May the 4th be with you: a Star Wars Dress

A couple of friends are I are going to a tea celebrating May the 4th be with you.  The tea is actually being held on May the 7th since that is a Saturday but is going to be Star Wars Themed.  The tearoom requested costumes or Star Wars themed outfits.  I don't have a Star Wars costume, but I though a Star Wars themed outfit could be fun. 

I knew I wanted a vintage style dress, but I also knew I was going to have a problem, I had minor abdominal surgery scheduled about 1.5 weeks before the tea.  I was still going to have stitches and probably swelling and tenderness the day of the tea.  So the dress needed to be at least somewhat adjustable.  I settled on this pattern, Butterick's Retro 1952 dress.  I figured if I switched out the snaps and buttons for ties, this dress, since it is a wrap dress should be adjustable! 

Now all I needed was fabric and I was ready to go!  I knew I wanted to go with a bad guy theme and I wanted the dress to be Black and Red.  So I went fabric shopping, and this is where I ran into a problem.  There was basically nothing available in black or red in the Star Wars fabrics!  The closest I could find was a white fabric with black and red print of Kylo Ren and Captain Phasma.  After spending way to long wandering around a fabric store, I decided this print could work if I overlaid it with a black sheer.  I then spent even more time wandering around testing various black fabrics for the overlay.  Since the print is already pretty dark, most of the sheers were too much and obliterated the detail in the print.  I finally found a fine net fabric in the with the tulle that fit the bill. I decided to layer the skirt, and have the net fabric stop shorter than the print to add some dimension. 

I will say this pattern is amazingly easy to put together, the only tricky part is the darts (there are 3 darts per side on the front panel!  I then added ties to allow the dress to wrap and be adjustable.  I used simple grossgrain ribbon for tying the front panel around to the back and sewed fancy ribbons and decorative buttons to close the front.  Overall I am pretty pleased with the dress.  I do plan on wearing a petticoat with it, but the one I ordered has not arrived yet! Here are some pictures of the full dress without the petticoat.  I am really looking forward to wearing this dress on Saturday!  Now to work on the accessories!

A Dr. Who inspired Victorian Vest

My husband's birthday was coming up and I found out that Jo-Ann Fabrics has Dr. Who themed fabric.  In particular they have a cotton print of the 'Blue Box Exploding' painting that in the show was painted by Vincent van Gogh.  My husband loves Dr. Who, so I decided a Victorian style vest made of the this fabric would be a great gift.

First, I wanted some unique buttons to go with the vest that fit the theme.  I could not find any buttons I liked, so I decided to resin cast buttons. I copied images from the web of the Tardis, Weeping Angels, Cybermen and Daleks.  I then shrunk these down to a size that would fit in my resin molds. After printing, I cut out my images and sealed them with 3 coats (front and back) with Modge Podge to prevent the resin from staining the paper. 

Using Clear Cast Epoxy resin, I filled each well in the mold 1/2 full with clear resin.  I let the clear set for 4 hours or so.  Really I should have let the clear sit longer, but I did not want my husband to see his surprise so I rushed the process.  I then mixed a new batch or resin and colored it transparent blue.  I placed the images against the clear resin, which was still the consistency of gel, and poured the blue resin over the back of the images to fill the mold.  After 4 hours, the blue layer was gel like, so I pushed rings into the resin to make loops for the buttons.  Again, a bit longer would have been better, but I was trying to make the present a surprise.   If you look at the image to the left, you can see that the rings moved a bit since the resin needed to sit for longer before I added the rings.

I let the resin cure for 3 days and then popped the buttons out of the mold. There are some bubbles that were trapped, but over all they look pretty good.  I could have dipped the images in clear resin prior to adding to the back of the curing resin, which would have reduced the bubbles even further.  I then used a nail file to file the edges of each button.  I did this just to remove the slight lip that formed on the back of each button since I filled the molds pretty full.

The vest was made using the Simplicity 2895 Men's costume pattern. I have found this pattern fairly easy to work with and the vest looks nice over all.  I have made this pattern 3 times now and it is my go to pattern for a simple men's vest.  The vest is cotton and lined in thin cotton muslin, so it should be nice and cool for warm weather events.  I edged the entire vest with blue bias tape to add a bit more color. 

The only thing I don't like about this pattern is the welt pockets.  I hate sewing welt pockets, but they look so nice when they are finished. Also, my husband loves to wear pocket watches and the welt pockets are fabulous for wearing pocket watches. 

Actually the pockets sort of disappear on this fabric, as you can see to the left, the upper pocket is almost invisible. 

Here is the finished vest!  My husband was happy with it, so I count this a success!