The Wonderful World of Costumes! Part Deux.

The Holiday Show! What a production! I'm so thankful that despite the long hours, shin splints, arguments, diva attitudes, the physical assault I endured and the creepy lighting guy, that I got to be a part of the most creative and fun show ever! People got to show off their writing/comedy skills as well as we branched out and got all sorts of new people involved!

I never would have thought I would be good at instructing people how to take their clothes off.

But what on earth does this have to do with sewing? I got to try my hand at making some costumes!

The first year I made stuff by hand. I hand dyed the pointe shoes and hand glued each crystal. The tops were seriously held together by a garbage twist tie in the front - I had no idea what I was doing!

I had sewed on dozens of little beads and sequins - I did that on the car ride to Idaho that the hubby and I took before opening. I was proud of the detail despite not being able to see it from the audience. I still owe major thanks to those girls for letting me dye their pointe shoes!

I even made those super cool fans! Do you know how hard it is to find peacock feathers? I think the bulk of the feathers were poorly dyed (not by me, thank you) b/c each time the girls used them, their hands ended up all black...oops.

PS - ask David or Brother Jeff about that Glorious bird cage in the background...

Billy-a-dick - the song didn't make any sense - but the costumes were pimp!

Everything for this costume was bought at the Dollar Store!

The skirts were Christmas tree skirts, shortened of course!

The tops were cloth napkins. FYI - cloth napkins are ribbon make great bikini tops if your boobs aren't DDs.

The tops had battery powered Christmas lights sewn in. I got beaded garland for necklaces and holly twigs to stick in our hair. This had to have been the most fun costume I've even had!

So Stephanie (the blond) had this really cute pink skirt from Fredericks or Victoria's Secret that Paula and I wanted for our Mr. Sandman number - well Paula and I are a little more Bootylicious than Miss Stephanie and the skirts didn't come in our sizes. Sad times - but never fear! Crafty Shannonegans is here!

So I took Stephanie's skirt to the fabric store and matched colors and got these cute little skirts made!

They have elastic waistbands, are full circle skirts and have a netted lining. Even Adorable bow details! I wish I had a reason to wear it again.

These aren't your average tap dancing penguins!

So yes, Linkin Park is uber lame, but "Cure for the Itch" is uber awesome and I had been waiting to choreograph something to it for YEARS! So how do you get weird techno tap into a holiday burlesque show? Penguins! And sine it's burlesque, who wants to be in a full tuxedo!?

So I made us costumed cummerbunds and bow ties (ie they Velcro in the back) and attached them to some white fabric, sewed some buttons on it and called it good. Pretty snazzy for such a cool number!

I'll let you use your imagination as to what I made for this number.

I wish more than anything that I was able to move back to Chico for two months every winter to be a part of this show - but alas! I will just remember the good times instead and leave the headaches to everyone else (and Phil's new "Shannon").

My First Purse

The Jordy Bag - it has been instrumental in my purse making education.

When I began sewing again after getting my second sewing machine (long story), the fabric store across the street from my house was going out of business. Oh happy day! All fabric and notions were 75% off - I was in heaven - the minnimum two yard purchase was bogus - but I digress.

Google and I became closely acquainted as I searched for everything related to purse making - pictures, patterns, tutorials, proceedures - anything I could get my hands on. Google introduced me to http://www.craftster.org/. Whoa nelly! If you haven't been there - stop reading - click the link - go explore and be amazed...GO!

Ok, now that you're back - all those helpful tutorials inspired me! The Jordy Bag and her Brilliant instructions gave me the know-how and confidence to make these:

So thank you Jordy, wherever you are, whatever you are doing, because you gave me the confidence to try new things!

Like this:

Dresses and Such to Cover my booty Part Uno

This is officially the first dress I made!

My Super Awesome Friend Stephanie was getting married and I needed something super great to wear to the festivities! I had just learned the glory of the fabric store, Alexander Henry and pattern sales!

When I first started sewing, every fabric I picked off the shelf was designed by Alexander Henry. He is pretty much the bomb. If you are ever wondering "What should I get Miss Shannonegans" the answer is a couple of yards of almost anything of his!
This is what I picked that day:

Pretty much awesome, right!?

Anyway, during one of the super amazing pattern sales at the local fabric store ($10 for 10 is pretty much the most amazing deal ever!)

I picked out this one:

And really, I have used this pattern so many times, it was way worth the $1!

(PS - I used the red dress with the white tie pattern, minus the tie, and I made the straps not tie in the back, but I made them regular straps - I don't do halters).

So I started pluggin away at my first attempt to make a dress.

I think I was high for part of it because I remember having all of the pieces cut out and was planning on putting it together in an hour before I was to leave for a party. Needless to say I was late for the party and wore something else.

But I finished it the next afternoon and was so proud of it that I wore it everywhere! And thank goodness it was an easy patter or I might have never attempted anything like that again!

I still rock this dress as often as I can because 1. It's awesome, 2. It's the first one I ever made, and 3. It reminds me that even when I get frustrated with stuff - at one time I was able to accomplish something.

What was the first pattern you ever used?

The Wonderful World of Costumes! Part Un.

So I wasn't always a sew-er...I was more of a "I'm too broke to BUY what I want, so I'll just use my Crafty Magic and see what happens". Halloween was the culmination of said Crafty Magic.

I usually start thinking about my costume in November. Did I mention that I LOVE Halloween? Yeah.

So we'll start the journey into costume-y goodness with some oldies, but goodies.

First, we have the Brilliant "Princess Toadstool" costume. I may or may not be an old school Nintendo Nerd. So when I decided to be the Princess, it was on!

I had an old, white-ish dress that I had gotten from God knows where! I dyed it pink. Glorious!

So I will admit it, a lot of the costume was purchased - my tiara, white opera gloves, 5in white mary janes heels from Fredericks of Hollywood (I wanted to be tall!) but I did make my purse - which ended up being super pimp! After some issues with international sellers on ebay, I couldn't find a plush Bowser doll to carry with me, so I thought back to my childhood - playing Super Mario Brothers 2 - and me and my brother bickering because it's only a one player game - well remember how you'd have to fight the shy guys - with the various vegetables that you pull from the ground - the radishes, onions, pumpkins? Yeah, I made myself an onion purse! It was amazing! Complete with two puffy painted lines for eyes!

But wait, there's more!

I know the Princess didn't have a belt, but I needed something to signify Video Game Nerd-dom. I found a picture of a chick online who had this belt, and I liked it. Ribbon, felt, and more puffy paint eyes. It definitely tied the whole costume together!

But wait, there's even MORE!!

I got some iron on transfer paper and found the poisoned mushroom that said "game over" and slapped that on a pair of undies! Right on the bum! Only a very special few got to see those...

I also took little pictures of Goombas and Koopa Troopers and stuck them to my super awesome 5in mary jane heels. Those shoes are so much fun!

The Hubby and I were talking one day about Halloween costumes and babies. I said in three years when I have to have a kid, I'll lose some weight, squeeze back into the Princess Toadstool dress, he'll dress up as Mario, and Little Truman or Reagan will be King Koopa of Course!

You've got to Ac-cent-uate the Positive!

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I am so thrilled and excited to have such thougthful, loyal, and awesome customers!

Thank you for helping spread the word about how awesome Swingin Martinis Designs is! Here are some recent testimonials!

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