Expo May 2012 part three

Hello again dear friends,

Now that you have seen our pictures from expo I would like to share with you some of the wonderful outfits that others were wearing on this very hot day,

 There were cats crawling around the hall.

The lady wearing this beautiful dress asked for my picture, I was asked twice. S.H. did so well walking around in character that he was asked for many photo's in fact some of the facial expressions he did were actually quite scary and lots of 'why so serious?' comments .

A very dashing young gentleman who was quite happy to be asked for his photograph by a stranger.

I will not post all our pictures here but they are on my Sew Vala facebook page if you wish to see them.
And last dress of the day

Isn't she just a sport.

We don't really go to buy things, it's more about getting the chance to dress up for us, unless there is a certain actress / actor autograph there signing.

The one thing that got me most excited on this day was a young lady sitting at a workshop table with a book and sewing patterns in front of her. As the whole event is about sharing and meeting people I could not resist walking up to her to ask to have a look at what she had.
I am really not the sort of person who talks to strangers, but on occasions like this well everyone is there to enjoy the spirit of things.

It's a Japanese sewing pattern book, along the lines of Burda (whith a pull out pattern sheet). It's called Gosu Rori which is a gothic / lolita genre.

I took pictures of the book and did an internet search once home. And now I am eagerly awaiting for my copy in the post.

So that was our day, if you went too I hope you had as much fun as we all did.

If you were to attend a convention, would you dress up ? And who or what would be your character of choice.

Sew Vala x   

Expo May 2012 part two

Hello friends,

I hope you like yesterdays pictures from our day at Expo, today I will share some more.

Firstly here is what my daughter wore

She is a character from an internet comic 'HomeStuck' , I must apologize she did inform me of the name but it escapes me.

 She let me take a few pictures when we got there, then off she went to the HomeStuck meet-up. Apart from coming across them during one of their photo-shoots (she is far right) we didn't see her all day.
Wow was she hot when we met up at the end of the day. A hot day and a black morph suit makes for one very tired and black dye stained very very happy teenager.

As for me

 Any guesses, nope thought not. No-body seemed to know who I was. It seems you cross two genres and people get confused. Here was my inspirational picture

Can you see it yet,

How about this

Still no. Steampunk Princess Leia.

I am sorry to say only two pieces of this outfit we made the rest was bought.

Using this pattern I made the chemise Simpicity 2163

I decided not to add the sleeves, I satin bound the edge instead. And I also did not do the large colar and used lace and beading to add extra detail.

The other make, was the Leia buns, using a hair do-nut sponge and false hair headbands,

 Even S.H. had a go at sewing the plaits onto the sponge.

 And with plenty of bobby pins they actually stayed in place all day, they were not heavy in fact I forgot I was wearing them.

We were expecting a cold may so the coat only got worn for this shot, such a shame it is lovely. But I am sure I will get lots of use of of it. As for the corset that is definitely going to be worn alot. How gorgeous is this,

As promised tomorrow I will let you about our day.
Now there are at least five more conventions we would love to go to this year if the buget allows, so best get started on thinking up new costumes for everyone.

Have a good weekend. Sew Vala x

Expo May 2012 part1.

The Joker and Catwoman. I am very pleased with how his costume turned out.

As we live over a hundred miles apart I do not often get the chance to do fittings. I think the jacket is brill. S.H. wanted his costume to be more like the graphic novel character than the film versions. However I should have made the waist coat longer, hence the yellow t-shirt.

(image from comicsandmediawiki.com)

This was the pattern I used McCalls 6143. We found the trousers in a charity shop and could not believe our luck. I have not tried to make trousers yet and so was a tad nervous on that part. Next we had to try and find some fabric that matched, as you see we again were very lucky and found the perfect match. I made the jacket and dicki which made the whole outfit come together. I was expecting to make the waistcoat and dye a shirt. But overall I think it works.

And lastly,

from a very hot Expo in London, Cheers. Thank you for joining me on my journey. Have a good weekend. Tomorrow I will show you my daughters and my outfits and later tell you more about the day itself.

Sew Vala. x 

 

Tempus Fugit... and Batman.

And it really does.

I had not realized I had been away for so long. Excuses aplenty but I will not bore you with them.

What I will do is share what I have been up to and here is Loud Shirt number 5.

Yeah, this is the loudest one yet.

I have still not mastered the art of pattern matching but I am rather pleased with how the pattern is symmetrical on the front.

 
A slight blurry back view, and again I was able to centre the design so Batman is central.

A close up of Batman.

A close up of the Joker. I had to import this fabric from America, from fabric.com. It seems it is impossible to buy Batman fabric in the UK. This fabric is called The Joker's Back and Joker is S.H.'s favourite character. He has seen this shirt in preparation stages but as not he has not seen the finished item. I hope he likes it.

A short post for now but over the next couple of days I would like to share with you our outfits for the comic con expo this weekend so next week I will be sharing with you our time there.

In the while happy sewing everyone.

Sew Vala. x