A rockabilly Wonder Woman skirt for Underwire festival

A while back I was asked to be a speaker at a small film festival in London. It was part of the Underwire festival, celebrating all things to do with women in the film industry. As part of the festival they had a panel discussing the issue of women in superhero films.

I was really surprised to be asked to take part, but the invite was largely due to my work writing for Den of Geek about women in comics.

I haven't written anything specific on this for a while (largely because I've not had as much budget to spend on comics as I once did) but it was still a lot of fun swatting up for the panel.

I thought it would be quite interesting if I wore something superhero inspired for the panel and I decided to take this opportunity to make a ridiculously girly Wonder Woman inspired skirt.

I also hadn't ever made a full circle skirt before so this was a really fun project to practice on. I used this McColl's pattern which is a little annoyingly stereotypical but is actually so easy to sew and in a more solid fabric minus a poodle. 

Look at how big the skirt is!!!

And here is a picture of me at the panel, feeling a bit like a celebrity... I was so nervous during this it was unreal. But it was really a lot of fun!

Skirt: Home made

Belt: ebay

Blouse: Next

Shoes: Clarks 

A Vivien of Holloway for a work party

Just a short outfit post today, largely because I don't have very many pictures...

Work functions are always a little weird, it blurs the professional boundaries and its often really hard to know where to pitch outfits, how formally to dress, is dancing expected, how far should you go with hair and make up?

As a sort of demure compromise I found a lovely dress in the Vivien of Holloway sale section. It is the 1940s peach blush dress and it is still available in the sale section in a slightly larger sizes. They do have this 1940s shape dress in quite a few designs in a big range of sizes all in the sale.

I think this dress is really beautiful. It is a fabric that is similar to crepe but a bit more sturdy and it drapes really nicely. It was also really comfortable and great to dance in, which lets face it, it always a winner.

As for styling I wore a late 50s cocktail hat (which is brilliant as it clips on your head) and had two large victory rolls on the front of my head and a roll on the back of my head. Again, this was a great combination for dancing as it meant my hair didn't get all hot on my neck (a feeling I really hate!).

Dress: Vivien of Holloway

Bangle and necklace: Vintage

Hat: Vintage

Shoes: St. Michael

What sort of thing do you wear to a work event?

Cosplay: Toon Zelda at London Comic Con October 2014

I'm not exactly sure what happened to this post. It seemed to get lost in the ether only to re-emerge 4 months after the event... Oh well.

At long last, here is my post on day 2 of MCM expo 2014 or London Comic Con as its also known.

This was the Saturday and it was insanely busy! You can really tell geek culture and cosplay are becoming more and more popular as in three short years MCM has become so much more popular than it was.

This year I wore a Toon Zelda costume from the Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. I chose this version of Zelda as it was different from my Skyward Sword costume at Hyper Japan but it was quite a bit simpler than the Twilight Princess version of her costume. It allowed me to work on some techniques without having to delve into the world of Worbla which I wasn't quite ready for at that point in time.

I also made a very, very rushed Link tunic for my husband. I tried very hard to get him to buy a blonde wig to go with it but he wasn't having it, still, steps in the right direction ;)

Here we are with an awesome Midna cosplayer:

First I thought I would share a few of my favourite cosplay costumes from the day:

 There was quite a heavy Lego presence this year, possibly something to do with the amazing Lego movie.

And as always, lots of Links, but I think that Tingle costume steal the show!

I thought that these Lutece costumes were AMAZING! The outfit, hair and make up was all so perfect!

I felt that this female Cap deserved a place in my gallery because she must have worked really hard to get those victory rolls in that wig!

Double Princess Power!

I also ate a ridiculous amount of takoyaki. It is one of my favourite things.

I was really pleased with how this costume turned out. I made the whole thing from scratch including the 'armour' which was a first for me.

The dress was made using a vintage Butterick pattern, but I gathered and lengthened a very full skirt instead of pleating it. I then added a cape to the top part and created the flap part for the skirt (I have no idea what it is called).

I made all of the head, belt and armour pieces using craft foam and I hot glue-gunned it together, then painted it all gold - or pink.

For the skirt I hand painted all of the skirt pieces. I drew the basic design with tailors chalk and then used a fine and thick paint brush to draw the design. I did use acrylic paint which means I can't get the dress wet but it meant it was very easy to do and far cheaper than fabric paint. I suppose of you were planning on wearing a costume a lot then you should definitely use fabric paint instead.

 The make-up for costume was quite fun, I really enjoyed playing with the blue eyeshadow and false lashes. I need to learn to lighten my eyebrows to really complete this look in future though.

And of course, here is a Legend of Zelda #Selfie...

Have you though about going to comic con?

The problem with vintage reproduction tartan circle skirts...

Or should I say my problem with vintage reproduction tartan circle skirts... is that I have too many.

I am OBSESSED!

I have always loved tartan (I think its something to do with growing up close to the Scottish border, or and being and 8th Scottish) its so wintery and cosy. I also love the fact that tartan comes in a range of fabrics now, not just the heavy, dense, wool of old but in warm but movable flannel and many other light weight fabrics.

At last count I have 7 tartan skirts, although one is a pencil skirt and two are box pleats that are currently sitting in my for ebay stash, but that still leaves 4. One of these skirts is true vintage and I found it in a charity shop (yes!) and I will show you that one later in the winter. But the other three are vintage reproduction from Vivien of Holloway and cost £45 (although I must warn you they are sold out in many of the larger sizes i.e. 16+).

I am showcasing two today as I bought the third one with m christmas money and am still waiting for it to arrive so I can take pictures, but it is very similar to these two only it is blue and green (swoon!).

Here is the first one, it is mostly blue with a red and white tartan stripe. Blue and red are my favourite colours so this skirt was an instant winner for me.

The circle skirt itself is amazing, it has such a large amount of fabric that you really feel like you are getting a lot of skirt for your money (£45).

The amount of fabric also means you can do this:

The second one is a red tartan which is a more traditional and stereotypical colouring. I actually don't have any red skirts so that was the driving force in my decision to get this skirt.

Skirts: Vivien of Holloway

Jumpers: Vintage

Boots: Doc Martens

Hat: Accessorize

Scarf: Thrifted

Coat: Vintage Laura Ashley riding coat 

I have every confidence that the blue and green skirt will be brilliant too and I promise I will show you once it arrives!