Playing Catch Up

I realized while posting about my dragon that I never shared my Halloween costumes from 2011! I received a commission for a custom sexy Tron costume that consumed most of my creative time so I finished tweaking my Mord'Sith costume and put together Storm from the X-men.

First I'll show you Tron! So this was a long distance project with one fitting for pattern drafting and one final fitting. Not the ideal way to work, especially with something like this stretch vinyl!
Here you see the outfit laid out neatly on the bed:

My client ordered a Tron disc from Amazon that we used to conceal and carry the power source for the elwire used to light up her bra, waist cincher and thigh wraps. I drilled a hole through it for the power switch to come through.

She was nice enough to share some candid shots of her night out on the town :) One of these days we'll get together for a professional photo shoot and I'll be sure to share when that happens!

Now for the updated Mord'Sith with some new straps and other subtle stuff:

And finally my Storm costume :D I wore white contacts and gave a disclaimer for my super pale skin ;) No one seemed to hold it against me that I failed at looking like a proper Amazonian princess.

Mord'Sith Hair Tutorial

Well friends I have finally gotten up the courage to make my first how-to video :) I had a few friends who were asking me how I did my hair for my Halloween costume this year so I thought I'd share my method. Previous methods that I had read about required the use of two synthetic braids but this method only requires one. Wore it last night when I went out dancing and not a hair came out of place! Please feel free to ask questions, ask for more how-to's or leave constructive comments!

Call in the Experts!

Last night's progress on the Mord'Sith costume was all due to my friend Adam who worked at a leather shop some years ago and can often be induced to help out when I find myself in need of leather working. You don't get something for nothing of course. In exchange, I am sewing a fully lined wool pirate coat. Here you see the corset progress as of probably 8pm.

 

After pictures were taken more strap work was completed and I've drafted the thigh guard and holster for tonight's slaving... Incidentally, if anyone wants a copy of these patterns as a starting point, I'm happy to share. You can find the patterns WITHOUT assembly instructions here (click the picture):

Source: Mord'Sith Style Armor via NightLilyDesign on Craftsy

Where's a good Agiel when you need one?

Well this has been a rough week for costume progress. My buckles were delivered on Friday in two different colors/metals and the boot laces that I custom ordered set in leather were set backwards and can't be used as planned. I was also double charged for shipping. I will be calling the company Monday morning to see if they'll make things right. To be fair, I did place 3 separate orders with them that they had to combine so it might have caused confusion in their systems.

Buckles, spray painted gold:

The gorget neck piece laced up and ready for snapped tabs as closure. Note, this is different from the TV version which has more boot hook quick laces on the side back piece. Those hooks are reported to snag the braid horribly not to mention how tricky it sounds to lace the piece on by myself with the hooks in back... I have chosen to make it look like the whole thing is laced on and have hidden snaps actually holding the piece together at the side front panel.

And here are the boot hooks/quick laces that I intended to sew to the corset piece. They followed my template for placement just fine.

But they faced the hooks towards each other, instead of away so I can't actually lace them when they're sewn in as intended.

I'll be setting rivets and adding buckles to straps next while hoping the company can quickly ship me replacement boot hooks. If not, then 1) I won't be using that company again and 2) I'll have to punch little holes along the slender edge so that I can hand stitch the hooks to the corset in the proper orientation. PIA. *sigh*