Sew Dressed Up

Time for a face lift

2010-08-13T14:17:00.004-05:00

I thought it was time to change things around. Time for a redesign and maybe I can remember to update once in a while.

Doll for Lily

2010-04-04T15:17:00.020-05:00

Using up more odds and ends. I made a doll for Lily as a thank you for being in my wedding. The doll and shoes were bought from Michaels, the dress was custom made to resemble her flower girl dress.

The dress has an embroidered trim on the bodice with bead details.

Lily's Dress from David's Bridal: (the one on the right)

More Photos

2010 Project - Use up all the scraps

2010-02-28T11:35:00.000-06:00

With moving things around, I have come to realize just how much fabric I have, which is a lot! I've decided to give myself a challenge and see just how much of the scraps I can use up this year.

Scrap Quilt
I've started to make squares for a scrap quit. Completely random. Hopefully it will turn out well. I've never actually finished a quit, we'll see if I can finish this one. So far, I've been cutting out the small squares. I need roughly 300 light and 300 dark. I've cut 57 so far, all dark from scraps of various fabrics. Most are from the costumes that I made for the kids for Halloween this last fall. It's not much, but it's a start.

Sewing Kit:

One of the things I desperately need is a good way to carry sewing tools with when we go to armor parties or troops, or anywhere else I need to bring things. I found a pattern for this awhile back. There is also a tote bag that goes with it which I hope to make sometime in the future.

It was pretty easy to assemble, and I had everything on hand. The pattern called for fusible fleece, but since I didn't know what that was, let alone have any, I substituted the fleece with quit batting that I had.

I later found out that fusible fleece is used in purses and bags as a stabilizer. Using the fleece would have probably made this a bit more sturdy, but it's working for what I wanted it for.

I also learned that it's not a good idea to use scotch tape on clear vinyl. The tape left a sticky reside. It's and even worse idea to use goo gone to remove the sticky mess. Should have read the label on the bottle first. Woops.

It turned out well and used up some fabric!

Bikerscout Flak Vest

2010-01-08T13:40:00.003-06:00

I recently finished a Biker Scout Flak Vest for a garrison mate of mine.
The flack vest is worn over the flight suit and under the armor.

Front:

Back:

Side:

Halloween Cosutmes Part 3

2009-10-30T15:04:00.002-05:00

Connor as Robin. (With the batman mask)

Halloween Costumes part 2

2009-10-22T09:52:00.002-05:00

Pieces of the batman and robin set:

Lilly in hew owl costume. She's so cute!

Halloween Costumes part 1

2009-10-19T09:52:00.004-05:00

Lilly's Owl costume:

Willie Scott Costume

2009-09-18T14:59:00.002-05:00

It's 80% finished! I have to complete the trim, but I did wear it Sunday night at Dragon Con! I have to add some material to the hem. I didn't realize that sewing on all the sequin would cause me to loose 4 inches in length, but it's easily fixable. My goal is to have the dress completed in time to wear at Celebration 5 which will be taking place sometime in summer 2010.

Poem

2009-08-05T12:10:00.002-05:00

My very good friend Jenni periodically sends me poems at work. This one was cute, so I thought I would share.

There's too much to do
And not enough time
So why then you ask
Do I write you in rhyme??

The answer's quite simple
And really quite plain
If I don't speak in verse
Then I'll just go insane.

Each day after day
I try, try, and try
To meet each request
No tear in my eye.

Too many deadlines
Too few reserves
That freaking texting
Is on my last nerves.

Papers keep coming
Projects keep stacking
Too soon do I fear
Efforts will be lacking.

Okay that's enough,
I've slacked for too long.
To work I must get
Now and end this song.

Star Wars day at the Mead Library

2009-03-25T11:29:00.004-05:00

I know it's been a while since I have posted. I've been a bit busy lately. I've been working on Willie quite a bit. Since I last posted, all the red sequencing has been sewn on, the dress has been put together, fitted and I've started to sew the gold sequin on.

I had purchased a new foot for my sewing machine to hopefully sew the gold sequin on by machine. It didn't work out so well. The foot works great with a cotton fabric, but once I started to sew on my satin, I couldn't control where the needle went and I wasn't getting the lines to look like they should. So I have resigned to sewing all the gold sequin by hand, which has turned out much better.

I know the picture isn't great, but this is what the dress is looking like at the moment.

I have a feeling this dress is going to be a hard one to photograph. I wonder if that's why all the good reference pictures I have been able to find have been in black and white.

I've also started working on the sleeve trim:

I've got 162 more days to finish this dress. Guess I better get busy.

This last Saturday, we held an event at the Mead Library in Sheboygan. We had space to display some props, a tattoo station, and a designated location for pictures. The library sponsored a craft for the kids to make their own lightsabers. In the two hours we were there we had 445 people come through the door. It turned out to be a great day.

Neither Trent or I took any pictures. I found a few that were taken by friends.

Bounty Caught: Boba Fett, Zam Wesell, and Jango Fett:

Well, it's back to work on Willie for me. I"ll try and be a bit better about posting updates.

Dragon Con - Part 3

2008-09-04T11:17:00.002-05:00

The Voyage Home:

We left early on Monday morning to drive home. The drive way very uneventful, the weather was nice. We made the 13 hour drive home with no problems. I had a great time and am really looking forward to next year's convention. :) I'm already planning the new costumes I want to make.

Dragon Con - Part 2

2008-09-03T10:49:00.001-05:00

Just a few pictures. There is a link at the end for Trent's photos (about 200 of them)

Rebel Alliance Flight Deck Attendant:

Rebel Legion group photo:

Sad Angel - Doctor Who. Remember not to Blink.

Wkicked Witch of the West - Wizard of OZ

SNL Cheerleaders:

Sesame Street Alien:

Sara and Phil: Mulder and Scully

More Pictures

Dragon Con - Part 1

2008-09-02T12:21:00.002-05:00

Dragon Con has officially started!

There is so much to see and do that everything get's all jumbled up in one big blur. Here are some of the highlights of the 3 days we were at the con:

No matter how many times I go on a trip, I always manage to forget to bring something. Usually it's something unessential that's easy to deal without or easily replaced with a quick stop along the way. Well, I had thought I had checked each costume about 10 times to make sure all the pieces were present and accounted for. I was very surprised when I found that I had left the hoses for my newest costume at home. This was the costume I had told so many people I had finished and was bringing. I had already entered it into the costume contest, was planning on wearing it for the Saturday parade, and excited to show off the most challenging costume I have ever assembled. I had left the hoses at home (I actually found them right on the floor where I was repacking things when I got home.)

A few moments of panic ensued after that discovery, then it was off to Wal-Mart to try and find a replacement. As is often the case, it's much easier to be inventive when you are in a pinch. Once we got to the Wal-Mart, finding what we were looking for was surprisingly easy. I found a set of snakelight flashlight extenders in the clearance section, and they looked about perfect. There really wasn't anything else that looked like it would work so we bought those along with a few tools to take them apart with and were on our way back to the hotel. When we got back, I took one of the flashlights apart and the hose was the correct size, and a perfect fit. In fact, in some ways, they are better than the ones I originally had. At least the costume was wearable again, and I was feeling much better. I will have to weather the hoses at some point in the future.

Star Wars Costume Contest:
I entered the costume contest again this year with my new, finished 10 minutes before we left Milwaukee, Zam Wessel costume. There were about 50 - 60 contestants in all. I was in the prequel category. Much to my surprise, I won the category. I really didn't think I was going to. There were some other really well done costumes.

Bob and Beret, two of my friends from Milwaukee, won their catagory as well. Over all WI had a pretty good showing.

Receiving my award from David Prowse

My award: A plate and a certificate.

Beret (Boussh) and Bob (Chewbacca) = Best in Show!

Dragon Con Parade:
Every year Dragon Con has a parade of costumes through Downtown Atlanta. Yes it's a real parade. Trent and I, along with most of the group that we were with participated. It's always a lot of fun. There are so many people that come out to watch the parade.

Trent - Clone Commander Deviss.

Bounty Hunters

These were the two main events that we were a part of. We spent a lot of time catching up with friends and enjoying seeing all the amazing costumes and costumers that were there.

Dragon Con Day .5

2008-08-29T18:32:00.001-05:00

Day .5
Travel
Mount Vernon, IL to Atlanta, GA
480 miles

We left Mt Vernon around 9 AM after a few stops for fuel and Wal-Mart for a few forgotten items. We had another day of driving ahead. The plan was to arrive in Atlanta before 5. Again we had beautiful weather the entire day. I did most of the driving as Trent's ankle was sore from his fall yesterday.

I didn't get many pictures as I was driving and Trent wanted to get there and not stop and take pictures of the scenery, but here are a few.

Phil and Sara in the traffic jam in Chicago

Sunset - on I-57 in IL

Crossing into KY

We made it to Atlanta a little before 5 and ended up in the middle of a huge traffic jam. It took us about an hour to make our way through downtown to the Marriot. We checked in and unpacked the costumes, making sure everything made it ok. I had a meeting to attend and the rest of the crew went out for dinner.

Dragon Con Day 0

2008-08-28T06:15:00.003-05:00

We are on our way to Dragon Con!

Day 0
Travel
Sheboygan, WI to Mount Vernon, IL
416 miles

We are officially on the way! We packed up and left Sheboygan around 9 AM and made our way to Milwaukee to get some last minute help from Bob. I needed to make a new holster for my blaster that arrived on Tuesday. The blaster is great, but it was a little too big for the holster I have. Bob was able to help me make a new holster in about 2 hours. I have a feeling that we are going to have to make a new one sometime in the future, but this one will work for the con.

After constructing the new holster we helped Bob and Beret pack up their car. Trent missed a step and twisted his ankle and possibly broke his toe. He says it's still a bit sore. We met the caravan at 2 and we were on our way south.

We hit the construction at the WI/IL state line. Traffic in Chicago was backed up as usual. About 8 miles from our turn on to I-80, we ended up stopped in traffic. The radio said there was a jackknifed semi up ahead which closed all four lanes of I-294. After an hour and a half where we traveled all of 3 miles, we came to the detour where all the lanes of traffic were being funneled and we were again on our way. We made our way back to where we were supposed to be and found a convenient spot to pull off the highway and find everyone in the caravan again.

After that little hiccup, it was smooth sailing all the way. We decided to stop driving around 10:30 and made it to Mt. Vernon, IL. It's not as far as we were hoping for, but we managed to make up a little time after Chicago.

We have about 7 more hours to go. Tomorrow we have about an our of IL left and then we will get into Kentucky and the mountains.

Almost there...

2008-07-14T19:06:00.002-05:00

Zam update.

I know I have mentioned the current costume I am working on to take to Dragon*Con in Atlanta in August is Zam Wesell from Star Wars Ep II: Attack of the clones. This has definitely been the hardest costume I have ever tried to make. I have learned a lot from the experience.

I was able to actually put on most of the costume for the 1st time and see how the diffent pieces will fit together.

I have lots of little things left to finish, but all the big things are done.

Greeblies painted. Thanks Bob for awesome paint job.

Helmet is finished. Shins are covered, gauntlets are done.

I did find it interesting that boot/lacing hooks like on hiking boots and ice skates are not available in stores. The cummerbund is held together with these hooks. I'm hoping I can have a shoe repair shop put some in for me.

Next on the agenda is to finish dying the leather parts and paint the boots brown. Then hopefully weather the whole thing to make it look a little more used, and I'm done!

Fourth of July Parade

2008-07-14T14:51:00.006-05:00

We participated in the 4th of July parade again this year. Float building started on Friday June 27th and we finished in the later afternoon on Thursday, July 3rd. This year we built a dessert skiff to resemble those seen in Return of the Jedi

The float was built onto the back of a 48 foot flatbed trailer, and made of cardboard, 2x2's, and paint. This was much more complicated than last year's float, but it turned out great and we all had a great time working on it. The 4th turned out to be a beautiful day, around 70 degrees, which is perfect weather for trooping. I've put together a slide show of pictures from the beginning of float building to the end of the parade. Enjoy!

If you can't find me, I was Boussh:

Thanks to Mike, Trent and Bob for the photos!

2008-06-30T12:00:00.006-05:00

Wow, it's been awhile. I bet you thought I was never going to update this. I really hadn't forgotten about it, I have just been very busy and have not had a lot of time to write. I'll try and hit the highlights of the last few months.

I have been doing well, just very busy between work, band, and costuming. I joined the Sheboygan Pops Concert Band in April and have been enjoying it. I really missed playing in a band since I moved to Sheboygan. I even survived marching in a parade for the first time in my life for Memorial Day. I know it was out of step a few times, but I survived the expereince.

April Concert:

Our summer band schedual can be found on the band's website.

Event wise, we have been quite busy the last few months.

St Patrick's Day Parade - Racine, WI

Blue Harbor - United Way fundrasier

Where Sciene Meets Imagination - St Paul, MN

We were at opening weekend for this exhibit. St. Paul is the last stop in the US. When the exhibit leaves in August it will be off to Austraila.

I have also been busy working on costumes. In March I finished my upgrad to my Princess Leia dress. The new dress is much closer to the original than my first one was.

Version 1:

Version 2:

Zam has been slow, but she's getting closer. I have been working on lacing the skirt at the moment. It's very slow going. As of today, I have 5 rows finished. I thik I am going to need 16 rows. The five that I did last night took me 2 hours.

On the red/gold sequin dress, I have all of the red sequencing done!

Right now we are getting ready for the 4th of July parade. We are again goign to have a float and it's looking pretty impressive now, and it's only half finished.

That's about all for now.

New Costumes

2008-03-04T12:18:00.004-06:00

With the holidays finally over. It's time to get started on a few new costumes. I have a very long list of costumes that I want to make. I know I will probably never get to half of them, but I am goign to put forth an effort to get at least a few of them done. :)

I have two that I am working hard on at the moment.

First I am doing Zam Wesell, the bounty hunter from Star Wars Attack of the Clones. I think this is going to be one of the most complicated costumes I have ever attempted.

I have found most of the pieces that I will need. I bought the leather to cover the shins this last weekend and am goign to try to work on them during the week. Wish me luck! This should be an interesting project.

The other costume I am currently working on is Willie Scott from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

My goal is to have this one done to wear to Dragon Con this year (that's less than 6 months away) I think I have gotten the dress all worked out. I should have the final pattern worked out soon and then it's time to start sewing on the sequin. I did find a new tool for sewing on the sequin that makes it go pretty fast so hopefully it will not take all 6 months to sew all the sequin on.

Out of this World

2008-02-17T11:55:00.002-06:00

I know it's been awhile since I posted anything. I've been a bit busy.

On February 16th, we went up to the Oshkosh Public Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin and trooped the opening of the Out of this World Costume Exhibit. The exhibit featured costumes from many diffrent film movies. And of course it featured a few from Star Wars. I can honestly say that this was more fun than when we went to MSI in Chicago for the museum exhibit in December. I enjoyed seeing the diffrent film costumes. I always find it amazing when you can look at a costume that looks spectacular on the screen and see just what the camera doesn't pick up and how they actually made the costume.

We had a great time. And amazingly enough it didn't snow all day!

The 501st/Rebel Legion group: (it's about 10 degrees outside)

Trooper meeing Yoda:

All of Trent's pictrues can be found here: Oshkosh Photos.

Holidays on Parade

2007-11-19T14:10:00.000-06:00

I participated in two different Holiday parades this November. The First was in Racine on November 10^th. This is the 3^rd year that I have participated in this parade. We had a good turn out again this year. The weather cooperated and while it was a little cold and rather windy, I think we all managed to stay warm in our costumes. The parade watchers were excited to see us. By the end of the parade, we were spread out over about 1 ½ blocks due to taking pictures with kids and such. After the parade we attended the tree lighting ceremony on the square and posed for pictures. The evening ended with dinner at Infusino's Restaurant.

Parade Group:

Trent's new Clone Commander Devis:

Sausage Vs Tusken…. Who would win

I don't have too many other pictures, but what I have can be seen in my Flickr photos

The 2^nd parade was on November 18^th in Waukesha, WI . This was the first year we participated in this parade. I spent most of the parade handing out candy to the kids who were lining the parade route. Almost every kid had a bag for collecting candy (and most were full to overflowing).

I don't have many pictures from this event… I didn't have my camera along, I snagged this group shot of us with our float:

Off to see the Wizard...

2007-11-01T12:11:00.000-05:00

For Halloween this year I again made costumes for my friends children. This year the theme was Wizard of OZ. The costumes all turned out very well. I think I broke a personal record of getting 4 costumes done in under a month. Costumes on order this year were Dorothy, the Scarecrow, a Flying Monkey, and the Wicked Witch of the West.

We all went out for Trick or Treat on Sunday afternoon. I thought it was a little cold, but everyone seemed to have a good time. I always enjoy taking the kids around the neighborhood. It always makes me feel good when people have nice comments on the costumes, and I know the kids are having a great time as well.

Dorothy

Scarecrow

Flying Monkey

Wicked Witch of the West

I also dressed up to take the kids around the neighborhood. I borrowed a costume from Kait and dressed up as a Gryffindor student.

All the pictures from Halloween can be found in my Flickr photos.

Party on the Pavement

2007-10-06T21:00:00.000-05:00

501st/RL event
Racine, WI

We were again invited to participate in the Party on the Pavement street party held in downtown Racine. We did this event last year and had a great time, this year was even better.

Party on the Pavement is a festival held every October by the Downtown Corporation. Main street is closed off to traffic and the downtown stores set up booths, children's activities, games, and food. It was even announced in the paper that "Star Wars Celebrities" were going to be in attendance.

(Trent and Duffy are the two in the picture)

Getting to Main street was a little bit of a challenge. The downtown roads had been closed off and there was a accident we had to get around, but we made it almost on time. I'm glad Trent was driving. Once there we waited for everyone else to arrive, and got ready to go. We spent the majority of the time we were there taking pictures with kids and answering questions.

Pictures:

The Hazards of having a train on your dress.... everyone steps on it!

In front of the post office:

I really do like this dress:

We finished the day off with pizza from Infusion's Resaturate, It was a great end to a fun day.

All the pictures can be found in Trent's Photos

"The Saga Begins"

2007-09-30T13:28:00.000-05:00

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Weird AL
Straight Outta Lynwood Tour
Riverside Theater
Milwaukee, WI

I'm just a little too short to be seen in the stage lineup, but I am there on the far end of the stage.

Pictures from the concert

Dragon Con

2007-09-30T12:58:00.000-05:00

Day 4
September 3, 2007

Those Three days in Atlanta flew by fast. Thankfully we had taken time the night before to pack all the costumes back up so we were ready to leave at 6 AM to start the long drive back to WI.

We had one small traffic hiccup on the way home. Right on the Georgia/Tennessee boarder, a SUV with a trailer flipped over blocking all three lanes of traffic. We were sitting at a dead stop in the interstate for about an hour and a half. After we cleared the accident, it was smooth sailing the whole way home to Wisconsin.

Traffic Jam:

Mountains in Tennessee:

I had a great time on this vacation. I am looking forward to going again next year.
I did manage to wear all the costumes I had brought with:

Mustafar Padme
Snowbunny Padme
Ceremonial Leia
Holographic Leia
Mara Jade
Princess Fiona
Biker Scout

Links to pictures:
Trent's Photos
Rebel Legion Group Photo

Dragon Con

2007-09-30T12:17:00.000-05:00

Day 3
September 2, 2007

The first and only thing on the agenda today was the Rebel Legion group photo. We didn't have to meet up for this until 11:45. Thankfully we all slept in a little bit and had a causal breakfast and took our time getting ready to go.

Rebel Legion group photo:

I'm in the middle (Holographic Princess Leia, the blue one)

With nothing else planned for the day, we all set out to see everything we could before it was time to pack up the room and get a good nights sleep for the long ride home in the morning.

Beret and I decided to enter the Star Wars costume contest that was being held for fun. I didn't win anything, but Beret tied for her category with Kathy. They both have wonderful Leia costumes. Congrats Ladies!

My Snowbunny Padme in the contest:

Beret's Bespin Leia:

Hand Embroidered Cape:

Kathy's Ceremonial Leia:

Pictures for the day:

Solo family photo:

Padme's Lake dress:

Admiral Daala and a Dalek:

The D*Con decontamination team:

I met Dodger, the traveling Biker Scout!

Mara Jade Skywalker:

Mara and Luke:

Scarlet:

Pac Man Ghosts:

Pac Man:

Bat Man Group:

Dragon Con

2007-09-27T08:41:00.000-05:00

Day 2
September 1, 2007

The morning came way to fast. My feet were still a little sore from the walking around on Friday. First order of the day was the 501st Legion Photo and the costume Parade. Call time for the group photo is 8:45 AM!! Who thought that one up? We got up and again found some breakfast, and quickly suited up to make it to the photo location on time. It was about a 5 block walk from the hotel to the photo location. There were a good number of 501st members there.

501st Group Photo:

(I'm in the front row, right side next to the blue clone)

501st WI members photo:

Phil (Blue Clone), Sara (Mara Jade), Beth (Biker Scout) and Trent (red clone)

After the group photos, we participated in the Dragon Con Parade of Costumes thru downtown Atlanta. It was a lot of fun, but very warm. Video of Star Wars section of the parade.

After the parade we went back for a quick costume change, and I met up with the Zammers from the Dented Helmet forums. I am planning on building a Zam Wessel costume this coming year. Currently, I only have the helmet finished so far.

Zam Group:

(I'm on the Left)

The rest of the day was spent wandering the halls of the convention talking to friends and meeting people.

Picture Highlights of the day:

A little Queen Amidala:

Glinda the Good Witch (From Wicked):

V the Final Battle:

Princess Fiona (I finished it in time!):

WW II group:

Nurse Cats from New Earth (Dr.Who):

Cally's Hogwarts Student:

Princess Leia
Beth (Ceremonial) and Beret (Bespin)

Dorthy Gale's House:

Dragon Con

2007-09-17T08:31:00.000-05:00

Day 1
Friday, August 31

After finding a reasonably priced breakfast at a food court in the Peach tree Mall, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the day. Beret and I quickly finished a few small detail on our costumes and quickly dressed for the morning.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I have heard many different stories of past conventions. It's like walking around in a sea of different characters from films, books, and comics. Every direction you turn, there is something else to take in.

We walked through the dealer halls to see what all was for sale, took in a Rebel Legion panel, and watched most of the costume contest in the evening.

It was a whirlwind of a day, but it was fun!

The White Witch (Chronicles of Narnia)

Queen Gorgo (300)

Spartan Army (300)

Mario and Friends

Zombie X-men

Captain Jack

Spiderman

Princess Leia and Padme

Professor Snape (Harry Potter)

Sirius Black (Harry Potter)

Han Solo and Indiana Jones

The Doctor (Doctor Who)

Dragon Con

2007-09-05T19:29:00.000-05:00

Day 0

We left for Atlanta early around 3:00 AM Thursday morning. Trent's car was packed almost to overflowing. I don't think we could have fit anything else in if we tried. The drive was long, but the traffic wasn't bad at all. We ran into a small incident right outside of Chattanooga, Tennessee. There was an accident that slowed us down for awhile, but we were soon on our way again. Downtown Atlanta was also a little busy, but not as bad as I had expected. We arrived in Atlanta around 6 PM and were checked into our hotel by 7.

I have some nice pictures of the mountains, but sadly they are stuck on my laptop which had a small accident and doesn't work at the moment. When I figure out how to get them off, I will share them.

After arriving and checking in, we decided to get some dinner. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe, which was only a few blocks away from our hotel.

Hard Rock Cafe, Atlanta, Georgia

After dinner, we stood in line and picked up our convention badges. The magic little card that gets you into everything. I think we only waited about an hour to get our badges. The line moved pretty quickly. Surprisingly, this was really the only line we had to wait in the entire weekend. Compared to other big conventions I have attended, this was pretty remarkable.

Although we didn't dress in any costumes on Thursday night, others were already all dressed up and getting the convention started early. We spent some time catching up with people we haven't seen for awhile, but really didn't stay up very late. After the long drive, we were all ready for a little sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day.

The Marriott in Atlanta is an interesting building. The inside reminds me of something out of a science fiction movie. There are glass elevators that go from the ground level to the 47th floor. All the rooms are on the outside of a center open area that also goes from the ground floor up to the 47th floor.

Looking up:

Looking down from the 6th floor:

Looking up from the 6th floor:

Pictures are all courtesy of Trent. He took so awesome pictures, around 2,000 from the whole weekend.

Count Down to Dragon Con

2007-08-25T23:17:00.000-05:00

4 Days

Dragon Con is coming up fast...
Today I almost finished my Princess Fiona costume. Almost everyone I know has seen me drag this costume along with me and work on the embroidery. I finished it earlier in the week, spent a few nights sewing on the sequins for the center of the flowers. Today I put most of it together. I am very pleased with the results.

Original costume:

My version:

Tomorrow I need to sew on the final piece of trim and make the hem and I am finished. It has taken quite a while, but it was worth it.

Trent has been busy building a Clone Commander costume from Revenge of the Sith. He asked me to make him an under suit that looks like the one on the figure. This has been an interesting challenge. I needed to make it look right, but still be something semi comfortable to wear and something that could be washed. What I ended up with was a Lycra wetsuit that I made 1 inch channels in and inserted a double layer of cotton quilt batting in. Trent is happy with it. Now to see what everyone else says about it next weekend.

Camping in Door County

2007-08-20T21:47:00.000-05:00

On Friday right after work, armed with camping gear and my handy GPS, I drove up to meet Trent and some friends of ours to go camping at Peninsula State Park in Door County. The drive up was OK, I was a little tired from working all day, but I made the drive just fine and saw a beautiful sunset along the way. For this trip, I used my GPS as my map to get me where I needed to be. Thankfully the route was still in the GPS from when we went last year. I haven't quite figured out how to program the route in, but I'm getting better at using the GPS. My car is now adorned with another sticker, and it's not Star Wars related. I ended up buying a year pass, it was only a few dollars more for a year pass then paying $7 a night to park the car. Now I'll have to go visit a few more parks before the end of December. :)

After I arrived on Friday evening, (I can't believe I missed the smores!) we sat around and talked by the campfire until about 11 PM, then it was off to bed.

Saturday morning after a breakfast of "cowboy quiche" we all grabbed our bikes and headed off to ride up the huge hill to get to Eagle Tower. What a way to start off the weekend, bike riding up a very steep hill. It really wasn't fair, everyone else had a day and a half of bike riding to get ready for this feat. Sad to say, I only make it about half way up the hill before I had to walk the rest of the way. Next year I am going to have to ride my bike more often and build up some endurance. I am going to make it up that hill.

From Eagle Tower there are some wonderful views of the park and Green Bay. Climbing the tower can be fun. You can feel it moving with the wind and the other people going up and down, but the views are well worth the climb. At the top, the tower is 250 feet above Green Bay.

Eagle Tower:

Horseshoe Island from about halfway up the tower:

Next on the agenda was geocaching. We rode our bikes back down the hill and took a different road to go and check on one of the caches in the park that we had found last year. It was still there, and had been found many times since we had last visited.

View from Skyline Dr:

Geocache "Da Stump":

After introducing Geocaching to the kids last year, everyone wanted to go again, but there were not any new caches in the park, so we all piled into our cars and visited the other side of the Door Peninsula and found 5 caches that were located between Jacksonport and Baily's Harbor.

One of the caches we found was in Cave Point county park. I didn't know before that there are sea caves on Lake Michigan. One of the caches we found sent us climbing down the rocks in search of it. We did find the cache, but we also found the sea caves. I though they were interesting and very pretty. This is definitely somewhere I would like to visit again.

I found it!

Trent and I:

We worked our way from Cave Point up to Baily's Harbor where we stopped for some ice cream. We found one more cache, then it was time to head back to camp and get ready for a spaghetti dinner and sit around the campfire listening to the Packer game (they won).

On Sunday, we all got packed up and ready to head for home. I am always amazed that Trent can get the tent to fit back in the small bag that it came in, and he is fun to watch when he folds the tent up. He knows just how to fold it. It had rained on an off most of the night, and continued to rain all day on Sunday as well. After getting everything packed back into the cars, we said our goodbye's and started the 2 1/2 hr drive home.

Trent the master Tent packer:

Interesting bug of the weekend:

The weekend seemed short to me, but I had a fantastic time. I am looking forward to going again next year. My pictures can be found in my album. Trent took over 700 pictures over the weekend. When he finally gets them sorted and uploaded, I will put up a link for them as well.

Trip to San Diego

2007-08-14T11:55:00.000-05:00

This last weekend, I took a trip to San Diego for my cousin's wedding. My grandparents and I arrived in San Diego late on Thursday night. Friday morning, the ladies all went and had our nails done for the wedding and had pizza and salad for lunch. Later Friday evening we attended a party at Jessica and Dave's. Saturday the ceremony took place in San Diego Harbor. Sunday we went to the beach in La Jolla, and spent the evening in Old Town San Diego. We left early Monday morning for the flight home. I enjoyed seeing family that I don't get to see very often and I would like to go back to the San Diego area again sometime.

My Pictures from the trip:

On Parade

2007-07-05T10:46:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. I was again in the Racine 4th fest parade, although this time I was not with the band. I was part of a float with the Midwest Garrison. It was the first time the garrison was in the parade, and the response from the crowd was amazing. People were cheering the whole 3 1/2 miles of the parade. The day started out cloudy and looking like it was going to rain, but by the time we were ready to start our way down main street, the sun had come out and chased away all the clouds. It was rather warm, but still a lot of fun. By the end we were all a little worn out and tired, but it was worth it. We have already started planning for next year.

Jakob and Kaleb came to help us out. Jake was dressed as Yoda, the same costume from Halloween, with a few new additions to the costume. Jake keeps getting taller. I made him a new suit and found a mask in time for the parade. Kaleb came as Anakin from "The Phantom Menace." The kids had a great time. Kaleb keeps asking me if I had fun and telling me that he did. I know I heard a few people shout "there's Anakin" during the parade.

Kaleb enjoyed meeting R2-S5. (The purple droid) It's amazing the effect a droid can have on people. It's fun to meet the characters, see Darth Vader, but when kids see a working droid, that moves on it's own, whistles, and acts just like the ones in the movies, it is very real for them. I have noticed that kids are always drawn to the droids more than any other character. Kaleb, like all other kids, spent a good 5 minutes checking R2-S5 out.

Bob and Beret are so cute! :)

More pictures from the parade can be found in Trent's pictures here.

I found that I had a slight casualty after the parade. My leather boots for my Mara costume are starting to come apart, the seams are ripping out. I will be trying to find a way to fix them before Dragon Con. I'm going to try and glue them with a little fabric glue. Hopefully I won't have to buy a new pair.

We were on TV!

Countdown to Dragon Con

2007-06-21T21:51:00.000-05:00

70 Days

It's 70 days until Dragon Con begins. Dragon Con is a convention held in Atlanta, Georgia that Trent, and I, along with some friends from the Milwaukee are going to attend this year. I'm looking forward to it, but at the same time, I have way too many things to finish before we go, Mainly lots of costumes to finish.

From my initial list that I started back in January, I have one finished, one half done, one to still start, and I have added one to the list. I have decided to make Princess Fiona from Shrek. Last year at Wizard World, a little girl came up to me when I was dressed as Mara and wanted her picture taken with Princess Fiona. I guess it was the green dress and red hair. Ever since I have been batting around the idea of making the costume, but I didn't know what I would do with it after I made it. Now that I have a place to wear it, I thought, why not, give it a try. I am currently working on the embroidery on the bodice. I'm very happy with the way it is turning out, especially since I have never really embroidered anything before. I will get some pictures of it posted sometime this weekend.

I did get a chance to finally take some pictures of the Ceremonial Leia dress with all the accessories (and finished silver shoes):

(you can click on the pictures for a larger view)

Trent is a wonderful photographer! I have a few more pictures in my online album here. I will be adding some to this when I get a chance to load a few more. Trent took about 150 pictures that day, and I am still sorting thru them.

I have also started the long process of moving photos to a new hosting site as yahoo photos is going to be closing. Anyone interested in seeing some of my other costume work, I have started to make a new album for those here. When I have some free time I will be updating that with more pictures of some of the diffrent costumes I have made.

Jake and the Beanstalk

2007-05-10T20:56:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I received a phone call from my little buddy Jake… He wanted to know if I knew who Jack and the beanstalk was. I thought this was a strange question from a seven year old who is into superheroes, but OK no problem, I had heard of Jack before. Turns out Jake needed a costume for the school play. He had the role of Jack.

So what exactly does Jack look like? After a little bit of searching, I discovered that no two illustrations were the same, and in each Jack looked different. There were a few elements that were the same, such as he always had a hat, and a peasant look to him, and usually was wearing a long tunic, or a vest.

With no set example of what Jack was supposed to look like, I had fun and was a little creative. After looking through the many costume patters that I have (Grandmas are wonderful) I picked out elements from about 5 different patters I thought would work well and put them together. The end result turned out just as I had hoped. My idea of Jack:

Forest green pants,
Cream peasant tunic (similar to those I have made for the renaissance faire,)
Brown renaissance style vest with forest green check patches, laced at the shoulder and side seams,
Forest green Robin Hood style hat

The play was called “Lemonade” and the kids did a wonderful job. It brings a new meaning to “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”

Ceremonial Pictures

2007-04-22T08:44:00.000-05:00

After a little help from a friend, I was able to get some pictures of this costume last night. I am very happy with they way it turned out.

As soon as my necklace gets here the costume will be compete. One more to check off my list.

Ceremonial Leia

2007-04-21T06:44:00.000-05:00

I have been working hard on this costume for a while now, and it's almost done! The dress gave me a little trouble, but in the end, I think it will look ok. It's a little heavier than I thought it was going to be, and working with the slippery Lycra was not all that fun. I know it doesn't look all that impressive on the hanger, but here is what it looks like:

I should have some better pictures in a few weeks when I have all the pieces together.
I have silver leather for the belt and the metal plates and button covers. I just need to assemble all the pieces together. I found the necklace on eBay from a costumer in Canada and it should be here next week. I was hoping for it yesterday, shipping time was 10 to 15 days, yesterday was 10.
I have spent weeks searching for a pair of silver shoes that look right, but I have not been having any luck. So until I find the correct pair of shoes, I have decided to attempt to make my own. I bought a pair that were similar to the right shape at Goodwill. I was lucky, the shoes were brand new and still had the original price tag on them. I bought one yard of silver lame material from the fabric store, and some fabric glue. With a little bit of work and very sticky fingers I ended up with a shoe that didn't look all that bad:

I don't like the folds that I ended up with on the top of the shoe, and probably should have started gluing the material down from the top instead of from the toe, but thankfully the dress is long and all you will see are the tips of the toes anyway. A note to anyone working with fabric glue: It doesn't come off of fingers very well! I am going to keep looking for the proper shoes. Hopefully someday I will find them.

Last weekend we had two costumed events. The first on was in Madison promoting the documentary film Heart of an Empire. The film was playing at the Wisconsin Film Festival, and is a documentary about the charity work of the 501st Legion. It gives a little insight into why we do some of the events we do.
The second event was at Regency Mall in Racine. We were able to raise $400 for the Super Sibs organization by posing for pictures and greeting kids. Pictures from the event can be found in my pictures.

2007-04-08T08:58:00.001-05:00

Happy Easter Everyone!

Going on a Droid Hunt

2007-03-18T21:13:00.000-05:00

With the recent announcement that 200 mailboxes across the US have been turned into R2 units, and that four of the 200 are located in the Milwaukee area, we decided it was time to locate at least one of these fancy mail boxes. After a phone call to a friend who lives in the area to scope it out, we found there was one right across the street from the Milwaukee Zoo. On Sunday afternoon we took a trip out to visit the little droid:

Our stay was only supposed to be a few minutes, but with the traffic on the busy road, we were taking pictures for about an hour with many of the fans that stopped and asked us what we were doing. (and it was a little cold to be outside in costume today) One of the more notable pictures was when the van full of members of the Waukesha Red Hat Society.

A day at the beach

2007-02-12T09:13:00.000-06:00

After a whole week of temperatures below zero, we hit the road Saturday morning and headed out to the water park for a costume event. The high was 17 degrees..... but it was 85 inside. The event was held at Blue Harbor in Sheboygan. Our event was in the afternoon, and we had all morning to enjoy the park.

This was the first time I have been to an indoor water park, and I had a great time. There are four water slides, the lazy river, 2 kiddie pools, a huge hot tub, and a boat that fills up every five minutes and dumps a boat-load of water on the people standing underneath it.

Our event, which started at 3, was a normal meet & greet. The resort was sold out. We were kept busy for the entire 3 hours we were there. Trent took pictures for the event.

In costume construction news. I am about halfway done with the Leia dress. Need to fix a few things, and put in the hem. I found that I can buy silver foil covered leather to use to make the belt. And I have found a pair of shoes, that with a little modification, I think will work well. The tough part of this costume is going to be getting the correct jewelry.

Another costume that I might do sometime. Princess Zelda from The Legend of Zelda video games.

I also need to congratulate my friends Lis and Nate on the birth of their Daughter, Lillith Abigail. She was born on January 26th, and she sure is cute.

That's all for now, I'll write more when something interesting comes up.

Costumes for 2007

2007-01-16T10:44:00.000-06:00

I have pretty much made up my mind on the costumes I am going to attempt to construct this year. Trent and I are planning on attending Dragon Con this year in September. I hope to have some of these costumes done in time for that.

The List:
Princess Leia Ceremonial Dress (from A New Hope)

I have the material to make the dress and plan on getting together with a friend this weekend to start construction. I will have to find the correct shoes and make the jewelry, which should be fun.

Mara Jade (Star Wars Expanded Universe, Emperors Hand)

Mara is one of my favorite Star Wars characters. She wasn't in any of the movies, but is in many of the comics and novels. I have done one of her costumes already, and I am looking forward to getting this one done. We plan to make the suit out of leather. I think the cape is a type of raw silk. I have the lightsaber and will be keeping my eye's open for the remaining materials needed.
Jeannie (From I Dream of Jeannie)

Jeannie has been one of my favorite TV shows since I was a kid, along with Bewitched. I thought is would be a fun costume to do. I actually started gathering materials for it last year. I have pretty much everything I need to make this one. Just need to take the time to assemble it. I even have a Jeannie Bottle!

Willie Scott (From Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom)

This one I think would just be fun. A lot of work, but if it's done right it could be great. If I can get this one done in time and make it look right, I was thinking it would be a good costume for the costume contest at Dragon con. It will also be a good test of my skills to be able to make it look right. The original dress was made out of sequin and beads that were actually from the 1920's and 1930's, and it was eaten by an elephant during filming.

I tried to sequin/bead a small section of material last night to see what it would look like. This is what I came up with:
I think it's the right way to go about doing it. I looked at what was available at the store for a sequined fabric, but I wasn't happy with anything that I found, so I think I am going to end up making my own. I just hope that when it is all done it will look correct.

This one is going to be a challenge, but I think i can make it work...

I am sure that other things will pop up to make, but this is what I really want to get accomplished this year. I'll keep you all posted on how the progress goes.

Costuming Events of 2006

2007-01-16T08:53:00.000-06:00

The 501st and Rebel Legion were busy in 2006. These are highlites of what happened in Wisconsin. Enjoy the video (it's about 10 minutes long)

Update

2006-12-28T09:55:00.000-06:00

It's been awhile since I posted anything, I've been pretty busy lately.... Christmas shopping, sewing, etc. I have been helping Trent get ready for his big trip out to Pasadena to be a part of the rose bowl parade.

The first thing we made was a new pauldron (the piece that goes over the shoulder). Trent wanted one that would represent Wisconsin. After looking at the gray one he had, I came up with a pattern. It was pretty easy to put together, but I almost broke the sewing machine trying to sew all those layers together. I did end up breaking the foot on the machine. I am now currently on the hunt for a new one. I found that I don't really like the other one that I have for that machine, and of course, the one from my other broken machine doesn't fit. This what we came up with:
Trent wanted something that would say "I'm from Wisconsin," we'll have to wait till he comes back to see what the reaction to it is. I know I am very curious. And I really don't think that they will let him wear it in the parade. If they do, I will be able to identify which one he is on the TV, otherwise, I am not sure if I will be able to pick him out or not.

The second thing that we made was a new helmet bag. Everyone uses something different to tote around their helmets. Most uses some type of a motorcycle bag with patches sewn on. What started out as a simple buy a new motorcycle bag and add patches, turned into a "Can we add red piping to the seams", then into a "well, now that we have taken the one we bought apart, can we make a new and improved one?." After a quick trip to the fabric store and a few hours of work we ended up with a pretty neat bag:
Again, it will be interesting to see what everyone says about it. Trent posted pictures of it, but most of the people who looked at it said $45 for a custom helmet bag was too expensive.

Trent left yesterday on a morning flight to Los Angeles and then to Pasadena. He called and told me that the flight was good and that there were palm trees at the airport. It sounded like he was having a good time. Kinda wish I could be there too, but I have too much work to do anyway.

That's all for now.

Festival of Trees

2006-12-01T20:56:00.000-06:00

Today started off pretty good. I actually had a snow day today. The office was closed due to the blizzard of '06 in Milwaukee. We really did get a lot of snow and the roads are not in the best of condition. I did manage to get some cleaning and laundry done and the dished washed. It wasn't the fun I remember from snow days when I was a kid, but it was still nice to have an unexpected day off of work. We had around 10 - 12 inches of snow today.

For the last week, Trent and I have been making ornaments for our tree that is in the Sheboygan Festival of Trees. The tree turned out great. It is a silver Mylar with red and white lights and lots of star wars ornaments. Robb did a great job designing the tree. The tree skirt turned out OK if anyone was wondering.

Much to my surprise, when Trent came home from work, he brought with him a copy of the Sheboygan Press. This is the article that was on the front page.
Sheboygan Press

We dressed up for the preview/auction night. I felt a little weird being at a black tie event in costume, but I am a princess, so that had to count for something. We also costumed tonight as well. It was amazing to watch the kids come in and the expressions when they saw a tree all done up with Star Wars. Some of them just stood in front of it and stared at it for five to ten minutes. Others tried to name all the characters on the tree. We are going back again tomorrow. Hopefully I will get more pictures then. Dinner just got done. Time to go.

Costume Finished!!!... well, almost...

2006-11-29T13:31:00.000-06:00

I know it's been awhile since I posted to this. It's going to take awhile to remember to post more consistently. I did mange to finish the Padme costume on time. I think that it turned out pretty good. There are a few things that I want to change when I have the time. I also must say that it will be a long time before I make another costume with feather boas :) The only other piece that I need for this costume is the correct blaster.

Reference Image:

My Costume:

For those who are interested, this is how I completed the costume.

There are two main pieces to this costume, the white under suit and the hooded cape.

The first part is a white unitard made from a white knit material and white swimsuit liner. I used the swimsuit liner on the outside to give the suit a little bit of shine, also by using a few different layers, I am able to make this a little warmer to wear to outdoor events. This method worked out OK, but the unitard is one thing that I plan to replace when I get the time to make a new one. The knit material has not held as much as I would have liked it to. I wasn't happy with it when I was finished and have ordered actual Lycra from on on-line fabric store. The Lycra should work out the way I want it to.

The next piece I made was the hooded cape. This is made from white alpine fleece and lined with a ice blue flannel backed satin. The satin was about the only fabric I could find that was the right type of material and the correct color. I am very happy with the way this turned out. The trim on the outside is made of feather boas. I ended up double layering the boa trim because one layer wasn't enough. I used 16 yards of feathers for this entire costume. I would estimate that it took me about 6 to 8 hours to sew all the feathers on by hand... and now I am still picking up feather pieces from everywhere.

The hardest thing I had to find was a pair of white gloves. After searching every department store in the area and not finding what I was looking for, I ended up going to a bridal shop, where they did have white gloves for sale. My gloves are a little shinny for what I was looking for, but they will work for now, and I have time to find the perfect gloves. The gloves are one thing that I do not want to have to make myself. I tried to make them once, and didn't enjoy it at all.

I already had the white boots from a different costume, so it was no trouble at all to add the feathers. To make them removable, I sewed the hook part of a hook and eye set to the boas. The hook them can hook on to the top of my boots, so I can still use them for other costumes as well. The last thing I had to do was make the belt, belt box, and holster. This I made out of some vinyl I had left over from a different project. I used a pattern I had found on a Halloween costume patter for the holster and made the belt box from the same patter that I used on my biker scout.

The costume turned out great. I am very happy that I finished it in time for the parade!

From the Parade: (Thanks to Dan TK787 for the photo)

Next up on the agenda: I have a tree skirt to make for our Christmas tree for the festival of trees this weekend. The tree set up is tonight, and opening night is tomorrow. Hopefully this will only take me a few hours, as that's all I have.

Progress..... Day 1

2006-11-11T22:37:00.000-06:00

I made some progress on my costume today!! I went through my numerous patters and found the ones I needed and have gone out and gotten most of the supplies I will need. I had some fun at the fabric store searching for materials in the right colors that would work for what wanted. In the end I settled on a white knit for the main body suit, fleece for the outside of the cape and a ice blue flannel backed satin for the inside of the cape. I stopped at the craft store and found the trim for the cape. I also sat down and made some more screen caps for reference pictures. Looks like I am all set to start sewing tomorrow.

Winter is Here... Time for more cosutmes!

2006-11-10T12:23:00.000-06:00

Winter is here... we are supposed to get snow tonight. Costume events will start slowing down. Now is the time to start working on new costumes. That is always a great time. The first one I am going to do is a Snow bunny Padme from the Clone Wars Cartoon Series.

This is my reference picture:

I have wanted a winter costume to wear to events in the winter... one that has gloves so my fingers don't freeze. The challenge, can I have this done by November 25 to wear in the Holiday Parade? I think I have found all the pieces that I need to complete the costume. Wish me luck! Check back for progress reports!

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2006-04-07T13:49:00.000-05:00

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