Delusions of costume designs

(First off, I know I'm sucking it up big time with NaBloPoMo... but whatevs. I've got shiz to do... like sit around and be uber-lazy over the weekend, lol!)

My weekend recap... did some dancin' (Fall Dance Concert, holla!!), did some sleeping, watched some Broncos lose, ugh (seriously, guys, you were doing just fine in the first half, but then left your game in the locker room during halftime or somethin' - L-A-M-E!), ate some food, got some groceries, watched some movies... um, yep, that pretty much sums it up. So much for working on my costume design final project.

Speaking of. Okay. For my final project I have to design a dance costume for Romeo & Juliet, picking any time setting that I want. I decided to go with a bit of ancient Greco-Roman fla-vuh and rock it tunic style. You don't want too elaborate a costume for dance, so I thought a tunic would be perfecto. I found a pic to help inspire my design...


Pretty sweet, yes?? I think this would be rockin' to perform in, especially that flowy bit of arm business... it would create such striking lines and effects on stage. And I like alotta leg on stage, so short is good. And that braid?? Love it.

Anywho... so I have to find a pattern that somewhat resembles this, as well as find fabric, cut it out and sew it. I figured a short tunic would be kinda simple and not too difficult, and then the flowy arm business is just some draping. Now, the most sewing I do are ribbons and elastics on my ballet shoes, and rogue buttons that have jumped ship from my clothes, so we'll see how "kinda simple" this really ends up being. I'm starting to worry that I'm a bit delusional in what I want to do... but first things first... I have to find a pattern and the fabric before I worry about cutting and sewing.

I put off going to the fabric store all weekend. I did not, and still do not, want to sift through pattern after pattern, and then try to figure out what kind of fabric would be best (read: nothing insanely difficult for a sewing virgin such as myself). I made myself go tonight, though, since I'm supposed to bring my pattern and fabric to class tomorrow morning. I walked into that store and felt like a deer in headlights. I didn't even know where to start, and I was too intimidated to ask for help (stupid, I know). I wandered around until I found the patterns. I looked through a couple racks of $2.95 patterns, but no dice. I then sat down and thumbed through a couple huge pattern books, and started to think I was on to something... I found a few dress patterns that weren't 100% right, but I thought maybe I could alter them with the help of my teacher... but then I looked at the price of those patterns - $15.95!! Are you effing kidding me?!? Helllllll no. I didn't even make it to the bolts of fabric. Seeyalater, bye!

I wasn't off to a good start to begin with... I love shopping and scoring cool shiz like any other gal, but I am not an endurance shopper. I hate digging for too long or through too much to find what I'm looking for. If I don't find it in a couple hours max, I check out and head home. The fabric store only got about 20 minutes of my time tonight.

So now what?? Well, I'm going to see how the interwebs may help me... online patterns have to exist, yes? And then if I have to, I will plea with my teach about how clueless I am with all this, and to throw me a bone. Which just means ask if she might help me design something from scratch... which seems like it would be more difficult, but the thought of going back to the fabric store gives me a major tick.

And seriously, if anyone out there has any degree of sewing/designing/DIY experience (ahem, Maegan...!) and has some words of wisdom for me, I'm all ears!!!