Steampunk Wedding

So I was lucky enough to have a friend throwing a steampunk themed wedding, costumes required.  Well *cracks knuckles* I think I can handle this challenge!  1. black corset 2. blue and black lacy dress 3. mini top hat 4. navy blue tights layered with black fishnets 5. golden key shoes 6. bustle 7. bracelet, 8. test tube garter, 9. purse, 10. Party!

Lets start off with a doll's top hat, a metal clock scrapbook addition, a tulle veil, bit of ribbon and a giant peacock feather.  All found at your local craft store and hot glued together to a standard black headband while watching too much Life.



Next up the purse, 'cause let's be honest, my corset and dress won't have pockets.  Also it's rare to find to find any woman's clothing item with any reasonable sized pockets, we do have needs clothing designers!!  One cheap fake leather black purse, another metal clock from the scrapbooking section, bronze chain from jewelry, and a bit of metallic thread...BOOM.



Now for a little bit of sass.  Some leftover tulle, ribbon, and steampunk-ish lock decorations and I have a clever way to hide my digital watch.  It's all about appearances and I would feel naked without my watch so, concessions had to be made.



Speaking of black tulle, I probably shouldn't be proud that I just happened to have 10 yards just sitting in my house for a rainy day.  Today is that day!!  I needed a little bustle for my tussle, and with a little help from the folks on tumblr I slapped some tulle, ribbon, and fabric together over the weekend.


No pictures of this one but my shoes, let me tell you about my amazing shoes.  There is a thing called rub 'n buff which is a wax based product and they sell it in a bunch of metallic colors, perfect for steam punk. I used antic gold rub 'n buff on an old pair of black flats and then sewed a couple of dangling keys onto the back of the heels, perfection.  Add on a test tube garter (test tubes hot glued to a thin black belt and some navy ribbon) and I was set to go!

Luckily I got to the wedding site a day early so I could do last minute costuming for a couple of my friends... 3 emergency mini hats, 2 necklaces, and a set of earrings later we were all ready for the wedding!

Arts and Crafts Time!

A few weeks ago I went to the Great Lakes Medieval Renn Faire and of curse I had to get dressed up.  Unfortunately it was HOT so I didn't feel like wearing my full length medieval dress which is also fairly heavy and gets muddy.  This meant I had to get inventive... What Would I Wear?  I found my new blue party dress and my sister's fairy wings.  Things were looking pretty good!  For footwear I needed something sparkly so what's easier than spray painting a pair of old white flats silver?  Not much unless you don't have silver spray paint that is!  I have to say that after all of my old HS art projects I'm not bad at spray painting odd things.  Now I just need a spray can of Crystal Clear and time to spray on a waterproof coating.  Unfortunately the spray paint does wear off in the mud and the rain but usually only the bottom of the sides of the shoe but that's what another coating of spray paint is for!

Since you have to get all sides of the shoe you have to stick your hand inside to hold it... and of course it also happens to be a lot of fun to walk around with a silver hand!

I swore I already posted a picture of my fun cocktail dress but apparently not. So here it is!  Just imagine it with massive full size wings and the silver shoes... PRESTO!  That's my fairy costume!

Dressin' it Up!

So as my frequent posts hinted at, I have to go to my cousin's wedding soon and I have to look decent.  Soooooo I went Shopping O.o  I think I fell in love with JCPenny's sales rack!  I bought the previously mentioned long black slinky dress and the short white sun dress (which has been dyed) but today I happened to stumble upon a very cute little blue dress!!!  So for about 20 bucks I picked up a little "princess" dress as my mom termed it.  A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E.  It also happens to be very glittery so it got its own dress bag.  As you can tell I'm excited!  Beware: I will be looking for every opportunity to prance around in fun dresses!

Getting back on track: The Wedding.  An outside wedding down in Virginia in 100 degree weather, this promises to be veeeerrrryyyy interesting.  My max temperature is 83 degrees in the shade, which is why I sprung for the little white sun dress that was on sale at the store my dad has seen too many credit card bills from.  Since only the bride should wear white to a wedding and the color washes me out... although I do have a microscopic tan from walking in the mornings... I decided to dye the dress PURPLE!!!  (P.S. That dot is just on the camera lens and it still needs to be ironed!)

I used the violet iDye from my favorite artistic brand, Jacquard.  Tulip is good and inexpensive (especially for projects you don't care too much about or when you're dyeing large quantities for a quilt) but Jacquard is the brand that I bought when I got all of my fabric paints and such.  This was a new method of dyeing for me... simmering dye/water bath for half an hour (I let it go for 2 hours) then ring and wash.  BUT IT WAS REALLLY COOL!!!  The dye packet is actually dissoluble so instead of cutting it open, losing dye, and making a mess you just throw the whole thing in and stir!  MAGIC!

The stitching was polyester so it didn't dye as well as the cotton dress and is clearly visible but besides a little place where they "un-noticeably" pinned down the pleats (which can be written over with a purple permanent marker) it just looks cool and different... but I think it detracts a little bit away from the cool belt-like artistic pleats.  Whatever.  I like!

I was surprised how well the dye took to the zipper... I expected it to remain white and I'd just hide it under my arm and ignore it... the glory of side zippers.  BUT the plastic actually absorbed some dye and is now a light lavender color... this picture is a little undescriptive for the purpose of judging the color of the zipper but it is great to see the real color for the dress!  I <3 this dye! (I got to catch up on the last season of Sanctuary while I stirred this pot and I have to say the Druid is my favorite character by FAR... who cares if he's Jack the Ripper?!)

Also I might be adapting my old purse that I made awhile ago to go with my purple Renaissance Faire costume.  It's supposedly in the chenille style although it's not frizzy enough to really be considered chenille.  Anyway its about the right color, I like it a lot, and it has an interesting batik pattern!  (I <3 Batiks!  I want to make an entire quilt out of them!!!!)

Also when at JCPenny's I picked up a cute little scarf that will go nicely with my dress and other fancy occasions!

So the only thing I'm missing a close up are my new shiny black dress shoes and the purple waxed string neckless my sister got my mom from Brazil... I happen to wear it a lot with my Renaissance dress and other Purple dresses. But if you look closely it is in this picture with all of my other fun accessories and my hand dyed sun dress!!  Finally I'm all ready for this wedding!

Yes, I am aware that I've never actually posted a picture of me wearing the dress... and somehow my picture of Orlando Bloom in Pirates of the Caribbean keeps on creeping into my pictures!  Too Bad I <3 Jack Sparrow more!

Devil With The Blue Dress

Today I tried on the two dress that I bought recently (the only two dresses that I own!)  Originally I went out looking for decent clothing to wear to my cousin's wedding at the end of June.  So I picked up this cute, little sundress.  Since the white color of the dress washes out my skin color, which is already pretty pale, I have decided to dye it a different color... probably purple or blue depending on dye color selection at the store and my different jewelry options.

I love the little decoration on the waistband.  The cute little pleats are adorable and really make the dress special.  I just hope that the thicker layers in the pleats dye the same color as the rest of the dress.  I guess I'll just have to make sure the whole dress is saturated!

While I was shopping in JC Penny's I couldn't resist this LBD that was on sale.  It will make a perfect gown for Yule Ball next year!

Also you can probably tell that I like Pirates of the Caribbean a lot!  :D