The first project of the new year is near and dear to my heart. My life has been changing a lot lately and with changes come a whole lot of choices. For the first time in my adult life, I've been given the space to truly dream of what my future could look like, the space to dream about what I want to do for work, who I want to be. This room to dream brought me to think on Cinderella, because all of life's moments can relate to Disney movies and I'm a true Disney girl to immediately think on the similarities to this movie or that. She dreamed of a better life, full of wonder, honesty and the ability to truly live.
Her movie said "A dream that you wish, will come true," and this year Disney is re-doing her movie in live action; filled with wonderful costumes. The San Diego Costume Guild is attending the film together this year, in costume, and a friend from the guild said to me, "you would make a wonderful Ella." This started to really sink in about a week ago; that not only would I carry her character well, but that she and I have a lot in common right now.
She dared to dream as I am doing now. I've been dreaming of expanding myself into the world of truly becoming a seamstress. Owning my own business isn't new to me, but to make money doing something I love would be. I've been sewing steadily for 3 years now. First I made quilts and then I started making costumes. This past year I've been doing alterations and garment construction for clients and I really love it. I love the interaction and I love seeing their ideas come to reality.
I constructed a flower girl dress for a good friend from the fabric taken from altering her wedding gown a few months ago. The dresses turned into a real "mommy & me" set. The trim from the back train of the wedding gown fit perfectly around the waist of the flower girl dress. After attaching and re-beading it, the gowns matched so well. This exceeded the dreams of the bride to be and watching them both walk down the aisle brought tears to my eyes, from the joy of being such an important part of something so beautiful.
A few days ago I started really thinking about another event I love to go to. Dapper Day at Disneyland. Last year, in the fall, was the first time I attended this event and I was really amazed at the turnout and the amount of attendees that did themed attire. They were stepping out in style in their favorite fashion era, but with a cosplay twist. There were Snow Whites, Peter Pans, the crocodile no less, and it all created a desire in me to do the same. So when I started thinking about what character I would like to do in 1950's fashion (my favorite era), it hit me. I could do a 1950's Cinderella and have one costume for 2 events!
So naturally that meant it was time to go shopping. I didn't have any baby blue in my "stash" and I wanted something that would fit within my budget. Money is tight when life changes happen (funny how that works) and so I set out to my local thrift store. I found a shower curtain that is a shimmery baby blue and matched a couple bed sheets to it for the body of the gown. All total, $7.00 in fabric. Then I found an amazing pair of thrift store shoes, that fit both my feet and the "glass slipper" look. $6.50 for these amazing shoes.
Accessories were next, which unfortunately isn't something readily available at a thrift store. Joanns was my next stop and I had the last bit of my Christmas gift card to spend. A new pattern, on sale for $1, headband, ribbon, silver shimmer beads, shiny gems, zippers, interfacing and boning. I walked out the door spending only $9.50 of my own money. All total this costume will cost me $23.00 and the time to sew it.
This will be a fun and challenging project. Boning, zippers and modifying the pattern to fit the style of the 1950's will stretch my growing abilities. The other challenge is that there is only 6 weeks between now and Dapper Day to complete this.
I'm also thinking that maybe I could make a purse to look like Cinderella's carriage. How cool would that be? Well happy sewing and creating to me. Wish me luck!
