Hunting And Gathering...

Yesterday was only partially successful. Took Mini Me and went to look for somewhere that carries colored plastic straws in bulk to try and make her lampshade...easier said than done! Smart & Final had ONE box of 600--I need something on the order of 1500--and the colors were a bit disappointing. Online searches revealed either individuals selling cute lil' boxes of 25 or nameless, shapeless terrifing Chinese overseas suppliers with web pages in Chinese. Even ebay failed me. I'll have to undertake further digging.

The Renaissance Faire costumes came out of the closet yesterday for inspection--mine has a bit of unraveled, but still there, gimp cord on the bodice that I need to reweave and sew back into place, but other than that looks OK, as does J's.

I also had the kid try on her Renaissance Faire costume. What a hoot.

*sigh*...my old chemise that I'd taken in and secured by basting a few years ago, and which had also served as one of her underskirts, had the basting stiches removed so she can just wear it as a top. That was the ONLY part of her costume that isn't going to be a major undertaking. She needs three new skirts (hello, thrift stores my old friends, I've come to shop with you again...), and her existing overskirt/bodice I'm going to have to entirely take apart and redesign. I can recut and crenellate the bottom and recut and reshape the bodice to look more like a 17th century bodice. The sides of the bodice, top of the shoulder and front of the bodice all need to be slashed and grommets installed so they'll lace up. Once I do all that it should last her a couple of more years, which I like because the faded purple corduroy it's made of looks charming on her and is just getting that comfortable 'worn-in' look & feel to it. I also like keeping and reusing elements of her very first Ren Faire costume in it. :) Besides, Faire costumes only look good if they look like REAL, worn-in clothing, even better if they look like nice hand-me-downs since it better fits the 'middle class' look we're going for. That's why the 'lovely but a bit faded & worn' look works so well.

So off to Michaels yesterday for leather lacing (pretty faded sage green) and grommets. No gimp cord found for the bodice, but then again we don't have ANY fabric stores in our area, which is stupid.

Today will be foraging in the thrift stores for skirts, pieces I can take apart and repurpose for her costume and any random bits that may work into our costumes as-is.

We're aiming for going to the Faire maybe next weekend, hopefully it won't be raining!