Torchwood Costumes

So Matt is thinking about making a John Hart costume from Torchwood, and I'd like to come up with a cool Torchwood costume as well.  Gwen's costumes are all totally boring; plus, I don't like her.



So I was thinking of a few that I could possibly do:


Alice Guppy - Torchwood operative from the early 1900's.  She and Emily are the ones who originally found Jack; after torturing him, they recruited him as a freelance agent.   After John Hart buried Jack, Alice is one of the agents who discovered him. So that's kind of appropriate.  However, someone has already done a TERRIFIC Alice Guppy, and I hate doing repeats of really good costumes.  Although, honestly, I really want to do a costume that can be photographed at the Peabody Mansion, and this would be perfect ...



Then there's Diane Holmes, who appeared in Out of Time.  Owen fell in love with her, but that's not why I like her.  I absolutely love her jacket!  I think this is the costume I'm leaning towards the most, just because I think it will be the less stressful one to make!


I could make Emma-Louise's costume for the same reason - I just adore her clothes!

Or, I could do a Buffy crossover and go as Drusilla ...

More of Belle's Cape

Tonight I was working on Christmas stuff and watching Prince Caspian, and I really felt like doing my favorite thing in the whole wide world - ripping.  So, I took Belle's cape off the dummy, grabbed my seam ripper, got comfy, and ripped the sides of the capelet while Disney took massive liberties with the second Narnia film.  Not that I mind that as much as the horrible ice river collapsing scene in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, which was just bloody awful.  I have less issues with the liberties taken in the second film because I'm not a huge fan of Prince Caspian.  I kind of don't understand the point of bringing the Pevensies back, they play such a tiny role in the book.

Also, I really love Susan's dresses.  I can't wait to remake the leather corset and assemble new maile.

I digress.

I ripped and refitted the capelet, so hopefully it now will less ginormous.  While it seems to sit pretty well just with the pins, I probably won't get around to sewing it for a few more days.

Also, I purchased 8 yards of baby blue velvet (closest color I could get within my price range, as this isn't a "real" costume) for my Eowyn robe.  It was on sale for $4.79/yard, regularly priced $7.89/yard.  I had budgeted $60 for the costume, and so far, I've only spent about $39.  I won't have to buy more fake fur, as the only fur is really around the collar.  I'm trying to decide what to do for the cream lining - fleece?  Flannel?  I'll probably wait until I have the outer layer done so I know exactly how many yards to get, since I estimated on the velvet (those sleeves are HUUUUGE).

I'm excited to be working on costumes again.  I've been getting inspired by The Ornamented Being blog.  Check it out if you've never heard of it.  You'll be saying, "I want to make that ... and that ... and that ... and that ..."

I really should be working on Christmas gifts ...

... but I have gotten the cosplay bug again since leading the Costuming Basics panel at ChicagoTARDIS, and now I want to research some Lord of the Rings costumes!  Someone please drag me away from the computer!  Since I'm a brunette, it makes more sense to make an Arwen costume, but everyone has done her costumes to death.  Plus, there aren't any of her costumes that I just absolutely love.

I'd like to do Arwen's riding outfit for the sole reason of having photos done on my friend's horse, but Kate from www.silivren.com made it perfectly and way better than I ever could.  Check out all of her other LOTR costumes here.  The detail that she includes in her work is breathtaking!

Nadine from Celtic Ruin's Costumes made a gorgeous Elrond costume.  This photo does not do it justice, but here is some detail from the back.  Nadine and Kate lead a LOTR Costuming panel at Dragon*Con each year, and I was just drooling over the detail on all the costumes that they create.  They do a fantastic job on their panel, too, so if you're at Dragon*Con, be sure to check them out.  You'll learn so much, even if you're an experienced costumer.

This year their friend Dustin was there in his Aragorn outfit, and I again was drooling over the level of detail that was put into the leatherwork.  I'm so mad that the shot wasn't in focus, but you get the idea - this costume is absolutely gorgeous.  I don't even want to know how much money it took to create the entire thing, as I know that my Queen Susan costume was hundreds of dollars, and I didn't even use real leather.

If I ever do a LOTR dress, I'd probably want to do this Eowyn dress.  I absolutely love it, and I prefer dark colors to anything too light.

However, the thought of making Eowyn's armor makes me want to jump up and down.  If I did this costume, I know that Matt would want to make Eomer's costume to compliment it.  He's wanted to make Eomer's armor from the first time we saw the film.  Again, both costumes would require extensive leatherwork.  I wonder if we can take classes in leatherwork around here?

I also love this robe, which Eowyn wears in the extended edition when she dreams about Numenor, and I would love to make it, but only to lounge around the house in!  Doesn't it just look so comfortable?

For now, these are just dream costumes.  I'll have to get more freelance jobs before I can even start to seriously think about making any of these!  In the meantime, I'll be ordering new rings to remake my Queen Susan chain maile.

I love this dress ...

I had to post this -  I absolutely love this dress!  It's in the commercial for the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.

Shadow Weaver

I often run across costumes that I'd like to make, and one that I've been considering for a while is Shadow Weaver, one of the villains on She-Ra.  I think I may make this for Dragon*Con next year!