#RRD cosplay

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I did a lot of sewing in 2023, and spent more time on my sewing projects than on any of my other hobbies, even though I ended up with relatively few finished products. I drafted patterns, fitted mock-ups, and worked with specialty fabrics, several of them new to me. I'm pleased with how all of them came out, and feel like I improved my skills in both sewing and drafting. And most importantly, I had a ton of fun wearing each one of these projects!

The majority of the year was spent on my Rhaenyra Targaryen cosplay, starting last January with drafting a pattern from my measurements, sewing a mock-up, fitting the mock-up to achieve a more screen-accurate look, and adjusting the pattern accordingly. I worked with silk for the very first time, black silk organza for the underdress and red silk jacquard (woven by a small maker in India) for the main dress. I dyed lacing cords to match, hand-sewed several yards of trim, set a couple dozen grommets by hand, sewed on several different types of beads, and did a lot of handsewing to complete the whole thing. I worked on it continuously for just over seven months, in between work and alongside other sewing projects in the last month or so.

The other major sewing project last summer was the sequin shorts for my Harley Quinn/Taylor Swift mashup cosplay. I based them on the sequin shorts in the first Suicide Squad movie, but made them red and black to match both Harley's more typical color scheme and Taylor Swift's Red color scheme. I drafted a pattern by altering a swimsuit pattern I drafted in 2020, and made a lining out of swimsuit fabric to check the fit, then cut out the exterior sequin fabric. I'd worked with sequin fabric before, but never one with sequins attached in one continuous chain of stitches, which took a little while to figure out how to best handle to keep from unraveling when cut. I ended up handsewing extra sequins onto places of the shorts where the sequins had fallen off.

I purchased the Taylor Swift tshirt but added quite a lot of hand-sewn details, to make it look more like the Suicide Squad tshirt. In July and August I also finished a bunch of other small cosplay crafting items, everything from wig styling and jewelry making, to gluing rhinestones to a pair of bunny ears, repairing the beading on a purchased dress, and adding a hidden pocket to a purchased skirt, all in preparation for Dragon Con at the end of August.

After Dragon Con I needed a couple of months to recover, and while I did start (but not yet finish) a simple knitting project, I didn't do any sewing or pattern drafting again until late November. At that point I knew I wanted to make a cozy stay-at-home winter dress and get it finished just as soon as possible, so I could start wearing it as the weather turned colder.

I drafted a new dress pattern based on the pattern I drafted for Rhaenyra's dress, and a pair of funky wide legged pants from a pajama pant pattern I'd drafted in 2022. The whole project, from drafting the pattern and ordering a sample of the heavy fleece fabric I wanted to use, to the final hand stitching on the hem, took just under a month -- much faster than the Rhaenyra project, with much less fussy fabric and far fewer details. Now that I've gotten to wear it around the house over the last week and a half, there are a few small changes I may make to it in the future, but generally I'm very happy with it.

Currently I actually have two other sewing projects in process, too: hand-sewing/quilting the print from an old tshirt onto the back of a hoodie for Jack (slow going but getting close to done), and a surprise birthday gift for a family member. I'll post pictures of each once they're done, but probably won't post about the surprise project until the gift has been given.

After that, I have plans to start making some layering pieces to put over (and under) the fleece dress. I have some scrap fabric from older projects I'd like to turn into wearable things, and that bolt of cotton herringbone fabric I got a good deal on on Ebay arrived the other day, and needs to be washed and ironed and such before I start figuring out what I want to do with it.

I'm hoping to continue my streak of 2023 sewing into 2024, with that focus on more practical, everyday wearable items, rather than on cosplay. I don't know yet if I'm going to have any cosplay events to attend this year, and even if I do, I'd be quite happy bringing older projects, including those I finished in 2023, out to play again. As much as I love making those big show pieces for conventions, and pushing myself with new-to-me fabric types like silk and sequins, I'll get a lot more use out of everyday pieces, and feel better about my day to day wardrobe at the same time.

Thank you to everyone who liked and commented on my sewing posts throughout the year! I mostly post about my projects here as a way to document them for myself, but it's always so wonderful to hear that other people like my work, too. I hope 2024 treats all of us well, and to any of you out there with sewing projects you're working on, may your thread stay untangled and your scissors sharp!

#my sewing #2023 sewing retrospective #2023 mood #RRD cosplay #Harley Quinn Swiftie cosplay #winter fleece dress #Solstice dress

[aioinstagram]

Poison Cheap Trick Bret Michaels Pop Evil is Trending on 6 Feb 2018 http://www.aioinstagram.com/poison-cheap-trick-bret-michaels-pop-evil-is-trending-on-6-feb-2018/

Top 8 articles about Poison:

Poison, Cheap Trick to play Syracuse’s Lakeview Amp Poison to play Allentown’s PPL Center Cheap Trick touring with Poison Poison, Cheap Trick may be the oddest (and most fun) concert of 218 Bret Michaels and Poison reuniting for tour with one Michigan concert Poison’s Nothin’ But a Good Time Summer Tour Coming to Blossom in June Poison, Cheap Trick, and Pop Evil Join Forces For US Summer Tour Concert announcement: Poison and Cheap Trick playing St. Louis in May

Trending Images of Poison on Instagram:

This Poison’s photo Trending 1 on Instagram, Photo credit to Instagram

Description: I’m more of a sour cream and onion guy myself (@atsworldviews) • • • #worstbuy #raid #potatochips #barbecue #poison

This Poison’s photo Trending 2 on Instagram, Photo credit to Instagram

Description: Interesting…. #tsp #poison #cereal

This Poison’s photo Trending 3 on Instagram, Photo credit to Instagram

Description: Thank you so much for all the love on my first two Fairy Magic Bottles You are all so amazing and supportive! So here are my next two new Fairy Magic bottles! I I picked a color scheme and theme of magic for each bottle. These two are ocean and dark fairy magic! I made 4 Fairy Magic Vials filled with glittery resin potions. All four of these vial pendants will be in my next shop update TBA. I have one more dragon booty to make and I’m all done!

This Poison’s photo Trending 4 on Instagram, Photo credit to Instagram

Description: #vaccines #shots #dontvaccinate #poison #autism #sids #ADD #ADHD #dangerous #pharma #killers #edugatebeforeyouvaccinate #vaccinefree #organic #nongmo #toxinfree #allergys #vaccinedamage #toxicfreekids #government #novax #vactruth #vactruth #autistic #dr #medicate #allergies #sick #corruption #populationcontrol

This Poison’s photo Trending 5 on Instagram, Photo credit to Instagram

Description: Nel serpente il veleno è nei denti, nella mosca è nel capo, nello scorpione nella coda, nel malvagio in tutto il corpo. (Proverbio indù dell’India)⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ #greenme #aforisma #aforismi #frases #green #greensnake #proverbio #proverbs #reptile #rettile #serpente #snake #veleno #poison #wildlife

This Poison’s photo Trending 6 on Instagram, Photo credit to Instagram

Description: Jumping around testing my new #rrd #poison #kitesurf #robertoriccidesigns

This Poison’s photo Trending 7 on Instagram, Photo credit to Instagram

Description: Been working half the day to start on my new cosplay loads more hours to go!! Black Ring Media • • • • #ivy #poison #poisonivy #poisonivycosplay #ivycosplay #cosplay #cosplayer #cosplayers #mothernature #dc #dccomic #dccomics #siren #sirens #gothamsiren #gothamsirens #nature #batman #redhair #redhairdontcare #makeup #lego #legochallenge #sidebyside #jail #orangesuit

This Poison’s photo Trending 8 on Instagram, Photo credit to Instagram

Description: Getting a little bit funky at my sales meeting banquet after party.. Lol. #POISON #BBD

This Poison’s photo Trending 9 on Instagram, Photo credit to Instagram

Description: Very happy to announce that my Illustration “Poisoning” is one of the winners of this year’s @communicationarts Illustration Competition! It’s a cover illustration for The Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association on cases of intoxication seen in emergency rooms in Norway. Thanks to the art director Lotte Grønneberg and another big thanks to the jury and congratulations to the rest of the winners! Bravo! ______ #communicationarts #communicationarts2018 #illustration #isabelalbertos #winner #competition #annual #journal #cover #poisoning #poison #intoxication #emergency #emergencyroom #medicaljournal #institution #norway #medicalassociation #tidsskriftet #subidon

#Trendings #actor who played hercule poirot crossword clue #for whom the lorax speaks #french mission

[sheliesshattered]

Two costumes, 20 years apart

Left: Return of the King Arwen-inspired dress, 2003 Right: House of the Dragon Rhaenyra screen accurate dress, 2023

Both of these costumes were based on screen-used dresses, using self drafted patterns and my best attempt at recreating what was seen in the filmed media. Both feature neckline trim with beading applied over top, and screen-accurate jewelry, but that's about where the similarities end.

The Return of the King dress was made fairly quickly, over the course of about a month in the fall of 2003, and used a modified stretch velvet dress I already had on hand. The underdress was drafted from scratch, but a t-tunic shape without set-in sleeves was about the height of my pattern drafting skills at the time. I remember carefully figuring out the shape for the lower sleeve, to get the bell to hang right. Just about every bit of it is polyester. Neither the cut, color, nor fabric is accurate to what's in the movie, but I wanted something that had the feel of one of Arwen's dresses, just for the fun of dressing up for the premiere, and it certainly achieved that.

By contrast, the House of the Dragon dress was made over about 8 months, from January to August 2023. The pattern was drafted from my measurements into a 10 panel princess seam dress, with the waist, hip, and skirt measurements being equal in every panel. Both the red overdress and the black underdress (providing opacity and a modesty panel under the back lacing, but otherwise unseen here) are made from 100% silk fabric. The trim at the neckline and the narrower trim along the vertical seamlines are both polyester, but the beads over the neckline trim are garnet rondelles rather than plastic. The screen-accurate earrings were made by me as well, and along with other purchased jewelry and the wig (also styled by me) complete the over all screen accurate look -- as opposed to whatever earrings I threw on in 2003 and the weird hair color I was sporting at the time, lol.

My sewing and general costuming skills have definitely improved in the last 20 years, but it's interesting to see that both of these dresses have a bit of trouble with the neckline not wanting to lay flat. For the Arwen dress, this was because I didn't yet know how to iron trim to curve it before applying it to a round neckline, and I chose bad trim for achieving that, anyway. For Rhaenyra, the problem was that the V neck was cut on the bias and stretched more than I had anticipated, and I didn't realize it until after the trim was all on and the lacing in the back grommetted right through it. I did look closely at fixing that by taking in the top edge of the center front by a fraction, but I had actually attached the trim so well that I couldn't move that seam without damaging the trim.

The other similarity between these two dresses is perhaps the most important of all: people at the event knew who I was dressed as, and I had an absolute blast wearing both costumes. Still, it's fun to look back at the improvement in my skills over the last 20 years.

#The Return of the King #Lord of the Rings #LotR #Lord of the Rings cosplay #Arwen cosplay #House of the Dragon #HotD #House of the Dragon cosplay #Rhaenyra Targaryen cosplay #RRD cosplay #my cosplay #my costumes #my sewing #2003 mood #2023 mood

[sheliesshattered]

Quick preview of the cosplays I've been working on for Dragon Con 2023: Rhaenyra Targaryen's dress from HotD s01e07 and s01e08, a punk version of Rhaenyra, and my Harley Quinn-Taylor Swift mashup.

This is only half of the costumes I'm taking to Dragon Con this year -- full lineup coming soon!

#Rhaenyra Targaryen cosplay #House of the Dragon cosplay #Harley Quinn cosplay #Harley Quinn Swiftie cosplay #RRD cosplay #Dragon Con #Dragon Con prep #Dragon Con 2023 #Dragon Con 2023 prep #my cosplay #my sewing #cannot believe these are done! #I have two small handsewing tasks still to finish on costume pieces not pictured here #and besides that I've been making Harley-ish beaded friendship bracelets to give out at the Swiftie meetup #those are nearly done too and soon I will be down to only packing! #Dragon Con is THIS WEEK and I cannot wait! #my costumes #2023 mood

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Rhaenyra day at Dragon Con!

#Rhaenyra Targaryen #Rhaenyra Targaryen cosplay #Rhaenyra cosplay #House of the Dragon #House of the Dragon cosplay #HotD cosplay #my cosplay #RRD cosplay #my costumes #2023 mood #Dragon Con #Dragon Con 2023

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I've been sewing so much that I keep forgetting to take pictures and post an update about my progress. In the last five days since my last post I have:

Hand-sewn the final hem for the overdress!

Sewn on the round flat beads at the wrists and the lacing points to the ends of the front laces!

There's one small adjustment I'd like to make to the neckline trim, and then do the beading on top of it if I get time, but for now I'm calling the overdress officially done. (Though certainly in need of a good ironing.)

With that checked off my list, it was time to turn my attention to the underdress -- in the two pics directly above, I had the underdress on the hanger with the overdress so I could mark how much length to remove from the neckline, armscye, and skirt hems.

Buuut since I also needed to cut some silk organza for the overlap flaps at center back of the underdress, I also took a small detour to make a little bag to carry all my stuff around at con:

It's lined with the same organza as the underdress is made of, and has pockets for my phone, card case, and purell, and a bit of space besides to carry other stuff like chapstick and whatever else. If I end up with time at the end of the month I might fancy up the drawstrings a bit, but eh the whole point was to have something simple that will hold my stuff and blend into my dress. (And then I pattern-matched on the side seams anyway because I have zero chill.)

With that out of the way, it was time to really focus on the underdress. I got those flaps for the center back cut out and sewn on, and all the raw edges finished since they tend to be a bit itchy. Once those were on I was able to mark out how much I wanted to remove from the neckline and armscyes so that they don't stick out under the overdress, trim those back and start handsewing them down. As of tonight the armscyes are done, and the neckline is trimmed and ironed into place (which was more of a pain than I thought, and took almost an hour all on its own) and the handsewing started:

That lowest part of the V is actually center back, and the darker section folds over to overlap with the other side. Once the neckline is all in place I'll tack down the pointy outer corner (and the matching one on the other side) to the edge of the neckline. This will keep the neckline nice and fitted, but let the center back section open freely so the whole thing goes on over my head easily. It'll also give a nice, opaque, no-skin-showing underlayer right beneath the back lacings of the overdress, without actually having any closures of its own.

Once the neckline is done and the back flaps tacked down, it'll be time to really finish up the seam finishes that I've been handsewing off and on since, oh March or so, lol. I have all of them finished to about hip level, and since the skirt seams all are straight, I'm hoping I'll be able to iron them in place and either handsew them much faster or just machine sew them, we'll see. Last thing for the underdress will be the hem for the skirt, but since the overdress's hem went fairly smoothly with fabric that is much more fiddly, I'm hoping that the hem for this one will go pretty quick, too.

There's one bit of construction that I need to do for the jewelry, and I need to finally actually style the wig, but I'm starting to feel close to the finish line for Rhaenyra. Like I said earlier, I would really love to get the beading at the neckline done too -- but not as much as I would like to have all my other costumes pulled together, so that will definitely be a late August thing, if I get to it at all.

Ideally I would like to have all of the underdress sewing done by Thursday or Friday so that I can shift gears and start working on sewing the shorts for my Harley Quinn mashup. I've got five four weeks and a couple of days to finish everything, so if I can spend one week on this underdress, one week on Harley Quinn, and one week on all the wig work (five in total), I'll still have two weeks and change roughly 10 days to get to all the various detail work that I've been putting off. I'll try to remember to take pictures and post updates as I make progress!

#RRD cosplay #Rhaenyra Targaryen cosplay #my cosplay #my sewing #Dragon Con prep #Dragon Con 2023 prep

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punk Rhaenyra version 1, goooo!

#Rhaenyra Targaryen cosplay #punk Rhaenyra cosplay #I am going to change and add a few things before I wear it to #Dragon Con 2023 #but this is the basic shape and most of the large pieces #I have a red and black plaid pleated skirt ordered that should have arrived already and I think that'll kick up the look a bit #my Docs will have red laces in (also need them for Harley and hey everything is red and black this year lol) #and I'll have some fake piercings and dragon tattoos #and I think I'm going to go with a brighter red on the lipstick #and put more than 5 minutes into the makeup in general lol #the whole point of this cosplay is to have something to switch to Friday evening after I've been running around all day in #RRD cosplay #at some point in the evening I'll go back to my hotel and switch out to this for the evening parties #still Rhaenyra just more party-ready than the red silk dress will be lol #my cosplay #Dragon Con pre #Dragon Con 2023 prep #the Targaryen tank top arrived and I couldn't keep myself from trying all the pieces I currently have to get an idea of how it'll look

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Hem pinned in place and ready for handsewing!

#RRD cosplay #my cosplay #my sewing #Dragon Con prep #Dragon Con 2023 prep

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Sleeves: laced on!

Dragon claw beads: sewn on and laced up!

Hem facing: started!

Lining for a bag to carry all my con stuff: sewn! (It even has pockets!)

Pieces for a casual punk!Rhaenyra for the evening parties: purchased!

I got to check three things off my Dragon Con to-do list today -- and add one more: a try-on and makeup test-run for punk!Rhaenyra. But hey, three steps forward and one step back isn't so bad, lol.

I am really happy with how the screen-accurate red dress is coming together and I cannot wait to wear it. There's a House of the Dragon/World of Ice and Fire photo meetup on Friday afternoon and it's my only Must Not Miss event for Friday. It'll be fun to get pictures with other people in costume, and commiserate over the complicated nature of HotD/GoT costuming.

Buuut, as much as I'm looking forward to finishing this dress and wearing it around con, every time I put it on I realize that there is definitely going to come a point in the evening when I want to get out of my super fancy silk gown and into something more casual for the evening parties. And thus the idea of punk!Rhaenyra was born.

So sometime Friday evening I'll go back to my hotel room and take off the red dress, re-adjust my Rhaenyra wig, put on a bunch more makeup, and switch to this look with the Targaryen tank top and red-and-black plaid skirt. I'll be pairing it with my big Doc Martens (which will have red laces already in by then) and the Valyrian steel necklace, and several accessories from my Harley Quinn outfit. My hope is that it'll read as Targaryen punk while being comfortable and easy to dance and drink and lounge in.

That puts my planned costumes for the weekend up to six total. Now that photo meetups and evening parties have been announced, my schedule is looking pretty locked in:

Thursday night: 80s prom

Friday daytime: Rhaenyra's red dress from eps 7 and 8

Friday night: punk Rhaenyra

Saturday all day: Harley Quinn in a Taylor Swift tshirt

Sunday daytime: Oswin Oswald from Asylum of the Daleks

Sunday night: Clara Oswald from Mummy on the Orient Express

As far as parties, I'm planning on hitting up the 80s prom (obviously) on Thursday night and the Doctor Who ball on Sunday night. Photoshoots I'm planning to be at include the House of the Dragon gathering on Friday afternoon, and the Harley Quinn gathering on Saturday afternoon. I've heard there might be a Taylor Swift meetup too, and if that happens to be on Saturday I'll try to swing by there with my 'we are never getting back together. like ever.' tshirt.

I've got maybe half an hour left today to work on the hem a bit, but after that I'll be down to 36 days to finish everything up for Dragon Con. If I can keep having days like this where I knock a bunch of stuff off my list, my to-do list should be in good shape a month from now. But I am so excited to wear all of these costumes that it's keeping me extra motivated.

Hokay. Back to pinning that hem facing.

#RRD cosplay #punk Rhaenyra cosplay #my cosplay #my sewing #Dragon Con prep #Dragon Con 2023 prep

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Interior sleeve finishes:

Done!

Armscye facing:

Done!

Neckline facing and reinforcement for trim and beading:

Done!

Visibility from the outside:

NONE!

Pardon my excitement over finishing these finishings, but I'm just so glad to be done. All of these were fiddly, time-consuming handsewing, but now that they're done, all the interior finishes of the overdress are checked off my list. I still need to do the hem (probably very last step of the whole project), and the handsewing on the underdress seamlines are still ongoing, but this is still a huge section of the project done. Huzzah.

Someone on the Dragon Con discord mentioned the other day how much time cosplayers spend doing teeny tiny hand-stitches that no one else will ever see, because the whole point of them is to be invisible. The dimpling along the sleeve seam is just a little bit visible, even after ironing, but that's mostly down to the thickness of the flat-felled fabric there. But the neckline and armscye finishes are completely invisible, even from close up, which is exactly what I wanted. A lot of effort, but worth it.

With all the finishing (except the hem) done, it's finally finally time to move on to the trim portion of this project! The wide strip of organza to finish the neckline was measured to match the 1.5" trim that will be going along there, and that will have ~200 tiny garnet seed beads sewn on top. The red silk can be a little fragile feeling, so I wanted to be sure that the trim+beading would have plenty of support to grab onto.

Getting that trim placed and seamed together at center front and shoulder seams is going to be another tedious project, but I think getting that -- and the narrow trim that goes over the seamlines -- into place will really bring the dress into focus and make it look a lot more like the screen-used dress. The narrow trim is going to look something like this:

I need to play around with it a bit to figure out placement and technique, but I'm planning to anchor it to the interior vertical seam finishings if possible. It all needs to be handsewn, but the trim is so narrow that I think I'll either be able to do a single line of stitches, or a narrow zig-zag alternating between the sides. This trim is on nine of the ten seams (not center back, for some reason, but eh I'll match the show and skip that one) running from shoulder to floor, so even if the handsewing itself is fast, I've got a lot of ground to cover.

The narrow trim disappears under the wide neckline trim at center front and over the shoulders (a fact I used when drafting the shoulders waaaaay back in January, which is weird to think about now), so I may end up sewing on at least the upper edge of the wide trim before I do the trim for those five seams, just so I can position it correctly in relation to the bottom edge of the wide trim. I think I'll start with one of the underarm seams, though, until I have a good grasp on the technique for couching the narrow trim along the seamlines.

Besides getting started on the trim, this week I also want to keep hacking away at all the seam finishes for the underdress. This past week I was able to finish a stretch of one seam from waist to floor, and start on another one. It's another part of this project that is very slow and tedious work, but it would be even more fiddly if I tried to do it by machine, so I'm just going to keep at it little by little.

The only other thing I might try to tackle this week is sewing the hooks and eyes to the forearm opening of the sleeves. It's not hugely pressing, but I do want to have those in and functioning before I add this same narrow trim to the cuff of the sleeves. I still need to figure out what I want to do for the wide flat circular medallions? beads? trim? that are just above that. I think I might be able to replicate the ones on the show using the narrow trim, but if not I do have a couple of options bookmarked on Etsy.

And speaking of, this last week I also ordered the last piece of jewelry I need, and the bits for making the one thing that I haven't been able to find a good stand-in for also arrived. Jack has promised to help me with that, we just haven't gotten to it yet. I'll definitely post pics once that's done. There are a couple of other little bits -- lacing rings and aglets -- that I need to order for the decorative dragon-claw lacings on the front of the dress, but I my shopping list is definitely getting pretty short.

Not counting today, there are 86 days left until Dragon Con, basically just 12 weeks plus a couple of days for packing and last minute wig fussing and such. And I think I'm well on track to get this project done, including a little matching bag to carry all my con necessities around in.

Buuut I've also sourced all the bits I would need for the other cosplay I'm really excited about, including an alternative for the one piece I want to sew, in case I run out of time to sew it. And then there's the classic-and-comfy cosplay that I've been meaning to tackle for literal decades that would be fun to have for an easy Thursday evening cosplay, and ugh I just want to sew all the things!

OTOH, given that it's 12 weeks until Dragon Con, I'm also trying to get my sleep schedule under control again, and walk earlier (and longer) every morning, to prepare for all the walking that con entails. So I should probably wrap up this post, maybe do a little more handsewing on the underdress before bed, and make myself get some sleep. And hopefully not dream about working on cosplay again tonight, lol.

#RRD cosplay #my cosplay #my sewing #Dragon Con #Dragon Con 2023 #must sew faster must sew faster

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Sleeves all laced on!

#RRD cosplay #my cosplay #my sewing #Dragon Con prep #Dragon Con 2023 prep #Dragon Con #Dragon Con 2023 #Rhaenyra's red dress #down at the bottom of the frame you can just barely see some safety pins making the places for the dragon claw laces #that is the next thing on my to-do list #but having the sleeves fully finished and attached is kind of a huge milestone #and they are removable! the leaves can be untied and taken off just like the show #I still need to put the flat round beads at the cuffs of the sleeves but otherwise these are DONE

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Goldwork repair, finished! Neckline trim, pinned in place! Time to start sewing this trim to the dress, woot.

#RRD cosplay #my cosplay #my sewing #Dragon Con prep #Dragon Con 2023 #somehow the center back turned out just slightly steeper of a V than the center front #they SHOULD have been identical but eh #I wouldn't have even noticed it if not for the mirror pattern of the neckline trim #it's off by millimeters maybe #but really as long as it's symmetrical left to right it's fine #front to back was never going to actually be symmetrical by the end anyway #okay gonna post these progress pics to IG then start handsewing the trim down #probably from center back working towards the shoulders #since getting the center back sewn down is what is blocking the grommeting phase #the front and shoulders can get done whenever #but it'd be nice to start grommeting tomorrow

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It feels like ages since I last posted an update for my Rhaenyra cosplay for Dragon Con 2023, but the last four weeks has been nothing but attaching the narrow trim to the seamlines of the overdress -- a tedious and fiddly process that had to be done by hand, and the trim had to be sewn down on both sides despite how narrow it is. I made good progress on it day to day, but the pictures were rather boring and similar week to week.

The nine vertical seams that have trim (no trim at center back, per the screen-used costume) come to a total of 447 inches. Sewing down each edge of the trim doubles that to 894 inches, or just under 25 yards of handsewing just to get the trim attached. At 7 or 8 stitches per inch, I figure that's something like 7000 itty bitty invisible stitches. Plus another two yards or so for basting the center front trim to make sure it was really centered once sewn down.

No wonder it took me four weeks, lol.

I still need to put the narrow trim on the edges of the sleeves, and I might get started on that today while watching Fourth of July movies (Independence Day and Hamilton at a minimum, maybe a few others), at least do the ironing to curve the trim slightly and baste it in place if nothing else. We're going to a friend's place for dinner and fireworks tonight, and while I certainly don't want to haul the entire (silk!) dress out of the house with me, taking one or both sleeves to sew on the ~30 minute drive over might not be a bad idea.

Besides getting going on the sleeve trim, now that the narrow trim is finished on the dress itself I've also been able to shift gears and start focusing on the wide neckline trim. I did a whole series of pinned tests to figure out what I wanted the center front to look like, how to make the pattern come together in the most visually pleasing way, and Jack helped me pick out the best option. Yesterday I trimmed the first two pieces to length and carefully handsewed the center front seam so the pattern matches up exactly:

The raw edges are currently just tucked under and pinned, and I need to figure out how much extra I want to leave -- enough so it won't fray or unravel, but not so much that the center front is weirdly puffy or stiff. This trim is at least partially polyester so I have been able to singe the cut edges to keep everything in place. I might be able to carefully do that on the center front edges, too.

After thinking about it overnight, I think I'm going to do this same treatment at center back, that mirroring of the pattern, and then just let the shoulder seams be whatever. The wig will mostly cover the center back, but eh I'd rather have the symmetry there.

So the next major task is getting all this neckline trim cut and placed, handsewn to the neckline of the dress and frayed ends all tucked safely away. It's going to be a bit tedious, especially at the shoulder seams, but hopefully it won't take me weeks and weeks like the narrow trim did!

Getting that wide trim in place is the last thing blocking getting the grommets in, so I'll be heading straight into that once the trim is even just mostly applied. There are things like the hem and the question of needing a modesty panel at center back that I can't even start on until I can lace the whole dress closed. And if it comes right down to it, I can cut corners on things like beading and the styling of the wig, or sewing a little bag to carry my stuff in. But the dress absolutely must have closures, or it's not really a dress, lol.

Given that, I think the order of operations is more or less: neckline trim, then grommets at center back and armscye/top of sleeve. Then hooks and eyes at the wrists, and a hem for the dress. Wig styling is probably the next highest priority, then the bag to carry stuff with me since the dress has no pockets. Then finishing the underdress, sewing on the large beads at waist and wrists, and then the tiny beads over the neckline trim. I've got one or two little adjustments to do to the jewelry that should probably come before the little seed beads on the neckline, but hopefully I'll be able to get to all of it in the next 8 weeks (!!) until I need to pack for Dragon Con.

I've also gathered basically all the components for my Harley Quinn cosplay, just waiting on one length of lining fabric to arrive -- but I'll talk all about that in its own post sometime soon here.

Eight weeks feels like hardly any time at all, especially given that I spent the last four weeks on what ended up being just one check mark on my rather long to-do list. But I am thrilled with how the dress is looking, and the narrow trim was definitely worth doing. It makes the dress look so much more like the screen-used costume.

Hokay. Time for movies and sewing. Here's hoping I can get through that to-do list in the next 58 days!

#RRD cosplay #my cosplay #my sewing #so much handsewing #so much #Dragon Con #Dragon Con prep #Dragon Con 2023 #Dragon Con 2023 prep #long post

[sheliesshattered]

The shoulder seams on the RRD cosplay are being a bit fussy, so I decided to just put the dress on and clamp the seams closed in the mirror. And since I basted in a temporary zipper at center back (which will eventually be replaced with grommets and lacings) I was able to double check the fit as well. Please forgive the silly mirror pic, but I'm just so pleased with how it's looking, I had to share.

Even though the shoulder seams are only a couple of inches long, they're going to be one of the more difficult seams in the whole project. The fabric has been continuing to fray as I work with it, even with the staystitching -- as can been seen along the bottom edge of the skirt there, too. I cut the skirt a little longer than I needed it knowing that it would fray, and yesterday I gave it a new line of zig-zagged staystitching to hopefully keep it from getting any shorter. I still have plenty of room for the hem, but I'd like to keep it that way.

The shoulders have lost less overall length to fraying, but they're kind of a muddled mess vs how crisp and clear they were when I cut out the fabric. Clamping them gave me an idea of where the seam should be, and I think I'm just going to baste each shoulder seam in by hand, maybe using my muslin mockup as a reference point, then try it on again and make sure it's right before machine sewing the shoulders. It's less than 6" total of shoulder seam, but it's probably going to take most of the weekend, ugh.

On the bright side, I don't need to change the fit of the dress at all (hurrah for fitting during the mock-up phase!) and the fraying hasn't progressed to the point of needing to re-cut anything. I'd much prefer slow, fiddly progress than having to unpick seams and re-do whole panels or any of the other possibilities I was stressing over when I couldn't sleep last night, lol.

I tried on the necklace with the dress just to see, and the neckline is definitely still a bit too high, but I'll fiddle with that once the shoulder seams are finalized. And too high is way easier to deal with than too low, especially with all the fraying going on.

Yesterday I figured out how I want to finish the inside of the sleeve seams and got started on that handsewing. It's going to take awhile, but it'll be worth it, I think. When I first tried on the lined sleeve, I was a bit worried that I'd cut them too small, especially at the elbow. But on closer inspection it's really just an issue of the silk organza standing straight up inside the sleeve, poking me in the arm and taking up extra room. Once that's felled down, I think it'll fit much better, and be significantly less itchy.

For the dress itself, I think the order of operations will be to get the shoulder seams figured out and finished, then face the armscyes, then face the neckline, lowering each as necessary. I can't really start figuring out placement for the grommets until those edges are finished, and possibly the neckline trim applied too. And I can't put the neckline trim on until the narrow seam-line trim is applied, at least the bits that go up over the shoulders. So really I may have the temporary zipper basted in for quite awhile, but that back opening is all faced and finished, so there's no worries about fraying there, at least.

14 weeks plus one weekend until I need to pack up for Dragon Con, but work weirdness allowed me to get a lot more done this week than I have in previous weeks. Even with lots of handsewing ahead of me, and the fiddly shoulder seams first up, I'm hoping I can keep along at this pace of steady, noticeable progress.

#Rhaenyra's red dress #RRD cosplay #my cosplay #my sewing #Dragon Con 2023 #Rhaenyra cosplay #Rhaenyra Targaryen cosplay #House of the Dragon cosplay #HotD cosplay #I've been trying to keep this project out of those tags until it actually LOOKED like something but I think it's really getting there #check out the first tag to see the dress I'm recreating #still a lot of detail work to go but I'm really thrilled with how much it looks like the original already

[sheliesshattered]

The overdress is all in one piece! And we have sleeves! With bonus screen accurate Rhaenyra ring!

Work has been extra weird this week, but weird in a way that's given me more time to iron and pin and sew than I usually have. So I was able to get through that long list of pressing tasks from my last post, and then pin the two front panels to the side panels (which are already sewn to the back panels), pin the back seams of the sleeves, and sew those four seams earlier today.

With those seams done, the sleeves are sleeve-shaped and the dress is basically dress-shaped. All of those new seams need pressed, and the sleeve seams will need to be hand-finished since the black silk organza is a bit itchy on its cut edges. There's just one more body seam left to sew for the dress, the center front seam, and then the little shoulder seams.

There's quite a lot of finishing to be done, both on the dress and the sleeves. In the above pic, the sleeve is just clamped closed at the underside of the wrist, and once it has its hooks-and-eyes it'll fit a lot more smoothly. And then there's all the seam finishing for the dress, hemming the neck and armscyes and skirt edge, and handsewing on all the trim and beading. Lots to do!

I've been working little by little on the handsewing for the seams finishes for the underdress, and then it will need all its hemming too. But when possible I've been trying to focus on the overdress, because if it came down to it, I would rather have the overdress done and leave the underdress somewhat unfinished. But today is exactly 15 weeks until I have to pack for Dragon Con, so I've still got time, and I'm hoping I can get everything finished to my liking in the time remaining.

Besides the dress itself, I still have a few things to do on the wig, and I've been tracking down the jewelry pieces one by one, and I may actually end up making one piece that I've been unable to find. I also want to make a little handbag to carry all my stuff at con, but that's definitely on the nice-to-have list.

Some days I feel like I'll be able to get through this whole project with time to spare, and other days I feel like I'm going to be working on it up until the very last moment, and maybe have to cut corners to get it done. Getting through this last portion of machine sewing and into all the extensive handsewing will hopefully give me a better idea of how long the whole thing will take.

But, of course, I'm already having Ideas™ about what other cosplays I could make for Dragon Con this year, if I do end up having time at the end of the summer. One of them would be pretty straightforward, and I could use the same pattern as this project with just a few modifications, and I already have at least most of the materials I would need to complete it. The other one is completely ridiculous, with tedious machine sewing and handsewing, but damn it would be fun.

Welp. I guess if I want to have any hope of finishing this cosplay and maybe one or two more after that, I should probably get back to it. My iron awaits!

#RRD cosplay #my cosplay #my sewing #Dragon Con 2023 #I should say for the record that I do already have two cosplays finished and ready to pack that I've never taken to Dragon Con #my MOTOE Clara Oswald that I took to Gally1 2020 right before the world ended #and my AotD Oswin Oswald that I made in late 2020 and have never worn outside of the house #I'm definitely excited to wear both of those at DC and will probably spend one whole day in the two of them. either Friday or Saturday #and I have several others from previous Dragon Cons that I could dig out and re-wear if I REALLY wanted something else to wear #and yet I am having Ideas(tm) #the straightforward cosplay idea is one that I've wanted to do for years and years and years. a complete classic #and the other one is very timely to 2023 and won't make nearly as much sense in any other year. both would be tons of fun #so we'll see #more days like this when I get plenty of time to sew might actually make it possible #...tho I did have to pause in the middle of making this post bc I had a visual aura migraine that faded to a pretty bad headache #it's finally starting to really go away now thank the gods #but it just goes to show that the spoonie issue can rear its ugly head at any moment and derail all my plans damnit #also can I just say that I am THRILLED with the color match between these photos and my Rhaenyra icon #look at that red. I am so pleased.

[sheliesshattered]

New sewing project

I just realized that I haven't taken any pictures of my new sewing project -- while I'm sitting here wearing the nearly finished dress, lol. That's how quickly it's come together, which is just wild after all the months I spent on the last dress I made.

I'll take some pictures in the daylight tomorrow, but I figured I'd document a little of the process now, before getting back to work and getting the sleeves on. Also there's matching pants, and those just need their waistband casing and ankle cuffs and they'll be done too.

Oh yeah, and the fabric only arrived like three days ago. xD

The motivation behind this project was to sew something for wearing around the house during the winter -- something cozy for these darker months when all I feel like wearing is long witchy dresses and cozy layers. I don't have any costuming events to plan for, and this is a dress I've really wanted the last few years, so Jack encouraged me to actually draft the pattern and get the thing made so I can start wearing it already.

The concept is a cozy winter dress in a sort of pseudo cotehardie look -- maybe more Victorian Pre-Raphaelite medievalism than anything that would work at an SCA event, but in that sort of direction. I have just enough of a wool allergy to make wearing it next to my skin completely unbearable, and since I'm not trying for historical accuracy, I can really use any fabric I want. I prefer to use only natural fibers (or synthetics made from natural fibers, like rayon and viscose) in my wardrobe whenever possible, and I knew I wanted this dress to be heavy, warm, and soft inside.

After a bunch of searching around online, I found a 100% cotton sweatshirt fleece weighing in at about 7oz per square yard. I ordered a sample of the charcoal gray color, which turned out to actually be more of a slate blue-gray, but that suited me just fine. The sample washed and dried well, and stayed soft inside without pilling, so I knew I had a winner. That just meant I had to actually draft a pattern to match what I was thinking. I pinned a bunch of things on Pinterest, all kind of revolving around this sort of look:

I thought about using a typical cotehardie pattern with triangular skirt gores, but since I knew I didn't want any sort of closures, lacings or otherwise, and because I was going to be working with a stretch knit, I decided I didn't want to try to mess with the accurate historical way of making dresses like these and just stick with a tried and true princesses seam pattern that I know fits me.

So I ended up adapting my pattern for Rhaenyra's red dress to draft this one. I kept the basic 10 panel shape, but drafted out the center front seam, and added some height to the tops of the sleeves so I can properly set them in (rather than lacing them on with some shoulder showing). I raised the neckline in the back to the nape of the neck, and rounded both the back and front necklines, rather than the V-shape of the Rhaenyra dress.

I also added a tiny amount, like 2mm, to each seam from the waist up, so that I could pull the whole thing over my head and not have to worry about a zipper. And I widened the skirts a bit from the hips down, since I'm not trying to replicate a screen-used look, and so I could have even more swish in the skirt. The wider skirts (and heavier fabric) also allowed me to put invisible pockets on the side-front seams, which the Rhaenyra dress really couldn't handle.

I also decided to draft some matching pants to wear underneath the dress, for those days when I really can't get warm. I used a pajama pants pattern that I drafted last year, widened the legs a bit so they're straight up and down, and raised the waistline a tiny bit so I can put a wider piece of elastic into it. I also drafted out the side seam pockets, since the dress itself will have pockets. I may yet go back and add welt pockets to the back of the pants, but we'll see.

The pajama pants I based the pattern on generally fit pretty well, but the only problem with them is that they're so wide at the ankle that they like to creep all the way up to my knee at the slightest provocation and leave my lower leg rather cold. Since these fleece pants will be even wider, and since the point of this is to be warm and cozy, I knew I wanted the ankle to come in nice and close. But I also didn't want to gather the lowest edge, since the fabric is so heavy.

After looking around at a bunch of pictures and patterns online, I figured what the hell, I know what I'm doing, and these are really only going to be worn under the dress (or other long skirts) anyhow, so even if they end up weird looking, who cares. With a bunch of math I drafted two extra pattern pieces that basically form a 3/4 skirt for the bottom of each pant leg, with the 'waist' of the 'skirt' around my ankle, and the circumference sewn to the end of the pant leg. The result is fluffy and round and ridiculous, but I think will suit my needs quite well.

Once I had all of my pattern pieces drafted, I laid them out on the floor at half the 64" width of the fabric, and then measured how much length I would need, rounding up a little for the ~5% shrinkage that happens when the fabric is washed. I placed my order just over a week ago, on December 9th, and it arrived -- all 6 yards and 5 pounds of it -- on this past Thursday, the 14th.

I washed and dried it on Friday, then started cutting out all the pieces (26 in total, for the dress and the pants) that afternoon. I'd also ordered cotton thread in a coordinating color, and that didn't arrive until yesterday afternoon, by which point I had most of the pieces cut out. Last night I pinned as many of the seams as I could and this morning I wound a bobbin and tested out my tension and stitch length on a scrap piece of fabric and then got straight to sewing.

To say this came together faster than the last dress would be a massive understatement, lol. The Rhaenyra dress is two layers of silk, both of which wiggled around and refused to stay on grain, frayed easily, and needed all the raw edges finished and fully enclosed. This winter fleece dress is shaped nearly identically, but the fleece fabric doesn't fray at all, doesn't slip and slide when I cut it, and generally has a pretty easy to find grainline. The only piece that gave me any trouble was the center front, since it doesn't have a straight outer edge to align with the knit, and for that one I just thread-traced straight down the canyon between two lines of knitting, and then lined up the center of the pattern piece with that, easy peasy.

So after three days of actual cutting and sewing, I am sitting here in something that is decidedly dress-shaped, and wonderfully warm and soft and cozy. I still need to attach the sleeves, tack down the pockets, and then hem the sleeve ends, neckline, and skirt hem, but I'm feeling like I might actually be able to accomplish most of that tomorrow.

For the pants I need to sew on the ankle cuffs and turn under the waist casing and add elastic, both of which should be pretty quickly done. I should be able to have both done by the middle of this week, I think, unless something major comes up, with work or otherwise. We've got a big rainstorm coming in this week, after a few warm days, and winter solstice on Thursday, so it would be lovely to actually be able to wear this by then.

My long-term plan for this dress, besides just wearing it around the house all winter long, is to make other pieces to layer over top of this, both for fashion and for function, sideless surcoats and vests and aprons and such. I might end up making a second fleece dress out of another color eventually, but even then I would want all the pieces to be interchangeable.

The look I'm going for is something I haven't seen anywhere else, but I'm thinking of it as sort of medieval cottagecore, or practical 14th century historybounding, all influenced by Pre-Raphaelite paintings and my own take on mori kei and strega fashion. Layers and long full skirts, body-skimming through the torso but not tight, practical and functional but still witchy and a bit unusual, all in natural fibers and the colors most commonly found in my closet already.

I'll take some photos of the dress in progress in the daylight tomorrow, and more pictures later in the week once it's finished. Provided I can actually talk myself into taking off the nearly-finished dress, which has been so very cozy and comfortable while I've typed up all of this, lol.

#my sewing #winter fleece dress #solstice dress #2023 mood #historybounding #14th century historybounding #medieval cottagecore #medievalism #cotehardie #sorta #pictures in this post are all sourced from Pinterest #many thanks to the creators for inspiring me in this wonderful and ridiculous project! #RRD cosplay #in that the pattern for this one is descended from that one