She's Only Smiling Because She's Dangerous

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*

Yeah Straps!

I've finally gotten a couple chunks of productive time and made quite a bit of progress on my Mord'Sith costume :D I am in danger of running out of things I can do until my buckles, boot hooks and rivets ship!

Here you see the corset with straps- it will need rivets and boot hooks to be wearable:

 

And here is a quick view from the inside in case you're unsure how the straps weave in and out of the corset. You can see the loose ends on the right where the straps will be anchored by rivets.

The Mord'Sith Costume Progress Report

We're getting down to the wire and boy is it tense! The dark red lycra body suit has been received from China and the individual panels of the neck corset (gorget) have been cut and finished but await some new equipment and supplies to be laced together. This morning I ordered buckles, rivets and a leather punch along with quick laces/boot laces/boot hooks pre-set into strips of leather. I've drafted a preliminary pattern for some pleather knee high spats that has to be tested. Now that the buckles are ordered I can finally cut straps and glue layers together. Below you see the pieces that make up the neck protection cut out of heavy interfacing, glued to the wrong side of the pleather, trimmed out and finally with decorative stitching holding the pleather wrapped around the edges.

Halloween Returns and She's Not Playing Nice

As it happens every year, I find myself buried in a heap of costuming projects. I am happily crafting away on a wool pirate coat, a toddler's My Little Pony costume, merchandise for vending at the Denver Witches' Ball the weekend before Halloween, performance costumes for my student troupe for that same event and the coup de grace- my loooong awaited Mord Sith costume. If you don't read fantasy literature or get into that sort of thing on TV then you most likely have no idea what I'm talking about. That's okay. Those who DO know are shuddering in fear and lust for you ;) 

The costume for a Mord Sith is somewhat complex though not impossibly so. Typically the largest challenge (assuming you know how to pattern and do fitting) is procuring the bloody buckles. Not what I would have expected to come to as my ultimate hurdle. I'll be blogging periodically about my construction process for those who might be interested (those who aren't can take a leap into cyberspace).

Here you see the patterning process more or less completed with the exception of the thigh holster.

The waist cincher is asymmetrical. It is supposed to open/close by way of quick laces in the gap you see on your left. Straps weave in and out of the remainder, basket style. I will be making this piece from the heavy Pellon interfacing you see pinned to my form here sewn to a layer or three of denim with mottled red pleather on the outer surface. Despite at least a solid week of searching online and in tack shops I have still not been happy with my buckle finds. Either they cost a fortune or they're too plain. *sigh*

Oh, and you might note that I've only draped half of the neck protection (gorget). That's because you only NEED to pattern half of the darn thing so long as it's symmetrical on each side. This will also be constructed from layers of Pellon, denim and pleather.

Adrift in Wings

For the last two months I have been feverishly producing merchandise for my very first festival merchant booth. All told I created about $2300 worth in merchandise in that time and I am so glad I got to finish up all that production with a fabulous vacation! Some of you may have seen my previous style of faerie wings that involved layers of cotton fabric on a metal frame with hand painted and glittered wings. They're gorgeous but the materials and labor put them at a rather high price point. I now have a new style of wing that has a very different look. The sails are translucent like a stained glass window and backed with iridescent cellophane that catches the light and changes color depending on what angle it is viewed from. Several steps of labor were eliminated and the material costs are less so now I can offer wings at a more accessible price point :D

The butterfly hair clips that I make have undergone a similar material change from fabric to acetate and cellophane. They have so much sparkle now!

I've also been experimenting a bit with some of the wild ideas that come to me while I dream. Here are two of my latest whacky creations:
My Book Monster Page Protector

 

and my Magical Mushroom Chair!

For more of my crazy crafting antics, come visit me at my etsy shop: http://NightLilyDesign.etsy.com