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I show up with heart a-blazing Ready to achieve amazing things But I'm left waiting in the wings . . . This has been a fun exercise! Patterned after an 1890 Symington corset, this was both a character and technical exercise for its own sake. I enjoyed making the base corset for my Zelda costume, and needed a distraction. So, as I had been catching up on Tangled the series (it’s beautiful and fun and charming! Go watch it!) and looove the antagonistic direction Cassandra has gone in, I decided to have a go at an entirely different corset silhouette and methodology inspired by moonstone cass. External channels and cording were things that I desperately wanted to try. Initially I had planned to make this from some left over Lust underpinning fabrics, but then I remembered this remnant damask I picked up 4ish years ago. The colours are all Cassandra’s and the pattern reminded me of the lanterns - it felt v corona-y. I wanted to create a feeling of the blue creeping, breaking through and overwhelming the warmer colours so the blue weave reverse of the fabric was perfect for the channels. I saw a very small screenshot of a later period corset with two external waist ribbons caught under the channels. I didn’t bother to do any research beyond thinking it looked lovely so I just.. copied it. And it looks lovely here and adds to that sense of creeping blue. I still have flossing to go, but I’m going to let my wrists rest a bit - the plan is to essentially envelop the channels in silk and try to capture that painterly style that the show is animated in. But the base is done for now. I’m not sure if I’ll do the full costume; I did a two minute rework into more of a military silhouette, so I’ll let it sit until I’m inevitably dying for a more utilitarian project. Otherwise this is effectively a character study in fabric. I have a lot more learning to go. . . . . Constructed from a layer of coutil, a fashion layer of damask, with external boning channels of coutil and the damask reverse. External waistribbons and edging in poly double satin ribbon. Also a petersham internal waistribbon for security. 46 bones, a spoon busk (That needs some shaping), and 32 eyelets.

Quit gaping like an idiot and bring me coffee . . . Finals are over! I didn’t win, and am so excited to see what the amazing winner, Calley MacLeod, will do for Chicago! Her firebird was stunning. I still can’t believe that I made it to the UK finals with Olivier. She is my favourite costume and greatest achievement to date, so it is incredibly gratifying to have had that recognised. I got some lovely feedback after the competition. I’m looking forward to giving Zoldo all of the love and care that she deserves over the next few months - I think I will definitely try my hand at competing again next year. For now: time for the general to sleep! I very much hope my anxiety dreams will find some chill.

I’m not even sure what the right thing is any more. . . . Today has been a ‘wake up and feel sad about rebels’ sort of day 📸 by @jonjamessmith

Less than a week to the UK Crown Championships finals at @mcmcomiccon Birmingham. Eep. Make sure to check it out if you’ll be there; the other finalists so far are incredible and I can’t wait see who will be the last to join us. Also I will be there, I guess. Every photo of me from Glasgow is very much not good as I was trying very hard to not cry. Zelda - @eglucy Jinx - @sayochuu

Open your eyes. . . . Corset for Zelda is finally done! . . . This is a 1902 straight front corset that was intended for a ‘stout’ figure. Rude! I copied the pattern from ‘Corset Cutting and Making’, making only a few sizing alterations, remapped the boning and removed the front busk for a clean line. I also added a couple of darts at the front at the very end bc it was doing... something. The flossing was essentially done mindlessly - I had planned some designs but no matter what I did they ended up looking bulky and awkward. Pretty is not my thing! I ended up sewing freestyle to find shapes that nod to the triforce and Hyrule royal family without being explicit. . . . It may seem an odd choice to go Edwardian for Zelda, but there is purpose! In her botw character turnarounds she is illustrated with her pelvis tipped back which creates an s-bend silhouette. It immediately made me think of the Belle Époque, which is a perfectly bittersweet reference given Zelda is primarily portrayed through memories from before the Calamity. For this costume I’m referencing pre-raphaelites (see @lothlenan’s beautiful art!), turn of the century theatrical costumes, Worth, Poiret and the flirtation with the new empire line, Fortuny, Gibson girls and post dress-reform. I want to nod to the fact that zelda is a princess more interested in her scholarly pursuits. I also want to play with the ‘rule of triangles’ that guided the botw game developers when designing the landscape of Hyrule, incorporating those shapes everywhere I can; the edwardian period was built on gussets and gores which makes it a perfect reference point. . . . The body is a layer of coutil with a fashion layer of cotton faille. Boning channels and waist tape in petersham. Gores and gussets are three layers of coutil and one layer of cotton quilted. All flossing is in beautiful silk from @Handweavers. Edging is a double faced polyester satin ribbon. Eyelets are grommets handstitched for security. Topstitching is a wreck bc a year plus ago I smashed my machine hook and it finally decided to yell about it last month; I didn’t have the heart to redo it. I would make this entirely differently if I did it again.

It’s always the witching hour if you try hard enough.

It’s difficult to talk about, but I remember it well. . . . I was reminded of Numa in conversation with @lorna_ka, and luckily it’s #freerylothfriday! It’s still a thing... I love this costume and I love Numa so much, unfortunately it is extremely uncomfortable and the bringer of migraines. 📸 by @danielalfonzothomas

On October third he asked me what day it was, I said, ‘How dare you talk to me, you coward.’ . . . Don’t forget 3.Oct.11 Happy Mean Fullmetal Alchemist Day! 📸 by @markwillshirephotography

Absolutely delighted to place first at the Glasgow round of the Crown Championship of Cosplay today at MCM! As each place was announced I became more sure that, as I expected, I hadn’t placed; everyone had done such incredible work! So when they said my name I shouted out ‘what the fuck’ because really, what the fuck. I was incredibly gratified to hear the lovely judges recognise the research, work and historical and technical details which are so easy to overlook or miss. Given just how, to me, political and personal this costume is both thematically and in my thinking when making it (and the state of the country), it is very meaningful to have a trophy for Olivier emblazoned with Scotland. ‘Such a parcel of rogues in a nation.’ This means I’ll be going on to compete with Olivier in the UK finals at Birmingham in November! I can’t wait to see the other finalist’s amazing costumes

You could always see me. . . . It is #BiVisibilityDay, and just last week I was told to my face at work that bisexuality isn’t really a thing. I am a biromantic demisexual comfortable in who and what I am, and am valid and visible every day of the year regardless of anyone else’s ignorance but if I wasn’t so self-aware and ready to fight for myself that could have thrown me into a downspin. All of my love to all bi individuals out there, be you in a relationship with a man, woman, enby or a being of darkness or happily single. If you are out, closeted, questioning, or happy in your identification. You are all valid and good 💙💜💗♠️ . . . 📸 by Beth Rudkin at #manchesterpride

We can’t turn our backs on this fight now . . . 📸 by @markwillshirephotography

It took me a lot of time to understand what I saw. . . . Some more Lust WIP details, this time making a Spanish Farthingale! I’m a little out of the swing w insta so sorry for being erratic with everything here... The Spanish farthingale is a perfect fit for Lust - in part bc this window of c16th century fashion where the silhouette was very clean and neat (cones were In), and also because bc it feels like an appropriate nod to that slight kick her skirt has at the calf. When people think of this particular silhouette it probably first calls to mind popular depictions of Anne Boleyn, unfairly categorised as an unfaithful seducer for so long. Lust is so often taken at face value as the embodiment of lust of flesh and desire, when really she is the embodiment of the homunculi’s bloodlust. It feels like a suitably uneasy and paradoxical parallel. This is still a bit of an incomplete shape because I need to change some things before I can sit down and just play with the hoops to nail that perfect silhouette. The base skirt I made in the middle of the night in a fit of anxiety, which led to a panic of maths and some frantic alterations before realising that actually, no, I was right the first time. However, the alterations had to be finished the make sure the skirt was balanced. So the size of my farthingale is a little bit odd, being neither historical nor quite correctly scaled for my modern self. Don’t jump between cm and inches in the dead of night, kids. . . . The main fabric is a Cotten satin dyed, the channel’s are velvet ribbon. The hoops are 14mm steel rather than anything rounded because I want to use up as much as I can from my stash. This project will probably take a little pause bc I’ve got Zelda on the brain and also bc both of my wrists are totally fucked so I need to be careful and take my time. EDIT: I just realised I posted a couple of the slides in the wrong order! Nevermind, you get the idea!

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