A little walk down memory lane

 Some other costume photos over the years.

Ahem, on the left, Halloween as the mad scientist. I think the back of the coat said "Beauty at any Cost Inc."  Kinda scary, I really debated about posting it since it's a controversial costume. just take it for what it is. a costume. I never did get the photo of the Greek/Roman outfit I did for those parties.








Another Halloween at the Witches Ball in Chicago, with the fluffy , with BFF's Deanna & Brenda.









 "Rick & the Cleveringettes" at Marie's wedding. Marie had thrown fabric at the 3 of us and said "make a dress". So that's what we did. Personally, I love this photo.







The Guilde of St. Michael (military) taking over Kid's Kingdom at Bristol Ren Faire. 










And some more old photos from Bristol, just a few that actually show the back and the rest of one of the dresses. One of the dance shows and parades. 

Some quiet time, and then me as a household servant back at the Dirty Duck.












Wow, old one from Brenda, me "trying" to follow one of the belly dancers at Drum Jam, but in a very stiff corset which didn't quite fit me right (tooo many pokey bits, and the steel was extremely thick)

 Graduating class of '93? from BAPA (Bristol Academy of Performing Arts) I'm not sure what they call it these days, but it just was "rehearsals" for the faire to me.








And lastly, a couple from Castlefest and Elf Fantasy Faire here in the Netherlands. I wish I could find one of the photos from Bristol times with me with one of the falcons during the falconry show. I was just happy to get an opportunity again here to at least come up close and personal to one of these beautiful birds.

The Red Dress

 Once again, it appears I've been neglecting the blog. It surely must mean I've been busy? Yes, sure. Anyways, here are a few photos from the red dress that I started (see previous posts) being used. You can see it in various incarnations over the course of the last couple of years. This year however, I've had to do some major refitting (it's not quite there yet!) since I lost some weight (12 kg, yay! now just another 12 to go *sigh*)

Starting with the undergarments, here's me running around in my underwear in 35' C weather at Avatar this year. Carsten was definitely a help in keeping me cooled off. As many know, sometimes it's best to acclimatize a bit before putting on the whole dress. The stays that I am wearing couldn't close last year; this year complete closure, and I may have to even take them in a little bit. Oh let's face it, I'll have to make new ones of course! This time I've used only hip pads instead of panniers. It was a lot easier to squeeze around in the tents with that, however it also meant my skirt was dragging a bit in the mud.  Most of these undergarments I still consider mock-ups before I make really nice pretty ones. But they are at least functional.

(and as per usual, I can never seem to get pictures to lie nicely on the page...)

 And now fully dressed, together with Emmanuelle. I think you can almost already see the size difference from this year's and last year's pictures. Can't wait for the next size drop! It's amazing what a little change in medication will do, one with side effects of making you gain weight, the other helping you lose.

 And below are some photos from last year at the Halloween festival at Castle Keukenhof. It was their first year doing this event, so I hope this year will be even better.

 Hair changes last year. The first is summer with a bad attempt to grey out and powder the hair and the shower scrunchie hair pad, then autumn with old pillow stuffing and pantyhose to hold my hair up, and of course this summer's hair you can see above with the hat on, plus the old pillow.

 

And a few extra photos, 1) Avatar 2011, sitting with the "empress". 2) Halloween with the hubby, and 3) plotting with the Insulaire faction leader at Avatar 2012.

Randomness from me

Wow, long time since I've posted again! I don't really have much interesting to say at the moment, so here is just a little randomness from me. I promise I'll get some pictures up of my latest sewing projects later...

Just wanted to share a little something fun from "The Guild". (For more about them go to their official site. ) I happen to quite enjoy their music videos:
"I'm the One that's Cool" and "Do you want to date my avatar?:"
Go watch!

As a colleague has requested, here are some links to good (cheap) places to get fabric here in the Netherlands. (hah! your fault I remembered the blog here) These are not stores, but rather like large flea markets for fabric vendors. You definitely need to push and shove a bit here to see or buy any goodies however. Some of the ladies will swipe and buy fabric that you are still holding.

Stoffenbeurs, Stoffen Spektakl, Utrecht Fabric Market, and the Haagse Markt. Otherwise, it's ordering online, or going to one of the slightly more expensive places in the center of Den Haag for me. I prefer the markets because you can haggle, and you can sometimes find some nice cloth for ~0.50cents/meter if you're lucky. You can even find leather there.

I am debating whether or not to go to the Elf Fantasy Faire again this year and if I'll actually make a new costume for it. Most likely not since I don't have quite as much time as I did last year. And, I'm doubting whether or not I'll make it to many events at all this time around, not to mention I'm feeling woefully under-prepared to go to any re-enactment events here especially as they prefer much more hand-sewing than I am accustomed to. Castlefest is also a maybe. Help! I need some extra motivation for these!

On another note, I think I may attempt growing moss in my backyard. I have some nice shady spots for it, and it would help fill in those areas with a little green. I think it would also look nice with my rock garden, and with the ponds.  Give it a bit of a Japanese feel to it maybe (hm maybe I should just focus on getting the jungle back under control first...) I was definitely inspired by the Japanese garden here at Clingendael (opening again in 30 April-June) So if anyone has any they'd like to get rid of, give it to me! I'll take care of it. (not really expecting a response here so no worries)

Right, signing off on this bit of blather from me.