Making my Star Trek Skant phase 3

If you have been following my Star Trek Skant making you will have seen I finished the actual dress last weekend. I was too excited and ordered the braiding and the badge on Monday ( was planning on waiting till payday oops. I wasn't expecting them to come for a while as they were coming from America but they materialized (hahah see what I did there) on Saturday! 

I was shocked Las Vegas to London in 4-5 days.... crazy! I was really happy with the quality of the items and I started sewing them on straight away. The detailing and the quality of the patch and braiding were really impressive and I have to say well worth the extra money to get the real thing!

Bought from eBay here

It did take a while to sew everything on, I made sure to take my time and sew neatly and slowly. I then had a couple of alterations to make in the dress and once I did that hey presto I had my first ever Cosplay! It really made such a difference and made it look like a star fleet uniform straight away.

Trying a typical Star Trek mid action pose!

Close up of the details on the dress.

Hoping I am doing Spock and Mirror Universe Spock justice.

I am really proud of myself, I can't believe how well it all went! Overall I am so happy, if I were to do it again I would change a few things: maybe a different slightly thicker fabric, a little more fitted and a tad longer. Although they are very small niggles and I think at the moment I prefer that it is a bit too loose this time round as I know I will be feeling self conscious in it so it probably isn't a bad thing! The fabric is a tiny thing I don't even know if I would change it as it does get so hot in conventions and of course it was meant to be longer but ended up being rather short oops but as they are meant to be bum skimming mine is still much more conservative! 

Now I must count down the days till October and I want to try and find a phaser and some black boots to finish it off completely...Let me know what you think or let me know if you have made your own as I would love to see other peoples creations! 

Spa Pamper Day

My sisters partner bought her a Spa treat for two for Christmas and she VERY kindly asked me to come with her.. I won't lie I was super-duper excited, I've wanted a massage and to be treated for some time now especially since I hurt my back.

She booked it for April so I took a Wednesday off work and we headed down to Brighton. I wasn’t at all sure what to expect as I've never had anything like this before. The weather was absolutely beautiful the sun was shining and it was actually really warm, warm enough to scrap the hoody and just stroll around in a T-Shirt.

We got down to Virgin about 2pm and went into the treatment area. After a few forms were filled out we were whisked away into a room each (I was a little disappointed as I thought we would be together) to start a back exfoliation, full body massage and a facial. I was a little nervous about stripping off in room with a stranger that wasn’t a doctor, but it was fine and I reminded myself that they do this as a living so are used to all sorts of people. I also reminded myself of my new mind-set and body positivity that I am trying to embrace this year!

I choose to have a relaxation massage rather than an energising one and she started on my back and then worked her way down. It was really nice in-between my shoulder blades and that is where I hurt my back and she said there were a lot of knots in there which didn’t surprise me. After my back and legs were done I rolled over and she repeated the same up my legs and across my shoulders and neck. It was really lovely.

I won’t lie it is hard to relax completely when you have NO IDEA what to expect and you are in the nude and there is a stranger rubbing you, but I did much better than I thought I would. A few years ago there would have been more chance of hell freezing over than me feeling comfortable enough to do that!

I then enjoyed a facial and a scalp massage and my face felt as soft as a baby’s bum afterwards. I felt like 20minutes had passed and when she said ok we are done here I thought HEY NOW! Where is the rest? I was then surprised to see that actually 1 hour and 20miutes had passed.

So I got dressed came out feeling nice a relaxed and calm and Sarah and I headed to the pool. We did a small amount of swimming, after all that calming relaxation I wasn’t in the mood for a powerful swim. The weather was so glorious that we got to swim outside too which was so lovley! We mostly enjoyed the jacuzzi for an hour or so and then headed home.

The wafting smell of people BBQ-ing burgers was too much and we gave in to our cravings and had a burger on the way home. It was a really nice end to a lovely day.

I have to say I am not really cut out for just relaxing and doing nothing. I enjoyed it for a few hours but I am the sort of person that is always raring to do something and go exploring. Although saying that I could happily live the life of someone who really gets pampered more regularly!

I am so grateful for Sarah taking me; it was a great experience and felt amazing. I would love to try an actual spa day one day, where you chuck on a dressing down and just potter about in-between treatments all day!

The day went so fast and was enjoying myself so much I completely forgot to take photos to document that day alas, except my little selfie!  So 5 Toria stars if you read all the way through!

I would highly recommend a pamper day if you are stressed or need some times out! It did me a world of good!

April POP! in a box!

Can you believe we are in April already? Nope, me neither. Anyhow we are and that means APRIL POP! in a box yay!

You can view my previous POP! in a box surprises here

And don't forget if you want to get this fun surprise every month then you can save 20% by clicking here!

So on to the fun! I very excitedly opened the box to discover *drum roll....*

MIRROR UNIVERSE SPOCK! Hurrah! I am really pleased with him especially considering the sewing project I have been working on! I already have Spock and Scotty and very regrettably missing Kirk so mirror universe Spock is a great addition to my collection. 

Box was in good condition again so no complaints there from me at all. I really like the detailing on him and his uniform He is neatly painted and feels really sturdy which is always a plus!

I am now looking forward to see what comes in May! Hurrah.

Making my Star Trek Skant phase 2

This weekend has been an intense one for sure! Following on from my previous post I got home from work and in-between dinner and my pilates class I started to resize my pattern. I used some brown paper and first did the front and it seemed to work well.

I then left the project till the weekend and Saturday morning started an intense weekend of sewing. I made the back of the Skant with the new patterned pieces and once I was happy with the fit I sewed them together. 

I was quite nervous when I started to sew it together, there were lots of points where I had to stop and think… hmm how shall I do this? However I manged to work it all out and I tried it on one final time and I was so excited to see it all worked and fitted well!

Matt and I then popped out for a bit, we were meant to go to the cinema but ended up going and having a desert out. I needed a break so I was grateful for it. When we got in however I continued with my project and I cut all the pieces out of my actual fabric. I won’t lie I was nervous and kept debating if I had done enough prep work but I couldn’t think of anything else I could try so on we go!

I cut all the pieces out and pinned them together, but by this point it was coming up 2am and I was starting to get a little annoyed and tired so I tried on the pinned version and decided to take a break and go to bed.

I got up quite early Sunday and started sewing just before 10am. Everything came along really well and quickly. The dress itself was so simple to make it was just the altering that took so long. The hem ended up being a little problematic as it was very wonky in places but with the help of Matt I trimmed it so it was all even. The one downside was it was now a little shorter than I had planned so I had to sew a very small hem. I tried so hard to get the hem perfectly straight but it is so hard on the jersey fabric but I was pretty happy with the end result.

I then moved on to adding the neck part. This was hard as I didn’t have a pattern for it. I measured and then drew a pattern piece out but it didn’t work that well. I started with some scrap fabric so I could snip it and trim it and resize it. After looking online I altered it and I was pretty pleased with how it looked so I cut out the real thing and pinned it on and once happy with that I started sewing.

I then put it on and did a happy skippy dance, I was SOOO HAPPY with how this turned out! Seriously I can't believe how well it worked!

So this is where I am up to, Matt also treated me to the Tricorder bag which is awesome. So practical but I can use it as part of my cosplay too!

I think it fits really well and doesn’t really cling much either. I would of liked it to be more fitted round the waist but when I tried to do that it just didn’t work very well at all. I was worried the fabric would be too thin and perhaps cling a lot but actually it’s worked out really well. I’m not sure I would want a thicker fabric actually as I think it would be too thick as once you add all the pieces together it as quite heavy. Plus it gets so hot in conventions I think I would over heat. I also decided against adding a zip, although part of the original design the dress is so easy to get on and off with a zip I didn't want to risk ruining it or making a mistake by adding a zip.

Now I need to get myself the badge and rank braiding for the sleeves and just work a few bits out on the dress such as pinning the inside flap somewhere as it tends to drop down. Once I have some money I will order the badge and braiding and I think I will be done!

I also need some slightly darker tights and different boots but again I can pick that up as I go along after all I have 6 months until the convention. I started it so early as I didn’t think it would work the first time and would need to be remade but hey presto it did work and I am SO EXCITED and proud of myself.

I will update again once I have the added the finishing touches!

Making my Star Trek Skant phase 1

As I wrote about a few weeks ago here, Matt and I are going to destination Star Trek in October. This year I have decided to try my first ever cosplay. I have wanted to try some cosplay for a while now and I have also REALLY wanted a Star Fleet Uniform Skant!

So over the Easter break on the spur of the moment I picked up some fabric and a dress pattern. My plan was to make a basic fit and flare dress and then alter that to have the correct neckline. That didn’t work as the pattern I bought didn’t go up to my size even though my measurements were on the back of the package. NOT IMPRESSED.

So at the weekend I put my thinking hat on and decided to actually use the original pattern to get a more authentic dress. I did a lot of research and actually there isn’t much out there to help me make it which is a shame. You can buy the pattern but with p&p to the UK you are looking at £30 for the pattern alone.

I managed to find a few people who had used the original pattern that they used in the show and they seemed to make it work so I found the pattern and I started off my blowing it up to the correct size. My brain at this point was going OH MY GOODNESS THIS ISN’T GOING TO WORK IT WILL GO WRONG GOD HOW WILL I DO THIS. But I kept going!

Original Pattern

I then printed it out on A3 and stuck all the pieces together and then cut out the pattern pieces. At this point I was feeling rather overwhelmed as I had NO IDEA what the size of the original pattern was so I didn’t know how to increase the pattern to fit me.

I spoke with a wonderful woman I work with who suggested I make the dress from the current pattern and then add slices in to get the fit right and redraw the pattern once I know what needed to go where. So that is what I did, I measured the dress flat on the floor and worked out what extra bits I needed to do. Luckily for me the arms and neckline seemed to be ok which was great and the waist and bust wasn’t too bad either. It was just the hips that needed a lot adding as I have wide hips and I want something that skims them and is more skater style.

Dress put together from original pattern pieces

I started by adding 2 slices (one in the sides front and back) and it fitted much better but was still clinging to my hips. I then added two more slices in the front and back centre. I was really happy with how this is now fitting! It is nwo skimming my hips and fitted around the bust and the length is now more decent (although still too short).

So the plan now is to re draw the pattern pieces with the extra widths and length and then re cut the pieces out and sew together a first prototype. I am hoping with all hope that it goes together well as this has been less complicated than I first predicted so please do keep your fingers crossed for me!

I don’t think I will get much done before the weekend now but no doubt I will get completely lost with this project over the weekend, I may even have the beginnings of finished project made!