Halloween Musings...

Well, really one musing. When in doubt, grab a $2 kit of facepaint from HEB, a rose hair clip, a black corset, and make yourself into a Day of the Dead skeleton! Easy as pie, but slightly scarier.

Pirate Night!

One of the highlights of my year is undoubtedly Pirate Night, the annual day in which a bunch of (mostly) adults get dressed up as pirates aboard a gigantic schooner, consume rum, play music and occasionally shout obscenities at the passing ferries. And, of course, if you're a slightly obsessive-compulsive costumer like certain people we know, Pirate Night is something to be designed. And planned. And sewn. Here are some photos from past years.

Masquerades Past

Here are a few shots of costumes made for past Portland Masquerades!

Romeo Jacket: Finished Product!

Here it is! Aside from a few hiccups with the quilting and with the (expletive) cuff hem coming undone, like, five times, this jacket came together really smoothly and I must say I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It's fully lined, with accents on the wrists and elbows, with contrast fabric on the ribs and the upper arms. I added a little shoulder panel (based on a flash of inspiration from Maximus's Gladiator armor). It zips up and has an eyelet section hidden on the chest so that Peter can choose to lace it up for shows. When not being used the ties are threaded through loops along the zipper and knotted at the bottom to keep them in place.

The only thing left is seeing whether or not it fits! And, of course whether or not he likes it. Fingers crossed.

Romeo Jacket: Construction

So here's the next installment of the Romeo jacket construction. This, more specifically, is the bottom layer of the coat. The actual leather part of the jacket is more of a vest that rests over the bottom layer (I liked the effect of the sleeves coming out of the arm openings as if it were a vest).

Theater Costumes

I learned to sew by apprenticing as a costume designer in our high school theater department. Blissfully, our director leaned more toward "provoking the Central Texan establishment" than "put on Oklahoma!", which meant a lot of fun experimentation for the creative teams behind the scenes. After apprenticing for the first few years, I became head of the department for the last two, during which time we put on A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1930's Romeo and Juliet, 1984 and Woyzeck. 

Steampunk and Lace: Masquerade 2012

This costume retrospective takes us back to the companion piece to Peter's Masquerade jacket. Portland's annual Masquerade Ball (thrown by Peter's band, Just People) is just about as much fun as a group of pals can have. Photo booths? Stilt walkers? Hula hoopers? Fantastic live music? Everybody dressed up to the nines with masks, facepaint and body art? Check, check and check.

Black and White Ball 2012, or How to Score a Man-Friend

One year ago, on February 18th, Just People hosted their first Black and White ball in Portland. My bus date was my best friend Peter (continuing a tradition of bus dates that stretched back to our first meeting at the 2011 Masquerade Ball). I performed with the band, the two of us went back up to the band's Lodge for the afterparty, then we wound up trekking back to my house in the wee hours of the morning. The next day we smooched. I think the general sentiment among all our friends was less "Yay!" and more "FINALLY. Dear God." 

So, how does one capture the fancy of a young man? In my vast experience, it is best to start with a top hat.

New Year's Eve 2012

This New Year's Eve it was all about the old Hollywood glam.

I should begin by saying that last year's New Year's Eve was not all about the glam. Last year's New Year's involved going out in a fur coat and velvet dress, getting stranded at a NYE party and waiting half an hour with my sister for a taxi to take us to the one place we wanted to be: Peter's. Then we played teamball and drank beer and listened to Horses and didn't smooch and then went to Megan's, where we had pizza. Fun? Undoubtedly. Classy? Not particularly.

Romeo Jacket: The Inspiration

This is going to be the first "track the project" on this enterprise. After Peter's leather jacket made such a great hit at Masquerade, I've sort of been jonesing to make him another one in black. After all, every rock star needs a little color variety, right? Right.

One Man's Leather Jacket...

Who wears this mysteriously attractive leather jacket? Where is he from? Where is he going? Most importantly, does he appreciate the music of Kanye West? (Answer: no).

Deciding that this year's Masquerade Ball outfit was going to be Steampunk-y on my end was a pretty simple decision. But the thing that really clinched it was the prospect of making a really sweet-ass leather jacket for Peter to wear onstage--I mean, the guys were opening for Blackalicious at a Masquerade Ball. Come on. For those who don't know him, Peter is not a "ripped-tank, funnel-the-groupies-in-my-direction" sort of musician. He's the "get unjustifiably excited at the mention of a B7th-diminished chord" sort of musician. I am under the impression that for years his bandmates have tried (unsuccessfully) to get him into something other than a t-shirt or button-down onstage. And I, dear reader, have triumphed where lesser fellows have faltered. I created that leather jacket. And boy, did he look good.