And We're Back! A look at Animenext 2013 [Image Heavy]

Now that the post-convention-depression is beginning to wear off and I can finally look at sewing machine without wanting to start sobbing uncontrollably again- a very hard condition to deal with when sewing is your day job- I am back and ready to report on Animenext 2013!

Over the years of cosplaying at conventions, I've learned that it is VERY difficult to take pictures of all of the awesome people in awesome costumes you run into. Doubly so when you yourself are an awesome person in an awesome costume. But I did get a fair amount of photos of people I randomly assaulted with 'OMIGOSHTHATSSOCOOLCANIGETAPICTURE?!' while they were busy doing something else.

An Alice from American McGee's
Alice and Alice: Madness Returns.
She made that hobby-horse herself!
AWESOME!

A Sen(Chihiro) and Noh-Face from
Spirited Away one of my favorite movies.

The Phillip in his Donky Kong suit.

And The Phillip out of costume with his childhood hero

At the Chipocrite concert I spotted a Death
from The Sandman comics.

The Phoenix Wright Gang
(The Phillip is gonna laugh at me for not
knowing the characters) 

Dr. Wily, Zero, and Splash Woman from
Megaman.

This guy comes to Animenext EVERY YEAR
and just sits in the outdoor area between the
hotel and convention center and just sings
to himself. I love it! 

A princess Loki. I interrupted her on her
way to lunch....

And princess Avengers I interrupted during lunch, I'm sorry,
ladies, you were just too fabulous to pass up!

Timmy Turner's Dad, in his natural habitat
of cursing Dinkleburg.

Master Roshi and Ox-King from your
varying Dragon Balls.

 We wandered out into the atrium just in time for The Phillip to shove me into a My Little Pony photo shoot.(Coincidence? I doubt it!) Warning: If you aren't familiar with MLP, this may go WAAAAAY over your head.

All the Pegasi- Gala!Dash, Soarin', Scootaloo,
and normal Dash.

Gala!Dash showing off how awesome Tank is...

...and King Sombra tortoise-napping him. 

 Next came the Raritys and lemme tell ya, does one of these thing not belong here or what?

A picture of me in the hotel lobby

The convention was great as it always is. Chipocrite was there again, Uncle Yo was there again, and some obscure J-pop band was the headliner. No idea who they were, but The Phillip and I were in the elevator with them at one point. They were pretty chill.


Unfortunately, I must now find a way to get the purple stains out of my dress and the hurricane rains that was happening on the first day caused the colors to run. Always pre-wash fabrics. Always. 

But, it survived and once I ad more OOMPH to the bustle(and shorten the train a little bit(seriously, people, an entire convention center and two hotels worth of space and you still step on the train!?)) I'll wear it to another convention. The Phillip and I were thinking Comic Con NY or something of the like. We'll see. =)

Been to any recent events? What's an event that you go to every time it rolls around?




Now that I'm back in the blogging game, I may have some stuff to say on The Dowager Dame Facebook Page. Check it out!

Update on Lady Rarity's Dress. [Image Heavy]

So aside from a small ruffle that needs to be added to the hem(Shhh! Don't tell my teacher, she thinks it's 100% done!), The Lady Rarity Dress is complete. And with a week and a half to spare!

Or rather, a week and a half to freak out and panic because the accessories aren't done.

Yup. That's about right.

Here's the dress on Holly, My Slightly-Bigger-Than-Me-Because-No-One-Wants-To-Make-A-Dress-Form-In-My-Size-So-All-My-Outfits-Look-Too-Small dress form.

American Duchess Tavistock Unboxing and Review.

With the making of a new costume comes the excuse to buy myself things. Well, not that you need an excuse to buy yourself a new pair of shoes. Amiright, ladies? ; )

Doing Things The Hard Way...

      I know the three people who follow this blog have been wondering where I've been. Well, I've been busy....

      A perfect storm of Things-Just-Not-Working have set me back a bit. I am trimming the Lady Rarity dress with purple ruffles at the hems and seams. The ruffles at the hems are to themselves be hemmed on the top and bottom edge and the ruffles at the seams would simply be gathered and sewn in.

      I had planned to use my handy-dandy narrow hem presser foot to do this quickly as I've heard wonderful things about it, but alas, I seem to have ordered the union worker of the bunch.... 

Working it's horror on some poor
unsuspecting scrap fabric...

      And by that I mean: This thing wants to work on ITS OWN terms and if you violate that, it will set out to destroy you and everything you have ever planned to accomplish.


      So, I am forced to hem 1/4" on both long edges by hand...


      All 2+ yards of it...


    Yea, remember when I said I've been busy?

It's at least two yards...

      It took me all weekend and then, when I thought I was finally done with this batch(because I still need to do a whole lot more...) I found that my ruffler foot attachment doesn't want to work on my machine anymore. So, several hours of troubleshooting and broken needles later I decided that I'll give it a try at the machines at school. 

      It worked. Sort of.

      The machine kept sputtering and skipping pleats and I wasn't able to finish at least half of the super long ribbon before class ended.

At the moment, I'll continue to fiddle with it and I'll try it out on one more machine before I quit the ruffler foot and gather the old fashion way; Two long stitches and a whole lot of time.


Have any of your sewing projects been halted, postponed or slowed down by technology conspiring against the seamstress?




Humina, humina- What's this? A Dowager Dame, Lady Monroe Facebook page? I know there's a few people who read this page- I know you're out there! I can see the pageviews! YOU CAN'T HIDE FOREVER!- So why not head on down there and drop us a like and a comment?

A Change of Plans.

Now, I've been working on the corset- which is just a bias-taping away from being finished, by the way- I find myself unable to focus on Marceline's 1860's ball gown. Everywhere I looked, another era kept smacking me in the face... with their giant bustles!

Big ol' bustle!

I friggin' love bustles! More specifically, early Bustle Era bustles. I don't know why, they're just awesome! 

I have a mighty WANT. 

And about a year or so ago, I had a great idea for a bustle dress. Using the same pattern and template as the dress I wore to AnimeNext last year. Only, instead of death black on death black on black and white stripes, it was going to me a color scheme of white, purple, and blue.

That's right! In honor of everypony'sbody's favorite fashion designer  I had planned to make an outfit with a purple bustle peaking out from under a white tailed overcoat and a pale blue bustier with shiny rhinestone buttons.

I wanted to make it in time for BronyCon, but alas, it was only one month away and I wasn't feeling like half-assing such an awesome idea and wore the original dress to the convention instead.

And I am glad I made that decision, for now I can make such a dress and make it even better than imagined! It will be worn this June to AnimeNext in place of the ball gown.

Unfortunately, this means I'm putting Marceline's Sort of. I'll still work and report on it, but Rarity's dress will have priority over all else.

Have you ever stopped mid-project to start another? How did both turn out?