Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Star Wars Celebration 2017

It's hardly surprising that I never got around to blogging about last April's Star Wars convention, because I have a TON of pictures from it!  It always takes me a long time to sort through photos from events - especially multi-day events - when I have a lot to choose from.  And then the writing-up takes even longer, so I often have a draft languishing half-finished for weeks on end...  In order to avoid that trap, I will keep the journaling to a minimum for this post.


This is my excited face.
On Friday (our first day at the con) we mostly just wandered around taking pictures of cool stuff.


Hey look; Iowa!
I so wanted to collect all of these to make a mobile for Reptar:



My outfit for the day:


I kept it casual and comfortable with maternity jeans and my "That's no moon" maternity t-shirt.  And I tried to emulate Padmé's hairstyle from the scene in Revenge of the Sith when she tells Anakin that she's pregnant.

You can't see it, but I'm wearing a Millenium Falcon necklace along with the R2-D2 earrings I just bought.
I got lots of comments on my t-shirt!  And it was great because I could move freely throughout the space without a cumbersome costume - so much easier to both walk and sit!  So I mostly admired other people's awesome costumes.




These were (I believe) fan-made costumes that were on display - the attention to detail was amazing!









Sunset Friday
On Saturday, I got fully dressed up in the Green Velvet Beast!  Zöe did my eyebrows for me, because with the brown wig on I look really weird without darkened eyebrows.


You can see the stark contrast here between with and without eyebrow makeup:

You can also see my maternity stays in their unfinished state
And the finished look here:


I was wearing quite an interesting mix of historical undergarments and accessories - a Regency shift, 18th Century stays, cotton stockings from Colonial Williamsburg, Regency-esque shoes from The Gap, an 1860s-ish hoop skirt from Amazon, and an 18th Century pocket.


I had left a slit in the gown skirt side seam on the right-hand side so I could access my pocket.  I also tied on the hoop skirt and the quilted cone-shaped petticoat I made to go over it at the same side so that the slits under the drawstring waists also lined up with the pocket slit.  I was quite proud of myself for that innovation.

Then of course the gown itself, and the wig I rented from Custom Wig Company.

Once back at the convention center, I sat patiently waiting for Brian the Engineer to find parking (which was no small feat!) so we could go in together.  I joked that finding spots to sit down was my pregnancy superpower.


There were some nice backdrops for photos, like this one:




Oh, and I had forgotten my camera at the hotel on Friday, so all of my pictures from the first day were taken on my phone.  But on Saturday I remembered my camera, and therefore I took many more pictures - and even a video of this LEGO display:











More awesome fan costumes:









Our friends from the internet:

They did a group cosplay as cheap action figures.
I was thrilled to see the original Leia Ceremonial Gown in person!  I took lots of photos:






(That wasn't even all of them.  I might even do a separate post with just the pictures I took of it!)



I was blown away by these LEGO sculptures:





I was totally digging this Mod version of Rey:



Using my seat-finding superpower again!

Zöe's picture


One time when I was tired and there was no chair to be found, so I just sat on the floor!


In this aerial shot of me, you can see the pin I used to keep my hood up.  If it wasn't attached to my wig it kept falling down.


In the next few shots, you can see how different cameras read the colors of my gown quite differently, even under the same lighting conditions.  First is one from my camera:  


And next is one from Zöe's phone:


My camera:


Zöe's phone:


On the way back to the car - which was veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery far away - we stopped for a rest and some more photos of the gown:





More photos from Zöe's phone:




And that was Celebration!  We were only there the two days, but it was a lot of fun.  I'm glad I decided to go for it when I had the opportunity to dress up as pregnant Padmé!  Though it was funny - the gown does hide a pregnancy rather well, so I didn't have nearly as many people ask me when the baby was due as I'd had the day before.  :p  

Thursday, February 1, 2018

2017 Year in Review and 2018 Plans

It must be frustrating to follow my blog.  It's either feast or famine with posts, lately!  Blogging time is not exactly a priority as a new mom, but whenever I do get a chance to sit down and write I tend to go into overdrive trying to catch up!  Anyway, here's a quick recap of what I've been up to:

2017 Projects


Maternity Stays
Gold Galleon Gown

1940s Daisy Maternity Dress
Padmé Maternity Costume - AKA The Velvet Beast
Crocheted baby clothes

Regency Baby Dress and Cap
 Baby's first Halloween - Princess Leia and Reptar

I made various other baby clothes for little Reptar, but above are the highlights.

2017 Events

Mitts, Muffs, and Hoods Workshop - February 11
Francaise Dinner - March 18
American Revolution Museum Opening - April 1
Star Wars Celebration - April 13-16
Williamsburg Garden Party - May 5
Reptar was born! - June 9
RSV Autumn Picnic - September 9
Burnley & Trowbridge Pleated Back Gown Workshop - October 6-8
RSV Trafalgar Victory Ball - October 21
Williamsburg Holiday Promenade - December 30

2018 Planned Projects

1-7:  All of my 2017 planned projects - none of which are started yet!  :/

8:  Finish my Pleated Back Gown from the B&T Workshop - which I still need to blog about!

This is pretty much still where I'm at.
I need to tack down the pleats that are currently basted in place, attach the shoulder straps, finish the sleeves, attach the front panels to the skirt, pleat the skirt to the waist, make the stomacher and a matching petticoat.

9:  Re-make the bodice of what I have just re-named the Big Bad Plaid Dress.


I wasn't super happy with the fit of the bodice through the shoulders and sleeves, and the way the darts highlight light stripes on one side and dark stripes on the other really bothers me.  I want to re-make the bodice completely, to fix these issues.  Should be fun!

10 & 11:  Finish Brian the Engineer's waistcoats


These have been in the works since...  September of 2016!  I had meant to finish at least one of them in time for the RSV Picnic at Monroe's Highland (which I just realized I've never blogged about!) but I ran out of time and they have languished ever since.

12:  Hufflepuff Bustle Gown


This one I'm really excited about!  I got the idea from Fabric & Fiction, who is making a Ravenclaw 1870s Gown that promises to be spectacular.  And since I am a Hufflepuff, when I saw the above fantastic yellow-and-black checked silks on sale for crazy cheap ($6 a yard!) at Fabric Mart I couldn't resist!  This is going to be my big project this year, so stay tuned for updates.