14 June 2017

Sweetheart dress

Pattern:   Pattern for Pirates Sweetheart Dress

Fabric:  from the stash




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09 June 2017

Disney Halloween

Steampunk Tinkerbell, Peter Pan/Rocketeer mashup, Hook and Smee for the 2015 Disneyworld Halloween Party.








More photos and construction click here




Dopey Challenge

I revived my Ping and Mulan costumes for the 5K and 10K.  With improvements.  My friend was Merida for the 5K, which I also made.



I was Vanellope from Wreck it Ralph for the full marathon, Syndrome from the Incredibles for the half marathon.  Yes, I made the wig too.  



More pics and construction photos click here

Return of the Ruffle Butts

We were exploring princesses for the Expedition Everest race in 2015.  Snow White, Belle and Tiana.




Somehow I don't have a shot of the ruffle butts in action, but they were there.  :-)

More pics and construction photos click here

26 January 2015

Disney Avengers Race costumes

Someday I will catch up on the How I Did It photos for all of these costumes.  I have the photos, just never get around to writing the posts.  I think I am about five costumes behind at this point.

But here are final pics for my Avengers costumes.

For the 5k, I was old school Nick Fury.

I also did costumes for two of my friends.  One was Captain America, one was Loki.  We were all ruffle butts.  




All of our costumes had lots of Hidden Mickeys, which I will go into more detail on a future post.  


For the half marathon, I was Loki.  This costume was also full of Hidden Mickeys.




Lots of fun details to this one, which hopefully I will go into in a future post.  After I go into detail on the five other costumes I haven't done full posts on yet.  Sigh.  


10 June 2014

Disney Costume Updates, for the impatient

For those that can't wait for my laziness to subside long enough to actually write a blog post, you can check out my race costume facebook album, which I just made public.

It is updated with far better regularity than the blog.

Disney Race Costumes

Hard at work on my costumes for the upcoming Avengers races in November!

02 April 2014

Preview of race costumes to come

So I haven't put together full costume construction entries on these yet, but just a little taste of what is coming...

Here I am as Figment for the 2013 Wine and Dine Half Marathon.  Dreamfinder is riding on my shoulder as my companion.








More race photos here.


Here I am as Warrior Mulan, aka Ping, for the Enchanted 10K in 2014, complete with sword.







And as Matchmaker Mulan for the Princess Half Marathon 2014




I ran both races in one weekend as part of the Glass Slipper Challenge.  More race photos here

More detailed posts on all three costumes to come.  AND, I got into the Avengers 5k and Half Marathon in November, so already starting to plot the next costumes!!

05 February 2014

Fairy Running Costume

Every time I start making a new running costume, I am reminded that I never posted anything about the last one....er, last two.  I am currently making three costumes for the upcoming Princess Race in Disney (two for myself, one for a friend), but haven't posted my costumes for the past two races.  So here goes with at least one.

In January 2013, I ran the Tinkerbell Half Marathon in Disneyland.  Since it was fairy themed, I, of course, had to be a fairy.  I was not familiar with the Disney fairies, but a friend told me that the purple fairy was kinda a bitch.  Sold!  I would be running the race as Vidia, the purple fairy and one of Tinkerbell's friends.

Reference image



I always try to use tech fabrics for my running costumes so they are practical as well as fun.  And for Vidia's shirt and leggings I did.  But her feather skirt needed some sparkle.  She is a fairy after all.  I also decided to give myself a break and just buy some wings instead of trying to make them.

Fairy supplies gathered. Let the costuming commence.



For the feather skirt.  I took two layers of purple fabric, one sparkle and one sheer, cut them in strips and gathered the strips separately.  Then I layered the two fabrics on top of a stable base and stitched over the middle gathering stitches and added some feather-ish topstitching.  I then trimmed it into roughly a feather shape with pinking shears.  

Here is one completed feather, attached to a simple elastic band for the fairy skirt



I had some purple leggings that I cut the legs off and attached to the bottom of a pair of running shorts I already had.  The leggings were too sheer to wear on their own under the skirt.

I cut slits in the bottom of the leggings and added little feather accents, made with the same technique as the feather skirt.   I then used purple and silver fabric pens to draw the veins running down the leggings.

view of the skirt and leggings

oops, the running shorts peek out.  ah well.


The shirt was made of tech fabric, but when I finished it, it seemed awfully plain, especially when next to the sparkle feather skirt.  So I added some glitter yarn by couching it to the fabric in a vein pattern like Vidia's shirt had.   The collar was made of the same fabric as the skirt, gathered into a ruffle.

Dress form is definitely not my size

fancy fairy collar

couching, oops missed a spot!


 The wings I attached at the center back and at each shoulder for greater running stability.   I didn't even notice that they were there!


And here I am before the race.  No, that is not my real hair.  Well, the bangs are, but the rest isn't.  I wore a fake ponytail with a purple glitter headband.  Yes, for all 13.1 miles.  I am somewhat used to wearing fake hair for long periods because of my bellydancing, so it didn't bother me at all.  The white sleeves are throwaway armwarmers made of socks for keeping warm before the race starts.

the purple shoes were just lucky matching

A couple mid race shots, just for fun....

Giant Mickey Head!!

Heading into the park....

And here I am after the race with my medal.

I finished, so I win

Next up, when I get to it, is my very favorite running costume so far.  I ran the Wine and Dine race in Disneyworld in November 2013 and wore a Figment the Imagination Dragon costume, with a full tail.  And with Dreamfinder as my companion.  It was epic.  And hopefully will be posted soon.  


21 June 2013

Queen of Heart Running outfit, part 2

This costume was for the Tower of Terror 10 mile race in Disneyworld, the theme being villains.  For reference (again), the queen.



So the hardest part of the queens skirt is the front piece, because of all those damn diagonals.  This is the front panel, before pressing and topstitching.  Not too shabby.


Although all the thread changes were a pain, the rest of the skirt was pretty easy to put together.  The front includes a secret pocket for my phone so I can take pictures during the race.  Which is, of course, the whole point of the Disney race (for me at least!).


Then came the crown.  I had a horrible pair of gold metallic leggings from a past dance performance that I cut up and used to cover the simple stiffened felt base.  I also used the leggings to cover a pair of earrings I made to  match the queen, but forgot to take a pic of those...


I added some thread loops on the inside so I could clip it securely to my head.  It had to last and be comfortable for 10 miles of running.  


Finally, in the movie the Queen wears heart bloomers.  Although I knew no one would see them, I had to be as true to the original as I could.  So I took my white running shorts and be-hearted them with some red fabric pens.

Heart bloomers in progress

And on my hiney.  :-)

I attached the little white rabbit to my shoulder and the cheshire cat to my rear end and voila!  Outfit complete.  

Final outfit included shirt, skirt, heart bloomers, crown, fabric earrings, red ribbon for my hair, and two crocheted companions

Here is the front, before and after the race:


And the back with a booty shot.  :-)


Although the race itself was disappointing, the costume was a delight to run in.  Very comfortable, despite the extreme heat and humidity.  It was an inaugural race, so hopefully next year they will make some improvements to the course and have a bit more fun things on the course.  

After this I did the Tinkerbell Half Marathon in California dressed as Vidia (one of Tinkerbell's fairy friends). Posts on that race and costume to come.