The Tale of Two Capes

I have a lot of options for projects to finish.  Tiramisu, the Vogue in silk noil, the Burda dress, the Almas my wardrobe would benefit from...

And what did I sew?

A cape.

Not just any cape, a purple cape for a Skelator costume.

Oh, you didn't have brothers/sons/a heart beat in the 80's to make you watch He-Man?  Here's the refresher.

Source: http://www.comicvine.com/skeletor/4005-16424/

A loooong time ago, I made a black cape.  My boyfriend at the time wanted to be Darth Maul for Halloween, Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace had released that year.  To be a Sith he really needed a big flowy cape but being Halloween, it's just made of cheap broadcloth and unlined.  I seem to remember draping it over him and pinning until it looked right and had a hood.  There is no pattern to refer to, no notes from 1999 kicking around, not even pictures of the event.  Just the cape itself which is much too long because Mr. Lina and I are much shorter than my 6' 1" ex-boyfriend.  On the plus side, the actor who will wear the purple cape is 6' so no need to hem it.

My sewing skills were a mixed bag at the time (not that it's all that much different now).  I knew how a sewing machine worked very well.  I understood the concepts of grain lines, was well versed in turning things inside out thanks to Mom's bibs.  I watched her sew many things and Fabricland felt like a second home.  Things  I did not get? 

• Patterns, the language eluded me.
• Finishing seams for wovens.  Mom does not sew clothing, everything she made was turned inside out and usually had top stitching.
• Full bust adjustments (not that it's a factor in this cape)
• I don't think I understood bias tape at that point.

So looking at this cape, I am pleasantly surprised with some things I did and shake my head at others.

• I draped the three panels so there was an arm hole, very wise move
• All selvages were left alone, I knew I didn't have to do anything with them and that's true for the purple cape, it's a costume, not couture.
• All cut (well, ripped along the grain line) edges were just folded back and sewn, so you can see the raggedy edges
• I used such narrow seam allowances and crappy finishings that some of the side panel stitching have come apart.
• The hood falls perfectly, just like the character I was aiming for.  This is something I didn't improve in the purple version, I should have pulled more fabric into the hood.
• The weight is mostly carried by the shoulders, not pulling back at the neck.
• It moves so well when he walked.  Pictures do not do that justice.

As many others have found, it's interesting to look back at your early days of sewing.

It's a very good thing I didn't hem that black cloak shorter.  It worked really well yesterday on the film shoot.

First time I've answered to the call "WARDROBE!"

The film shoot went well.  It's going to be a video, rock song about a guy doing a series of stupid things and pissing people off.  Like going to the movies and being obnoxious, being Skelator on the subway (you know not one person stopped us, a few looked, a few took pictures, but not many really stared or got pissed off).  It's a series of small events, we'll see how it all comes together in editing but they have some great footage.  I believe it will end up on YouTube so when it does, I'll add in a link.

Evil Queen

As mentioned, our trip to Orlando was great.  The screening went well, they took home a prize, it really justified going to that particular film festival.  During the rest of the week, we went to Island of Adventure, the evening Halloween at Universal (which is actually scary), Disney Hollywood Studios and ended with the Magic Kingdom and Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween.  Mr. Lina was the photographer for the trip but we took the little point & shoot, not the good camera so not all of the pictures are of the best quality.

I did take a lot of me-made clothing, but looking through pictures, it's hard to tell.  The night I wore a Sorbetto to the Universal Halloween it was freaking cold so I have a coat covering it.  I took the bathing suit I made but again, too cold to wear it.

Last time I talked about my costume plans, I was annoyed by the options in stores.  Either they were too trampy for Disney or just a tube of crushed velvet (and not in the right colours at that) or I'd have to sift through a ton of stuff at Value Village and I didn't have time.  I did find more purple stretch crushed velvet, but when I got home I found they were not even close to being the same purple.  What I had was more blue purple and the one I bought was almost raspberry.  I opted to start from scratch with the new fabric.  I'll cut up the other fabric in to something else so it won't go to waste.  Our camera batteries died as we were dressing up at the car to return to the park, this is the only picture I have of me in the costume at the moment.

The first time I've had to ask if my eyebrows were even.

In starting again with lots of fabric to work from, I thought I'd do less draping and work with a pattern I knew.  Renfrew to the rescue!  Yes, I know that's not a dress, and yes, it has sleeves, but this was a slap dash costume and at least I knew it would fit my bust/shoulders/waist.  Here is what I did:

1. I cut the front and back for the cowl version because it was already traced.
2. I extended the pieces from the hip with just a very slight A line to the length of my body.
3. I added in godets at the side to give a little more freedom of movement but the end result still fell straight down to my feet at the front.
4. I turned and zig zagged the arm holes rather than adding sleeves (expecting it to be hot)
5. I did stablize the shoulders as suggested in the pattern.
6. I tried steam a seam at the back neckline but I found it hard to work with on the curved neckline and fabric that didn't like pressing so I gave up for the other seams. 
7. On the plus side,  I think it will keep that from stretching out given that I didn't do the proper U neck and it made the back easy to identify when getting dressed.

In the end, it skims my curves nicely but kept everything covered up.  It was cold the night of the event, down to about 8C.  Fortunately my costume had a cape, but I wore a black tshirt under the dress for an extra layer which actually worked well as the Evil Queen has the black hood starting under her purple dress.

I didn't take a crown with me, I thought it would be the easiest part of the costume to purchase at the park.  I mean really, it's Disney, land of princesses and queens.  What I ended up with was a tiara with a picture of Rapunzel or Sleeping Beauty on the centre.  I blacked that out with mascara so it looked a little less happy princess-y.  Given that I think it was made for kids and my head is not small, I was really impressed at how it stayed put on my head.  I took it off for Space Mountain, but past that I wore it.

With our new flight, we still got home just in time to hand out treats to about 40 kids.  Less than we usually get but not bad considering it was cold and raining and we got a bit of a late start.  I quickly pulled out the dress and my cape from my luggage while Mr. Lina set up ghost lights and tested out his new smoke machine and we had a great time.  I have taken to handing out envelopes of hot chocolate for Halloween and I must remember for next year that with marshmallows was the preference by the vast majority.

And my favourite picture from the trip...

Snuggles on the boat at Downtown Disney.

Oh boy!

We're off to Orlando on Friday.  The Post Lifers is airing at a film festival so we're going to take in that festival on Saturday and stay until Wednesday for some additional vacation.

You know what's in Orlando?

Disney.

I've never been to Disney and honestly never had a real drive to go.  Last time I was in Florida I was 5.  I remember parts of the trip.

1. My Winnie the Pooh colouring book I had on the plane.  It had stickers and I thought this was like some magical book that I could not only colour but place stickers - scratch and sniff stickers at that.
2. The spiral stair case at my grandparents apartment.  I seem to remember having a hissy fit when my parents just wanted to pop up to Nana and Papa's unit quickly and I wanted to take the fun staircase not the boring one that was closer to their unit.
3. Vague memories of the beach because my dad buried my brother in the sand and I thought it was funny.  But that might be a different beach and my mind is merging two trips.

Pretty Grievances has talked about going to Disney for a Halloween event and I thought that was super cool but never connected that it might still be going on.  We're going with the writer/director of the film (and his mom) and the three of us were planning the trip on Saturday and he brought up Mickey's Not so Scary Halloween.  Well now I'm stoked to go.

But what to dress up as?  We're leaving on Friday, I have a house concert on Thursday, we're seeing New Order tonight, that's not a lot of time to pack and make a costume.

Last night, we went to a few places to get some inspiration.  I have a cloak I made a few years ago that I would like to use, the black outside and red lining could make a good Evil Queen from Snow White if I could find a purple dress.

Source

Well, all the costumes either seemed to be the wrong colour, too slutty for Disney or it was just a tube of stretchy fabric. 

Not quite the look I'm going for but you can buy it here.

I can sew a tube, maybe add a godet.  It's going to be hot, I am okay skipping the long bell sleeves.   I have purple crushed stretch velvet at home... 

Stash to the rescue!

The problem is, there wasn't as much purple fabric as I thought.  I know I cut a pair of panties out of it but I must have cut something else out as well.  I had enough to do the front of a dress and around a bit to the sides, but not the back.  The cloak will hide the fact the back isn't purple but I am trying to keep it looking interesting in case I do need to take the cloak off.

Either way, it made me clean off my cutting table, dig through the stash and sew.  It has been so long since I've actually done something, I think I lost sight of the fun and just saw the big pile of stuff blocking my way.  I really don't care all that much about this costume so it's crazy slapdash styling, but I had a great time, sewing past my "witching hour" which resulted in some time with my seam ripper.  I got so slapdash I even just cut part of the seam out rather than ripping it.  Sad but true.  I have to go to Fabricland at lunch for my mom (another hunting expedition but this time last season's Christmas fabric) which gives me the opportunity to look for a gold braid to make the belt and see if they have more purple fabric at a good price.  I'd cut that back off again if I could have it all purple.

There is still some work to do on it, a bit of fitting, figuring out what to do for straps/neckline, but it's about 80% there.  The house is in okay shape, I think I can do what needs doing for the house concert and still have time to finish up the dress on Wednesday.  Maybe.

Update:  I went to Fabricland and they had the same crushed velvet on sale for $5/m, so it's going to be an all purple dress.  Yay!