All our ghosts have been dying to meet you Pre-Trip: Update & costume tweaks 9/20

[abbybeth]

I have a calico cat like you do.

calicos are so fun - they have so much sass & personality!

I think I have your costumes figured out, and now I'm excited to see the finished product, because they will surely be AWESOME!!! Once I saw the striped shorts I had an idea, but the alligator put me over the edge into "99% sure."

ooooh PM your guess! If you're thinking it circles back to the title, you're probably a little more than 99.9% right! I snagged a few more pieces to Ryan's costume between last night and today that I'm super excited about. There's one piece that was definitely cheaper for me to track down on eBay than put the time and money in to making correctly!

 

[blabbermouth]

Ooh, I think your costume hints gave me the answer

I lol-ed at the Harlem Globetrotters shorts.

I LOVE that quilt, so so nice. You are a fast sewer! Good luck with finishing your costumes.

 

[abbybeth]

Ooh, I think your costume hints gave me the answer

I lol-ed at the Harlem Globetrotters shorts.

I LOVE that quilt, so so nice. You are a fast sewer! Good luck with finishing your costumes.

tee hee! It should start getting pretty obvious pretty fast now 37 days to go and I need to get going.

I don't know if I should be concerned that he's asking to wear them just for lounging now ... I really don't want him wearing them in public (other than as a costume!)

thanks! They are doing a vague Detroit Tigers theme for the nursey, so that's what I ran with. I don't have a lot of free time, so most of my sewing is done in 30 minute spurts when I can find them

 

[Abby's Dad]

tee hee! It should start getting pretty obvious pretty fast now 37 days to go and I need to get going.

I don't know if I should be concerned that he's asking to wear them just for lounging now ... I really don't want him wearing them in public (other than as a costume!)

I know what the costumes are, but it is fun as the lights start coming on for others here - and seeing the costumes beginning to come to life is awesome. You have so much talent Abster - and it's great to have fun. Looking forward to MNSSHP!

 

[abbybeth]

firstly, I'd like to congratualate khertz & ILGoofy for joining DaveInFallsCreek in the "I Guessed the Costumes Club"

After much searching, I have found a suitable prize for each of you.




oooOOOOOooooooohhhhHHHH!

I started my own costume this weekend (finally) It's not like we're down to the wire or anything. *cough*33 days to go*cough*

For those of you who haven't figured us out, this post should do it for you.

I started off by sourcing proper fuel to achieve optimal energy levels for our project.



and dug out a special sewing pattern that had been waiting for just this occaision. Or a 1980s prom. Whichever came up first.



I grabbed some plain fabric and made a mock-up of the bodice (top portion of the dress) to check for fit. I decided to add some length to the bodice, which meant adding length and flaring it out to accomodate my hips. Once I settled on the fit, I recut my pattern out of my lining fabric.



The orange strips are channels for inserting boning - semi-rigid lengths of plastic that will help the top retain it's shape and stay in place - usually, I would put these on the inside of of the lining, but I liked how fun and Halloween-ish the orange polka dot ribbon looked with the purple lining.

From there, I tackled the outside of my bodice, in a nice deep eggplant color (not as dark as the photo appears)



There will be a zipper closure in the back, but I still need to determine how much I need to take it in at the close and attach the skirt before I get to that.

The last step I had planned for this weekend were my personal swim flotation devices (you know, in case we get a deluge of rain like we did in 2007)

Do these give it away yet?



Puffed, fluffed and attached!



I am SO excited with how it is coming together! The skirt will be done this coming weekend - I will need to paint my overlay fabric to get the right effect, so I don't want to feel like I'm rushing it. I'm hoping that with the long weekend, I can get the skirt finished, attached and the zipper put in. Then I'll just be left with my accessories.

Two more pieces of Ryan's costume came in from eBay, a great tuxedo jacket (with tails! very dapper...) and some purple socks. The jacket is a touch snug, but for the price I can't complain too much. I do need to let the sleeves down though, but that's a super quick fix.

So - do you know who we are now?

 

[Abby's Dad]

I do!

 

[abbybeth]

I do!

 

[teekathepony]

Wow, a very productive weekend! On my phone the pictures are too small to really see so I'm withholding my guesses until I see them on the computer later on! Haha

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Love what you did with the flotation devices!! And good call on your fuel for the brain snack! As Heimlich from A Bug's Life once famously said "Ohhhh Candy Coooooorn!"

 

[abbybeth]

Love what you did with the flotation devices!! And good call on your fuel for the brain snack! As Heimlich from A Bug's Life once famously said "Ohhhh Candy Coooooorn!"

LET ME HELP YOU TO FINISH IT!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoIOTnT9fCM

hahahaha, I had forgotten about that gem, thanks!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Your costume is looking great!

Nice use of a floatation device. Remember not to pull the chord until you're outside of a plane, ship or vehicle.

 

[abbybeth]

Your costume is looking great!

Nice use of a floatation device. Remember not to pull the chord until you're outside of a plane, ship or vehicle.

...and do not stop to assist others until you have properly fitted ... oh wait, that's the oxygen mask, not the flotation device.

and thank you! I'm really excited about how it's coming together.

 

[PrincessInOz]

...and do not stop to assist others until you have properly fitted ... oh wait, that's the oxygen mask, not the flotation device.

and thank you! I'm really excited about how it's coming together.

Yes, but it's more fun fiddlin' with the floatation device.

 

[klacey1]

You are so talented!! I wish I could sew-- the costume looks amazing so far!

 

[abbybeth]

Yes, but it's more fun fiddlin' with the floatation device.

so true! plus it helps take your mind off of impending doom!

You are so talented!! I wish I could sew-- the costume looks amazing so far!

thank you! I have some big chunks of time blocked off this weekend to hopefully knock out the rest of the dress itself ... then it'll be on to the accessories!
fingers crossed that what I have in mind will translate ....

 

[Alysa]

Abby - I feel like a moron, I still have not guessed the costume. Can we blame it on my sleep deprived state?

 

[abbybeth]

Abby - I feel like a moron, I still have not guessed the costume. Can we blame it on my sleep deprived state?

Yes, absolutely - you're off the hook! I promise, once you see it all come together alongside a picture of my character it'll make perfect sense!

I'll be posting more costume progress in an update today that might help with the guessing!

 

[abbybeth]

Holy $%& you guys, we go to Disney at the end of this MONTH!

I'm alternatingly bouncing with exciting and shaking with panic. It's crunch time folks and craftiness must be kicked into extreme high gear.

I did not make as much progress as I had hoped on my costume this weekend. Finding balance between my desire to hunker down and sew and being social with Ryan, my family and friends is important and I made some choices to allocate time with all of them this weekend too.

Friday night we watched Michigan State's football game. Ryan is a big fan, as that is where he did his grad degree, so it was important!

Also, our first set of Magic Bands arrived on Friday!!


Saturday we headed out to CrossFit, where we did a workout that was put together to remember the 19 firefighters who passed away in Arizona.



After that I finished quilting the orange & blue baby quilt I've been working on (that needs to be done to gift on Saturday at the shower) and we went out to Bufffalo Wild Wings for a fantasy draft for one of the leagues Ryan is in (umm, the man managed to find himself in 3 different leagues this year....) We ate yummy food and then the girls decided that we needed to do a makeup draft at Ulta and headed out to have our own fun! Much makeup was drafted for our respective teams.

Sunday Ryan had another in-person draft about an hour away, so I set out to tackle the skirt for my costume. I was unable to find fabric that looked even remotely close to what I needed/wanted. That meant that my only choice was the handpaint the fabric myself. I had picked up textile paints in the correct colors a few weeks back, but knew I needed a big block of time to be able to do it. Sadly, it still wasn't enough time and I have 1 of the 3 panels that still needs to be done.

Now, one of the biggest things I don't like about the other DIY costumes I've seen for this character before is how the skirt is handled. The skirts are either painted badly or a replacement fabric is used that just doesn't translate well - in my opinion. It's hard to tell what type of fabric would have been used, since my reference is actually a painting (HINT!!!)

So, I taped my picture up for reference, rigged my fabric to the shower rod and went to town.



I'm painting 3 panels that will ultimately be an overskirt. I'm hoping that this softens the appearance of the paint and gives a look that more closely replicates the painting itself. There will be a solid white underskirt of cotton sateen.

I've also added the upper row of teeth on my alligator...


Sunday night I made paleo "Magic Bars" to take to the gym potluck on Labor Day

They tasted like a brownie base with a coconut topping, but were entirely grain and gluten free and the only added sugar was from raw honey - delicious!

Monday, we worked out and had a potluck at our gym and then headed out to visit my parents for the rest of the day. My mom and I had a specific project planned ...



I scored 9" vinyls at the Disney Outlet for $13.50/each. Now some people might be excited about the weird, creepy looking 50s chick artwork, but in my opinion, I completely understood why it had been on the back of the clearance shelf at the outlet for over a year.

I'm at least glad they were still there by the time I finally got my brilliant idea to alter them! It didn't take much to convince my mom to come along for the ride either, especially since she actually does collect vinylmations!

I wanted to paint them to use for autographs on our trip.

It was really easy, took a few hours of mostly waiting for coats of paint to dry and we LOVE them!

We took them out of their boxes and gave them a wipe down with rubbing alcohol to get rid of any oils, residues and dust.

Then we used Testor's white spray primer to get a clean base



I picked out a nice lime green with a pearl finish for mom's - her favorite color is green - and I decided to try to do an ombre effect in blues for mine.







After the first coat dried, we did a touch up coat on any spots that we missed. We finished it all off with two coats of Testor's spray Matte topcoat.



They're snazzy and ready to go for some character meet & greets!

What did Zoe do all weekend?

 

[Alysa]

I finally know!!!!! What a great idea!!!!

 

[abbybeth]

I finally know!!!!! What a great idea!!!!

YAYY!!!!!!