FLASHBACK! Autumn's Wedding Dress

The problem with trying to maintain a crafting blog during the holiday season is that I'm uber busy making holiday gifts for the people in my life, but those are the same people who primarily read this blog (Hi Mom!), so I can't show you anything I'm currently working on.  January will be filled with posts about all the cool stuff I made, but for now, I've got nothing!  So here's a look back to an old project of mine.  
(I will from time to time, out of laziness or business, just feature old projects I've done, to show off the archive of things made before I started this blog!)  

FLASHBACK!   Autumn's Wedding Dress, Spring 2011

The fabulous Autumn was a friend of a friend, who was referred to me to create a custom wedding dress.  Autumn and I met for happy hour one day to discuss her dress, timeline, and budget.  I had asked her to do some research before hand - hunt through magazines, the internet, whatever, and find pictures.  For example: I like this sleeve, I hate this neckline, I like this but could never pull it off...  I usually ask people to do something like this  when we start a new project so that I can get a feel for their opinions and tastes.  What do they love, what do they hate?   So Autumn had brought a lot of photos, and luckily for me knew for the most part the direction she wanted to go, and the influences she wanted it to have. She described her ideal dress as "David Bowie's Ballerina"and I loved her on the spot.  

I draped the base out of champagne dupioni silk, internally lined with a white satin.  (I don't use patterns - I prefer to create my own designs!)  The exterior was layers of embroidered off-white chiffon, golden tulle, and a champagne sheer voile that were all draped onto the dress shape itself.   We did not want it to look perfect, but neither did we want it to look sloppy.  So while the pieces are uneven, they are not overly jagged.  It poofed and pointed without looking distressed.    

For the belt and lacing we chose a vibrant purple silk to off set the beige tones of the dress, and you can see how well that worked!  She was a gorgeous bride and I seriously wanted to just keep the dress for myself!  

PS - this project got me featured on an AWESOME craft blog: Never a Plain Jane.
Go read it and check out how fabulous Janice is!
If you want to read a little bit more about me, check out the article she wrote:
http://neveraplainjane.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-new-best-friend.html

Sachets and Stitches

Not every project can be a ginormous undertaking that takes over your house and invades your dreams for the weeks you spend working on it.  Sometimes, you need small, simple crafts that you can do  drunk while cooking dinner and watching Game of Thrones for the 7th time.  Making felt lavender sachets is one such simple project I've been working on this week.
 
My fabulous sister has spent weeks working on handmade crafts and art to sell at a Holiday bazaar, and on a whim one day, while she sat at my sewing machine happily creating lavender eye pillows, I decided to make a sachet.
Note: a sachet is a small pocket that contains good-smelling stuff - in this case, lavender.  They are great for the car, or drawers, or any enclosed space that could smell better!
Anyway, I pulled out my big bag of felt scraps (yeah, like you don't have one of those!) and just made some cutesy little circles with decorative hand stitching, stuffed the layers with lavender, and hot glued it all together.  Viola!  They turned out pretty neato for being so simple, so I took a bag of lavender for myself, and whipped up a dozen circle sachets for the sis to sell at her bazaar.

And then, my love of puns struck as I was trying to brainstorm a new shape to make.  It doesn't quite translate in writing, but Mustache + Sachets = Mustachets!   Little lavender mustaches to add scent and style to your world!  Yeah, I'm adorable, I know.  Hopefully the rest of Austin agrees with me and spends a few bucks on them.  

It was nice to work on something so easy and brainless after the undertaking that those Borg costumes were.  Crafting can be very calming and enjoyable when you don't have to stress about every step you take.  And BONUS: my bestie Amy got inspired and made a craft of her own - a sachet shaped like the planet Saturn, ring and all!  This is a big step for her: She had never sewn a stitch before in her life!   Despite having to overcome such hardships and handicaps as being left-handed in a world of scissors made for righties, she is now in full on craft mode and we have big DIY plans for the Christmas season!  Nothing can stop the power Crafting!  Woo hoo!

Amy discovers her inner crafter

The Borg Costumes 2012

So, Halloween 2012 has come and gone.  This year, Eric and I had grand designs on costuming and became The Borg from Star Trek: The Next Generation, as we would be attending the Austin Comic Con.
If I do say so myself, we looked AWESOME.   Complete success.   We weren't going  for 100% accuracy - we didn't have that kind of budget.  But the direction we took exceeded my expectations, and that's pretty much the best you can do with any costume!

 Borg 2012 - Austin Comic Con

Borg - Assimilate the Red Shirt

I've been dreading writing a long "How to assimilate yourself into the Borg" post, so I've decided to just not write it in full.  Long story short:
We bought plain black under clothes and a bunch of various athletic pads from thrift stores, and "Borg-ed" them out, using about 250 sticks of hot glue, a variety of shelf liner/grip liner for textures, various hardware painted black, and many different kinds of wires.  The arm extensions were Home Depot finds that got the Borg treatment, and Eric wired up our LED lights using his techno-genius skill, then strapped us all together!

Wes as Lady Borg

Eric as Tactical Borg

We had a blast at Austin Comic Con, but it was next to impossible to get anywhere or do anything - we were stopped for photos every 2 feet.  We felt like part of the attraction, not guests at the event.  It definitely made the Con a much different experience.  But we would totally do it again!

Borg and Cyberman - Partners in Assimilation

Borg 2012 - Resistance is Futile 

Borg in Love - photo by Do512

Next costume project: Winter Snow King and Queen for the Austin Santa Rampage 2012!