star wars, tahiri, yoda

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27 August 2011 @ 03:45 pm

New Crafty Hobbiness!

Yes, I have decided to teach myself crochet.

I tried knitting back when I was working on the Mark Cohen costume from "Rent". Knitting is cool, but it just didn't fully click with me. So far, crocheting has become very clicky with me, and I'm liking it. It's nice to have a craft that's portable. I can take it to work and crochet on my lunch hour. I can't really take my sewing machine. I have done that before, but it's sort of obvious and bulky and generally not very acceptable. ;)

My first project ended up being a practice "Snitch" from Harry Potter. I just worked on the ball part, and then turned it into a cat toy for Charlie. I filled it fully of crinkly ribbon that made noise, then rubbed it in cat nip. She's still happy and loves it. My other various crochet attempts are now scattered about the living room as her personal toys.

My first real project was a true Golden Snitch, and I'm working on a pair of fingerless gloves (I've finished one) and a hat for my husband.

Tags: crochet

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20 June 2011 @ 10:55 pm

Back to the Future (of Costuming)

Ahhh...so here we are!  Back at the ol' homestead. It's nice to know that they didn't burn it down like Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru's place. Man, that was sad. I'd hate to have to clean up those skeletons.

But seriously - life has settled in (or at least it's starting to). I'm now relatively newly married, and we're both excited about Star Wars Fan Days IV this October and Star Wars Celebration VI next year in Orlando! Seriously, people - CELEBRATION VI!  How awesome is that?  I mean, we sort of all expected it eventually, but not early this soon.

Which means, I have to get to work on some costuming ideas.

I think I'm going to spend the next few years revisiting some of my original past ideas that I've never touched. Two of the items on that list that are really sticking out in my mind are the Princess Leia Ceremonial Gown from "A New Hope" and a X-wing pilot jumpsuit. Ever since I became a fan, these are the two costumes that intrigued me. Can't tell you how many times I ran around in an old ugly orangey-pink shirt, pretending it was an x-wing fighter pilot jumpsuit...and I was 14 at the time. Yeah, I'm a geek. You can't sue me because it's public knowledge. ;)

There are other projects that hang out in my mind - such as improving my Asajj Ventress costume. There's some work that can be done there, and I'd love to perfect the belt, finally get a good set of lightsabers built that will HOLD TOGETHER at all times, and perfect the make-up situation. I've got a skin type that just doesn't work well with that liquid paint, and it flakes all over the place because it sucks the moisture out of my face. So I've got some experimenting to do in the future, I know.

I was also challenged by a friend of mine to come up with a design for a Dr. Horrible costume...for her infant son. ;)  So that's sort of a fun project that I have to mull over...in between new carpet, moving furniture, putting away craft items, and finalizing my move into my new home. It's insanity, I tell you!

But I'm looking forward to getting back to sewing. All I've been working on lately are baby blankets (I've made five in the last year - whew), and those are fantastically fun...but geekiness is where it's at, my friends.

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10 August 2010 @ 01:23 pm

Celebration V Freak Out

It seems like there hasn't been enough hours in the day.

I've been trying to get ready for Celebration V, but there's been so much to do.  And I thought I was done and ready to go. Last night, though, I tried on the Asajj Ventress costume shirt and neck armor...and was horrified when the armor wouldn't lay flat at all.

So I tried sewing on a snap - which didn't work. Then I sewed on Velcro - which didn't work. Finally, I opted for putting the shirt and armor on and pinning the armor down to the shirt along the bottom seam. I did this by essentially holding it with one hand, taking a pin and putting it straight into the fabrics until I felt my skin, and then slid the pin along my skin to scoop up both fabrics and then out onto the right side.

Good way to stick myself, I know.

But it worked. And what I couldn't get, my mother (God bless her heart) helped me get the rest. I couldn't reach in the back, and when I tried to guess at it, I got the shirt all bunched up because it's that stretchy knit fabric. But it's done, and it's tacked down all along the collar.  It's a pain to get in and out of, but it'll be okay.

I'm not packed yet, though.  I'm mostly ready. But I know my friends and I had discussed all getting together for dinner. There were four of us who were talking about getting together, even though not everyone is going to CV. But I don't think I have time to do any of that tonight. I really need to get to the bank, and I won't have the time to do that before we leave. So everything is sort of crazy.

I also have two packed suitcases.  That's insane, as well. lol I can't imagine packing some of those Padmé dresses - or Stormtrooper armor?  That's just a lot of luggage.

But I'll get there. And hopefully I'll be in bed before 2AM tonight. I've had enough weird dreams for a while.

Tags: asajj ventress, celebration v, star wars

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