Tag Archives: Costume College

Costume College 2018 – The Big Post!

Posted on September 11, 2018 by freshfrippery

I shared pictures of my own costume line-up in my previous post, so here are some of the many clever, beautiful, and wonderful costumes I saw at Costume College this year! (For those of you that don’t know, CoCo is a 4-day costuming conference filled with classes of all types for various skill levels, with social events in the evening. It takes place in a hotel in Woodland Hills, California). There were 650 attendees, so this is only a small fraction of what I saw.

THURSDAY

The first day (evening) of CoCo kicks of with picking up our registration packets, then heading to the pool party. I’m afraid the lighting around the pool is not conducive to photos, but the quality of my pictures does improve over the weekend. =) This year’s theme was “In the Realm of the Goblin King.” Here I am with Gloria as the DC Bombshells Catwoman.

I was amazed by the details in these Prince Nuada and Princess Nuala costumes from “Hellboy: The Golden Army.”

I loved this rendition of the Paper Bag Princess by Carolyn.

Terri as a mouse from Cinderella was absolutely adorable!

Tanya wore a lovely monarch butterfly ensemble.

This Medusa with the light-up eyes was amazing!

The rest of my Thursday night photos are on this Flickr album.

FRIDAY DAYTIME

The ever-lovely Merja in her 18th century!

Amanda was sporting a pretty ensemble, complete with a Burnley and Trowbridge handkerchief.

Rebecca was perfect in 1890s.

I spotted Mena in vintage and Gina in sailor!

Nicole, Lauren, and Natalie were having a great time! (I have a series of not-so-serious photos of these ladies).

Sherry looked so relaxed in her tropical outfit. I adored her necklace.

And our brave adventurers! (Photo by Gloria of In the Long Run). 29122203937_6343cbca72_o

FRIDAY EVENING

The Friday night social brought out a lot of fancy outfits!

Here’s Abby looking sassy.

Vanessa looked so regal.

Jez did an amazing Gamagori cosplay!

Ginger had a beautiful Regency ensemble with a diadem.

Jennifer did one of those crazy English regency court gowns!

A showstopper from Emily.

Breanna hand-painted this gown to recreate the famous Schiaparelli lobster dress!

I finally got to see Adria’s Her Universe fashion show entry “Rebellion Reborn” as well! Definitely check out her Instagram for better pictures of this amazing beaded and feathered ensemble!

Kelsey is always a vision in pastels.

Elizabeth’s Crimson Peak dress had so many beautiful details!

And Adrienne was appropriately creepy as well, with her hand-formed leaf details.

I have a detailed breakdown of my Crimson Peak costume for a future post.

The rest of my Friday photos are in this Flickr album.

SATURDAY DAYTIME

I didn’t take a lot of Saturday daytime photos because I was busy with classes and my Maid Brigade meet up (photos by Gloria of In the Long Run). 29171653207_38c272ae40_o

Since we have been called each other’s names repeatedly throughout the years at CoCo and other costume events on both the West and East coasts, for your reference from left to right, with links to our Instagram and blog names: Vivien of Fresh Frippery, Christine of Sewstine, A.J. of Confused Kitty, Ashley of Evil Sewing, Adrienne of Wax Sealed Costumes, and Gloria of In the Long Run. 29171655517_4eebc81c1e_o 43390886044_c2d000176a_o 43390881224_8bc0636c97_o

SATURDAY EVENING

The theme was “Royals” so there were plenty of people pulling out all the stops! (Please keep in mind not everyone attends the gala, and plenty of people dress casually and watch the red carpet as paparazzi, and the royals theme encouraged over-the-top costumes. These outfits are not representative of everyone or every year, so don’t think you have to “costume at a certain level” to attend Costume College!)

First up, my friend Kelsey in her amazing Queen Amidala! She spent so much time on all these details, hand-beading her gown!

Natalie’s court presentation gown was absolutely gorgeous.

Lauren and Emily had fun with the bourdaloue.

Karen’s Alien Queen was so creative and wonderful.

Katherine’s 1920s Cersei was lovely!

Aimee’s Grandmaster was a hoot.

There were some amazing queens.

Stephanie, Jessie, and Kim made a beautiful trio.

I loved Maria’s Mayan wedding ensemble and her detailed explanation of it!

Check out all the details of Twila’s 1924 Viola Dana costume!

Beth looked gorgeous!

Behold some impressive royalty from Atlantis!

The Homemade Historian and Seamingly Vintage were 1950s beauties!

Ashley’s dress reminded me of candy!

The rest of my Saturday photos are in this Flickr album.

SUNDAY

The last day of CoCo started out with a line to get into the bargain basement! It’s a can’t-miss for me each year; I always find something interesting to take home and the proceeds from the donated items go to the Costume College scholarship fund.

I skipped the tea this year but there were many delightfully dressed attendees. I thought Val’s chess costume was very clever.

Tanya’s dragonfly suit and clever lilypad fascinator made up a chic ensemble.

There were some ladies who decided to do a “Dress of Wrong” theme, using non-historically correct fabrics to make a historically correct silhouette. These 18th century outfits by Gretchen (Strawberry Shortcake) and by Taylor (Beauty and the Beast) were part of this group.

Some people opted for stylish comfort during Sunday. Kelsey sported a glamorous vintage PJ ensemble.

Natalie’s robe volante was a big fluffy pink sack of silk!

The rest of my Sunday photos are in this Flickr album.

Thanks for reading; that was a lot of photos! I’m looking forward to the fabulous fun of next year!

If you are interested in attending Costume College next year, take a look at their website. You can also ask questions on the Facebook forum. The classes change every year and will be announced later. Don’t worry about being “good enough.” Many people do not dress up for the classes and not everyone attends the evening costume socials. There are attendees of every skill level and interests vary from cosplay to historical costume to vintage to steampunk! Come join us and have a wonderful time!

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Posted in Costume College 2018, Uncategorized and tagged costume, Costume College, Costume College 2018, sewing. Bookmark the permalink.

Costume College 2018 Outfit Recap

Posted on August 10, 2018 by freshfrippery

I went a little overboard at Costume College this year and brought 8 costumes. Originally I thought I’d just dress up for the evening events and then bring some vintage dresses for casual daywear. Then I got recruited into various group costumes and things snowballed from there . . . I’ll be following up this post with more featuring the costumes worn by the other talented individuals at Costume College, but for now, here is my parade!

At the Thursday Night Pool Party the theme was “In the Realm of the Goblin King,” so of course I had to dress as Jareth! Elizabeth was my baby Toby.

The boots are American Duchess Tavistocks and the blouse is a vintage Gunne Sax. Everything else was cobbled together from modern clothes.

On Friday I wore my Victorian bicycling outfit with the “Adventurer’s” group of sporting ladies.

Friday night I wore my Crimson Peak Edith picnic outfit, along with my Elizabeth as another version of Edith, and Adrienne as our “sister-in-law” Lucille. I’ve worn this outfit before but it wasn’t fully finished then. I’ve made a number of upgrades and will be making a more detailed construction post on the blog.

It was a delightful surprise to even get some kudos on Instagram from Kate Hawley, costume designer for Crimson Peak!

On Saturday I was a member of a surprise group of Downton Abbey maids. It was decided I was the “head maid” since I had the most lace, and our pregnant friend Christine played the part of “the fallen maid” that got a little too friendly with the young master of the house.

We passed out buttons as prizes to people who could identify us correctly. (As Asian costumers we’ve experienced people calling us by each others names at conventions for years, so we thought it’d be fun to dress alike this year). Christine also made embroidered patches for us to wear with this same design.

Saturday night was the grand gala! I have so many wonderful pictures for a future post, but here I am in my Vice Admiral Holdo, along with my brilliant friend Kelsey in her Queen Amidala.

On Sunday I wore a vintage peignoir with feather trim over a black nightgown, and joined other ladies wearing their glamorous “Sunday undies.”

For the rest of the day on Sunday I rewore my vintage-style Star Wars First Order uniform, with a new purse and re-tailored collar. I had the privilege of a photoshoot with Gloria of In the Long Run, and here is a preview image I received. I can’t wait to see the final photos!

Adrienne also took this slow-motion villain cape action video. (Click on the link, not the photo). https://www.instagram.com/p/Bl2G7-vDvse/?taken-by=freshfrippery

For those of you keeping track, outfit #8 was a fuzzy Totoro kigurumi (which I forgot to photograph). It was very useful during the evenings when I wanted to feel cozy. (FYI, for anyone feeling a little unease, I am an outlier that brings more costumes than average. You are absolutely not required to dress all day, every day for CoCo. Many people attend classes in jeans, and not every attends the evening social events).

I had an incredible time at Costume College! Stay tuned for more posts featuring other costumers.

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Posted in Costume College 2018, Crimson Peak, Downton Abbey, Geekery, Victorian and tagged Cosplay, costume, Costume College, Costume College 2018, edwardian, sewing, Star Wars, Victorian. Bookmark the permalink.

1660s Cavalier Dress at Costume College (and Bonus: Hacking the American Duchess 18th Century Undergarments Pattern to Make a 17th Century Chemise)

Posted on September 3, 2017 by freshfrippery

I now have photos for my 1660s Cavalier dress from official Costume College photographer Andrew Schmidt, as well as a great group photo of the rest of my Cavalier ladies! IMG_4216-(ZF-7662-83598-1-001)

You can see my previous posts about this project under the tag “Cavalier” but if you keep reading I will discuss the things that went wrong with this project, and what I would do differently in the future, so you can learn from my mistakes! IMG_4217-(ZF-7662-83598-1-002)

I am very happy with how our group turned out, with the variety of colors, trimming, and hairstyles. Left to right, back to front: me, Teresa, Cate, Kim, Jessie, and Elizabeth. IMG_4211-(ZF-7662-83598-1-003)

I used the Nehelenia 1660 Baroque dress pattern. This era is completely new to me, and I have no experience with this shape of the bodice, so I followed all the instructions. This included making bound bodice tabs (similar to 18th century stays, seen below) to help distribute the weight of the skirt, and sewing all the bodice pieces of the fashion fabric together before attaching it to the boned interlining.

These steps may be period correct, but created some extra work and issues, so I have some comments about what I would do differently if I made another dress of this style:

No tabs! Anyone who has made stays knows how time-consuming it is to bind them! Since my skirt was a lightweight taffeta, I could have skipped the tabs and pleated the skirt directly to the bodice and saved a lot of time. (I would not recommend this for a heavy skirt like velvet or brocade). Dressing would have been much easier too, since I would have had a one-piece dress to slip over my undergarments. Instead, I had to make sure the front tab was over my skirt, while my back and side tabs were underneath my skirt, while my bum roll was over my bodice back tabs but under my skirt. It took some help getting dressed!
Do not finish the fashion layer before sewing it to the interlining. I had some problems with wrinkling in the bodice. I think it would have helped if I sewed the fashion fabric to the interlining, and then sewed each pattern piece together (the way 18th century stays are made). This would have reduced the wrinkling and wiggling. I talked to someone else at the Gala who was also wearing a 1660s gown, and hers was so smooth! She said she sewed the bodice the way she would a pair of stays.
Maybe skip the cartridge-pleating. I love tiny cartridge pleats; they look delightful and neat. I am glad I did them for this dress, but for speed in the future I would probably do larger pleats to save time. I ended up spending so much time on them that I was not able to do my eyelet closures before a medical procedure made it impossible for me to sew, and recovery took longer than expected so I had to be sewn into my dress at CoCo! (I can’t remember the last time I showed up at an event without closures, but it’s a humbling reminder that life sometimes intervenes.)

Some of my problems may have been attributable to my use of silk taffeta instead of a thicker silk satin, but I wanted to use what I had in my stash, and the skirt was so light and lovely to wear.

I made the jewelry out of giant acrylic pearls, strung with fishing line. Glass pearls would have been lovely, but very heavy, and since I was going to pin the drape directly to a silk taffeta dress with a silk gauze neckline, I wanted it lighter.

Bonus: Hacking the American Duchess 18th Century Undergarments Pattern to Make a 17th Century Chemise)

I promised a pattern hack in the title, and here it is! This 17th century dress required an off-the-shoulder chemise, which I did not have. I also did not want to draft one from scratch, so I hacked the American Duchess 18th Century Undergarments pattern (Simplicity 8162). This is what the original pattern looks like: 8162

Ignoring the ruffles, you have a body panel with a shoulder strap, a sleeve gusset for the underarm, and a square sleeve that is folded to form a tube.

However, what if you fold down the shoulder strap, shift the sleeve and gusset down, and double the size of the sleeve piece to make it fuller? (Previously you cut a square that became a tube, now you cut a large rectangle that becomes a square).

This is the shape you get:

Add a drawstring neckline, and you get an off-the-shoulder chemise!

Please note, my sleeves are a bit shorter than what you see historically. A proper 17th century chemise would have had much longer and exaggerated sleeves. I made these shorter for several reasons:

I plan to reuse this with other gowns where a billowy chemise sleeve would be inconvenient.
The portrait I am using as inspiration has an exposed chemise sleeve made of finer materials than the linen I used, plus little ribbon ties; thus I made false sleeves that can be attached to my black bodice that will allow for nicer fabric and no need to fuss with tying bows each time I wear it.

So, if you do not have the reasons enumerated above, you should quadruple (not double) the original sleeve pattern into a giant square, not a rectangle.

(Yes, those are green and purple crayons because my child left them next to my computer and I was too lazy to go looking for nicer writing implements).

Final reckoning: Let’s tally up!

10 yards of 35″ black silk taffeta: $49.90 + $8.75 shipping = $58.65 (Yay for fabulous sales from FabricMart!)
Nehelenia pattern: $23.96 including shipping (I ordered with a few other ladies and split the postage from Europe)
Lining and boning: $0 (left over from my 18th century stays project)
2 yards linen (for chemise) and 1 yard silk gauze (for bodice neckline): $23.94 including tax and shipping from Dharma Trading (I ordered double that but am setting the rest aside for a different project, so I’m halving the cost)
1 yard silk cotton blend for lower sleeves: $17.99 from Amazon
120 giant pearls: $11.28 from Aliexpress
2 brooches: $5.40 from Aliexpress
2 “small spiral corkscrew” cheerleading/Irish dancing hair clips: $43.11 including shipping from eBay seller american_costumes
Ribbon, thread, hooks and eyes, polyfill for the bumroll, etc. from stash ~$5?

Total: $189.33

So the silk was cheap, but all the extras added up! Normally I do not count accessories and hairpieces, but in this case they are very specific to this era and the portrait inspiration, and they’re not very versatile for other eras.

Finally of course, as always, my shoes are American Duchess. They are the Pompadour French Court Shoes in black (affiliate link).

Screen Shot 2017-09-03 at 9.55.04 PM

This was a long post, so thanks for reading!

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Posted in 1660s Cavalier, Costume College, Costume College 2017, Uncategorized and tagged 1660s, black, Cavalier, costume, Costume College, Costume College 2017, historical, sewing, silk. Bookmark the permalink.

Regency / Napoleonic Court Gown and Train at Costume College 2017

Posted on August 19, 2017 by freshfrippery

I received my photos from the official Costume College photographer Andrew Schmidt so I can show you my complete Regency/Napoleonic court gown and train ensemble!*

* A note about terminology: Technically, English Regency court gowns were a really odd silhouette where you had the high waist but very wide shape, and French gowns of the Napoleonic period had the more columnar shape, so my whole outfit is French style. However, for simplicity in some of my past posts I have been using the term “Regency” because I can wear my gown without the formal court train. IMG_3396-(ZF-3567-92908-1-002) IMG_3397-(ZF-3567-92908-1-003)

I love this view of the back. Thanks Mr. Schmidt for making sure the circle was laid out nicely! IMG_3399-(ZF-3567-92908-1-001)

I have made a number of posts about the construction process of the dress and train and you can find them under the Napoleonic tag on my blog, but I will summarize a few main points here.

For the dress I used the Butterick B6074 pattern, with some modifications (described in previous posts). The dress is made out of a mint green chiffon with white cotton voile lining, and the fancy layer on top is a heavily embellished net with embroidery and several types of sequins, beads, and faux pearls. I had a few questions about whether I used a sari. It is not a sari, but a bridal lace from Fabric Wholesale Direct. Here is a close-up of the fabric before I cut it out:

For the court train I used the Butterick B4890 Josephine pattern, but I modified it to have straps instead of a bodice back. The train is made with silk velvet, lined with a linen/cotton blend, and edged in a gold-tone netting lace. The front underbust strap is closed with a vintage brooch that I found on eBay.

My pearl necklace and earrings were made by Gloria of In The Long Run Designs, whose Etsy shop is full of beautiful historical jewelry!

Photo by In The Long Run Designs

My regency diadem was made by me using brass lamp banding and faux pearls. (I posted about a party where I made some other diadems here).

This whole outfit was really heavy and became quite uncomfortable to wear by the end of the evening! I’m glad it was worn for only a few hours at the Friday Night Social. The dress is heavily beaded and sequined, and the train is quite heavy too, and unlike a Victorian outfit where I can have a corset and hoops to help support the weight, everything was supported by my shoulders.

Here’s a quick twirling video here where you can see the dress sparkle!

So, what’s the final tally of what everything cost? This was my “splurge” project for the year so it cost more than my usual outfits, but I think this one was worth it!

Dress:

3 yards beaded lace (from Fabric Wholesale Direct): $149.85
3 yards mint chiffon (from FWD): $7.47
3 yards white cotton voile (from FWD): $11.97
Thread and fishing line (from stash)

Total = $0 (All the fabric for this dress was a gift from Fabric Wholesale Direct in exchange for a tutorial you can see on their website. Thanks FWD!)

Court train:

6 yards silk velvet (from Amazon, affiliate link): $113.84 (I used 5 yards)
5 yards linen/cotton lining (from Renaissance Fabrics): $32.50 + tax and shipping = $43.59
10 yards lace (from Aliexpress): $34.94 (I only use half, and sold the remainder)
Pattern (from eBay): $7.59
Brooch (from eBay): $3.84 (yay no one else bid on it)
Button cover kit (leftover from another project): $0
Button loops (braided from random string I found in my house): $0

Train total = $203.80

Ouch, that’s a bit of a splurge, but it’s not terrible considering I have a lot of huge scraps of silk velvet left over, and can probably make a 1920s dress with some careful cutting, so I can get two dresses out of that price!

Tiara: The cost of this is a little tricky to calculate, because a lot of the supplies I bought in bulk, used to make other tiaras, and shared with friends. I think if you shop right and share with friends you can make one for $30 depending on how fancy you get with beads, pearls, or gemstones. A big part of the cost is buying the brass online and paying for shipping.

Brass banding: Etsy or lamp supply stores
Faux pearls and head pins: eBay or Michael’s
Metal hair combs: Amazon or beauty supply shops

My shoes were Pemberly Regency slippers from American Duchess (affiliate link) that I previously owned. I am also wearing short stays and a corded petticoat (not period correct, but needed to support the weight of the dress).

So in total, this ensemble will cost you about $400 of materials (not including accessories), but represented a little more than $200 out of pocket, with enough leftovers to make a second dress, so not too bad! I try to keep most gowns $100 or less, so this was my “big project” for the year.

I am very happy with how this court outfit turned out, especially how the mint and rose color combination worked together, and how the accessories completed the look. It’s also always nice too when a dress looks good from the back as well! IMG_3399-(ZF-3567-92908-1-001)

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Posted in Costume College 2017, Regency and tagged costume, Costume College, Costume College 2017, court, court dress, historical, Napoleonic, regency, sewing. Bookmark the permalink.

Costume College Recap (Part 2)

Posted on August 13, 2017 by freshfrippery

If you missed it, Part 1 (Thursday/Friday) of the Costume College Recap can be found here.

On Saturday I took several classes: Fashions of Versailles (Rise Reading); The King of Fashion: Paul Poiret (Adam Lid); and Intro to Arduino, Sensors and Programmable LEDS.

For the daytime I wore something quick and easy, a vintage 60s wool cheerleading uniform that fit the theme. I accessorized with a modern band hat and gogo boots.

Ginger looked lovely in green Regency!

Molly of Avant Garbe looked lovely in her Eliza Schuyler-inspired gown.

And I ran into these two cuties that were just finishing breakfast! Ashley (of fishnetvanity) and Twila (of twilatee).

Elizabeth (peachassassin) was #bigpimpin in her brocade outfit.

Saturday night was the Red Carpet and Gala dinner. There were so many incredible costumes I could not capture them all or post them here, but please see my Flickr album for more!

I wore 1660s with my Cavalier ladies (Teresa, Jessica, Elizabeth, Cate, and Kim). I loved the variety of colors in our group! (I’ll post more about my outfit later, with construction notes and what I want to change for the future!)

Natalie (frolicking_frocks) wore an amazing Cersei dress with embroidery she did by hand!

We couldn’t resist taking photo in our matching villainous black and chest jewelry.

Christine (of sewstine) and her husband wore these incredible silk frock coats! Christine sewed the outfits and did hundreds of hours of machine embroidery! Be sure to check out her IG account for more photos. I could not do the outfits justice with my camera and poor lighting.

A group of us (me with Christine, Bunny, AJ, and Gloria) posed for a photo to prove we are all different people. Yes, we are constantly referred to by each other’s names at CoCo.

Elvis (really Jez) was in the house!

Kelsey (irreverentvintagegirl) was in a gorgeous vintage 60s evening gown, with perfect hair and makeup.

Christina of the Laced Angel wore a Hamilton extra outfit and Curtis looked dashing in his banyan.

Jessica had an impressive reproduction of the coronation gown for Empress Elisabeth of Austria. Be sure to read her summary here!

The girls of American Duchess looked splendid as always, with Lauren in her Robe a la Turque and Abby in a frothy pink and white 1760s Robe a la Francaise.

Breanna of Mothball Fleet was adorable as always.

Rebecca was a stunner in blue!

After a long day and evening people started collapsing into cupcakes on the ground . . .

Or into sleepy kigurumis like Lauren.

The next day we woke up early to make it down to the Bargain Basement. I got so many lovely things there I will have to make a separate post later. I was too busy with shopping and my classes that I didn’t take many photos.

First I took an amazing lecture from Leimomi Oakes called “Tapa Cloth and Tiki Attire: The Pacific Influence on Fashion.” After a quick lunch break I went to my limited class “Making the Phantom Bustle” with Christina DeAngelo, and then later her great overview lecture “Beyond the Lobster Tail Bustle,” where she provided many examples of bustles.

This is Christina telling us not to hit each other with dowels in the limited class.

Kelsey looked wonderful in 18th century!

I dressed casually on Sunday because I had class and tear-down of my costume display, but here is a bonus picture of me with Breanna in matching clothes from Wearing History, checking out of the hotel on Monday.

One of the last costume pictures I took at CoCo was of Nicole (silk_and_buckram) and Lauren (markslauren) in bright green. What a way to end another fabulous CoCo!

To those of you that I met at Costume College, welcome to my blog! If you found me through my Instagram account (@freshfrippery) thank you for following! I got lots of new followers and I’m still sorting through which accounts are legit and which are spam, so please send me a DM there if I met you in real life and haven’t followed you back. Thank you!

Costume College Recap (Part 1)

Posted on August 4, 2017 by freshfrippery

I am back and mostly unpacked from Costume College. It was so much fun and so much happened I will have to break everything up into multiple posts: Thursday/Friday recap, Saturday/Sunday recap, final details and summary about my Napoleonic ensemble, final post about my Cavalier dress, and a “loot” post about the goodies and antiques I managed to snag from the dealer’s hall and bargain basement. You have been warned!

I traveled down on Thursday with Natalie (frolicking_frocks) and Kelsey (irreverentvintagegirl).

After checking in and unpacking we ran over to the exhibit hall, where I was invited to display my Lady Tremaine costume. There were other really talented costumers in the room so please see my Flickr account for more photos!

My travel companions helped me dress and pad the mannequin, plus make boob-arms.

Later that night at the pool party my 1940s Star Trek group had a revival, with a new addition of a galaxy by Christina of The Laced Angel.

We passed out custom badge ribbons.

I didn’t take many photos at the pool party because of the lighting, but look at these great Reys!

Friday started out with fun. (I wore a traditional embroidered German dirndl with a vintage 1930s apron) and Stratford shoes from American Duchess (affiliate link).

Maybe too much fun (with Elizabeth/peachassassin’s codpiece).

Kim had a really cute 60s coverup and Tab soda. (The overall theme for CoCo was the 60s). It’s hard to see in the picture but underneath there is an adorable gingham bikini top and shorts beach set.

I took two great classes during the day: “Beyond the Fringe: Unravelling the Myth of the 1920s Flapper” by Leimomi Oakes and “Finishing Your 18th Century Look” by Abby Cox. I would highly recommend any classes taught by these ladies.

That evening I finally wore my completed Napoleonic court gown and train. (I’ll post more photos and a final summary later, but you can see my other construction notes along the way).