Well, this may be a record...two posts in less than a week!

I'm getting ready for Costume College - or trying to anyway. In addition to getting stuff ready for those fun classes that I'm taking, I figure I'd better get my accessories ready NOW!

Here's the first of the pieces that I made for last year. I cut it from the Simplicity version of the Sense & Sensibility pattern, using the S & S instructions to try to make it a little nicer than what the Simplicity pattern instructions would have produced. I made the stays from the same pattern. For this dress the stays worked ok. Now I need to figure out the shoes and whatever else it's going to take to complete this outfit. Hair will be the biggest challenge I suspect.



This is the second gown from the same pattern, but with the lower neckline, no drawstring. The blue band is just bias-cut cotton and is only pinned in place, not stitched yet. The stays for the green dress did not work at all for this one. I need to either make another pair from the same pattern, altered slightly, or try another pattern for stays. Again, accessories and hair remain to be determined.

Then there's the issue of shoes. I looked a lot last summer and bought some, but never wore any of them. They all need a little something to make them a reasonable substitute for period footwear.

The first pair, a jazz dance boot, came in white and black so I have two pairs. I did not figure out what to do with them last summer, but really need to get them wearable this year!



This next pair, is a flat, but very shiny.



Then we have the stripes, cut-outs and partly-metallic gold. Any hope of making any of these period substitutes? Sheesh...well, maybe with fabric paints? Black magic?





Right now, I'm at least partly stumped, maybe even totally. I'm wide open to suggestions though, so fire away!



This last pair has nothing to do with the others, nor with Costume College and anything else that I might wear there. I just found these on etsy.com and thought they looked like a nice option for SCA events, sort of period-looking and pretty comfy. Ok, so the zipper up the back is not period, but other than that, these are cute and I know that they will see plenty of wear.