Fairy Godmother

My friend, Beverly, from dance was cast as the fairy godmother for our dance recital; she couldn’t really find anything she liked for a costume so she asked me to help her. This is the result:

The Original:

Obviously, as it was a ballet costume, some adjustments had to be made but I think it captured the fairy godmother look.

We designed the costume together although I think most of the design credit should go to Beverly. The material was purchased from spandex world it consists of a sky blue basic spandex for the leotard and a royal blue crushed stretch velvet for the caplet and hood, we also trimmed the bottom of the skirt with the dark blue.

The costume itself is a very basic sleeveless leotard with princess seam and a skirt that comes down to just above the knee; it was modified from an ice skating pattern, we had to lengthen the girth, change the top to sleeveless and lengthen the skirt.  The caplet/hood was taken from a cloak pattern, using just the top caplet and hood and is attached to her hair with a comb so as to sit farther back on her head. We used approx. 1/2″ flesh colored elastic for the straps and approx. 1/8″ white elastic to finish the upper edge of the leotard.

It took a grand total of 4 hours to make the costume from start to finish.

 

Darby

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Elizabeth Bennet Dress

Hi there everyone!

A while back I received a request on my etsy shop to make a dress from the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice. It is Elizabeth Bennet’s dress, seen a couple of times but the picture comes from the party at Lucas Lodge early in the film just after the regiment has been quartered at Meriton.

I was very excited to be asked because it happens to be one of my favorite dresses from Pride and Prejudice. Since the dress was for the summer she wanted brighter colors than the original; I was sent a Apple Green Charmeuse Satin for the base, and a pale purple/silver stretch chiffon knit for the overlay.

The result:

The dress has a very simple regency gown base with small capped sleeves. The overlay stops about mid-calf allowing the base dress so show at the bottom, the sleeves extend past the cap sleeves and reach to the elbow where it gathers and widens slightly; they were finished off with a delicate white lace at the elbow and on the bottom edge of the sleeves.

The original also had strips running along the v in the front, meeting at the back, then hanging down behind for a ways.

Overall I was very pleased with the outcome and decided to make the dress a permanent addition to the custom options on my shop.

 

Darby

Coral And Teal

Wow! Has it really been nearly a year since I last posted? I guess that shows how much attention I pay!

Here are two more dresses that I promised in my last post (forever ago) and soon I’ll get pictures up of my other projects over the last months.

The first is a Coral Taffeta with white lace trim.

I actually don’t have a far away picture of either of the two that I am posting about today because they didn’t fit on my dress form so I couldn’t get a good picture of them.

Back view:

The next one is a Teal Taffeta with a chocolate brown braided trim:

Back view:

 

Well, I guess that’s all for now! I will definitely not wait so long before posting again.

 

Darby

Buttons and Dresses!

Sorry it has been so long since I’ve posted, but I’ve been really busy since getting back from San Antonio… including filling orders from my etsy shop.

I recently made several dresses but today I’m only going to post one since I’m still very busy and need to get to work:)

The first I made was a two-toned burgundy taffeta, with a black braided trim. (I LOVE this dress!)

Here is a closer view:

 

Back view:

 

And I must recommend the hobby lobby button covering kits! I used them and they worked great. Although I did have to double up the material to make it stay… they wanted to pop apart when it was just the one layer.

 

Headbands

Hi everyone,

Here are some pictures of a headband I made not to long ago:

The flower was originally a rose shape sort of thing, but I gave it as a Christmas gift to someone and she liked it so much she asked me to make six for her to give as gifts… and wanted a magnolia, so that was my best go at a magnolia.

I am not sure about exact measurements but in the center it is about the length of my finger (after hemming, and also I have very short stubby fingers) and the ends are considerable shorter. It is just a rolled hem, the flower is just five large petals and five small petals tacked on there; the flower and the leaf all have rough edges, you don’t have to hem or anything there!

Well, maybe I’ll get some pictures of the rose shape sometime soon and post that with instructions on how to make it…

Darby

English Country Dancing Vol. 1

Hi again everyone! The subject of today’s post is a project that I had some participation in. English Country Dancing Vol. 1. It is an instructional video on old English/Scottish social/Civil War period dances; also touching on some of the etiquette of the day. Here is the synopsis:

It is always interesting to learn more about the bygone days and about the everyday life of our ancestors.  Of all the historical arts that I have researched, one of my favorites is the old time dancing dating back to the eighteenth century up through the Civil War.   With so much pointless amusement out there, the old dances are a wonderful way to have good old fashioned fun!  Recently, I completed an instructional documentary that combines the beauty of the Civil War/Victorian era dances with my love for history.  This 30 minute film covers 6 period dances complete with step-by-step instructions, dance excerpts, and historical information on etiquette and customs of the day.  For pictures of the production process and screen shots of the finished product, visit the following link or check out my website at  www.repairingthebreachmedia.wordpress.com

The DVD:

Demonstration Dancing:

 

There’s ME!:) I’m arching my back horribly, if my ballet teacher saw that… help!!!!

The actual dance with everyone in costumes:

 

Go visit the website!

Darby

More Pictures!

Hi there, I got a few more screen shots that show the costume better, although not great. It’s hard to get still shots when all you have is action!

Here is a shot of the full costume:

A closeup of the front:

Here is the best picture I could get of the back. You can kind of see the lace up:

Well, I hope ya’ll enjoyed the pictures!

Darby

Eowyn Costume and Screenshots

Hi there, here are the promised pictures (screenshots).

This is not the best picture of the dress but it is the only one I have at the moment that has a good front view of the dress.

Other than my hair is in my face (the wind was blowing very hard) it wasn’t all that bad:)

The vest is laced up in the back although you can’t really see it in this picture. I love this one! It looks so pretty!

Yes, I know you cannot see the costume in this picture; but it is also about my short film! And I just love silhouette shots.

The dress itself if from the movie Lord of the Rings, my absolute favorite movie ever! It is one of the dresses that Eowyn the white lady of Rohan wears. For those who have seen the movie: she wears it several times, once when she is giving Merry armor, when Aragorn is leaving to summon the people of the mountain, and when Theoden tells her he has left her in charge of the people, she may have worn it other times but I don’t remember at this moment.

I used (slightly modified) simplicity pattern #4940. The dress is plain off-white cotton, and the vest is dark brown suede. I used (although you cannot see it) some plain white buttons for the dress, and (you cannot see this either) I laced the vest up with some pretty lace – it works a lot better than you would think!

I hope to soon have some better pictures, hopefully with the lace up and all; and some that aren’t fancy action shots:

Darby

Movie Shorts and Costumes

Hi everyone! I was just writing (since I haven’t in quite a while) to update everyone.

First, I’m working on a short film which I will hopefully post when it is finished, the filming is over and it is now in post production.

Second, I finished another costume the other day! But because of working on the short film I have not gotten around to getting pictures and posting it. But I will soon! Perhaps today or tomorrow.

Darby

Inaccurate Movie Costumes

Recently on the “Elegance of Fashion” blog, she had a post on inaccurate movie costumes; seeing it was about costumes, I thought I’d mention it for those that don’t check her blog.

http://elegance-of-fashion.blogspot.com/2011/09/oh-no-period-drama-im-watching-has.html

I found it very interesting what she had to say about inaccurate movie, and how it sometimes works out.:)

Darby