Costume Start Date: May 7th, 2004
Costume Completion: September 24, 2004
Last Page Update: February 11, 2005

"You don't
know what this
is...do ye?"

~Fantasy~
The Dragonslayer

~Medieval & Renaissance~
Irish-Lass Wench Outfit
Ancient Celtic Dress
Jury-rigged Pirate Outfit

~Movies~
King Arthur
'Guinevere's Blue Battle Dress'


~Theatre~
Cats
Phantom of the Opera

~Halloween's Past~

~Future Costumes~

~Credits~

**Costume Update**
This Black Pearl Gown has long been finished, along with both of the other gowns worn underneath. I have not had a chance to really update this page, partially because I want to wait for Spring to take costume shots outside. (Considering there is no snow in the Caribbean!) At any rate, I finished this just in the knick of time for Pirate Invasion Weekend at the Maryland Renaissance Festival, 2004. This costume actually won the 3rd place slot in the Adult Pirate Costume Contest at the faire! For more pictures of this costume as well as tons of images from contest and nine weekends of the faire, check out the marylandrenfairephotos.org page of ours. Cheers! :-)

Back to July 9th,. 2003, there was a group of about 20 of us that all met up in D.C. for the opening of Pirates of the Caribbean. Everyone had *said* that they would go in costume, but, of course, no one did except for Brynn and I. Argghh. We went as Pirate wenches, it was lots of fun, but of course, neither of us remembered a camera. Anyway, we get in there, and the movie starts. I was sitting next to Tatiana, who organized this whole crazy thing (Applause to Tats!!) and as soon as I saw that Plum Gown that Elizabeth wears on the Black Pearl I 'bout jumped out of my seat! It was SOOOO cool, I'd never seen anything like that, and I leaned over to Tat and was like "I HAVE to make that one!" to which I could tell she was playfully annoyed. ;-) We went to VT later that summer and there actually was a JoAnn's within driving distance, so I looked there and came up short. I looked again EVERYWHERE when we came back home, but NOTHING would work. Not even online. So, I worked on other things until I found something. Finally, in May, I went into our JoAnn's here in VA and found *perfect* plum taffeta fabric. (Really wanted silk dupioni, but couldn't afford it and this material was gorgeous!!)  I wasn't sure how much I would need, but I figured I could get by with 7 yards, so when I get it up to the cutting counter to have it measured, it was just a tad more than 7 yards! I could scarce believe it!
So thus is the rambling intro on my obsession with this dress. :-) Once it's done, I'm wearing this to Pirate Invasion weekend this fall.

Below are my "In Progress" photos of this costume. New ones are going to be added frequently now that I've figured out how to use the new camera, so please check back often!

Click Here To Be Taken To The Black Dress Layer...
Click Here to Be Taken To the Rum Shift Layer...

Costume Started Friday, May 07, 2004...
Plum Overdress

~Late May/Early June Progress~ The costume was coming along wonderfully, until I went to line the bodice. Spent all of two hours on a Sunday afternoon watching those PBS reality shows (I HATE reality TV, but those were actually really interesting!) and stitching the bodice together. Three days later I decided that I *hated* the lining material and that I needed to find something else, fast, and rip out what I had just done. I was SO mad at myself! The good thing, though, I was able to find beautiful  prom taffeta at JoAnn's half-price, that I could (and did) use for both the skirt fronts and bodice. My mom and I went out to the cabin for a few days and I took my sewing machine and all the fabric and just cut everything and stitched the pieces up out on the back porch. Heaven! 

  ~Progress as of June 18, 2004~
Due to a really disturbing episode of CSI: Vegas, I stayed up most of the night not able to sleep, so, I got up and decided to do something productive with my insomnia. Better to have something to show for it the next morning instead of waking up exhausted and feeling like a bitch! ;-) 

~Progress as of July 2 (or thereabouts!), 2004~
The costume is just coming along wicked slow, which is fine though, normally I just tend to rush through something, but I don't mind piecing this together over the summer - just so long as it's done by mid-September! Been buying fabrics and trims for it lately, can't seem to get them right. Three trips to fabric stores later, I've got a winner. Also was able to get the sleeves attached, but they are not finished. They are set up to be gathered up the side edge though. I'm hoping all this stuff will work in the long run. ;-)

     

~Progress as of July 13, 2004~
Took the dress out of the closet to start work on it again, this time started right in on the gold trim that runs along the front and neckline edges. I attached the lace to the lower edges of the sleeve, but only got around to gathering one of them. Also sewed gold trim to one sleeve down the gathers, and the shoulder seam. Got most of it done, actually, before going to see... Pirates of the Caribbean! My dad told us last minute that as a special summer promo thing, one of the local radio stations closes off one of the streets and shows weekly outdoor movies on Thursday nights (not sure how long this runs) and Pirates was the first one they were showing. Dad couldn't make it, but Brynn and Mom and I went, we had SUCH a good time. And the weather was beautiful for this time of year. I had never been to an outdoor movie before, so it was pretty neat. Anyway, we had time to kill for a while before the movie started, so I actually brought my BP gown with me and sat there sewing in the twilight, lol! It's getting there! Here are some photos of the stage it's in now.

     

     
Some shots of the gown "in motion". There is a *lot* of fabric to that skirt!

~Progress as of July 16, 2004~
The light IS getting brighter in the tunnel!! Finally, after two months of off and on work, the main overdress is nearly done. I can hear the "Alleluia" chorus now! Four badly blistered fingers and most of this weekend later, I put on most of the trim to this dress and started adding hooks and eyes. Trimmed the inside of the gown so when it hangs open at the top, it will be fancier. (Plus, the original gown has this) Also trimmed the bottom of the bodice. We went to JoAnn's this weekend, and I bought fabric that I thought might work for the black underdress. It's very light-weight, but I'm putting two pieces of it together to line it, which will make it a little sturdier. The reason(s) for choosing something so light are #1, the weather is HOT in VA when I'll be wearing this, and #2, I edited this dress so much that I made it a little tight. I hope everything fits underneath! Won't that be funny. More photos to come later.