Costume College 2009
I had a pretty good time at costume college last week.
The only real downer was missing Friday (and my 18thC. corset making class!) while trying to keep my spirits high enough to continue with classes on Saturday. My friend's funeral ended up hitting me pretty hard on Friday. It was good seeing our friends (ever since we moved up to the Bay Area we saw less and less of them) but the circumstances for a reunion of sorts were just horrible. I was so depressed I really did not feel like going to class bright and early Saturday morning, but it was one of my limited attendance classes I had been lucky enough to get (draping an 18th C Robe a la Francaise). One girl I met in the class said I was "so serious" I think I scared her! I had to explain I was still really depressed after attending my friend's funeral. I couldn't stop thinking of Heather, or her family. I worry about her husband and kids so much and I still can't believe she's gone.
Anyway, I'm glad David came with me this year to "CoCo" as I guess it's been dubbed! It's always hard because Costume College is right after Comic-Con and it's difficult to be apart for two weeks. Heck, now I had someone to have dinner with! Woo hoo! I could actually have a date and attend the Time Traveler's Gala for the first time! I even had a costume matching the 18thC theme for the year (even more amazing, lol!)
I only brought my camera to classes to document steps on how to make things. I'm not posting those photos because they make no sense without notes anyway and some of the instructors wanted us to get permission from them first, etc. I wish I'd gotten pictures of some of the costumers I know through LJ like
koshka_the_cat, but it just didn't happen. I'm sure anyone I know on LJ has great photos posted if I take a second to check now that I've finally uploaded mine! LOL! I
David took random photos as he felt up to it at the Time Traveler's Gala. He was trying to pace keeping me company with wandering off to take pics so he probably only got about 1/4 of the costumes there. Most are of people I don't know! He did get Lisa (Maulested from TheForce.net) by chance. He caught a few cute photos of bauhausfrau , and a photo of colleency doing the"time warp - lol!
DAVID'S TIME TRAVELER'S GALA PHOTOS >
I was also surprised to see a few people from SisterSola's 18thC group at Dragon*Con! So I had to say hello since she was showing me photos of their costumes when I was trying to figure out what approach to take with my MA gown.
Wearing the Marie Antoinette "Hangover" again...
So, I didn't have time before Comic-Con to make an 18thC wig which would have facilitated a quicker costume change before the gala. So, I was stuck having to do my own up-do yet again. I knew it would take me a few hours so I just had to skip a class or two mid day to do my hair. Then what do the guys say in the restaurant outside when I'm walking to the Gala? "Why don't you have one of those big wigs with feathers..." as though that's what my costume was clearly missing. I said something like "Because this is how I wanted to do my hair... and see I have flowers instead." duh! Not bothering to explain that my costume and hair was based off the Kirsten Dunst Marie Antoinette movie, her hair was not huge in her more youthful days... etc.
Anyway, the hair turned out so so. I used the bumble and bumble white spray but it didn't end up sticking to my real hair all that well! I needed spray it on a bit thicker, now that I know some will just drift off (I'd actually meant to first spray on a layer of this hair glosser stuff to make it stick and totally forgot). So the back of my hair (which had the curly wiglet) ended up being whiter since it seemed to love to stick to synthetic hair (though, it brushes out OK which is good. My hairpiece won't get too gunked up over time). Oh well, first time isn't ever perfect for anything. I've also lost weight so the poor fit of the back of my bodice looks even more pronounced now. Whatever, I know it fits poorly but I don't even want to think about refitting it until I make a proper 18thC corset to wear rather than my modified Elizabethan that was designed for my Padme gown. Ha! I still think for a first and admittedly rushed job of putting an 18thC costume together it's not so bad, so that's why I'm trying not to be too hard on the mistakes its got. Oh, another semi-mistake. I had a tough time figuring out how long to make my sleeves when I was drafting them to match the "hangover" dress in the movie. I think they should be about 1" shorter. It was a tough call, but now with the lace and trimming on I can see they come a bit longer than what I believe they would have been in the movie. Meh, that's just a nit-picky thing that's started to bug me too. The front of the bodice point comes down too low too. That's why I get the wrinkles! The CF boning wants to push up so I have to keep pulling the center boning down and then the wrinkles go away (forgot to do the tug before David took all of these pictures - oh well). If I altered the front length, that would really help eliminate the problem. But, I'm just not uber passionate about perfecting this dress. So they are more like mental notes at this point to keep on file for the next MA gown I may or may not embark on!
Sunday morning I wore my Victorian undies to Sunday Undies breakfast. But I forgot to have David take a photo to document the occasion because he was in a hurry to get to the airport. LOL! It seemed funny to get dressed into a costume only to wear it for about a half hour but I got called Scarlett O'Hara a few times so that was pretty funny! And I finally got a ribbon to add to my convention badge that said Sunday Undies! LOL! (It's the little things...)
The only real downer was missing Friday (and my 18thC. corset making class!) while trying to keep my spirits high enough to continue with classes on Saturday. My friend's funeral ended up hitting me pretty hard on Friday. It was good seeing our friends (ever since we moved up to the Bay Area we saw less and less of them) but the circumstances for a reunion of sorts were just horrible. I was so depressed I really did not feel like going to class bright and early Saturday morning, but it was one of my limited attendance classes I had been lucky enough to get (draping an 18th C Robe a la Francaise). One girl I met in the class said I was "so serious" I think I scared her! I had to explain I was still really depressed after attending my friend's funeral. I couldn't stop thinking of Heather, or her family. I worry about her husband and kids so much and I still can't believe she's gone.
Anyway, I'm glad David came with me this year to "CoCo" as I guess it's been dubbed! It's always hard because Costume College is right after Comic-Con and it's difficult to be apart for two weeks. Heck, now I had someone to have dinner with! Woo hoo! I could actually have a date and attend the Time Traveler's Gala for the first time! I even had a costume matching the 18thC theme for the year (even more amazing, lol!)
I only brought my camera to classes to document steps on how to make things. I'm not posting those photos because they make no sense without notes anyway and some of the instructors wanted us to get permission from them first, etc. I wish I'd gotten pictures of some of the costumers I know through LJ like
koshka_the_cat, but it just didn't happen. I'm sure anyone I know on LJ has great photos posted if I take a second to check now that I've finally uploaded mine! LOL! I
David took random photos as he felt up to it at the Time Traveler's Gala. He was trying to pace keeping me company with wandering off to take pics so he probably only got about 1/4 of the costumes there. Most are of people I don't know! He did get Lisa (Maulested from TheForce.net) by chance. He caught a few cute photos of bauhausfrau , and a photo of colleency doing the"time warp - lol!
DAVID'S TIME TRAVELER'S GALA PHOTOS >
I was also surprised to see a few people from SisterSola's 18thC group at Dragon*Con! So I had to say hello since she was showing me photos of their costumes when I was trying to figure out what approach to take with my MA gown.
Wearing the Marie Antoinette "Hangover" again...
So, I didn't have time before Comic-Con to make an 18thC wig which would have facilitated a quicker costume change before the gala. So, I was stuck having to do my own up-do yet again. I knew it would take me a few hours so I just had to skip a class or two mid day to do my hair. Then what do the guys say in the restaurant outside when I'm walking to the Gala? "Why don't you have one of those big wigs with feathers..." as though that's what my costume was clearly missing. I said something like "Because this is how I wanted to do my hair... and see I have flowers instead." duh! Not bothering to explain that my costume and hair was based off the Kirsten Dunst Marie Antoinette movie, her hair was not huge in her more youthful days... etc.
Anyway, the hair turned out so so. I used the bumble and bumble white spray but it didn't end up sticking to my real hair all that well! I needed spray it on a bit thicker, now that I know some will just drift off (I'd actually meant to first spray on a layer of this hair glosser stuff to make it stick and totally forgot). So the back of my hair (which had the curly wiglet) ended up being whiter since it seemed to love to stick to synthetic hair (though, it brushes out OK which is good. My hairpiece won't get too gunked up over time). Oh well, first time isn't ever perfect for anything. I've also lost weight so the poor fit of the back of my bodice looks even more pronounced now. Whatever, I know it fits poorly but I don't even want to think about refitting it until I make a proper 18thC corset to wear rather than my modified Elizabethan that was designed for my Padme gown. Ha! I still think for a first and admittedly rushed job of putting an 18thC costume together it's not so bad, so that's why I'm trying not to be too hard on the mistakes its got. Oh, another semi-mistake. I had a tough time figuring out how long to make my sleeves when I was drafting them to match the "hangover" dress in the movie. I think they should be about 1" shorter. It was a tough call, but now with the lace and trimming on I can see they come a bit longer than what I believe they would have been in the movie. Meh, that's just a nit-picky thing that's started to bug me too. The front of the bodice point comes down too low too. That's why I get the wrinkles! The CF boning wants to push up so I have to keep pulling the center boning down and then the wrinkles go away (forgot to do the tug before David took all of these pictures - oh well). If I altered the front length, that would really help eliminate the problem. But, I'm just not uber passionate about perfecting this dress. So they are more like mental notes at this point to keep on file for the next MA gown I may or may not embark on!
Sunday morning I wore my Victorian undies to Sunday Undies breakfast. But I forgot to have David take a photo to document the occasion because he was in a hurry to get to the airport. LOL! It seemed funny to get dressed into a costume only to wear it for about a half hour but I got called Scarlett O'Hara a few times so that was pretty funny! And I finally got a ribbon to add to my convention badge that said Sunday Undies! LOL! (It's the little things...)