All I ever make is appliqué

I have a couple of things to share today. This first is something I put together quick to wear for Hallowe'en. In mid-October I received my muscles leggings from Black Milk in the mail. They inspired me to follow a declining anatomy theme. I went to Aerie to pick up a basic black bra and made and anatomical diagram of a heart in appliqué to stitch onto the left cup. (I also got a pair of leg bone over-the-knee socks from a Hallowe'en pop-up store and these underwear off Etsy.)

And here is another sleep mask I made last weekend. I had a custom request over Etsy for this. It is Luffy from One piece. I think he turned out alright. He is just a little dull colour-scheme-wise in my opinion .

C'est l'hallowe'en

I've been so busy and now suddenly Hallowe'en is over! I went out six times and my introverted self is so burnt out and tired I don't want to leave my apartment for a month now.

I decided in late September that I would be a Sexy Volcano as my main Hallowe'en costume. I had some idea of what that would involve but not too clear a picture. I started working on it over the Thanksgiving weekend, by making myself a crinoline so my dress could be mountain-shaped. Then decided I would use some black denim that I've had around for a couple years as my slightly textured mountain rock. Because I had gotten *so far* *so early,* on my next Queen St. W. trip I bought all the materials for a cosplay costume I thought I could get done in all the *extra time* I was going to have.

Then I procrastinated for a week so I wouldn't have time. (But I do have all the materials to do a Haruhi Suzumiya costume, which I feel I should do in the near future so my hair doesn't get too long.)

For this particular dress I decided to alter another princess dress pattern I made- the one for my Victreebel costume I made when gijinka Pokemon were first popular. I had to flare it out at the waist and completely draft a centre back piece since the back for Victreebel had this big U shape cut out so I could lace it up instead of using a zipper closure.

So I knew it was going to be a flared, sweetheart princess dress and that I was using the crinoline I had made, and I knew that I needed some sort of molten lava erupting from it somehow. But I hadn't decided how I wanted it to cascade down over me or what colours or fabrics it would be.

Sketchbook brainstorm of different dress ideas.

I drafted the base dress and put the lining together- as I tend to do to fit things instead of making muslins- and then I drafted the outside of the dress, finally deciding on the design.

Of course I didn't even have anything wearable made by the time the 27th rolled around (the main Saturday of Hallowe'en), so I spent the entire day working on my costume. I also made a smallish grey veil so everyone could tell how smoking hot I was as a volcano.

I left the skirt hem edge raw. I thought it would go better for the volcano theme than double-folding the edge. The next day before I went out again I spent some time beading the dress and the veil (I lost that veil before I got the photos and made a new one without any beads). I finished it off with some lengths of ribbon cascading from my neck.

In the end, I don't think anyone got it without my telling them, but I still think it was a fun idea. I even won a prize in a costume contest.

I don't work at a pantyhose store anymore, but...

Since the Canada/US exchange rate has been so bad, I've resolved not to transfer money out of my PayPal account, so I've been using it to shop online. I've had my eye on the Muscles leggings from Black Milk since I first saw them over a year ago. I'm usually way too cheap to spend this much money so frivolously, but they came yesterday and I love them and I think I want to get more.

I also got the Lava leggings and they inspired my main Hallowe'en costume idea, although I am not sure if I will wear them for the costume. I am going to be a Sexy Volcano. Last weekend I made a crinoline and today I picked up the rest of the supplies I need to make the dress. Except I am suddenly having second thoughts about the zipper. Ack.

Otherwise, it is autumn and, to me, that means the normal stores have new tights in stock and every store with a Hallowe'en section has some sort of interesting, reasonably-priced tights in stock. I got a pair of leopard-patterned fishnets and 2 pairs of over-the-knee socks at Spirit Hallowe'en. (I'm going to wear the skeleton ones with my muscles leggings.) And I picked up some coloured fishnets at Dollarama because $2 for fishnets is pretty great, especially when I find there isn't too much difference in quality for basic fishnets. They're always fairly durable and really stretchy and forgiving for sizes. I may go back and get a pair of basic black.

These are all of the leggings, tights, etc. that I've gotten in the last couple of weeks.

I may also make a Pamela Mann order. Buying them in store tends to be $35 per pair, but online it's about $16 (which is better than my employee discount would normally get me). With shipping, three pairs will be about $52-- less than $18 each. Customs is always a wildcard though. They've also got better stock online than we had the opportunity for at Legs Beautiful. The sales reps were always working from two-year-old look books with a lot of styles crossed out as out of stock. Unfortunately they are mostly in one size. I've got a couple pairs and I'm lucky because I'm in that range, but I think no matter what size you are, they'll be loose at the ankle because of the way they were cut.

I think I may have a problem. The worst part is that it'll soon be too cold to wear anything but wool tights. I guess I can throw out the ones I have with holes though. (I'm going to have to in order to make room.)

October means Hallowe'en time :)

I painted my nails spooky because Hallowe'en is in only three weeks. I am excited. I decided just to do a simple but striking bloody design.

 

I painted them all white and then dripped red nail polish down them. Then I had to remove the excess from the drops with the brush so that they could actually dry.

They remind me of the promotional graphics for Dexter.