Underpinnings :)

I'm so in love with Maria's underpinnings in The Secret of Moonacre. I finally watched this movie on YouTube awhile back because it seems like they aren't going to release it in the US and I got tired of waiting. It was a bit of a disappointment as it strayed quite a lot from the book, which I loved. But it was still worth watching for all the amazing costumes!

I just love all the different fabrics that look quite vintage:

I also love her blue corset. Inspires me to finish my corset...I know I know...I say that a lot. ;)

Anyway...I'm quite obsessed with underpinnings already but I thought these were really awesome and different. :) I think it would be so fun to have an underpinnings tea party one of these days. Underpinnings are just so pretty and it's such a shame they don't get to be seen. Well I hope you all are having a great Summer so far! I'm pretty busy helping some friends get ready for a wedding this week so I wont be sewing or posting much. Have a lovely week!

Reference photos for Aimee and Chelsea

I know I just did an Alice in Wonderland post but my sister and her friend might have me make them costumes from the movie so I thought I'd do another one for them so they can see all the characters and pick who they want to be. :) So...this is for you Aimee and Chelsea!

Click on the pictures to see them bigger.

Alice

Alice wears a couple different dresses. Her dress she falls down the rabbit hole in is really sweet, made of a sheer like fabric:

She wears striped fingerless gloves (my favorite of her accessories so far):


Her hem is embroidered with forest animals and flowers:

At some point she wears this outfit that is a blouse, waistcoat, skirt and tie:

The skirt is rows and rows of rick rack:

Blue coat:The Mad Hatter

In this photo you can see he wears a thimble on his right hand as well as green nail polish, a colorful bow tie, green lace top hat with satin trim and several odd hat pins sticking into it:

The Mad Hatter wears a frock coat, breeches, a cool belt made of thread spools. Plaid gloves, pink handkerchief, and it looks like his left thumb is bandaged up. Also look at those lace cuffs!

The Queen of Hearts "The Red Queen"

The Red Queen wears a Shakespeare looking dress with lots of jewels and pearls decorating the front bodice, a red skirt with heart detail, lots of heart rings, gold lace up boots, and amazing tights which you can purchase HERE.

The White Queen
The white Queen is all in white and silver except for her contrasting dark eyebrows, deep red lips and nails to match. Her costume reminds me of a ballet costume:

Tweedledee and Tweedledum

They wear striped shirts, red suspenders, short breeches and striped socks and it looks like buckle shoes:

So, that's all I have of the characters for now...let me know who you think you want to be. :)
And here's the trailer in case you need more inspiration:

~Anna xxx

Summer Skirt for a Friend

I just finished this skirt for a friend using the pattern above. The only thing I changed was the length. I made it a bit shorter than the long skirt and a bit longer than the short version. :)

I think the fabric she chose is so nice for summer. :)

I'm hoping to get a lot more sewing done here soon, but we don't have air conditioning and my sewing room is one of the hottest rooms in the house so I've been avoiding it lately. I've been working on a crochet project though which I will share soon and I'm still working away on my Elizabeth Swann corset. I'm also almost finished with an insane skirt project which I'll share more about soon. I'm pretty excited about it. :)

I hope your all enjoying your summer!

New Nanny McPhee

A new Nanny McPhee is in the making starring Emma Thompson, Ralph Fiennes, Maggie Smith, and Maggie Gyllenhaal. It's called "Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang". The thing I'm super excited about though is that Jaqueline Durran is doing the costumes! (costume designer for 2005 Pride and Prejudice, Atonement) I can't wait to see what she comes up with. I know it will be wonderful. :) It's set to release in Europe in spring of 2010. I have yet to find the US release date, if there will even be one. But as soon as I find pictures I'll do a post about it. :)
Here's some pictures of the first Nanny McPhee, costumes designed by Nic Ede (designer for Flyboys, Lorna Doone)

I'm sure Jaqueline Durran will do just as wonderful of a job...I'm looking forward to it.

Inspiration

Sometimes I wish I had a good reason to wear a really pretty dress and go jump in the ocean. Hmmm....maybe I should make myself a pretty dress just in case the opportunity arises. A girl should be prepared for such things you know. ;) Seriously though...I don't own one single dress. How sad is that? I need to get to work on that pronto....
Yesterday I cleaned my bedroom...perhaps today is the day I will finally make some progress in my sewing room. Maybe I should put this picture on my wall to inspire me. :)

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland

I've been pouring over photos of this film for months and I realized it's beyond time to do a post about it. First off, I'm excited because it's a Tim Burton film and I love most of his films. Second, Johnny Depp is in it...who I'm also a big fan of. And third, it has amazing costumes designed by the amazing Colleen Atwood (costume designer for A Series of Unfortunate Events, Big Fish, Sweeney Todd, Sleepy Hollow, just to name a few) Oh, and some of it was filmed in Cornwall England which is sort of my second home...so that's pretty cool. :)

So...here are a few of my favorite outfits so far...

It seems like Alice (played by Mia Wasikowska) wears lots of bluish tones. I love her dress here with it's delicate puffed sleeves, sheer ruffled neckline and tiny black buttons down the front. My favorite thing is her little striped fingerless gloves. I seriously want some!

I adore this outfit...she's still wearing the fingerless gloves, an amazing rick rack skirt, delicate blouse, fitted waistcoat and tie.

Anne Hatheway is playing The White Queen and I think she looks amazing!

I'm so excited for this to come out! It's set to release March 5, 2010.

Elizabeth Swann Underpinnings: Still in Progress

I just wanted to let you know I haven't given up on my Elizabeth Swann corset! I am about 2/3 of the way done with boning the second half and then just have to do binding and eyelets and then find the perfect lacing! I'll update with pictures soon, for now...you can just drool over a picture of her corset:

Once I finish that I'm hoping to tackle panniers. Which should be fun! Has anyone made some before?

Here is a picture of Elizabeth Swann's:

After that I think I'll start my Duchess gown. I need the underpinnings first anyway to give it the proper look. Then someday I'll make one of Elizabeth's dresses. There's just so much on my list of things to do. ;)

Because sometimes we daydream....

A Date With Hugh Dancy by TheArtofClothes featuring 1928 jewelry

Pretty Wit Giveaway!!

Hello everybody! I'm home! I had an amazing trip but I'm looking forward to getting back to blogging next week. :)

But hey...I'm got some exciting news! My darling friends over at Pretty Wit are having a giveaway! Be sure to go check it out HERE. They are also having a special deal of free shipping through July 7!!
Here are a few of my favorites from they're colorful and creative shop: (click on pictures to be taken to the items in their shop)

Jolly Judy Party Dress

Cherry Blues Bracelet

Mrs Merryfeather

Aren't they dazzling? :)

And if that's not exciting enough...my friend over at The Nimble Thimble is having a free shipping sale through July 25! Be sure to check out her SHOP as well as her inspiring BLOG.