Arrrrr! Here There Be Pirates!

Although my original Pirate Costume (Pirettes of the Cariboobean) due date isn't until October and the "Pirates of Penzance" Tea for Costume College is up in two weeks, I was jamming on the "starter" pirate costumes for both me and my S.O. to wear to a GBACG Pirate Bonfire, held Saturday, July 20,  at Ocean Beach, in San Francisco.  First off, I knew I didn't have time to make coats, so I thought we'd wrap ourselves in various shawls for warmth because it's always cold at Ocean Beach. I didn't even have time to make my sweetie a waistcoat.  Gone were the elaborate plans for a baldric - those plastic guns and swords would just have to get stuck in our waist sashes.

I ended up with a finished man's poet shirt (Simplicity 3758), two puffy pants and a peasant blouse (Simplicity 3677), and purchased sashes, head scarves, striped socks and replica Jack Sparrow flintlock  from Pirate Fashions. I'd actually visited that shop in Florida last year and loved their stuff. The boot covers were purchased last year and are just cheapie costume stuff (the elastic broke while putting them on).  The Tricorn was purchased in Italy on our vacation last year (who'da thunk you could buy an inexpensive quality wool tricorn in Italy???) and the other weapons are from various dollar stores from last Halloween. I didn't have time to modify any of the weapons, but that didn't matter as you couldn't see them because we were wrapped in shawls due to the cold!  It was 98 degrees in our neck of the woods and 48 degrees with an 8 knot wind in Ocean Beach. We had enough time to roast our hot dogs, share the Rice Krispy Treats, drink some hot tea and get the heck outta there!

Of course, Gizmo, the pirate dog, was the hit of the party. He hated his pirate scarf and tricorn and vigorously tried to shake them off whenever possible, thus elicidating some engineering problems I had not foreseen. It ended up around his neck most of the time, especially when he took off after that seagull!

Now I get to try out the vodka-water spritzing I've read about to see if that takes out smoke smell - don't want to launder them as they were only worn for a bit over an hour and the tea dye might lighten!

Hey, is anyone out there afraid of being shot by the police for wearing a replica flintlock and carrying a flimsy plastic knife? Gotta love our Modern Times...

And here's how it really was - could really see the costume because of the cold. But the dog looks good...

Big engineering problem with the dog hat/scarf combo. It just didn't want to stay on top of his head.  HE didn't want it there either!

Hero in a Half Shell - L

There are events on the horizon...

In a day or two, Robin is going to GBACG Pirate Bonfire.  I am thinking about it.  OF COURSE it would be fun to don my Haradrim costume and 'grrrrr' and 'arrrrhhh' my way around a fire.  But I have plans for that costume and don't want to have to wash the campfire smell out of it.  And it will be cold.  It's at Ocean Beach in San Francisco.  And we know what Mark Twain said about summer in San Francisco....    I would need to wear my cloak, and that would be another pain to clean.  I have to decide today.

Costume College is in two weeks!  Robin and I are going for the first time.  I'm nearly ready, having added hooks and eyes where I had been using safety pins and added buttons that were missing.  I want to fix the weapon attachments on the Haradrim costume.  There were NOT satisfactory last time I wore them.  That's in the queue for today.

And then the Art Deco Society Gatsby picnic.  I've been working on the dress.  And, knock on wood, it's going together well.  I'll post some pictures shortly.  I've also been concentrating on accessories.  There is a very strict dress code.  There's also a 'dress code' for our picnic.  No plastic.  No modern electronics.  Coolers must be disguised or covered.  So I've been acquiring accessories.  I already had gloves and a deco bracelet.  I got some flat spectators (no heels for me on grass!), some round sunglasses, and a thrift store wooden purse.  The inside needed a lining, if only to keep everything from falling out every time I opened it.  So I used some taffeta scraps and made one.  First I made a paper model to make sure my plan actually worked.  And I added a pocket for my phone so it wouldn't clatter around inside.

I put interfacing in the top inch of the side sections and ironed it in the folded position so that it would 'want' to stay that way.  

I also added some stiff plastic to the top edges of the body to make it stay in place tucked under the edge of the purse.  Then I hot-glued the top edges and a little curved part of the body.  It's not a perfect fit.  It can't be.  Otherwise the purse wouldn't open and close.

Here's a quick picture of all my accessories except a hat.  They are sitting on the dress fabric which is a soft green.

Yes.  Green.  Late 20's, early 30's style.  My waist-less torso.

Middle-aged Mutant Ninja Turtle.  

Hero on a half shell - turtle power!

(a direct rendering of the original cartoon theme song for you infants that don't recognize it)

Busy busy weekend - L & R

 Robin will be a pretty, pretty pirate!
We are going to Costume College!  And we are excited.  Primarily we learn about sewing and costuming, but there are also 3 events that allow us to show off what we've made.(Well, 3 that we're going to)
Our Sewing Saturday was devoted to getting stuff ready for this event.
Time Traveler's Gala:
The theme seems cavalier/pirate but we don't have anything.  We're bringing out LOTR stuff.
Fantasy Tea - Pirates of Penzance:
In a shocking turn of events, Robin is being a pirate and Lisa is wearing a dress.  Weird.
Sunday Undies:
Lisa is wearing her 1912 princess slip.
(I shortened it by raising under the bust in front, and above the pleats at the hem in back.  Trust me, there was no easier way to do it)

In addition, we have tickets to attend the Gatsby Picnic.  Lisa has already posted her pattern.  Robin has finally settled on hers.  And at the last minute, Lisa's daughter has decided to attend.  That means she needs to make a dress too.  She chose a grey poly crepe with shiny rectangles.  It's sheer and will have a natural muslin underslip.
Lisa has tweaked and tweaked her muslin.  On Sunday, she did one final tweak to the shoulders and started cutting her fabric.
(I really really REALLY hope this works - otherwise I just don't know WHAT I will do....)

Anteater update:
I hit that spot...  You know, where you can't find anything and the more you look, the worse it gets?  I've been folding and listing fabrics, patterns, notions and stuff.  That 'stuff' that defies systematic organization.  Seemed a good moment to take a photo of the fabrics I had in mind.  I still haven't settled on trims.

Of yarn and anteaters - Lisa

Took my son to the zoo yesterday.

And became inspired to make a bustle dress base on this anteater.

I even have a hat in mind.  And there will be fringe.

In the mean time I'm knitting another pair of socks and crocheting some black fingerless gloves and spinning some yarn to knit a hat.  Not because I want a hat.  Because I'm spinning yarn.  I don't think I'll have enough to make anything but a beret.

I'm waiting to hear about some fabric I might have bought.  As soon as I know, I'll post fabric swatches for the impending anteater dress along with a drawing of what and how and all of that.......

Don't despair! We will be posting more soon!

Robin is camping.  She's been busy sewing in every spare moment.  She's taking pictures.  She has utterly failed to post them.  

I'm home, and trying to sort out my new life.  I am still spinning.  I have some soft celery green fiber that I want to turn into a hat.  Not because I want a hat, but I think that's all I will have after I'm done spinning.

I'm letting all my partially made projects sit idle for a bit.  Turns out, retiring involves a LOT of eating and drinking with friends and co-workers.  I'm feeling bloated.  I'm also getting more exercise, so my hamstring attachments (nice phrase for my bottom) are a bit 'fatigued'.  Gimme a couple weeks to get on a schedule.  Then I'll be ready to fit the garments that are hanging, half done, on the back of my bathroom door.

I woke up yesterday with a very neat idea for a skirt.  It is neither costume nor everyday wear.  So OF COURSE I want to make it.

I will post a picture once I draw one that looks like my mental image.

Killing time - Lisa

It has been strangely difficult to actually retire.  For example, today was supposed to be my last day of work.  Instead, it will be my last day 'in the office'.  I will work from home for a month...  Or so....
They won't even tell me when I can leave.  I can, of course, walk out at any time.  But not with all of my money.  So I'm killing time....

(this will be my daily walk)

I have taken some walks.  And I'm trying to learn to spin.  No, not on a stationary bike because that sounds like a middle circle of Hell.  With a drop spindle.

Here's the spindle with the 9 samples of roving that I have to try as my 'homework'.  The first class went really well.  It seems fairly easy.  Then I went home....

I waited a couple days to try again.  And it wasn't easy at all.

See the green stuff that looks like troll hair?

That was my first disaster.









I got it spun but when I pulled gently it all fell apart.  I'm pretty sure its a nylon fibre so I blame THAT.

Then I moved on the some of the other fibres.
They were easier and some of what I did actually looks a little bit like yarn.  After the tan stuff I went back to knitting......

Sewing Sunday and a Doublet - R and L

Last Sunday was a sewing day.  We wisely decided to target ONE THING for sure with a couple of backups if we had time.  Lisa needs to make a dress for the Gatsby Picnic.

One thing I know, is that I don't want to make a traditional 20's dress.  It just won't be flattering.  I've been looking into early 30's and actually settled on a 1911 dress with modifications. 1911 Dress   I made a muslin of the top of the pattern modified for size and styling.  It fits!  I also had Rob help me choose between 3 fabrics I had targeted for this dress.  I plan to use the middle picture, shorter, and with the collar and cuffs from the picture on the right.  My fabric is lawn, similar in color to the middle dress with ivory trim.

Robin is still immersed in multiple projects. She is plugging away at a renaissance outfit for her bf, and also has a plan for a pirate costume with a very funny alternative vision targeted for the WEHO Halloween street crawl.  She posted earlier as Pirettes of the Caribooban.

Robin:  OK, I HATE that this photo is snapped with me and my hair in "work mode", but that's the way it is. I modified the pattern to hold giant boobs (it's actually one of those Halloween tie-on butts" but worn upside down on my chest. I added 8 inches to the front of the pattern and, instead of making it elastic, I put in a facing and made it a drawstring close. No idea if it works, as I haven't modified the "butt" yet. Still need to finish the sleeve casings and maybe put a little lace on the sleeves, as I am a girly pirate.

With this accomplished, I actually was able to re-trace the pattern for the pants (which the dog had eaten) and cut out the fabric for both mine and my bf's pirate pants. I'm a fancy, girly pirate and he is a dirty shipwrecked deck hand, so I'll have the fun of distressing his outfit and the fun of decking myself out in "finery".

And now for the doublet progress: The wings are interlined with some REALLY stiff stuff so these suckers WILL stick out like... well, like wings.

Here's the skirt decoration. I later found that it will intersect the body, so I have to hand sew on another line of piping to make it match the body of the doublet.

 Here's the sequence of hand sewing on three different sets of trim to make it into one really pretty line of decoration.  Velvet is very shifty and it is a tiny bit wonky in spots, but the overall effect looks straight.

After sewing was done, Lisa actually fixed what she thought was a terminal error in a sock she was knitting.  You can sort of see what's left of the problem in the light grey lattice near my fingers.

After that, she lay about like the lady of leisure she is soon to be, while her cats convinced her it really was the ONLY option.