Cinderella- The Design

When I first got the request to do a Disney Princess in a new style (such as Steampunk) my original reaction was excitement.  But then...I didn't want to do Steampunk.  It's much too overdone for my preference, and while I love the Victorian elements, there are some elements I'm not a huge fan about.

I had decided upon Cinderella.  Cinderella retellings are usually illustrated with 18th century influences (in regards to clothing). But it is not the only era in which the story is presented. 

Medieval influence:

 

16th century influence:

16th and 17th century influence?  

 17th century influence:

 Victorian influence for Cinderella's dress, but the men seem to be 16th century.

 

 Disney's design of Cinderella's dress is very (in my opinion) Victorian bustle meets 17th century. 

I wanted to deviate from what people except to see when it comes to a Cinderella costume, so I went to the 19th century.  I think Cinderella's story mixes quite well with Regency fashion and ideals, especially romanticism.    But there are very few illustrations that have Cinderella in Regency inspired clothing.

Hillary Knight's Cinderella is a bit later than the time period I wanted to highlight (1810s ish), especially the Godmother's sleeves, but still closer than most of the other pictures I found.

 

This book is exactly the time period I wanted, but I am not a huge fan of the illustrations.  They didn't have the right feel.

Why the Regency?   I think Cinderella's character is a mix between Marienne Dashwood (from Sense and Sensibility) and Fanny Price (from Mansfield Park).  Marienne has such romantic sensibilities, as does Cinderella, and the way Fanny is treated by her relatives echoes Cinderella's relationship with her step mother and sisters.

But, like Steampunk, I did not want to base my design purely on the Regency Era.  Steampunk takes the Victorian Era and the idea that steam is used to power all industry and melts it into a fictional clothing style.  I still needed that element that would make the design slightly "steam-y".  I needed something to tie in the fantasy world of Cinderella.  A world where a mother's spirit who lives in a tree can make your ball dress and give you transportation.

In earlier, non Disney versions of the story Cinderella's mother's grave is beneath a tree.   The tree is a source of comfort for poor Cinderella.  In these versions of the story it is her mother who makes her a ball gown, and not a Fairy Godmother.  I wanted to incorporate the tree, her mother's spirit, and Cinderella's tears into my design concept.

Unfortunately I am so booked with commissions right now I will not be able to dedicate time to a TT each month.  Instead I am sneaking snatches of time between each commission to work a bit on TTs.  I don't know when I will finish this ensemble, but when I do- there will be pictures!

Mai fron Avatar: The Last Airbender

Between juggling a full-time job, not being single anymore, and floods of commissions I haven't had much time to devote to projects I've promised to do for this blog :/  I am super grateful for the commission work, and I adore the guy I'm with, but it does limit my time.  Thus...January's Thrifty Thursday is a biiiiit late.  And February's probably will be too :/ Sorry! 

But that doesn't mean I'm not excited about them!  I got a recommendation to do a recreation of a princess.  She suggested steampunk, but I have decided upon Neo Regency.  I already have all the supplies.  It's taunting me from the corner of the room.  Sew faster....sew faster.

But for now- here is January's Thrifty Thursday.

Snow Queen

This weekend I finally got around to doing a photo shoot with my Thrifty Thursday, Ballet-inspired design: The Snow Queen.  The costume was created from $20 worth of Goodwill items.  For more about the costume click here.

Hakama Pattern

Let me start out this post by saying- I now have MASSIVE amounts of respect for Ancient Japanese seamstresses.  Figuring out how to draft a hamaka has been one of the most difficult things I have done.

Holy pots of boiling water.  Difficult.  Like HOURS and HOURS of drafting.  

Anyway.  Because I worked so hard figuring out what to do, I decided to post the pattern here.  The pattern is fitted to a 5’4” female with bust:34”, waist: 24”, hips: 35”.  If you are this same size, then GREAT!  If not the pattern won’t work for you.  But…you may absolutely ask any questions and I will attempt to answer them the best that I can.

I was working off two tutorials.  If you are trying to make a hamaka as well, I suggest looking at these before going any further.  

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/56928382765592664/

http://thecosplaychronicles.blogspot.com.es/2010/11/how-to-cosplay-making-hakama-simple-way.html

First let me explain why I had such trouble.  The video from The Cosplay Chronicles helped a GREAT deal with how the folding goes, but her measurement formulas just didn’t work for me.

The pinned pattern has measurements, but they are HUGE.  I would have swam in them.

So these are the pattern pieces I came up with.

They don’t look difficult.  They look simple.  I can pleat stuff in my sleep, but pleats that have to fold into pleats onto the other side of the body…WHAT?!  The result is gorgeous.  Beautiful.  But wow was it difficult to wrap my head around drafting-wise.

Just because I was paranoid I cut out a scaled paper version of the hamaka, folded, and taped it together.  It looks good…now to try it with fabric!

 So why am I doing this?  I recently started watching Avatar and I LOVE IT.  Mai's costume called to me, so for January's Thrifty Thursday I am making her costume.  For those of you not familiar with Mai, there are some pictures (none of which I own) :)

Thrifty Thursday - Snow Queen

This time of year is always quite busy for me, so instead of doing a November and December TT I decided to combine them into one.

I have been so inspired by ballet costumes recently.  They fascinate me.  Structured, boned bodices that move with the dancers.  Ornate, full skirts.  The way the costumes move with the dancers.  It is fantastic.  And brilliant.

I also have been yearning for the snow, because let's face it...AZ gets robbed during the holidays.  No. Snow.  Every year I gaze longingly at photographs of Christmas trees buried in snow.  These two obsessions came together to make this Thrifty Thursday Snow Queen dress.

My desire is to take a trip to Flagstaff during Christmas break (hopefully it will finally snow...) so I can get some good pictures of the dress against the snow.  Fingers crossed that it actually snows enough to stay on the ground!

As usual I bought $20 of things from Goodwill to make this dress.

A red tree skirt, a gray silk dress, white chiffon tablecloth, white damask tablecloth, and gray bias cut dress.

 I also went to Joanns and got some flowers and such to make a crown and a bouquet.  If you never have seen Angela's sewing blog, you should take a look.  Her original designs are gorgeous, and I am always in awe of her headpieces.  So I took a cue from her and decided to make one with this outfit.

These are just a few of her AMAZING creations.  Click here to visit her page.

Here are my crown, bouquet, and cape:

Fingers crossed that it snows soon!  If it doesn't I may just have to take pictures in a lot of Christmas trees...

Thrifty Thursday- Witch

It's October!!!  Probably pretty easy to guess, but October is my favorite time of month.  Not only is it Fall, which I love- PUMPKINS!!!!- but my favorite holiday is during this month!

<3 Halloween

I get a biiiiiit carried away.  This year I told myself...ONE costume.  One.  Not two.  Not three... ONE.

Surprise!  I have three now.  Or I have the supplies for three, I have not finished making them yet.

For October's Thrifty Thursday I decided to do an original piece- a witch.  It is 1700s inspired with a flair of medieval and a spot of modern appeal.  Everything I got was from Goodwill for under $20.

I got a braided leather pillow, a yard of pleather, a purple chiffon beaded...thing, a black sheet, a creepy bouquet, and an awesome print bed skirt.

I started on the two underskirts first- making one from the black sheet and one from the bed skirt.  The pleather and woven leather were used for a corset.

 

I drafted the pattern on some leftover sheets.

 And pieced it all together...

 Done!

And then I made a hat! Because no witch is complete without her hat!

I made the inside of the hat a biiiiit too tight for my head, I have to really pull it down, but it works :D  At least it wont fall off when I am riding my broom!

My handy dandy photographer was away when I decided to take pictures, so I had to get really fancy with the method of self-timing on my phone.  But here are some of the pictures of the full outfit!