September 19 was International Talk Like A Pirate Day, and in honor of the esteemed occasion, our friends over at Team Dandy threw a party. The dress was, as you may have guessed, thematic.
Since all of my costuming perished in the flood, I’ve been sorely lacking the last few years — most notably around Ren Faire time. This seemed like an opportune moment to start building the collection back up, for both Sweets and myself. We could get good mileage out of the costumes this year, both for the pirate party and for Ren Faire.
Sweets has written an nice account of the costume making adventure HERE.
What I want to add to the overall experience are the following things:
Yes, I sew. I can sew quite well — granted, I’m inexperienced at making complex things straight out of my head, but I am a masterful operator of a sewing machine and can follow a pattern (that isn’t written by cracked-out retards) with the best. It’s a skill I acquired as a part of my “figure out how things work, and be creative with what you’ve learned” mentality. This is a skill you learn quite rapidly when you are a die-hard Halloween/Ren Faire/Special Effects fan, and don’t have the money to buy pre-made stuff. Additionally, in my case, I am exceptionally picky about the quality of what I buy, and the overwhelming consensus amongst commercial costume manufacturers is that everything must be made cheaply, lightweight, and temporary. I call bullshit on that, and make my costuming out of heavy, long wearing material that both lasts forever and looks and feels like the era or theme I’m aiming for.
Yes, I’ll still kick your ass for sincerely mocking me for knowing how to sew — because no, sewing has not diminished my masculinity one bit. *grins*
Enough people asked the following question that it’s worth mentioning: “where did you get that outfit from”, or more specifically “you MADE that?” The Captain’s jacket elicited the most surprise — not so much that it was me that made it, but that the jacket wasn’t professionally manufactured. I’m flattered, I really am. I made the shirt, jacket and pants… the sash too, but that’s really just a swag of fabric, as are the wraps around the boots. All told it took 2 weeks of weekday evenings and one weekend, and the occasional need to share the sewing machine with Sweets.
I’ve swiped pictures from Sweets to show off here, and my only comment is: sofofabitch, I look huge! I mean, I’m a stout guy, but the loose billowy shirt coupled with my “manly hero poses” makes me look like I need to start jogging the decks during voyages. I wish I had a few regular poses to salve my wounded ego.
The next foray will be into leather working so I can make pouches, belts, hats and boots. I’ve purchased quite a number of pouches over the years to go with my Ren Faire costumes, all the while griping about the prices. Mind you, these were all hand made, and of exceptional quality, but it’s almost cost prohibitive to satisfy my tastes and needs. I can make these myself, keep the cost down, and build to my specifications.
Maybe for next year.
“You can SEW.”
*pause*
“…if only we’d known this earlier.”
Now get in the kitchen and make me some lemonade.
Oh, Gonz, you silly fool. Stop and take a look. This “seamstress” is a lot BIGGER and meaner than you are. You really gonna drink any lemonade he brings you? There are a lot of things that LOOk like lemonade but aren’t.
Nice pleats!