Robed in Fantasy on Etsy

Did you know I'm a garber, a costumer? I love to sew and have been since I was in the 8th grade, when a neighbor taught me to sew in exchange for hanging out with her niece for the summer. We were friends for years and hung out whenever she came to town. 

One nice thing about sewing is whenever I write myself into a corner or get stuck on a scene, I just move the office chair over to the sewing machine and make something. It's creative and often my mind works out the problem while the fabric is transformed into a garment. Then I'm ready to jump back into writing. It's a back and forth thing sometimes but works for me.

I sometimes sew commission costumes. Most recently was the 4 piece suit for the Beast character from The Beauty and the Beast movie. It was so much fun. Here's a photo:

Now, I do sell costuming at events and online through Etsy. If you're interested, my shop is called Robed in Fantasy. This is a pirate poet shirt I listed this morning. https://www.etsy.com/listing/568438391/3xl-burgundy-pirate-renaissance-shirt

Let me know what you think and leave me a comment below if there is something you do that's creative. I believe there are many more of us out there than visible on the surface.

30 Days of Corsets: Days 6,7, and 8

There's three questions I'm answering today as I catch up.
1) Who is my favorite corset maker?
Answer: I cannot say really. I've only purchased from two at this point:  Corset Story and Corset Punk. I like them both but have to give Corset Punk props in the customer service department.

2) Have I ever had a custom corset made for me?
Answer: No.  I would like to someday but not until I'm done waist training and losing weight. I have my eye on a couple of gorgeous ones so for now, they're incentive for me to keep going on the diet.

3) Have I ever made a corset for myself?
Oh, sure. I've made many costume corsets with plastic boning (and hated them). Right now I have three projects in various stages to make my own with steel busks and steel boning. Here's the photos:

The yellow cotton one is based on a more historical pattern. It has cups for the bust area. It's all cut out and I'm ready to begin sewing on it. The trim shown here I picked up in 2008 when we visited Germany for six weeks. I also have finished a skirt out of the same yellow fabric.

The burgundy velvet one I show laid out here. It has been cut out but I still need to cut out the coutil for the lining. I'm using left-over velvet from a costume I did last fall. It's a little thicker velvet since it's technically upholstry fabric. I expect it will wear well. The costume jacket I made from it is very comfortable.

The blue satin and lace is a project I haven't cut out yet. The baby blue satin and navy Italian lace are remainder fabric pieces from my wedding gown I made a few years back. I won't cut this one out until I've made the other two so I can see which pattern I like better and if there are any adjustments I want to make to the pattern. 

I will post photos of these three corsets whenever I get them completed.