Sewng: Home-made Dress from a Vintage Pattern

Hello everyone! Just a short post to show you something I've been working on this week.

Before I start I wanted to let you know that I added a Bloglovin' button over there -->

so you can follow on there when whatever happens to Google reader finally happens.

Anywho. A little while ago I had a phase of ordering some vintage patterns and vintage fabric. I managed to get a few bargain things but until recently I had not taken the plunge and actually made anything, that is, until this week!

I made a dress! A whole dress! It even fit me :)

I bought a long piece of fabric (6m x 1.5m) from eBay thinking it would be enough for maybe two dresses and it only cost £6 so it was cheap enough to be able to practice on (although it was pretty so I wanted to make something nice). I chose a Realm pattern, I'm not sure when from but it expect 1950s based on the packaging. It turned out to be fairly simple to make, I think in total I spent about 6 hours on the dress which isn't too bad going.

The skirt turned out to be a little less full than expected but that may be partly because I didn't believe the sizing and sewed the darts a bit bigger than I was meant to. Consequently the dress came out a little bigger than I'd have liked but on the whole it only needs mildly tweaking.

I can't describe quite how proud I am of this first dress, hopefully there will be many more to come (I have already picked out my next pattern and fabric to try).

Have you ever made anything?

Outfit of the day: A Bargain Charity-Shop Tea Dress and a Bit of Game of Thrones Hair

The other weekend I went to stay for a long weekend with my husband in Scarborough (yeah... we still don't live together, can I get a collective awwwwww?) and we managed to finally steal away a bit of time together.

What that also meant was that I had a bit of time to explore some unfamiliar charity shops (always an exciting opportunity). One thing I found was this lovely little dress - I got it from the British Heart Foundation for £7.99 and it is a retro tea dress from M&S. Its tough to date, but I think early naughties from the look of the labels  It is a really nice drapey fabric and has a cute floral ditsy print which is always a favourite of mine. Typically I have a lot of trouble with shirt buttons fitting but I was really pleased to find that the the top of this dress was quite roomy and the final touch of a little belt to take in the waist and its fit pretty much perfectly.

Unfortunately the weather was pretty foul and we ended up trapped in the house for most of Sunday. What we did get time for was a bit of catch up on Game of Thrones a TV show I am still amazed that I like... Anywho, in a bit of a rush I plaited my hair in an attempt at a Daenerys Targaryen inspired do. I was pretty messy and I'd really like to have another go at a neater more elaborate style, I just need a bit more time!

What do you think?

On Monday I travelled home via York rather early in the morning and found that it was really empty and quite snowy, it was so pretty!!

Thats it for now! I hope everyone else is holding up okay in this awful weather.

 

Cosplay: London Super Comic Con 2013

This post has been a long time coming! It will be pretty image heavy, but filled with lots of the awesome cosplay I saw at London Super Comic Con this year.

There was some pretty fantastic cosplay, as always, with characters from almost all franchises represented. I almost made the terrible mistake of missing the cosplay competition but I managed to sweet talk my way into the show venue so that I could take pictures, but it did mean that I didn't get quite as good a selection of photos as I had hoped for.

If you are in any of these images message me and I can link to blogs or websites as appropriate!

Anywho, here goes (all photos are labelled clockwise from the top left):

Riddler, Batman, Robin, TwoFace, Nightwing, Huntress, Supergirl, Supergirl and Kryptonian Supergirl

Black Widow, Bane, Ariel (The Little Mermaid) 

 Captain America (Femme), Kitty Pryde, Judge

 Hawk Girl, She-Hulk, Red She-Hulk, Juggernaut, Storm

Victorian Wolverine (Femme), Victorian Gambit, Victorian Cable, Electra, Zatanna, Beast, Xena, Red Sonja

Robin, Catwoman, Catwoman, Batman, Supergirl, Wonder Woman Gingy, Punisher Gingy, Poison Ivy, Mortal Kombat characters, Hellboy, Spawn, Ms. Marvel

Tony Stark, Amazing Bag-Man, J Jonah Jameson, Peter Parker, Wolverine, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Black Canary 

My final cosplay picture is of the winners of the two categories, best child and best adult cosplay. The winners were Hellboy and G'nort (who I got confused with C'hp but never mind) and sadly this is the best picture I managed to snap as they seemed to jump around a lot... But the costumes were pretty good!

There were also some amazing stalls, selling books, toys and even home furnishings!

Lastly, here is a snipped of some of my comics haul for the weekend, several TPB of recent and not-so-recent stories, back issues of Birds of Prey (5 for £1!) X-men Legacy and the whole run of Spandex, signed and doodled on by the author himself.

Review: Geek-Chic Hi-Tops

Here is a little post to show you something cool, and tell you it fits in with some up and coming projects I am planning.

A little while ago I was sent some really awesome Hi-Top shoes by Skechers (courtesy of Barratts) that are part of their really cool Hi-Top section (yes they have a whole section on hi-tops!). Now for me trainers are usually just shoes for running in and I don't really understand people who wear running shoes in their everyday lives. But to me hi-tops are something different. They are a really cool throwback from the 1980s and so many of the new pairs are really feminine and have handy features like a hidden heel (just like the ones I got).

The shoes I chose were the SKCH Plus 3 that have a hi-top style but also a disguised hidden 3 inch heel, a little height is something I always appreciate. They have a really neat retro vibe and I have big plans for these shoes!

Unfortunately I am having a little trouble sourcing items for the outfit I have in mind, but I was so keen to tell you about the trainers I thought I'd post anyway.

I also secretly have a lust for these red ones too.

Anywho, I am planning on one Daily Dresscapade with these shoes, but the other thing I am planning involves painting myself green...

You may laugh now but the next conference is not for a while, I've got time to make sure I am in shape... and you all know how I love making leotards! Let's face it, I share quite a lot of Jennifer Walters name too so it seems only fair that I should pay tribute to She-Hulk somehow, oh and of course she's an awesome character - especially in this run.

Anywho that's all for now!

Cosplay Costume: Gwen Stacy Cosplay at the London Super Comic Convention

Here is the tale of my second day at London Super Comic Con. It was an odd old day, at least 4 or 5 people pointed at me and shouted 'You're dead!' I was possibly flirted at by an in character Kaine Scarlet Spider and was given a hug and some sneaky information by Spider (among other things) -legend Dan Slott.

This was the day I spent dressed as Gwen Stacy, the deceased one-time leading lady of the Amazing Spider-Man.

*Spoilers*
Gwen is especially famous and tragic as she is one of the few comic book characters who has really stayed dead. The Night Gwen Stacy Died is a really moving read and a comic classic from the early 70s and if you're a fan of superhero tear jerkers this one is amazing.

Any who enough about the life of Gwen. If you want to know more I wrote a more in depth article a little while ago for Den of Geek and you can read it here.

Gwen Stacy is an iconic character from the 1960s and 1970s and her style is very reflective of that. She is commonly seen in tall boots, a mini skirt and trench coat and her blond hair is cut in a very 60s style and worn with a classic alice band. This styling was also seen in the latest Amazing Spider-Man movie where she wore short skirts and long socks.

My outfit was something I put together after searching charity shops etc. with all the crafty work I put into my Star Sapphire costume I wanted something more relaxed for the second day of the conference. I wore my blonde Sookie Stackhouse wig, which was a little curlier than I'd have liked, but I thought it was the perfect colour and cut. This was paired with a simple black top, a blue mini skirt, black boots and over knee socks and a green trench coat.

As one final touch I added a cute toy Spider-Man (that belonged to my husband but may be living in my room now...).

Here is the final look in a few of its iterations:

My cosplay was also featured on the Women of comic book cosplay tumblr blog :)

Finally to accompany my outfit my husband CJ dressed as Peter Parker, a chap he resembles a bit anyway, but a few extra touches like a camera and press badge made it more of a costume. I'm not sure that many people knew what we were going for, but that's always an issue when you go for a more relaxed costume option in this way. I did manage to run into a sort of love rival Black Cat too, so I had to get a photo!

To finally make my day I attended the Superior Spider-Man panel with writer Dan Slott. Now this is something I didn't read, mainly because I didn't want to buy into the hype, and I was a little sad about the death of Peter Parker so I wanted to reserve judgement until I could get stuck into a TPB. I have previously enjoyed Slott's work, like Spider Island, so I was interested to hear what he said about the character.

Lets just say that after hearing him speak I am very eager to read the story. I then queued for a little while to get a signature on my copy of Spider-Island, the real icing on the cake was the warm welcome he gave me (and a hug) and he even signed our little Spider-man!!

It was a really lovely day all in all, lots of shopping, lots of comics, lots of happy memories - I love comic con!

Casual Cosplay: Cath Kidston tea dress and an outfit inspired by The Edge of Love

Taking a little break from cosplay today with an outfit post inspired by one of my favourite films - from a purely costume and style point of view.

With a day off at the weekend and some unexpectedly nice weather I decided to take the chance to relax in a nice tea dress and a cosey jumper. The style I was aiming for was something similar to the seaside and country scenes from the film The Edge of Love starring Sienna Miller a s Keira Knightley. Set in the 1940s, it is the story of poet Dylan Thomas and his mixed up love life with his friend and his wife. As a film it is okay, but some if the outfits are simply gorgeous - there are pencil skirts, beautiful dresses and casual tea dresses.

My favourite look from the film is the chunky cardigan-tea dress-welly boots combo the ladies wear at the beach. You could have probably worked this out for yourself if you've seen my blog before. In general I am a big fan of the floral tea dress but these days it is tough to get a good reproduction in a vintage print. There is also the problem with skirt length, skirts are shorter these days and a super-mini tea dress like those worn in the 1990s (I'm thinking of Shannon Doherty's character in  Mallrats...) and they just don't suit my legs.

My tea dress was a rather good find on eBay (as always) and was made by Cath Kidston. Lucky me managed to win the dress for the fairly £15!

The jumper is a from the Republic closing down sale and cost £10 a d it feels pretty luxurious and I simply loved the burgundy shade I thought it was perfect in colour!!!

Finally the dress was coupled with a pair of blue tights and cherry Doc Marten's. The docs are amazing as they have a fleece lining that is lovely and warm!

So that's it for today, do you know anywhere that sells really good tea dresses?

Vintage Outfits: Red Vintage Cardigan and a Black and Blue Tea Dress

I'm trying something a little different today as I realised although I frequently post on what I wear to events and the such like, I rarely talk about the things I wear on a day to day basis. Part of that could be to do with the fact I wear a very un-flattering uniform at work but also because I have been a bit of a lazy blogger until recently.

A few weeks ago I decided to start working full time, which means uniform 4-5 days a week from next week onwards *eep* so I thought I could start recording the things I wear on my days off and trying to make them a bit more special. Occasionally I go a bit crazy with what I wear to walk to work too but I'll post on that if it happens.

Welcome to Daily Dresscapades

Last weekend I was off to Scarborough via York to spend the long weekend with my husband. The weather was cool but not cold an looked changeable. I was also packing clothes for 3 days into a very tiny bag so a mix and match capsule wardrobe was a must.

My go to colour for mixing is blue, generally some form of blue print dress, and my favourite colours to match with it with are black (I know shocking!) red and mustard.

I managed to pack up two blue dresses and to travel I wore this lovely black dress with a floral print that looks something between retro/vintage and modern. I really like the shirt dress style and the crepe fabric is lovely, but the very best thing about this dress was that I got it for a newer £4 from eBay (it's originally from Next).

I paired it with a vintage wine red cardigan which has been relegated to the back of the wardrobe all summer as its very warm, but now the weather is turning its ready to come out again. It's feature piece is the lovely crochet collar - but all the labels are removed so I have no idea who made this but it itches a bit so I'm guessing it a rough wool mix.

The best thing was that I could pair the cardigan with the other dresses I had packed for the weekend!

The final part of my capsule weekend wardrobe was my Clarks brogues. They are a lovely wine burgundy colour and patent so they don't scuff much, which is a godsend for me, and they are really comfortable. Having said that - I'm a total sucker for a pair of brogues!