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.  

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.  

Villain Running Costume

So back in October of 2012, I ran the Tower of Terror 10 mile race in Disney world.  Of course, I had to do a costume.  And of course, it had to be thematically appropriate.  And as close in appearance to an actual Disney character and still allowing me to run 10 miles. (Much like the Rapunzel outfit I wore for the Princess Half Marathon)

I decided to be the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland.  I have always loved that story, plus her outfit was just graphically interesting.

Here is my reference image.

I collected some supplies, including tech fabrics in the right colors and some running "friends." I loved having Pascal ride on my shoulder as Rapunzel, so decided the queen needed the white rabbit on her shoulder and the cheshire cat would hitch a ride on her butt (like he did in the croquet scene in the movie).  For a bit of extra fun, I bought some cheap light up hearts for my shoes.

The shirt was fairly simple.  Color blocked body and sleeves with a white collar.  I tried to make the heart shape bodice that she has by rounding off the top of the front panels and having them come to a point at the bottom.  The collar is just stiffened slightly with some light interfacing.  I knew it would get floppy, as this is a high sweat area, but I wanted at least a bit of the look of the stand up collar.

Next post I will go into the skirt, bloomers, crown, and earrings.  :-)

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. :-)