The Space Warrior Cape and Dress

Deering's Flight Suit v.2

Yes, this is a remake of an outfit I made before for the same character, but I realized a flight suit uniform would be perfect to use as a piece for the Millennium Spaceport show.

When I went into my models' closet to get it out, I realized I had thrown the original Deering flight suit out!  So I made another one.

Speaking of the Millennium Spaceport show, did you notice my link on the side to see the progress for the costumes for the event? 

The Cosby Show: What Para-LLelo-gram is... Trapezoidica!

Yes, I call her, "Trapezoidica."

What we have here is initially inspired by "The Creature Teacher" Miss Westlake (Sonia Braga), who was given a parallelogram by her students when she spawned forth a child.  She was so happy and to this day, I still hear her voice saying, "Now she can learn what Parallelogram is."

Also this outfit is also obviously sci-fi heavy, which is completely okay because a trapezoid is not a parallelogram, so I hereby made geo-fi.  (Get it, a geometrical shape made fictional, see?... ... ... Don't judge me!)

Hardware store challenge: bidi, bidi, bidi...

This was fun.  This week, the challenge was to use items found in a hardware store to make an outfit.  I wasn't too sure about this one because on the show, they had a budget of $150 to get their materials.  But you  know what?  I went to the hardware and automotive section of two different dollar stores and made this entire outfit from materials that cost altogether Nine Dollars.

Before I get to what the dress is made from (I know you are all dying to know, so now I can be mean and make you wait), I want to mention that I've been waiting for an excuse to make a Twiki outfit for some time now.  I sure am glad I waited until this challenge came up, because I like the way it turned out.  I always liked the Twiki character, although I did restrain myself from going around the house saying, "Bidi Bidi Bidi" as a kid, at least not while anyone was watching.  Maybe I liked him because we were both short.  Maybe I envied his bowl-cut haircut, a style that I was never allowed to have.

Okay, are you ready?  I know this outfit looks like it was made from glittery black fabric and burgundy satin, but it is actually made from silver car windshield shades, black rubber shelf lining, and red cleaning rags from the automotive department!  The earring accessories are mini hex wrench sets (2 for $1!) suspended on keyrings!

(I considered making an accessory representing Dr. Theopolis, which Twiki wore around his neck, but decided it would be too distracting and just hinted at his presence by the rounded closure at the front of the jacket)

I originally thought to make the whole thing out of the silver shades at the risk of a "Tin Man" callout, but when I happened to overlap the shelf liner on top of the shade, I noticed it gave off this cool glitter look!  Amazing!  The added bonus was the shades are backed with a thin sheet of foam.  This made it absolutely perfect for creating those insane shoulders/sleeves without necessitating shoulder pads or stuffing of any kind.  The sleeves stand up all by themselves.

Not to say the whole thing was easy and I will be quick to use material like this in the future for "stand up" features.  My machine hated these shades.  Well, I should say, the presser foot hated it.  The back was rubbery and therefore would not glide under the presser foot at all.  I had to use machine oil (applied with a Q-Tip) to lubricate the top of the material for every single seam.  But, hey, she's supposed to be a robot, so I guess it's appropriate!

The Bionic Woman: Activewear for the Retro Modern Futuristic 70's Partially Mechanical Woman In Us All.

Actually, I've been wanting to make a "Bionic Woman" outfit for a while now (the first version didn't turn out the way I would have liked). I really should point out that this is a "THE Bionic Woman" inspired outfit. The insulting, updated version that aired not too long ago dropped the "THE" in the title, but that is all that I'm going to say about that...

Anyway, the image I recall of Jaime Sommers when thinking of the series is one in which she running in the woods in a kind of jogging suit, and as my friend Mike showed me (who, by the way, is totally buddies with Lindsay Wagner, who is the also the aunt of a girl that was in my 8th grade class), the outfit that I am recalling is most likely the one she is seen wearing in the opening credits. See the running? The woods? The Prell bouncy hair?

I struggled a little about how fitted I wanted to make the top, and in the end, decided to go with just tight enough and a little space-age-y, After all, although I would consider the Bionic Woman a superhero, the TV genre was considered Sci-Fi. I took the horizontal stripes on the original jacket and made curves stripes in blue and black, and made the bodice out of a stretchy cotton jersey. I wanted to make the shoulders a little more heavy to make them look "stronger" so I used what I had left of a stiffer white corduroy.

I considered making a one-sleeved jacket with metal inserts because it was actually only her right arm that was bionic (along with both her legs and one ear), but knew that would be too "artsy" for this outfit, so I went with the more everyday wearable path.

Space Cadet - Not Lost Anymore!

I'm finally (hopefully!) coming out of my slump with a "Lost In Space" outfit that was for the first time, not inspired by a human character!

No it's not Robot B9, but the spaceship itself. Back in the early days of sci-fi TV shows there very often seemed to be these curved beams in the hallways of the ship's interior, usually painted orange, with holes cut out of them.

So you can see in the detail of the top, I did subtle cutouts on the curved bands around the armholes.

And... Well, other than that, it's just a nice little urban dress that would be comfortable to wear. It's made out of stretch cotton jersey with faux suede trim. This was originally just supposed to be a simple underdress with a jacket being the main focus, but the jacket turned out a little too cartoony and costumey since it was bright blue and heavier on the suede to the point it looked a little cowboy-ish. I liked the dress by itself, so here it is!

Jetson Collection I: Judy Jetson is Ready for Blast Off

Eeep! I'm re-using a wig so soon again! But how could I make a Judy Jetson and not have her with white blonde hair? Would have been simply erroneous!!! Erroneous!

I designed this outfit for a popular high-school/college age girl that everyone likes. She dresses nicely and neatly for school (remember when people used to do that? One can only hope that the trend will return before 2062, the year in which The Jetsons is set) and takes care of her clothing and hair.









I didn't necessarily want to go with Judy's Hot Pink/Mauve color scheme, but I did want to make sure I nodded at her triangular collar, which was pretty much a standard with the female characters on the show (the male characters, even the male dog, usually had circular-plate shaped collars).

I could have made a more standard collar, but as we all know, really big collars automatically makes things high fashion and impressive! (The secret is, though, big collars like that are not only just as easy to make as normal-sized collars, but they also can hide flaws that might be underneath! Don't tell anyone!)



This outfit was almost trashed. My original plan was to build another signature sleeve example to add to my portfolio. As you know, I love the look that I make with the large bishop sleeves sticking out of a short sleeved jacket. It's not something that I see around, although I do see a lot girls doing double layering of long sleeved tee shirts worn under short-sleeved tees.

Anyway, the jacket came out looking costumey (or cartooney? ha!) and did not look like it was meant to go with the blouse. It also did not look like something that I could see a girl wanting want to wear to school or even to walk down the street, so I called PHAIL!

But after I came to my senses and saw how I could not just ignore such a cute skirt, I told myself that I could use some practice making tailored jackets, and since I had plenty of this great fabric left, I went for it.





So first I replaced the blouse with another mock turtleneck. They are in fashion again, you know....

















And did a quick misses' tailored jacket which ended up looking clean and well-made! Excitement! I like when things go from Phail to Phabulous!

Jetson Collection II: Jane's Night Out

This week's challenge involved using a divorcee's wedding dress to re-create a new look for her, basically a "first date after the divorce" outfit.

I was not about to go out and buy a wedding dress just to take it apart, (even at thrift stores, wedding dresses are not cheap!) but I remembered a friend gave me her old bridesmaid's dresses, one of which I have already used, and lo and behold, one of them was purple, just like Jane Jetson's staple outfit, and the outer fabric was futuristic-looking semi-transparent shiny crepe! Score! Thanks, Sara!


























I knew that I had to do a nice dress for a lady "of a certain age" for Jane, while still making it known that she still has a very nice body.





After much mental deliberation, I decided on a criss-cross halter to echo her original triangle-shaped collar, and made use of the old dress's liner fabric to create the double-layered skirt that cartoon Jane's outfit had. Sorry, I decided against the purple tights, though. I know you're disappointed. Take this time to cry and I'll be here when you come back.



Here's the make-it-work time. I hated this dress when I first finished sewing it. You can see in the picture to the right, the original placement of the the skirt. Boring! It just hangs there and there's really nothing "designer" about it. The liner underneath looks like it was hemmed incorrectly rather than being intentionally longer than the outer skirt.

I started taking pictures anyway, resigning myself to the fact that I wouldn't have to worry about putting this one in my portfolio and at least it had only taken one day to make.





Then, in a fit of "No! I can't just let this be unimpressive!" I pulled up the sides and attached them asymmetrically to the waistband, and it created more fullness, more shine, and more interest! Sounds like a commercial for Pantene! Thank you, Easter Bunny!

Jetsons Collection III - Rosie's Revenge

This week was a tough one for me. There are SO many reasons why this pop-star performace outfit was destined for phail, but let's start with the positives!


Conceptually, there was a lot about this outfit that stemmed from Rosie's maid outfit. The grey material of the jacket is obvious as a base inspired by Rosie's metal robot body. The ruffles at the collar and the cuffs are also meant to echo those in the cartoon version. The extra wide peplum looks like an apron. So those are the givens.

If you look closer, you can see that there are grommets/rivets placed in various places on her jacket, and the sleeves are meant to look like they are disconnected and being held on by buttons, just like Rosie's arms are being held on by the large red buttons above her biceps.

So on to my feelings about why this is not good? I start with the actual TV challenge. I do not care at all for Aggie. I am not inspired by Aggie. I would never care to make a garment for Aggie because I think she is rude. So with this outfit, I did not have in my head an outfit for Aggie, but for another pop tartlet that I like much better, Rhianna. She has a daring fashion sense and is not afraid to wear something with no pants.

But here's the thing. I LOVE Bob Mackie!!! He is my hero because has done a LOT of design for old TV shows, and SO respected in the fashion world. I want to be like him! So next week, I am dedicating myself to do a collection inspired by a famous show that he used to dress.


Disappointments with this most recent PR episode aside, and my lament with the grey fabric being more difficult and wrinkle prone that I would have liked, and the fact that I discovered too late the white material for the ruffly blouse had a mild case of mildew, the fault in this outfit lies with me in the end. I wanted to make an outfit that was over the top and stage-not street- wearable. And although this outfit is definitely not understated, it needs to be much more grand and awe-inspiring.

All a learning experience, though! Better to learn from mistakes so you know how to better your product next time.

Sci-Fi Adventure: A 25th century Outer-Space Babe Flies Again

As promised, my real one-day outfit based on a movie genre is ready today!

Any of you who watched the show were probably ON THE EDGE OF YOUR SEATS wondering which genre I would go with. Sci-Fi won! (Although if I was actually on this episode, you know I would have without a doubt chosen "period piece" and made one of my renaissance dresses to kill everybody)

So here we have a revised version of Wilma Deering from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, played by the goddessly gorgeous Erin Grey. I think she looked better with dark hair than the blonde hair she adopted after the first season, don't you agree?

So this outfit is to offer a non-early-80's version of the lycra flightsuit that Wilma wore on Buck Rogers. I still wanted to go with something that hinted at a white space-suit, because, as you know, in the future all people will be dressed in monochromatic colors and at certain points all women will be wearing miniskirts.

This outfit has so many great details that will probably get overlooked and/or the camera doesn't pick up. You can see the holster on the pant leg, which I think makes a big statement. Imagine that detail not there. It wouldn't be the same.

Anyway, this outfit has pockets and fold-overs all over the place that don't all open at the top. When you're in space, there's no gravity, so why not make pockets with the opening at the sides or even at the bottom?

The undershirt has a strange, branch-like pattern on it as well that looks like the cooling tubes in real astronauts undergarments. I lucked out having that one!

So this one is a contender for one of my favorites right now. Please ignore the badly photoshopped white shoes on her feet. There, I said it! I used photoshop on something!! Don't judge! You don't know me!

*runs away*