Productive weekend

This weekend Cosplay Dalarna organised a full weekend of cosplay. We had access to a big place with some sewing machines and plenty of space and table room for all of us. There was a lot of foam moulding going on, but I brought my own sewing machine. I'm almost finished with my emergency Celebration project, so I feel confident that I will have something new to wear. I will post more about that later though.

I also took the time to continue on my 1950's half hat.

I got it covered in fabric. The fabric is actually the an old ballgown that I made in 2005. It's polyester and that ballgown has been used as a playdress both Indoors and outdoors. I managed to get it fairly wrinkle free with the help of a lot of steam. Still there were some permanent damanges to the fabric, but I don't think they will be too visible. I simply glued the fabric on to the hat form.

I also added combs to the inside of the hat so it will be secured on my head.

Now it's time to decide on the decorations of the hat.

a 1950's half hat

There is another reason why I'm not getting much sewing done at the moment.

This is the current state of my kitchen

And this is where everything that's going into my kitchen is stored

Somewhere behind all the boxes is where I have my sewing area.

That said I've been limited to smaller projects, and I decided to try my hands on hatmaking. I'm also going to a Ladies of the Legions' High Tea at Star Wars Celebration and felt that if all else fails when it comes to costuming, I can at least wear a nice hat.

I got inspired by this type of 1950's hat, that I've learnt is called a half-hat.

It's a fairly easy shape, and a great base to add decorations to. For materials so far I've used buckram and millinery wire that I bought back when I did my giant 1787 hat.

I started with a simple, rounded diamond shape, with a slightly larger front than back.

In order to shape the buckram I made a couple of darts on a whim. I cut into the buckram and then had the edges overlap to make a dart and curve the buckram.

This is the shape of just the buckram

I felt that it was a bit bumpy though and I wanted to be more curved and smooth. For that I quickly dipped the buckram in hot water and shaped it on my wig block by just smoothing it out with my hands. It was my first time blocking buckram, but it was really fun and easy.

This is before the blocking.

And this is after the blocking. As you can see I have covered the wig block in clingfilm to protecte it from the sizing in the buckram when it was wet.

Then I added millinery wire along the edges, sewing it on by hand with buttonhole stitches. By bending the wire I got the hat to hold in a permanent shape that I wanted.

The final stage was to add mulling. For nice hats you use a fine wool or felt, I simply cut up an old microfleece blanket and glued it on with woodglue.

This is the final hat form. Next step will be to add some combs to the inside, so it will be stuck on the head, and then of course comes the choice of fabric and decorations for it.

I also did the last steps at our regular cosplay meet up, and we realized that using buckram and millinery wire I had created a really lightweight shoulder armor that you can sew on. Maybe something for the future...

Lady Poe is postpoened

I was happily sewing away on my petticoats for Lady Poe, when I got the notification that my fabric had arrived.

Unfortunately the notification had been sent out so late, that when I got to my post office, they had already returned it to the sender. The package had already been at the post for two weeks before I got the notification. For inofmration in Sweden today most post stuff is handled by supermarkets, who can't do anything except sell stamps and hand out things that have been delivered to them. They couldn't help me to track how far the package had gotten and if it was possible to stop it before it left the country.

I tried to get in contact with customer service, but this was Friday evening and it was closed until Monday morning. During the weekend the package was sent back and arrived in Thailand. The only reaction from the post customer service was "oh, too bad but things like that happens all the time".

I have been in contact with the seller, so they will send it back to me. Of course that means that when it arrives I have paid for postage twice from Thailand to Sweden.

This also means that there is no way that I will be able to finish Lady Poe for Celebration. I had really been looking forward to wearing it there, and now I have to really think about if I'm going to make it into Lady Poe or just go straight to a conventional 18th century gown.

I have a back up plan for another costume for Celebration, but it will in no way be as spectacular or unique. I'm not going to jinx it and post about it until I have the fabric safe in my hands though.