costume making the easy way - part 1

In case you've wondered where I got to over the last few days... weeks...

I've been buried in the chaos that is my life. I've had no time to post and nothing much to post about. I'm overworked and over-committed. The house hasn't yet been tidied up since I started making over the office about a month ago. I still have things stacked in the corner of the living room from the kitchen remodel. Instead of finishing things and putting things in their place (or getting rid of them), I've just kept adding to the mess.

We haven't been able to see the living room floor, much less the coffee table surface, for over three weeks now. It looks like my brain exploded in here.

Why you may ask? Well... its because I offered to make the costumes for a movie we're making in one of my programs at work.

Obviously!

See, I take pride in what I do... and since I have nothing to do in my 1 minute of free time a week, I thought I'd offer to take on yet another TO DO for my list cause I want our movie to look as good as possible.

As good as possible means costumes that look right for the story and aren't just a mishmash of cobbled together bits and pieces we could scrounge from wherever. That means making costumes that look right from bits and pieces I could scrounge from wherever... tip shops, op shops, my fabric collection, my wardrobe, my friend's wardrobes, wherever.

And all those boxes and bags have been placed in the living room in an orderly fashion.

haha.

Ok, firstly, what's the movie about? Its a fairy tale of good vs evil, kings and queens, a prince, a mermaid, love, friendship and a magic rabbit. The story was written by the group I work with so it pretty much had to cover everything.

Its set in a land far far away, a long long time ago, therefore the costumes are more or less renaissance in style.

So I started the easy way.

First I looked through the wardrobe shared by the drama programs. This blue cape is one piece we'll use but I'm not sure which character will wear it yet. 

I also found this purple cape which had a silver collar that made it look very 'magician'-like. I put some fake black fur on the collar to make it a bit more regal.

I found this funny skirt in an op shop. Its perfect as puffy pants. You know those puffy pants guys used to wear over their tights? 

Ok. I'll get photos of the full costumes so you'll be able to picture it then.

Next I moved on to adjusting clothing. These shirts were donated or found at op shops and were in my program's wardrobe. I cut off the buttons and collar, stitched the front closed, added fancy braiding and voila: tunic.

A black one for the bad guy.

A regal looking burgundy one.

Embellished with gold buttons, gold stitching (bad stitching) and a vintage earring.

A regal purple one with gold braid trim and an oversized gold button embellishment.

I adapted a white shirt for the magic rabbit costume. All I did for this one was add ruffles of wide lace ribbon.

Since the jacket worn over this shirt won't close (its not big enough) I made the lace bib nice and big to make it a feature. 

The rabbit costume is based on Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland white rabbit but I couldn't find a blue blazer. I opted to use my old dog show red jacket. I shortened the sleeves temporarily by hand stitching them, then added lace to the cuffs. The lace was cut off a ripped table cloth.

The bow tie was an op shop silk scarf which I tied into a bow and added elastic to go around the collar. Of course this costume comes with a set of pink and white bunny ears and a pair of white trousers.

No rabbit costume is complete without a tail. For this I used a leftover white pom pom from the pom pom chair suite. 

The rabbit costume has optional spats made from a red tartan napkin. I thought they might add a bit more 'spiff' to the rabbit but it'll depend on how the costume looks when its all together. I have a small gold clockface and some gold chain which I hope to make into a fob watch too.

Stay tuned for more costumes.

z

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office makeover - part 2

The office is almost finished. Sure, things around here are never actually really finished, but its now as finished as it will be for a while.

Warning: these photos were taken 'in progess' so they're not all neat and tidy!

The one thing thats glaringly obviously not finished is the blind on the window. Still the old salmon coloured one. Its a colour that haunts me. Since the window isn't a standard size I can't just go buy a cheap blind to replace it so I'm considering my options. Till then, I can live with it.

As you can see above, there will always be boxes of stuff for the various projects I have on the go at any given time lined up in the office. But if I keep my promise to myself and work on one (or two, okay, maybe three) projects at a time, I can keep the mess down. Especially if I put away things I'm finished with.

I bought these two colourful rag rugs online. I had planned to sew them together to make one large rug for the office but they're very obviously different lengths. Well, the guy did say they're handmade so they do differ! Doesn't really matter. I'll be putting my non-slip rug underneath them and they'll do the job of keeping the office a bit warmer in winter. Plus, they're easier to wash when they're smaller.

I spray painted our filing cabinets gloss black so they'd match. Mine was a purpley colour and Wayne's was a more original beige. Now they're both black and they don't stand out like sore thumbs.

The light fitting is a waste paper basket I hurriedly put up and that needs finishing too. I have the crystals. I just need to get it down and fix it up.

I've painted the shelves a deep shade of aqua to match the cute little coat hanger near the map which holds some of my scarves.

The wooden box under the desk holds my power board and once I hinge the top on it it'll act as a footstool when I'm working at the desk.

My sewing machine will live on its little school desk on castors so its always handy when I need it. My paper storage stool had to find a temporary spot too.

I have plans to make that wall above the sewing machine a wall of memories with photos and shadow boxes.

The map is a feature on the wall near the door. Right now its still a blank wall where I pile boxes of materials. I hope to one day, maybe, possibly, put a nice armchair in that corner near the small cupboard with drawers. I have a reading lamp I'm working on for that corner too.

Maybe.

Its not a big room.

This is my new paperweight. An antique iron. Love it.

My tin rusty tin crown sits on top of the dvd player cause I have no idea where else to put it and it always makes me smile when I see it.

A shabby letter holder now holds my paint brushes and the pottery measure Merrill gave me still holds my necklaces.

I'm still using my old suitcases, metal boxes and baskets for storage as much as possible cause I love the look of them. I have less storage space in the office now I moved the dresser into the kitchen so I really do need them.

The shelves are still a bit of a mess of things I like and want to keep around me, plus things I need in order to work. I figure they'll sort themselves out eventually.

A small timber box I decoupaged holds my usb sticks and other small but necessary gadgets. The shelf wall and desk are now home to a desktop computer with its own monitor, a TV monitor I connect my laptop to when I'm doing film editing and a dvd/video player so I can watch movies in the office if and when I get an armchair in there.

Eventually I'll be getting rid of the desktop computer so I'll have a bit less clutter on the desk, but knowing me, unless I'm very careful I'll soon lose the desk under tons of paperwork to be filed or acted upon. The theory is that when I love a room I make an effort.

The kitchen is still clean and tidy so there may be hope for me yet.

z

a place for our keys

Once upon a time Wayne had this box in his garage. I think he once told me it was meant to hold a dartboard...

I remember now (hard not to with all the yelling...),

...but I'd forgotten it before I pulled it apart...

Anyway, from the moment I spied it just sitting idly against a wall, I had plans for it. I found it was made of 2 boxes joined together so that their doors opened outwards like a wardrobe.

One day I got inspired and pulled it apart. That's when he reminded me what it was for.

oops.

Anyway. What was done was done by then. I may as well do something with it to make the destruction worth it, right?

What I saw when I looked at it was a key storage box... a place to keep our keys organised and labelled. (Sorry, no before photos.)

Making into what it is now wasn't an easy job. When i pulled it apart it had chipboard glued to the inside. REALLY well glued. I ended up taking chunks of timber out when I tried to pry it out using a chisel and scraper. Then I put the sides back so it was a single box with a door even though the inside was awful with all the gauges.

That meant I had to find a backing for it. That's when inspiration struck.

Ages ago when we visited the guy who we bought timber from for the mud room, I saw all these strips of hardwood he was throwing out. They were the edges of timber he'd trimmed to size. They were the same width but the thicknesses varied. I collected some and they’d been sitting in the carport since I brought them home. I got some out, sanded them, cut them to size, gave them a wash of different colours, then used them to line the box. It gave the box a beachy kind of feel.

Ok... I don't do beachy... so I had to figure out how to finish the outside of the box so it suited my style but didn't look out of place with the inside!

The door to the box has a fancy design on it with a name in the middle. Sort of like a wine crate would have... I wanted to keep that somehow, but had no idea as to what I wanted to do with it. I considered painting keys on it, stenciling words... 

I wanted to use keys for the obvious reason. And I remembered the antique keys I brought home from Greece. I wanted to use them on something I'd keep, so why not this?

I experimented with some expendable keys and different glues to see which would work best and then glued the keys on the door. The 3 bigger keys are from Greece, the rest are from my 'antiqued' key collection.

I had started painting the box creamy yellow, then brown in a way to make the fancy border stand out, but I just didn't like it.

I went ahead and painted it in layers of different coloured paints in the sloppiest way I could, till in the end I topped it off in the minty green I've been using everywhere else.

Then I distressed it.

Naturally.

The colours in the photos vary a lot, sorry about that. Its cause I took them in different places inside and not outside on an overcast day.

They key box is now hanging in the corner of the office between the window and the wall with the antique map.

It doesn't have many keys in it yet. I have to sort them out and label them properly so we know what's what.

One day I plan to be organised.

In this lifetime even.

z

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more or less back to normal

More or less. The kitchen is working great, but could use some shelves.

I'm getting to them.

The office is coming along. The floor is looking great, I put the shelves back up and have put in a ton of my necessary stuff. I also packed away things I don't need on hand all the time.

I can't wait to get rid of the old computer, but till I get all the programs I need on the laptop I have to live with 2 computers on my desk.

I've been going through a phase, trying to minimise things in the house and in my life. I've moved most of my craft stuff to the shed in plastic storage boxes. When I work on a project I just go and get the specific box I need. If I keep putting boxes back when I'm finished with them I can stop the office from becoming a dumping ground.

I need to clean and organise the pantry. Another huge job. Not to mention that I need to do the floor in there as well.

Later.

The filing cabinets are outside on the footpath.

I moved them there today so I could spray paint them both. Wayne's is cream and mine is purple. I wanted them to match since they always go in my office.

So now I'm waiting for them to come back inside so I can finish putting things away. Not that they'll come in on their own... no such luck. But I think I'll rope Wayne into bringing them in for me. Getting them out was hard enough.

The living room is back to an almost normal configuration - some office and kitchen stuff still lingers, waiting for its forever home and racks dry clothes in front of the heater. All I seem to do is move things from one room to another in a vicious circle as I move my attention from one part of the house to another.

Will we ever live in a house where everything is in its place or am I doomed to repeat this pattern forever?

Don't answer that.

z