clevermanka: default (minoan)
clevermanka ([personal profile] clevermanka) wrote2008-08-18 09:30 am

Fantastic progress, and thank yous

This weekend I finished the Coat of Beauty (which fit), three headpieces for belly dance (a new experiment), and rehabbed some old costumes from c. 1997-98.

Because...

They Fit.

Yes. Yes, they do.

So I will be dressing it up Old School Tribal in addition to the newer stuff I made in preparation for Smoker this year. This adds two costumes--my old blue stripey one and the ancient coin bra and belt set--to my rotation. Those of you who've been around at KCRF for 10+ years will get a little blast from the past with them. I'm very excited about this because it almost doubles my available costume wardrobe, and it means this exercise business is paying off.

I owe thanks to [livejournal.com profile] femfataleatron for developing an exercise program that is working very well for me. I've tweaked it only minimally. Probably 80% of what he sent me has been spot on for what I needed. And for someone who doesn't know me all that well and had no clue as to my actual physical capabilities, that's pretty damn impressive.

The great Coat of Beauty does not photograph well, at least not indoors and on the hanger, so I'll have to wait for a photo op out on site sometime. [livejournal.com profile] cedarsong and [livejournal.com profile] everflame got to see it in person yesterday and can attest to its amazingness. It was simple, if time-consuming, to construct. It's a big garment, and heavy, so it's annoying to wrangle with it on the ironing board and at the sewing machine. Plus, it's lined, which doubles the time investment. But the construction itself is very simple. I started with this jacket/vest pattern, lengthened the sleeves to 3/4 (I didn't want them full length because I have a tendency to drag my cuffs through stuff), and added a four-gore skirt to the bottom (I only had enough fabric to make it knee-length). The fabric is a red and gold chenille design that some of you may remember from the doublet of the Barber Surgeon from 2005 (the year before that, he was in the Spanish Queen's Guard). Oriented the right way, I think it models the outline of certain goddess statues. [livejournal.com profile] cedarsong and [livejournal.com profile] everflame pointed out that it also looks like a uterus, fallopian tubes, and vaginal canal. Which come to think of it, are probably the same thing as those goddess statues. Anyway, it's awesome.

The headdresses came out beautifully, and I owe many thanks to [livejournal.com profile] anerys for driving to Lawrence last weekend to bring me examples and let me bounce questions off her. You were a great help, hon. Mine look nothing like yours, but I think that's the best sort of inspiration--just enough to push me in the right direction, and letting me run from there. Thank you!

Hurray for productive weekends. I'm very happy with the amount of stuff I got done. And note: having no car means I can't run to the store for ice cream in a weak moment.

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