Friday, April 21, 2006

The Friar Dave Robe (or McShane's Sundress)

Man...there is still work to be done on this, as there is with the FanGirl gown, but it will do for this weekend I think. I decided to go ahead with the raw edges, as I think it gives a hint of piety to the garb. I still need to add a band of black fabric around the bottom to lengthen the robe, I hemmed it too short.

The almost finished robe:




The robe with tabard:




Close up on the tabard applique:



Now to add the black to the bottom and I should be done with it until I have time to make a lining for the tabard...

McShane's Sundress...with Sleeves

Never mind the title. I'm about halfway done with the Friar Dave robe...I have the hood to attach still, the neckline and bottom to hem, and the tabard to work on. I'm thinking of going a little rugged with the tabard to make it look well worn and leaving the edges raw, but I'm afraid that cotton would fray itself into a ball of string by the end of the day.

I was worried about the height...what you can't see in this picture is that the bottom of the robe is resting on the floor and that I'm extending my arms up over my head to hold it! I think it will be okay.



Note also the Daily Show on the TV in the background...Man do I love some John Stewart for keeping me sane when I'm up sewing at this hour...

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Friar Dave in Fast Forward

I'm starting today on a costume that will be WORN on Saturday if I don't lose my mind. Fabric is washed and dried, pattern is cut out and has been properly walked about upon by the hounds, and I'm ready to start pinning tissue to fabric and cutting. This is the "Friar Dave" costume for my brother in law to wear to the GA renn fest this Saturday. I'll post pictures later as it comes together.

My biggest concern is that it won't fit him. Dave is VERY tall and I'm not sure that this pattern is as tall as he is. In cutting out the pieces, I've left extra space around them just so that I can have room to play when I put it together. I may just not hem it and take my machine with me tomorrow night to their house and try hemming it there, because there is no way for me to judge length on someone that much taller than I am. Thank goodness Kalyne is about my height so the FanGirl gown could be hemmed without her physically here.

The Fangirl Gown

The Fangirl Gown was created for Kalyne to wear in her debut with the Hounds of East Fairhaven at the Georgia Renaissance Festival. It still needs some work, but I think it is to the point that she can wear it and feel good about wearing it this coming weekend. The name comes from what female fans of the Lost Boys call themselves..."Fangirls."

The fabric is a cotton blend with a black background and a smattering of teal hearts all over it. The contrasting color that Kalyne chose was, of course, black, since the Lost Boys colors are teal and black.

Bodice:


Bodice and overskirt with my black underskirt:



The black underskirt is a four panel drawstring skirt, very simple. It's made of a lightweight cotton so it shouldn't be too awfully hot for her. The overskirt has some pleating issues that I want to straigthen out after GARF. I think that I'm going to make the pleats themselves smaller because to me the overskirt hangs funny the way it is.

She's going to wear my black snood on her head for GARF, but along with lined bell sleeves for the fall I'm going to try to make her either a french hood or get a piratey-type hat and make her a hatband from the dress fabric.