Sunday, October 27, 2013

Blue regency drawstring gown

My friend Amber has been wanting a regency dress - we started to making one together, but then the Pumpkin tea popped up and we ran low on time, so to surprise her I finished it for her this week. The fabric came, I believe, from Loren's stash.  I think it turned out pretty!




Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Gatsby

My mom did two little 20s paintings. The top one is of a photo from the Eight-Thirteen ball I went to - the other is from the Gatsby party I went to at DragonCon!



Monday, October 14, 2013

New regency gown!

I've had this fabric (I'm pretty sure it's from the stash of Loren from which I have gotten many great things) for a while and it's been begging me to make it into a regency dress for a while. (Actually I waffled between 18th century and regency, but regency finally won.)

So I did this (along with marathoning Season 2 of Scandal), mostly yesterday.  It was my first time attempting fancy oversleeves and I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.









Friday, October 11, 2013

Eight-Thirteen Ball

As a fundraiser, the Arlington, VA library system threw a Gatsby-era event called the Eight-Thirteen ball. Doug, Amber and I went and met Isabella, Jessica, and Kristin there. We had a blast - there was free food, great music by a live band, and 20s dancers. And lots of costumes! IMG_3845

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 I also wore the twenties seed bead rope necklace I bought on etsy and forgot to wear at DragonCon, and the 20's-ish shoes I bought on Plasticland. They're really cute and I was really happy with them. http://www.shopplasticland.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=P30722900&Category_Code=Shoes

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It was chilly so I dug out the little velvet tassled jacket I bought a long time ago and have no place to wear.

IMG_3844  Here's the band: IMG_3847

The event was held at the Artisphere in Arlington. Later on it got super crowded: IMG_3852

They also had dancers come out once in a while and do choreographed 20s dances. They were so good!

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They mysteriously had stand-ups of Edward and Jacob. We all took pics with them over the course of the night. Here's Jessica and Kristin taking their pics: IMG_3871

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They had really good mixed drinks! IMG_3876

We forgot to get a shoe shot with everyone, so Doug, Amber and I did one in the parking garage.

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Now a bunch of videos! Dancing in the elevators:
Dancers!


Thursday, October 10, 2013

War of the Seasons & Athena's Daughters

Time for a short break from costumes for something peripherally related.

Lots of big doings for Silence in the Library Publishing! The first thing is fellow costumer Janine Spendlove's Kickstarter for her fantasy trilogy, War of the Seasons. In the interest of full disclosure, I was a beta reader on all three books (that's right, I've already read the unreleased 3rd book!) and she's one of my best friends, and I just so thrilled for her success.  Her trilogy and all the associated short stories are so great.

If you haven't read the first two books - this Kickstarter is your chance to get all three books in either paper or e-book.  ($5 gets you the e-book for the 3rd bok, $15 gets you the whole trilogy on e-book! And both of those contributions will get you cool free stretch goal stuff. And there are some awesome stretch goals, which include stories set in the War of the Seasons world by authors like Mike Stackpole, Aaron Allston, Cleolinda Jones, and ME! Yay!

Please check it out (and tell all your friends):

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/103879051/war-of-the-seasons-a-fantasy-trilogy-by-janine-k-s?ref=live



After War of the Seasons, in December 2013-January 2014, we'll be doing a Kickstarter for a SF/Fantasy anthology called Athena's Daughters. This anthology features stories written by women about strong female protagonists, with artwork by a woman - and edited by Jean Rabe. We're really excited for it. We have a lot of great authors lined up including Mary Robinette Kowal, Sherwood Smith, Gail Z. Martin, Janine Spendlove, and rising talents like Melanie Clegg, Ginger Breo, Conley Lyons. And me!  I'll post more on this as we get closer.  I've read a few of the stories submitted already and they're fantastic.


Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Pirates, AARRRR

Oh, wait, it's not Talk Like a Pirate Day anymore.

So, I wore my brand new "Rum Island Shift" from Pirates of the Caribbean at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party this year.  Last year, riding Space Mountain in Star Trek costumes was awesome. This year it was riding on Pirates of the Caribbean in a PotC costume. Achievement unlocked!

Our whole group had pirate costumes. Of a sort. I didn't have anything for Doug, so he wore shirt.woot's Arrrgyle shirt. And a parrot.









This last photo is us on the scariest ride at Disney - It's a Small World.