Costume College 2009 photos

[aimeekitty]

Costume College is basically an event that focuses on historical (and some "other" and fantasy) costuming classes with some dressup events. It's a great idea, cause I love learning and wearing foofy gowns, right?

I don't have many pictures from the first couple days, as Judy and were mostly taking classes during that time and I didn't stay at the con Friday night.

I enjoyed Costume College a lot more this year than I had when I went a few years ago. I don't know if it was because the classes were more up my alley or because I knew more people? Met lots of snazy ladies, too. "Hey, don't I know you online...?"

Also, I think it's interesting that, in general my impression is that this crowd is more interested in craftsmanship than most of the anime and sci/fi conventions. Ie, it's less about how "hawt" you are and more about "oh my god, did you embroider that?!" People also seem very willing to share their construction techniques. Both are a refreshing change. haha. (which is not to say that I don't still really love my anime/sci-fi cons. I do. Just different.)

I wish that there were more all 18th-century events. It seems kindof rare...? (even though a lot of ladies really like this period...)

Some of my classes:
~~~ draping a modern bustier (she used me as the model, so I got to keep the muslin! sweet!)
~~~ 18th century ribbon trim (obviously up my alley)
~~~ Women's Riding Jackets (a lecture with lots of great pictures and info. SO AWESOME. I love jackets)
~~~ Draping Robe a la Francaise (by Kendra (demode) great class. guess I'm going to have to wait for next time I see Judy though so that we can drape each other...) .... I'm pretty happy with my red dress as a first try... but, I really want to make another one with what I learned.
~~~ Construction of 17th-18th century shoes
~~~ Women's Jackets (18th Century) and Women's textiles (both by Sally Queen,... and I got one of her fabric swatch books! She was SO INTERESTING. Loved these lectures. Learned a lot)
~~~ 1770's big hair - by Kendra (demode) (definitely got my thoughts going about wig structures! lovely wigs)
~~~ Fop/Dandy lecture (yay!)

Prince Charming teaching us how to make historical shoes! he arrived with a cape on, too. XD It was really really interesting, actually. I understand a lot more about shoes and have a huge respect for shoemakers now! (but I need another hobby like a shot in the head...)


The gorgeous shoes he made (18th century men's ) (You can see more of his stuff here)


I'm not going to post photos from the other classes, because I'm not sure the teachers want me to, and it's probably not that interesting to you guys anyway. :)

Then... Getting ready for the ball! (which is basically where everyone wore their best outfits. We had a nice dinner, some games and a dance.)
Judy and I did each other's hair while watching Harry Potter. This is pretty much all our natural hair, with the exception of a donut inside. I was pretty impressed!

It's kindof super amusing that it took an hour each to do our hair, but only about 15-30 minutes to get into corset and gowns.




Ready for the ball!




BTW, Judy's edges are scallop-pinked, her stomacher is hand embroidered (couching, I believe??) and she quilted her petticoat. <3
Judy borrowed my pearls that Char gave me!




This lady (vanessa-lynne) was one of my favorites. I loved her teal/purple changeable gown and her hair was so fabulous.




This "gentleman" was SO AWESOME. going around holding all the ladies' hands. Obviously I need to make a pink frockcoat now.


The table setting for the ball (so Marie Antoinette's birthday!
we also played the "stick the paper/name on your head and guess who I am game")


Dancing ladies




Dancing was kind of amusing in these gowns and corsets. Cause you have t-rex arms and you can't bend at the waist, at all. So there was a lot of spinning. Haha.

Squeeing over this lovely lady's embroidered peacock stomacher. (photo thanks to vanessa-lynne)


(photo thanks to vanessa-lynne)


(photo thanks to vanessa-lynne)


Some various lovely ladies we saw throughout the weekend:
(please pardon the low quality of some photos, we often were running around or in low light situations.
If you are in one of these photos and would like it taken down, just let me know)
(probably jubilima?)


Love this style. I really want to make a jacket like this later (maybe in red or navy? who knows!) (probably jubilima?)


QUILTED PETTICOAT LOVE


her stomacher and jacket are also embroidered!


(kay-dee70?)






My photos do her no justice, but this ladies dress was a gorgeous changeable silk and her wig was AMAZING! (she made it). (check out how tall my head is compared to her wig. haha.)




Two lovely sisters


I love my BABY bracelet. Also, you can see some of the scalloping I did that took forever. haha.


Winding down for the evening and de-princessing
one of Judy's hair caterpillars is trying to escape to better lands.


what my hair looked like after it was taken down



The next day was a Costume College tradition, Sundies Undies! Basically, everyone wears their historical underpants for breakfast,... since many ladies spend a long time making their underpants, and they're often quite beautiful. I borrowed Judy's Victorian chemise since I haven't had time to make a period one for my 18th century stuff yet. But the stays (corset) and the hoops here are mine. :)


random doll photo! I brought June with me to go to the doll meet... but I ended up getting caught in a good conversation with Bridget and Heath and company,... so I didn't end up going.


I've been obsessing about this for a few months (while making my red Chevalier gown instead)... but my plans are to make an asian-ish-print Robe à l’Anglaise, and a candy pink Robe à la Française covered in roses. (since I decided to do my Sleeping Beauty gown in blue...) I also want to do another riding jacket. And then of course there is Doctor Who Madame de Pompadour.
... but I really need to finish Vampire Hunter D first, and then after that Sleeping Beauty must come first.

Comments

[mekkio.livejournal.com]

I just have to ask. As beautiful and as elegant as those costumes are, are they actually comfy to wear? And what the heck do you do for bathroom breaks? I can't even fathom that.

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

it's actually not too bad. I'm somewhat used to wearing a corset and 18th century ones don't actually compress you that much (compared to a victorian one.). While the gowns look huge, they're not that heavy because the fabric is light and the pocket hoops give you most of the shape. (a full long hoopskirt would be much more clumsy and heavy...)

Bathroom, many ladies do it, you just have to pull up all your skirts like if you were wearing any other gown (or a wedding dress, etc...)

[sakurae.livejournal.com]

Man that looks freakin' awesome and you guys look great. I totally want to try going to that next time!

[padawansguide.livejournal.com]

The woman in the changeable gown with the red hair is vanessa_lynne - she looks gorgeous! The one in the red striped gown with the huge hat is, I believe, jubilima. The one in the blue gown two below that pic (coscol05.jpg) is kay_dee70 - you might know her from Star Wars and LotR costuming. She was on the LotR yahoo list.

You and Judy both look gorgeous and I'm wowed by her embroidered petticoat!

We've been having quite a few 18th century events out east lately, it's too bad you're so far! There is a group in the Bay area that does a lot of 18c costuming, that's still pretty far for you.

Glad you had a fun time! :-)

[twjudy.livejournal.com]

Thank you sooo much! However, not the wisest decision I ever made :) I was definitely regretting it mid point in the process.

[padawansguide.livejournal.com]

I'm sure that was a huge project! It looks fabulous though!

[lilusako.livejournal.com]

Such gorgeous photos of you and the whole trip! It just ceases to amaze me that people used to dress like that back in the days. Thanks for sharing :D

[jezeroth.livejournal.com]

Wow, everyone looks lovely!
I'm going to try to make it next year!

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

oh please do, and make some fabulous frock coat or something. <3

[bluejeans07.livejournal.com]

Oooommmgggg, gowns! Wigs! Shoes! Prince Charming!! <3<3<3 That looks like so much fun! I'm glad you had a great time!!

[pogo101.livejournal.com]

You guys look great!

[taperkat.livejournal.com]

good lord, those are amazing. plenty of ideas now, time to redraw my dream period dress. :(

[iamchubbybunny.livejournal.com]

oh myu god why have i never heard about this!!!!

I WANNA GO NEXT YEAR PLEASE. Except that I'll be all n00b and have no idea about anything... haha TEACH MEEEE AIMEEE!!

Anyway, you look faaaaaabulous and i am literally DROOLING over everything!!! WAHHH so jealousss!!!!!

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

well, actually it's really cool cause a lot of the classes don't assume that you know everything already. You could totally take classes. If you want to go next year, I can totally help you pick classes if you're concerned.

I hope they have a lot of 18th century classes next year, too, cause I'm crazy. lol. But they have different classes each year depending on their theme and who volunteers to give classes.

<3

[yume-ninja.livejournal.com]

wahhhhhh i want to learn..ahha but i'm super n00b.

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

just learn some basic sewing, you have a year. :D chop chop!

[mognetcentral.livejournal.com]

Yay, it sounds so fun! You guys look great, and I love the stripey sisters too.

I would have loved to be there for the riding jacket and big hair class. ::drool::

[yume-ninja.livejournal.com]

GODAMN THIS EPIC POST :O
i'm filled with so much envy and wants @__@

[vanessa-lynne.livejournal.com]

Yay - more pictures. So lovely meeting you & thanks for the compliments. Feel free to steal any photos you want and if you need higher res, just message me. :)

[herajika.livejournal.com]

You all look amazing! *__* wow!

[unravelingsky.livejournal.com]

omg THAT'S what costume college is?!?!?! why did i not go?!?!?! omgomgomgomg. it sounds so fun!!! i must look into this for next year. is it always the same theme of the classical european look? your dress looks gorgeous on you! how do you sit with those sort of petticoats(?)

[kyubikitsy.livejournal.com]

Good gads! The costumes are all so amazing! Gorgeous gorgeous work! :D

[theangrystar.livejournal.com]

Those are lovely. How accurate is changeable silk for that period?

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

it's accurate, actually! which is pretty fabulous.

[keita-yuki.livejournal.com]

*jaw smacks her desk at the dresses* *shakes fist* I envy all your skills. O_o I dont even wanna think how long dresses like that take to learn and make. So pretty.

The jacket u mentioned u thought of making. I think blue would be awsome.. Red just made me instantly think "the british are comming" >_> even though thats not the same style..

*oogles at picts again*

[kittytreats.livejournal.com]

Oh my, those ball gowns are amazing. This kinda me of the Ren fair crowd I talk to every once in awhile. I always looked up to them because of how they hand sew a lot of their costumes. You mentioned a hair donut? Is that something that keeps the hair up and full of volume? :D Anyways neat pictures as always!

[praedestinatio.livejournal.com]

Looks so much fun~! I've wanted to go for yeeears, but I'm always busy or can't afford it D:
But it looks like you had an amazing time :D

[miss-jane.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you've actually tried on a corset. I know they're not easy to get on. Did you do it yourself, or did you need help? The main character in my novel wears one, so it would be great to get some insight.

You all look very gorgeous!

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

Several of my costumes use corsets. They're not that hard to get on, whether you can get into it yourself is more dependant on the type of corset and how practiced you are.

This type of corset, I haven't tried to do myself. It doesnt have a busk in the front. I imagine if I tried hard enough though, I could do it myself.

usually you have someone else lace you in though.

[modehistorique.livejournal.com]

Hi there! Found you on jubilima's LJ and followed you over here. :) I remember seeing you around at CoCo, but everything was a blur and I didn't get a chance to socialize as much as I have in past years. You will be coming to next year's college, yes?

BTW, "Prince Charming" is zoccolaro. He's going to LOVE hearing about his new nickname. ;)

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

Hi! I don't really know all that many people at CoCo, and I'm just in the last year or so getting into historical costuming,... but I'm really fascinated with 18th century stuff! It was very nice seeing all of you, and yes, I'll be going next year! :) I already have fabric bought for another dress... if only I didn't have to finish other things first. *___*

Prince Charming - haha,.. Judy and I couldn't remember his name, soooo... :) Glad to amuse.

[zoccolaro.livejournal.com]

=) Thanks for the compliments! I wish we got more of a chance to sit and chat and admire each other's clothing at the gala...the photos are lovely, though!

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

aw, thanks! Hopefully we can at some other event. I had a lot of fun at this one and I want to learn more. :)

[fatwetdog.livejournal.com]

Phew, that looks like so much fun!

You mentioned making another Française with what you learned at CoCo. What kinds of changes are you thinking of, now that you've made one? (I started my 1st last night.)

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

A few things,... lemme see if I can remember.

The nice lady running the draping class found that draping it made it fit her much better. In my case, even though I'm really tall, JP Ryan's pattern fit me really well, except in the arms, cause my arms are a lot "fluffier" than my midsection (by ratio at least compared to the average person perhaps...?)

Anyway, I got a really good fit with the bodice other than the arms with JP Ryan's pattern over the matching stays. So, I didn't really have that dissatisfaction that Kendra (the panel runner had).

but... the thing about these dresses is that they're almost, even if you use a pattern, they're almost draped no matter what since you're essentially putting tucks into a giant bag. :D (kinda like how you fit a kimono to yourself, to some degree).
I don't think you'll have any trouble.

but this time, I'll at least drape the sleeves. Also, I got the robing fold wrong last time (you can't tell, but I can tell...) Also I'd like to try some different fray block when I do the scalloped pinking next time. Also, I made my bodice a little short (it's no "new thing I learned", I just did...)

um yeah... my brain is shot. sorry. :D

[lorelai.livejournal.com]

squeeeeee!!