Free Weekend

We have been holed up at home this weekend generally, playing Warcraft (even without having the new expansion) and planning Dicken's Faire costumes since we are on the gatelist for a couple of weekends (which means we get in free). The true love is sick and I had four days of no head/co teacher with a lot of confusion about what was coming up. Starting now I am putting myself very much into the loop at work. My boss was, I think, concerned about my mental state after me being left in the lurch and took me out to lunch to be encouraging, which was savvy on her part.

Here is what we cobbled together last year for the Faire out of the closet and such:

Yes, we have some stuff in our closets (like hoop skirts and top hats).

Yesterday we went to the new JoAnn's in El Cerrito, which is enormous and luckily has a take-a-number system for getting fabric cut. We bought a few plaids and some fake ponsettia for the top hat. I bought a couple more Victorian patterns at Lacis, to add to my enormous and never used collection. I looked them up first at the Greater Bay Area Costumer website where they review patterns. I discovered that my collection of costume patterns was a good idea because most are out of print and some people buy them on ebay. Perhaps if the true love still has no job at the end of the year we can sell them online ;)

We will see how today goes and if any sewing gets accomplished. I really need a corset before I can undertake serious costuming so perhaps I will make some Victorian undergarments like a chemise and drawers instead of undertaking a skirt and shirt. I picked up a white sheet set at Goodwill for $3 that I can use for cheap fabric for this purpose. I also bought a dark green wool jacket that I may boldly hack up/resew to see if I can make it look appropriate for this year. Lastly I purchased a peasant style blouse (too small) with some blue embroidery which I plan to cut the arms off, add elastic to go near the elbows, and use as "sleeves" which peek out of the jacket. If any of this actually happens I will post photos for sure. For now, your imaginations can probably come up with something that looks much better. Or you can go to the site I gave for the Faire and look at photos of people with good costumes.

Off to make tea!