Arrr Me Mateys

So, it is that time of year again and I am working on my Pirate Festival costume.  I am still sticking to the steam punk genre for my pirate costume.  However, I am taking it out of the realm of Victorian and in to that of the orient.  I am not going to reveal my complete costume till the day of the pirate festival.  However, here are some teaser shots.

I got my inspiration when looking through the costume patterns at the fabric store.  This is pretty much how it goes with me.  The crazy thing is, this costume only took 3 days to make.  Mind you, this was three weekend day.  But still, I don't think I have ever made a costume from scratch this fast before.  Also, I didn't have to look at the pattern once for directions.  I already knew how it was constructed.  YAY!!

One of the goals for this costume was to do something different.  I was sick of the typical steam punk, I am getting rather sick of it.  Don't get me wrong, I still have respect for it, the Victorian era steam/ clockwork punk is still classic.  However, it is becoming over done.  I want to add new spins to things.  I am not sure if I have accomplished this with my costume, but I will let you all be the judge of that.

As for how I design my costume, this is something I have been asked a couple times.  Just a note to keep in mind, you do need to have some creative thinking and the ability to realistically imagine what the final product may look like.  Be honest with yourself about your skill and creativity and you will have much better results.

So here are my two main methods for planning out a costume.

1. Inspiration picture: this is how I make my historical costumes a lot of the time.  I will find a period appropriate example and start putting my own touches on it.

2. Go to the fabric store and just start looking around:  When it comes to fantasy costumes usually I will just go to the store with a really rough idea of what to make and go from there.   I will look at the patterns and see if anything sparks my interest.  I will also browse the fabrics and see if anything catches my eye.  Even if I have a good idea of what I want, I will most likely change the whole design once I get to the fabric store.

Hope this helps and answers the questions some.  So keep tuned for more pictures of the final product.

Happy Crafting!

Nikki