Old blog archive: 04 August 2001

So I’m home now, for roughly the next week or so (I’ve been home since Wednesday-Thursdayish, actually), and HAVE started work on the Tula costume. Well, kind of. ;o) I’ve been throwing around ideas for a while, and sketched out her costume (the episode 1-5 “butterfly vest” one, not the 6-21 midriff one) and headed to Jo-Ann Fabrics yesterday…except that it was a Jo-Ann Etc., meaning it was basically a fabrics superstore. Whee! So I went in, and then realized how completely CLUELESS I was about everything…so I went to look at patterns to see what I could find, and found one for a sleeveless, v-neck shirt that I figured I could alter, but then figured I’d come home and talk to Mom and see what she said.

What I have planned so far is this:

– TOP: I’m going to attach the whole thing to a sports bra. The thing I was really worried about (besides how showy it would be…I’m still kind of working on that, though I think I’m just going to dye the sports bra tan and leave it at that, with no trimming or anything) was how to get the shoulders to stay up–and that can just be done by taking the pattern for the t-shirt, adding more material to the sleeves, and using shoulder pads to hold it up. The gold thing “holding” both sides of the front together’s going to just be a big gold button, sewn on. As for the red designs, I’m still not sure if I’ll just paint those on, or cut them out from some red fabric and glue/sew them on. (Seeing how I’m not that great at sewing, I’m trying to find alternative methods. ^^; )

– STOMACH: That’s not too hard. Get some green fabric, enough to wrap it around my stomach several times, cut a small v out of the top, and get some kind of cheapie napkin ring and paint it gold to run the end of the fabric through to hang off to the left. So with this and the top, the most that’d show is kind of a trapezoid of skin of my upper abdomen area, and not much cleavage either, so no problem there. *sheepish*

– PANTS: I was originally planning on taking some of Mom’s old white sweatpants (with her permission) and dying ’em pink, but she started suggesting using some of the pink pants that go with some of the Indian outfits I have…but they aren’t baggy from the knees down, at all. So I’m thinking it’ll still be the sweatpants.

– HAIR: I’ve been meaning to cut my bangs for a while (I’ve let them grow out with my hair, which is roughly to my shoulder-blades now), so I’m definitely getting them cut to about ear-level or so, maybe a bit higher, and might resort to using curlers or something for a day or so before the con to get them to look right. As for her mid-forehead bangs, I’m not sure I’m willing to go THAT far. ^^; But we’ll see. I was tempted to get a wig, but it’s not worth it–maybe by next year’s D*C, my hair will actually be her length. ;o) As for her “pigtail” things draped over her shoulders, I probably have enough hair so that I can put one gold thingie on each bunch, but it isn’t long enough for 2 yet. I’d use cheapie napkin rings painted gold for those as well.

– ARMBANDS: I do have some gold bangles that I can use one of for her left wrist, and I might have something really similar to her left armband from my old Bharatnatyam (Indian dance) recitals I can wear on my upper left arm. :o) As for the right arm, I still don’t know. :o/ I’m tempted to take alumimum foil or tape or something, or maybe even fabric with Velcro–I just want to make sure it won’t do something to my skin or something.

– SHOES: Mom’s got some old brown ankleboots I can use (blecch, how 80’s! hehe)…the only problem is that they have heels. And I’m not sure if they’re my size, but they’d at least be close enough. I’ve been tempted to say, “Screw it,” and just wear sandals instead–I mean, they’re brown, too. ^^;

– SWORD BELT: Nah. Not unless I can find a brown belt big enough, or unless I find time to drive across town to the Big&Tall store to get one. And even then, that won’t give me enough time to make a hilt or sheath for her dagger.

So yeah, overall, I’ve got a week to do this ENTIRE thing. But after this, it’ll hopefully just all be touch-ups till I get it perfect for next year. Though I’m already wondering if I should do a different costume next year or not–maybe a female version of Ren’s or something…I guess let’s just see how this turns out. I’ll be posting updates here throughout the week. :o)

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