Closet Cosplay: Happy Hobbit Day!

My dear Fangirls and Fanboys! Geeks and nerds!

Today we celebrate the birthday of two very important hobbits: Bilbo and Frodo Baggins!!!

It's also the 80th anniversary of the Hobbit being published!

Because of that I decided to put together a little closet cosplay of the unexpected adventurer himself: Mr. Bilbo Baggins!

I do eventually want to make this costume even better (hairy feet and all!) by dying the pants, sewing a real hobbit shirt + vest, and adding other details.

I am currently re-reading the Hobbit, which I haven't done since the movies were released. It's a lot more interesting this time around! Before I found it terribly boring for some reason. Now I love picturing Peter Jackson's versions inside the book situations. (Thorin especially.)

In order to take these photos I did, in fact, walk around our woods in my bare feet! (Occasionally with flip-flops.) I also sat on a family of pill bugs in that tree and kept shouting "SMILE" at my phone. (Plus many, many obscenities!) I'm sure the neighbors think I'm crazy, but the citizens of Hobbiton also thought Bilbo was crazy, and look at his story! It was an adventure in itself trying to take these pictures.



I leave you with me channeling my inner Martin Freeman:

Don't take it personally though! My DSLR was acting up, so I had to use my phone instead before I lost the light! Also flipping sneaky birds is what Mr. Freeman would want! 😉

Hope you had a happy Hobbit Day! 

Don't forget to eat your second breakfast!

Elevensies!

Luncheon!

Afternoon Tea!
Dinner!
Supper!

(And maybe a midnight snack while you're at it!)

💖💖💖Kelsey💖💖💖

Casual Cosplay Connections: Blossom

This month's theme for Casual Cosplay Connections was 90's cartoons! 

I had so many favorites that it was hard choosing which one I wanted to do. Then I remembered that I was limited to what I had in my closet and came up with an outfit that had all the ingredients I was looking for (sugar, spice, and everything nice... maybe a little bit of chemical X...)

Blossom from the Powerpuff Girls!!!

That was one of my favorite shows from when I was younger. Though I have to say I related more to Bubbles, and nowadays I feel more like Buttercup!

Funny thing is, I have two more dresses in similar flower lace in blue and green! I thought dressing as all of them might be a bit much though, lol

"Fighting crime trying to save the world. Here they come just in time! The Powerpuff Girls!"

Always a fun link up with you all! (Even if I was a wee bit late...Going to catch up with posts soon) Looking forward to next month's theme: Strong Female Character!

Be sure to link up with our hostesses Charlie from Happy Little Geek and Danielle at From Girlie To Nerdy if you decide to join in on the fun! This challenge makes me want to try and casual cosplay every day!

Kaylee Frye Dress

Hello fellow fans!

If you read my post from last week, you know that on April 10th I went to Emerald City Comicon in Seattle wearing a Kaylee Frye inspired frock.

Captain Kaylee's in command

Photo Credit: Hilary from the Cutie Life <3

Now, I'm finally getting around to laying out all the details for those who are interested.

Little backstory: A few years ago, I got all the necessary items to make a Kaylee Frye cosplay, but being as it was a last-minute thing, my friends and I were too late to buy tickets so it was never completed.

Flash forward to the beginning of April this year: I had decided that I wasn't going to go to comicon without wearing something fun. The two other conventions I've been to I regretted only wearing a geeky t-shirt. It's so much more fun to wear a cosplay! (If also stressful and quite a bit sweaty, as I learned.)

It all started with an idea: a dress combining the details of both of Kaylee's most memorable outfits from Firefly.

Thankfully, I already had the dress. It was given to me by a bestie of mine. However it would need a bit of tricky alteration to look more like Kaylee's outfit. That involved turning a button up dress into one with a zipper, which is something I had never done before. Here I was going to attempt it anyway!

After removing all the buttons and plackets, I seam ripped the inside of the casing underneath where the buttons were so I could install the zipper to the other side. With a tricky bit of manipulation, it worked! I sewed back down the stitch line and shortened the bottom of the dress and that was all that needed to be done. Then I hand/basted the patches on just in case I ever wanted to wear the dress plainly.

The "shindig" part of this outfit was a little trickier. I started with a plain slip and a couple of children's tutu skirts, all of which were thrifted for under $15. I then sewed them together so it formed a long strip (we're talking 6-8 feet here!) and gathered it with the sewing machine.

So frustrating to sew, but so rewarding to watch those perfect gathers happen.

Then I simply sewed the tutu fabric to the slip. Well, not so simply considering that the slip is stretchy! And well... slippery. (haha) But I followed the words of sewing guru Tim Gunn and made it work!

I finished off the look with a pair of strawberry earrings. Very happy to say that the dress turned out almost exactly as I imagined! It was so comfortable to wear around the con too! Tutu slips might be the next big thing! You never know...

Also, a shout-out to the PDX Browncoats booth where I got the awesome Jayne hat pin! I should have had my bear wearing it during the con!

I hope this post inspires you to follow your sewing and cosplay dreams. Think outside the box and make the ideas your own. Anything is possible!

ECCC 2016

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Emerald City Comicon here in Seattle!

It was my first year attending, so I chose to only go on Sunday. I had a wonderful time!!!

I made my Kaylee Frye (Firefly) dress about a week before con. (There will be a separate post with all the details about that next week.)

I made a new friend right off the bat.

You can check out this fella's maker on Instagram here.

Keep reading for the whole experience!