Red Fall Coat

 

 While I still worked at Anthropologie I fell in love with a plaid fall coat we carried the year before last. I was on the fence about buying it and wound up not doing so--we've all had that one (man, chance, plaid fall coat) that got away, and this was the one. Since then I've thought about trying to find one used on Ebay or something, but they run about $198 and that's a little too steep for a crafty lady like me. I accepted the challenge and tried to construct one myself. Here is the result!

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).

Romeo Jacket: We Cut!

And now...the most exciting photo collection EVER TO HIT THIS BLOG!

But really, it is a day to celebrate. Cutting a pattern is always one of the most nail-bitingly stressful parts of starting a garment, especially if you're working from your own pattern. What if you run out? What if you accidentally clip something you shouldn't? How much is future Bailey going to be swearing at past Bailey while she's trying to fit all these mismatched seams together? Why can't I follow someone else's pattern like a normal person?

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.

Birthday Presents

Peter is one of those infuriating individuals who had the nerve to be born less than a month after Christmas. It makes the winter season that much more stressful (not least because I get super impatient for people to open the presents I make and waiting without giving anything away is not one of my strong points.) I think the idea for this particular gift was inspired by something I read about Elizabeth I embroidering a prayer book cover for Catherine Parr one Christmas. I liked that. So this project developed into a fourfold creative endeavor: embroidering the cover, constructing the book itself from scratch, and filling it with poems and photographs I'd written or shot that I thought Peter would like. You are not allowed to see the poems or photographs, so we'll just talk about the cover!