First Costume - Visas Marr

[Guest Anonymous]

As of last fall, I'd never sewn anything in my life! I'm somewhat of a perfectionist; I knew this was going to take a while. But I have photos at last... It's just a matter of whether or not these links work. Let me know if they don't - I have to figure out how to post properly sooner or later!

 

Version 1, virtually straight from the pattern

Version 2, a bizarre combo of inner and outer dress as I experimented

[Guest Aysel]

that actually looks much like my dummy attempt and your on the right track. keep it up and you'll have this done in no time

[Guest Anonymous]

Thanks Aysel! I'll post more pics (I have a few problem areas) as soon as I can. You might be a little optimistic on your time estimate though - I began my build before you did! I'm not against reaping the benefits of your trials! I'd been following your build - one thing I want to change about mine is avoiding the princess seam of the inner dress showing through the slit in the overdress.

[Guest Aysel]

I made the whole front skirt panel of the inner dress one piece so I wouldn't have that seam cause I didn't want that either. You'll work it out

[Guest Anonymous]

Nice to hear! As I'm about to launch into a few of my 'issues' it's good to get some encouragement. I think this time I'll limit myself to the sleeve problem. I'm sure many people are very, very familiar with the concept art pic of Visas Marr. I'm not going to post it - you probably will get the point.

I'm on version four or five of the inner dress sleeves. I can't remember exactly. All the modifications you are about to see are drawn freehand by me...usually following the general shape of the original pattern's sleeve cap.

 

This was my first attempt at a dress ever... I probably shouldn't have started fiddling with things yet. What can I say? The difficulty I found was that it was uncomfortable to wear; the upper arm was very tight and it was restricting when I tried to raise my arms. I had no clue how to fix that.

 

I tried anyway! It didn't work out that well, it was still restrictive and I realized that upon closer examination that the sleeves were tapering somewhat unlike Visas Marr. If you look at any comic version pic of her, her sleeves are swirling and volumnious. I realize this may be viable but...

 

This is more along the lines of what I was thinking. Keep in mind this is cotton; the final dress is a heavier cloth. The way there's that small curve in the hem seems more accurate to me. It also opened up the upper arm area to be more loose.

 

Any thoughts? I'm sure I've seen sleeves like the first approved; not so sure about the last. I'm not putting it up here, as I mentioned, but the concept version (for starters) seems to have a different shape than previously observed. Maybe I just have a different way of looking at things! It would solve my problem though!

[Guest Aysel]

the third sleeve looks pretty good. keep in mind that because your interpreting concept art into real life your gonna run into weirdness. The sleeves were one of the parts that I had issues with. I determined that the underside of the sleeve had a slight curve and not a straight seam; Which is how I made mine. It also took me a few tries to get it right. Your on the right track, keep it up and you'll have the shape just right

[Guest Anonymous]

I'm hoping to pull off one more mock-up of the inner dress. But colour-wise, I think I have an acceptable shade for the actual dress; I also have acquired the only possible sash fabric our local store carried.

 

Centre is the inner dress fabric, which I might use inside-out, but the shine isn't too apparent considering. Left is the sash fabric, which looks extremely red in this pic for some reason.

 

A lady working at our local store advised me not to try and dye polyester. She did NOT tell me that there are polyester dyes, which they don't carry and I know nothing about. I've never dyed anything but I don't want to be nearly blind through an entire event!

 

I'd prefer to buy as little online as possible. How close in colour do I have to be? That area should be covered with the gold embellishment anyway.

[Guest Anonymous]

I found a chiffon/gauze is really nice for seeing through. Mine has two layers and (according to my sisters) my eyes can't be seen, but I can see fairly well.

 

Color is actually really important when finding a gauze/chiffon. Even though it does have the design on it, it is still clearly seen. And you need to make sure you have the width of the chiffon exactly long enough for the pattern. Very important .

[Guest Aysel]

if that's polyester ultra suede you can dye it, I did it with mine. just take some navy blue rit dye, do a couple of tests (mine was a 3 min dye) and go for it. since your not changing the color entirely just the shade it can be done. I also am mostly blind without my glasses too I just go with it...and I've done a nighttime parade in this costume.

[Guest Anonymous]

Thanks guys. I'm a little put out at the moment. I went on a bit of a day trip yesterday in search of other fabric stores only to discover that the other chain in my area had closed down over six years ago. That means that whereever I go, the stores all have nearly the same stock. So, no other types of dye, no fabric I haven't already ruled out.

 

But while that royally sucks, I did grab some fabric for a mock-up of the outer dress. Normally I wouldn't dream of spending so much on a mock-up, but I'll reinvent it later for other uses. The thing is, I don't know how much curve, for example, the leatherette will sew into. The princess seams in my cotton mock-up are quite extreme when they join near the arms.

 

The other thing I was wondering about was scaling back the overdress' cap sleeves. They seem a little over the top to me.

[Guest Aysel]

the arm pit area, take out the fabric that's under the arm and that should solve your problem. and try dyeing your belt with some navy blue rit dye for about 3 mins (do a practice piece first) you should get the desired shade of purpley red

[Guest Anonymous]

My belt??? I don't really want to make it much darker. The pics I posted of the fabric comparisons are a little off but I don't think my sash fabric is that orangey. The underdress fabric definitely has a range of colours; it looks quite dark in the photo.

 

 

What I was considering dying would be a piece of different fabric for the see-though part of the veil...

 

And my query about the amount of curve the leatherette would take, was in regard to the front princess seams near the top of the bodice...

[Guest Anonymous]

So now I'm forced to double-post (but not really; it's been long enough it doesn't really count) and while I may not know any more, I'm trying to keep moving forward with this project.

Yesterday, I took another attempt at the veil with a thicker fabric that is more like what I will be using. I was trying to make it a double-layer, bag-type thing. While I realize it wasn't ironed yet (and I'm not sure how well ironing it would come out anyway) you don't see any pics here because - and get this - it did not work!

I was trying to avoid too many visible seams, but all I ended up with was a poofy headpiece, two times heavier, that had curved corners in the front.

I think this is best left as 'an experience' as I'd never done anything with that technique before, and now I have. That said, I don't think I'll be using it for the actual veil. I'll attempt a single layer one as soon as I can. That will make it...what? Version 4.0?

[Guest Anonymous]

Okay, I haven't been neglecting this project, just forgetting to post here! I made a new version of my veil but I'm afraid it may be too long. The pics aren't great, taking them of myself, but on the upside, the elastic I used to hold it on worked better than I'd expected!

 

 

[Guest Anonymous]

That veil looks great! Maybe it is a bit long, but that is not hard to fix . Great job!

[Guest Anonymous]

Yes, well, it's probably too long because I had allowed for a larger seam! I was going to put some weights along the bottom; the fabric's so heavy though, it seems to be doing fine. I suppose the first troop will tell.

 

(Also, I went back and edited the pics on my previous posts, since last time I think I figured out how to make them appear properly. Hopefully without messing anything else up!)

[Guest Anonymous]

I wish I could have found some thicker plastic for this, but I guess we don't always get what we want! Sorry about the flash...

 

 

[Twi'lek Pam]

I'm impressed... those are really clean, even cuts! What did you use to cut the pattern out?

 

Pam

[Guest Aysel]

nice job on your stencil! I think you'll be fine with the plastic you found for this. Just remember to cover the over spray area. I myself used poster board and mine turned out fine

 

() Katie

[Guest Anonymous]

Thanks Aysel. I hope to test it out soon!

 

And Pam, I wish I could say I'd come up with an innovative way to do this, but the process comprised of a dry-erase marker, an exacto knife and an ancient cutting board!

 

 

[Guest Aysel]

now that looks familiar >.< it also brings back the memory of pain in my fingers from my crappy exacto knife. good luck with the next stage of your build

[Guest Anonymous]

I haven't heat-set this yet, and it's looking a little furry, but hey. It's really cool to have it look like a Visas, and not like a nun! I was looking off of Pam's pics for the design, and I realized [explicit word here] that the bottom of my front piece doesn't curve like hers does! But I went ahead and did up two of them (obviously they should be painted before they're put together) because I'd made about four of them. Just by free-handing the design, I came to the conclusion that length-wise, I can't seem to fit the whole design on. Also, it's about 1.5" or not quite, I think.

 

 

[Guest Aysel]

if I remember correctly my design turned out to be about 1.5 inch as well, so on that you should be fine. and don't feel bad if the first or 4th time you sew the veil that it doesn't fit, I think with mine it was the 6th try that actually worked (or maybe more, I can't remember how many dummy ones I made up >.<)

 

So far it's looking pretty good, but you need to take pics of it on you head so you can see how it fits across your face (and so we can see it too

 

Katie

[Guest Anonymous]

Aysel? I already posted pics wearing the same veil I just painted. You want pics after it being painted? It's still too long, and I undid the side hems since. They kept curling weirdly to one side. I think it was because of the tension of the machine stitching. I'll probably slip-stitch it by hand.

Also I mentioned the size because (and I'm definitely not quoting here!) Pam wrote somewhere that she might do 1.25" next time around. Which I might have to do to fit the whole design on there.

[Guest Aysel]

ah same veil, thought it was a different veil, sorry, my mistake. good practice for painting for your final one though. I notice that the face part seems float up away from the top of your forehead line, you should try to bring it in a little more. As for the front part try to shape the sides of the part of the veil next to your face straightish and then the part that the face part is sewn to has a slight curve it'll help with the fall in the front. I hope you can understand that description, if you need a picture I can post one.

 

Katie