Star Wars Celebration - what I wore

I'm back from a week of travelling, and four full days of Star Wars Celebration madness. Madness is really the best way to describe it, which I guess is what you get when you gather 75 000 fans in one place. It also didn't help that there was quite a few examples of really bad managment, but thankfully I didn't personally suffer from it, mostly because I made a choice not trying to get into the major panels but happy to just go to the smaller events and didn't want to go after any exclusives.

This is a blog about costumes though, so I will concentrate on that here. I've divided it into three parts; what I wore, other people's costumes and finally fan fashion. I had decided not to go for any big costumes, but rather just pieces that were comfortable and easy to pack, I still had a few outfits though.

It actually started on Wednesday before the Celebration when me and a group from the three main costuming groups went to an Afternoon Tea. For this tea I decided to go for a Queen Amidala inspired vintage look. I'm going to write a separate post about this outfit later, but one thing that's not visible is the 50's half hat that I've posted some info about earlier.

I wore the coat part of the outfit to the 501st banquet on Friday as well. Then I paired it with some sleek black trousers and a hair updo, I didn't get a single photo of that evening though, but I actually think I prefer that overall look.

The costume I spent the most time in was the X-wing pilot. I didn't bring the helmet with me, and I didn't wear the gloves. It was basically a "briefing scene"-version. The main reason for bringing the pilot was that I had paid for a photo with Denis Lawson, who plays Wedge Antilles in the original trilogy.

I also met up with Sigge in his TFA pilot outfit.

And on Sunday I wore it again and walked around a bit with Ingeli in her TIE reserve pilot.

The other proper costume that I wore was my Mon Mothma costume. I had it on for the Rebel Legion group photo, but didn't get any individual photos of that one either. In a weird way of costume misidentification I got called Aunt Beru in it though.

A reason for me not wearing Mon Mothma so much was that the RL group photo was on the same day as the Running of the Hoods. The Running of the Hoods is hard to explain for non-hardcore fans, but it's great fun being part of around 70 people running around in orange, shouting about "Ice Cream". I must say that I have abeen a trendsetter here. Last year in London I brought my giant IKEA moustache, and this year the Germans had bought a load of them and gave them away to people. I learnt in London that it's hotter and more taxing than you might think to run in slow motion for an hour or so, so I this year I made sure to bring a water bottle and I didn't have the giant wig.

Me and Ryan as moustache twins

All the Willrows

And for some live action there is the stream from the Star Wars live action show. I think I linked to the right mark, otherwise it's around 4h35m in.

The outfit that I get most compliments for though, even if people don't stop and take photos, is my Greedo dress. I was really happy that I could run into Holly, who designed the fabric, while I was wearing the dress.

On Thursday evening there was an evening celebration for Carrie Fisher. I decided on Saturday to go, so I hadn't prepared anything for it. The dress code was dress up or cosplay, and since I knew a few of my friends were bringing gowns and tuxedos, I went for one of my ballgowns.

This is a gown that I made in 2005 and it consists of two parts. It's a black undergown, that's a gown in itself with a flurry of chiffon ruffles. Over it is simply a large piece of silk that's been draped. I made it like that before I was simply too afraid of cutting into the fabric, so it's just sewn together at the shoulders, and then I've tied a black sash at the waist to keep it in shape. Originally it was worn with a black corset, but I think I prefer this softer look. The pattern on the fabric resembles hazy moons, so in honour of Carrie Fisher I think I'm going to call this my "Drowning in moonlight"-gown from now on.

Me and some friends at the gala.

Overall the Mon Mothma costume and X-wing pilot will probably be my go to costumes for conventions, both are easy to pack and nice and comfortable to wear. I'm inspired to make more pieces like the Greedo dress though.

Red Two standing by, my Star Wars earrings

Even if there has come out quite a few Star Wars jewellery options over the last years, I haven't been happy about the earring selection. It's mostly studs of different characters and ships.

One of the panels I'm planning on going to at Star Wars Celebrations it he Fantasy Flight Games panel, since I play X-wing the miniatures game. The ships in the game are small and very lightweight, so I decided to see if I could turn them into a pair of earrings. I told my sister about it, and since she went through a period when she did quite a few pearl/bead pieces, she still had both the tools, the beads and the knowledge on how to do it.

In the end I simply told her that I wanted the earrings to be the X-wing models, but blinged up a bit.

Here she is working with tying some wire around the x-wing. I didn't want to glue anything on it, or make a permanent hole, since I still want to be able to play the game with them.

These are the final pieces. They are long and dangly, so I've had a tendency to catch the collar of my jacket on them, but I'm not going to use that in Orlando

And here is a bit blurry close. The earrings are made of a piece of thin metal wire, tied around the x-wing. The beads above the ship are also treaded on the same wire an then attached to the hook. The two red beads are also on wire, that has been attached to the loop of the wire going around the ship. I'm calling these my Red Two earrings, since there are two red beads and of course it's in honour of Wedge Antilles my favorite x-wing pilot in the films.

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.

Cosplay Dalarna - a regional cosplay network

Even if I haven't been doing much sewing I have been active with other aspects of the cosplay community. Me and some other people are building up a network for cosplayers, LARP-ers, historical recreationists to meet up and take a chance to share ideas and help each other.

We now have it more or less set that we meet the first Tuesday every month, but there is a core group of us that actually meet up almost every Tuesday. We are lucky in that we have access to a really nice place to be. In Sweden there is a strong tradition of popular education, and we have several organisations that are working with facilitating study groups and study circles on almost every thing. One of those organisations have a national cooperation with the Swedish LARP and gaming organisation (Sverok) in order to help out with things surrounding game culture, and cosplay just happens to be included under the umbrella of game culture. For us that means that we can be in one of their buildings and meet up.

As I said we want to be open to all kinds of costume making, no matter the source. I think we have basically said that it's open for anyone who wants to make clothes/costumes/props that you can't buy in a regular chain store.

We have a facebook group here where we post what's going on. - Cosplay Dalarna

Otherwise our next big meeting is March 7, 18-21, and then March 25-26 we are going to have a full weekend together.

I am alive

I have definitely dropped off the sewing and blogging track lately. There are a couple of reasons or that.

1. I'm in the process of ripping out and totally remodelling my kitchen, and since I live in a small apartment that means that I have boxes everywhere, including my sewing area.
2. When I sewed the most, a year or so ago, sewing was a way of escaping from simply not feeling too well. (no I was not depressed or anything like that, but I wasn't too satisfied with my life either). I'm happier now, and then I do other things than sewing.
3. The other things I do take up most of my evenings. I simply have fixed things to do Monday, Tuesday, Thursdays and Fridays. Even if one of the things I do is costume related, and I will make a post about it later, I'm not very productive.

Still things are happening, and as a proof I'm posting this photo of my first petticoat for the the Lady Poe ensemble.

It's totally handsewn, because the small amounts of sewing I get done is when I have a project to pick up while I'm in the sofa watching TV.