Finding Myself and Fancy Dress Balls

Dear readers,
Hello there! I hope you have all had a wonderful summer (and fall) and are now starting to plan for the wonderful winter months.  I'll jump right in with my updates...
     Back in July, I reconnected with a young gentleman I met at a Christmas ball a few years ago.  Our first date happened in the middle of August and needless to say I have been a little distracted since then.  *Insert stupid grin here* We are still dating and have gone on many adventures together since then. 
My plans of traveling through the costume world has been put on hold also due to lack of funds.  However, I have managed to make a few creative costumes as well as two ball gowns for this year's fancy dress ball on Halloween. 

Enchanted Entertainment

     The Masquerade Ball was hosted by the 1861 Girls School at Antrium Plantation in Columbia, TN. This was my first masquerade but not only did we wear masks but also we also got to be in themed costumes, like they did in the 1860s. My themed dress was Starry Night (no, not like the painting but an actual night sky).  The black taffeta type material had little gathers all over the dress and made the "only in movies" swoosh I've dreamed about.  The bertha was leftover gathered tulle with star rhinestones throughout.  The tulle overlay was covered in hand glued rhinestones with a hidden Mickey on there.

Starry Night

This is Me and My Beau

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Prince Charming and Christine Daae
 

Myself, My best friend Hannah, Elise and Linnea

A Very Important Hair Picture



Hannah's dress was modeled after a Rose Lattice
 and Disney's "Painting the Roses Red"

I made Hannah's out of two skirts I already had then a new bodice for her.  This was her first ball and she said she really enjoyed herself! I may even talk her into coming to the Christmas ball.

That's it for now!
Yours Truly,
Shayla P.

Exciting News!

 

Hello there!
      I realize that it has been quite a while since I updated you with news. Well, here I am! I have really exciting news but you'll have to wait until I've finished updates! (haha!). As you probably know, I have been extremely busy this last month because of many events and such. The first thing that happened in July was the 1861 Girls School tea. I was an alumni this year, and I made my new Summer Sheer dress in that gorgeous yellow plaid I bought a while back(see it does pay off to have a fabric stash at times). Here is the finished product that I wore to the tea:



My first ruffle dress!



The Ladies of Murfreesboro

Elise and I

      After the tea on July 16th, was my sister's birthday and the graduation ball.  Now my sister was insistent for a Harry Potter party so we decked out the house with candles for the "Great Hall", Platform 9 3/4, a whomping willow, a spider trail, moaning myrtle(yes she talked in the bathroom courtesy of me!), chamber of secrets, house banners, the rules from Umbridge and a whole bunch of themed treats that I don't want to know the amount of sugar to! I had the idea to dress up as Bellatrix, a crazed wizard who follows the bad guy like a puppy, and I managed to get the skirt, shirt and sleeves together.  I also needed to finish up my ball gown that was revamped from my mother's dress she used in the play Go Tell It on the Mountain. Long story short, I didn't worry about pictures or finishing that costume since I had to leave for the ball in two hours. HA! I left an extra hour after that due to my ball gown needing to be finished... everyone loved it though and I had the most magical time once I actually got there. (Get ready for more pictures!)


Please excuse the "after polka hair"

I'll be fixing the hook and eye tape later...

The full group of ladies from Murfreesboro!

My dear friend Katie whose dress makes one with mine!
 

      We had a wonderful night mingling and dancing the night away, per usual, and a great hurrah at Waffle House afterword, as is tradition.  We also found out that the Harvest Ball will be a themed Fancy Dress Ball! This was the official name of an 1860's costumed masquerade ball! Yay! The ideas immediately started coming and I couldn't get a sketch out quick enough!
     The last update was at Miss Charolette's birthday party(pictured in the beautiful white and green at the tea). She had a wonderful theme of Disney VS. DreamWorks, which of course I went as Disney! I was Ariel in her town dress and yes, that is my real hair just with tons of red color spray!

Ariel, Esmeralda, and Elsa(Murfreesboro gals!)

Now on to more exciting news! Just this morning I had a moment of realization of what I wanted to accomplish! This may not be a big deal to half of the population who know from the moment they hit high school or even the 5th grade what they will be doing for the rest of their lives (which I have to admit I know about half who do half who don't). However, I never went to college or a trade school, in fact after high school I stayed with my parents and continued my small job at a very well known sandwich restaurant. I just didn't know what to do with my life, and during high school I had put off sewing so it wasn't my passion yet.
     First off, it's ok if you haven't found out what you want to do in life because I believe finding what you love is a trial and error. It takes time and some "soul searching" to find what you love.  I am happy to announce I have found just that. My love history and fashion has been growing whenever I find research or a new project I love, unfortunately there is not many colleges that offer a degree in historical fashion/costuming. If they do its far away, expensive, and doesn't guarantee you a job. None of which I want to dive into. So, I've decided to start from maybe about the 1300's and work my way through history by costuming and research! I may not go into extreme detail by costuming each decade but definitely the change in eras and researching what made the changes in fashion and how it affected the people. (That's my type of history!) I'll do some research and decide on a starting point within a few weeks and I hope to blog about the journey especial fun facts and the finale product, maybe even a few tutorials. :)
     I'm sorry this post ended up being so long but I hope you'll join me on this new adventure and feel free to share information and facts, history has a lot to it and I love discussing all things history and fashion, obviously.

Yours Truly,
Shayla P.

Updates and New Projects...

       Hello! It is so nice to be able and take a moment and blog after so long! I have lots of fun tid bits so I might as well dive in...

       For starters, the living room is fully painted and has a beautiful beach theme! It was an awful orange before had and it was everywhere, literally everywhere. Now that we've improved on the home I've been thinking of little things here and there that I could do to my little apartment.  Enough about that though, I'm sure you've been wondering what I have been sewing and creating.  Well, I'm happy to say I have become branch manager of a company called Enchanted Entertainment.  It specializes in children's entertainment such as birthday parties and special events. It is a wonderful opportunity to be involved with children and making magical memories! I also have a job working as a sort of costume manager/creator/stylist which has been keeping me fairly occupied with sewing.  Although, I have managed to come back from MTAC 2015 with wonderful memories and lots of fun pictures!  I also have a few new costumes for my summer reenacting that I am so excited to get back into. As fun as creating costumes is, the more strict rules of reenacting is calling me again.  So here we go:

       For MTAC 2015 I was able to Disney Bound as Vanessa (Ursula in human form) the first day, be Tinkerbell the second, and a casual look on the last day.

I already had the dress but made the necklace myself.

Yes, I made all that! :)

Grumpy Tink

The shadow was perfect...

     As you can see, I had fun! I also met lots of little princesses and fans of Tinkerbell! They all truly believed. 

    Speaking of new friends I've also made some with Aurora, Belle, Anna, of course Elsa, and Maleficent! I do enjoy my new job! The latest event I attended was the Tennessee Renaissance Festival. My sister and I had the same look going for us but she was a gypsy and I was a fairy who lost her wings. (basically didn't have time to throw anything else together lol)

She makes such a cute gypsy!

God save the queen!

     Elise (check out her blog here: http://blissfulchickadee.blogspot.com/ ) also came with us and even though it was muddy and rainy we still had fun! We also ran into a lot of friends to which was great! 
     
     So what does my Summer 2015 have in store? Apart from working, managing, sewing costumes, etc. I plan to attend my second WWII event in late June at the Wilson County Fair Grounds.  I have the perfect blue rose fabric in my stash and a dress pattern waiting to be used(even though I think I own plenty of 40's dresses. Oh well.) Hopefully I can get that made in the next few weeks.  That beautiful sheer yellow plaid finally has a plan- a V-neck civil war day dress that I can not wait to wear to the 1861 Girl's School Tea. (Also I have a new petticoat thanks to my wonderful friend Linnea.  She lives out of state and I got to visit with her last weekend!) I am unsure about a new ball gown or not but I suppose that depend on time. A just for fun project on my list is a 1700's French dress. I'm not quite sure if I want it in color or simply white with accents yet but I will have to see if I can find the right fabric.

    Well I wish you all a wonderful pre-summer and hopefully I will be able to right again soon!
Yours Truly,
Shayla P.

Dear Old Friends...(Catching Up)

Dear readers,
     It has come to my conclusion that I am terribly awful at writing of late. For this I am terribly sorry.  Recently my family has come into a rough time and we have been busy with anything you can imagine. Including, a spur of the moment task that my mother and I have taken on of painting our whole living room/dining area,/kitchen space that makes up our downstairs heart of the home.  It really does look much better though.  As for what I've been up to includes quite a few projects. I will list each project, what I used it for(or where I plan to), and of course a picture of its state.

Frozen Elsa Costume #2
    I am using this as an upgrade to what I previously started with.
 The dress is finished but eventually I would like to line it, add some more bling to the ice bodice, and put more details on the sleeves.

Frozen Anna: Traveling Costume
     This is for my little sister who wanted an Anna costume since the movie came out.
The main outfit is completed. We managed to make the cape look nice but it is missing the pom-poms, the ribbon trim, and the little details above the ribbon.  She also doesn't have the hat, gloves, or boots with the details on them. As it is becoming Summer I won't worry about it until fall.

Tinkerbell
     My MTAC (Comicon) costume that I will be wearing Easter Weekend.
I am still working on this as I need to finish the wings, the shoes, and fix up the dress. It needs a better neckline, some minor adjustments in the seams, the leaf details, and some straps.

I can at least wear it though!

1950's Inspired Cinderella Dress(based on the 2015 movie)
     I wore this to the premier of Cinderella (3-12-15)
This is completely wearable(I even wore this out in public!) I would, however, like to adjust the bodice to fit some more and maybe fix the gathers on the skirt.

My Glass Slippers!

Finished dress, complete with 6 layers of tulle and chiffon!

I made my sister a tulle skirt as a surprise to take her with me.

 Cinderella Cartoon Work Dress
     I have no idea where I am going to wear the dress but I love it! I have the pieces but I am far from done. I need to adjust the necklines of the two shirts, make darts or take them in, fix the skirt or buy a new one, sew the apron and hair rag. (Fairly simple but that's at the bottom of my list.)



Comparison to the original movie(the colors are spot on!)
 

     Oh yes, and then there is a stash of beautiful semi-sheer sunshine yellow plaid cotton in my sewing pile that I am undecided on. I have enough to make a Civil War dress, which I am dying to get back to historical projects, or I could make a bustle dress (I have never done that before) or a 1950's tea dress that I can wear in public(Which is so nice to do!). I'll have to see where my imagination takes me on that one.
      I hope you've enjoyed getting to see what I've been up too! I will do my best to try and post more but I cannot you will be sure to hear from me after MTAC! Oh, and please feel free to meet me and say hello! I won't bite. ;)

Yours Truly,
Shayla P.

P.S. If you are interested, I have been considering a YouTube channel where you can see my work and what I've been up to.  Let me know in the comments!

Did Someone Say New Year?

Dear readers,

I hope you have had a wonderful New Year so far. I have been busy with quite a few things lined up on my plate already.  First off let me tell you about the delightful party the Bonnie Blue Gals hosted the first Saturday of the New Year.  We had all worked very hard on getting the details just right and I must say, all our hard work paid off beautifully. Most of everyone from our invite list was able to attend so we were not lacking in company.  I really felt like we were back in the 1860’s during Christmas.  It was such a wonderful feeling! We played parlor games, listened to some history about the home, had tea and goodies, and had such a wonderful time with friends.

     My second reenactment of the year was set in 1812 during the battle of New Orleans.  This took place at the Hermitage, home of former President Andrew Jackson, where we were able to participate in a fashion show.  My good friend Elise and I were even able to have a mini photo shoot after the show! Thanks to another one of my friends, Sarah, we were able to take some lovely pictures (down below).  I swear it wasn’t much warmer than 30 degrees but we enjoyed running around in a historical place with our regency clothing.  It was very Jane Austin of us. That is all the reenacting I’ve done so far this year. It is off season here since its cold and honestly, who wants to camp in the cold? I don’t blame them.

     I do however have some very exciting news!  I hope you all liked my Elsa costume because it finally snowed here! So naturally I had to take pictures in it before it warmed up.  Now that I’ve had the basic outfit down I’m planning on practically re-doing the whole thing.  (So much for having an “ok” costume. I am now terribly nit-picky about the whole thing.) The idea behind restyling the dress came to me when I found some leftover fabric from my grandmother’s collection! (Praise the Lord I don’t have to spend a fortune on more fabric!)  It is the perfect shade of light blue which is a lot better than the darker sea green/blue it is now. I also have some great ideas on how to cheaply restyle the corset like bodice.  I have also been working on a Tinkerbell costume for the 2015 MTAC convention! I haven’t officially bought my tickets yet but I am hoping I can do that soon!  The plan is to have a ballerina costume inspired by Tinkerbell! I think it’s the neatest thing.  I’ll have a tutu and possibly some pointe shoes dyed to match the costume.  Haven’t started on the bodice but I have the material ready to start! (I finally have a sewing machine that works now! I ended up going through two others before the one I have now.) Before I sign off, I have also began progress on my sister’s Anna outfit again.  I’ve got a new corset vest ordered that I’ll embroider whenever it decides to get here.  Oh, and I came up with a great idea for the cape! I am using a very soft fuzzy blanket that I picked up from my local store. It Is the perfect color, however, I underestimated how fuzzy it is and how easily it sheds.  Oops.  Well you live and you learn.

Yours truly,

Shayla P.

P.S. Please enjoy the many photos!

Bonnie Blue Gals' Victorian Christmas Party

Tori and I

Our very Victorian Christmas Tree



What a wonderful group of people!

Regency

One of my personal favorites.

The dress had such wonderful color!

Elise :)

Regal in front of the Hermitage

The Hermitage Gardens

Frozen: Elsa

 

Love this one!

I think I do a good job as Elsa.

In the light of day!