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!!

Princess top

So the race was almost a year ago, so I suppose I should finish posting about the outfit. HA!!! I have a new goal of posting once a week and a huge backlog of projects to talk about, so here we go.

Rapunzel actually wears a corset style bodice with puffed ribbon trimmed sleeves over a sheer lace trimmed undershirt that buttons up the back. Here is how I got that look:

I started with an oversize purple tech shirt that I cut apart to make a smaller fitted shirt for me.

I stitched rows of pink ribbon to the purple sleeve, cutting it down to a shape that would still have some puff, but not be annoying to run in.

I added princess seams in the front and back of the shirt, and adding a lace up panel in the front. I just used a small eyelet stitch in my machine to make the lacing holes and backed the middle with a slightly darker fabric, like in Rapunzel's original dress.

Using the same pink cording I used for the lacing, I added double corded trim around the edge of the bodice neckline, the bottom edge, the join of the sleeve, and around the back where the division of the bodice and undershirt would be.  I filled in the back top with the same slightly darker fabric I used for the lace up section in the front, again so it would look like it was a separate undershirt.

I added soft cotton lace around the bottom and neckline of the undershirt bodice section, and added some pink covered buttons on the back to continue the illusion of a separate undershirt that Rapunzel wears.

And here is where I should have stopped, but of course I couldn't leave well enough alone. Rapunzel's corset top has a slight vine pattern on it like the middle skirt panel. I started drawing this in, but the paint dried much too dark and ended up looking not so great. It sorta looks like someone took a sharpie to the top, rather than the subtle background pattern than I wanted. Ah well.

Here I am on race day, pre-race (with disposable sleeves for when I got warmed up), in progress, and at the end with the real Rapunzel. You can see Pascal rode along on my shoulder and I had a frying pan necklace to complete the look.

I have done a villain disney race as well, where I dressed as the queen of hearts. Posts on that to come, as well as a fairy outfit for my next race and several bellydance costumes.

Princess Butt

For my running princess skirt, I started with the brocade underskirt.  I borrowed a costume from a friend's child and looked at lots of images online and put together a sketch of the pattern on the fabric.  Then I drew it onto the fabric with fabric paint pens.  It worked pretty good.

Sketch and center panel

I took the drawing I did before of the edge embroidery and digitized it and ran it through my embroidery machine.  The trial stitch below looked pretty good, so I did the edges of all the panels.  Lining up the different pieces wasn't as hard as I thought, because the bits of the design do not touch.  Approximate line-ups worked here.

Trial Run

I knew I would want a pocket to put my iphone, tissues, hotel key, etc, so I added a waistband to the top and put in a pocket and an invisible zipper.

Finished Skirt, front

Pascal shows off the pocket
(He will not ride in here for the race, he just hopped in for demonstration purposes.)

Finally, I attached the skirt to a pair of white running shorts.  The shorts I didn't make because I don't have enough confidence in my seam finishing to know they would be chafe free for 13.1 miles.  I did add some white lace to the bottom (ending before it got to the chub rub chafing zone) so it looks like Rapunzel's petticoat peaking out the bottom.

Peek-a-boo!

 
So there is the skirt.   Onward and upward to the top!

The making of a princess

One week from today, I will be traveling to Florida to run in the Princess Half Marathon at DisneyWorld. Two friends will be running with me. They are both accomplished runners.

I am not a runner. In fact, I suck at running. But I have been training since December and will probably make it to the finish line.

The one thing I am excited about for this race is the costume. Yes, I said costume. For a half marathon. Shut up.

I will be dressing as Rapunzel, because I like that she hits everyone with a frying pan and is sassy. My running companions will be Jasmine and Sleeping Beauty. They are both erring on the side of sanity and mostly just running in the colors of their princesses with some princess bling. I, however, am recreating in as fine a detail as possible and practical, the outfit from the movie.

A reference image


I will not be making it in a brocade, but in tech fabrics because I still have to run in this sucker. I found some perfect tech fabric for the skirt, but had trouble finding fabric for the top. I ended up buying several extra large lavender tech shirts, which I will cut up and reconstruct into the bodice.

I also bought a small frying pan necklace off etsy. Cause it was awesome

My supplies:



I bought a pattern off of etsy and crocheted a version of Pascal, also known as "Frog", who will ride along on my head or my shoulder.

Pascal



I have the skirt and top roughly cut out. Now I am working on the embroidery and brocade pattern for the skirt. The brocade pattern I will be painting onto the underskirt by hand with fabric paint. The embroidery I will do on my machine.

I found lots of reference images and borrowed a Rapunzel costume from a four year old I know to get the patterns right. I made the sketch below of some of the embroidery pieces and hopefully will digitize and start stitching it out tonight. I did another sketch (not pictured) of the brocade pattern and will be painting that as the machine stitches.




I may suck at the running part, but I am gonna look damn fine as I fail. :-)