I of course have not been to a festival for the last like, FIVE years, so I had to go unbury all my garb from the costume archive. Upon trying on garments I had intended to wear, I realized I didn't quite... erm... fit the pieces like I did before.
And I realized I can sew like 10x better now, (#cosplayerproblems!) and wanted to wear something new.
I decided this Thursday Morning. I literally had two days.
When it comes to Garb, you don't necessarily get to just pick a picture (though many people like to use the old paintings as reference!), and go with that character. You kinda get to make one up. So I spent most of Thursday ruminating and browsing around trying to figure out what I was gonna be. I had intended to be a fairy at the faire before, so I figured I'd do something fantastical again.
That's when it hit me. I'll make a GENIE! The theme that weekend was Wonders of the World, so I'd fit right in, and I happened to have dyed my hair a bright orange for the holidays so I'd do a fire genie! And thus I made the following:
So I was super unlucky at the stores until Dave got home, and we went searching and found this weirdly iridescent fabric. I wanted to do the dorky beaded lamp trims because FANCY but I wasn't sure what to get. And that's when the Voice Of Reason (Dave) said to get something I really liked because if I cheaped out on the trim, and just got whatever I wouldn't want to wear it again, and why waste the money like that, right?
So I picked this one out:
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| It totally looks like rupees from Zelda, and I am thrilled |
He is a wise man.
I washed fabric and then stayed up way too late thursday night making pants. With, I might add a very frustrating set of pattern instructions. I'm not sure if I was just super tired (possibly) or if the editor who designed the weird hopping around directions wasn't paying attention. Either way, I schlepped the pant pieces together in the way I know pants go (see, these are the things you learn by making a bazillion costumes), and slapped in an invisible zipper.
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| These pants were plain. I decided Friday to change that. |
Because I can't be super normal when making any pattern, I overlayed the orangey fabric with a sheer shimmery red, so in the sun you sometimes see a glimmer of orange. Like fire.
Also, I wanted to put the red as a trim on the shirt. Which then induced more swearing as I had to make a pattern piece on the fly and do the fold over and hide in the seam trick, but I think it came out well.
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| These sleeves will be getting remade because I'd like to be able to move my arms when wearing it. |
And then last but not least I wanted to have some matching genie-type earrings and I had some beads that came off the trim as I cut parts, so I used those for a whole cohesive look! And the beads were plastic so they're effectively weightless.
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| RUPEE JEWELRY! |
Got to go to the faire, all blinged out, and the test run was a success!
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| And this was moments before the sky opened up on us |
TL;DR
I sewed a Ren Faire costume in a day, and it was pretty fun. A little frustrating now and then, but simple enough I could hack it together. I wouldn't recommend it for beginners to try doing (seriously staying up way too late isn't the smartest thing to do when dealing with fast moving needles), but it was a fun experience.
Costume is 8/10 will wear again - I just need to make better moving sleeves, thankfully these ones are easily removed!
