I cannot believe I am about to say this but… I have NO makes for September.

Seriously. Not one… except for a fail. I finished up a Sew Over It Florence Dress, and I just don’t like it. It’s not a total fail by any means. There were no construction issues and it seems to fit fine, but there’s something about it that just doesn’t suit me. I think it’s the waistband it just a tad too high and I am constantly wanting to tug it down, plus it gives it the vibe of a maternity dress, which is definitely not a look I’m currently going for. Of course, none of this comes across in the picture I took it it so you’ll have to take my word for it!

I almost wasn’t going to post a picture of it at all, since I don’t plan to wear it any time soon, but in the name of honesty and showing off the “ugly” of sewing my own clothes, here we go.

I can’t believe this fail was the only thing that I managed to produce this month. Going back to work hasn’t exactly taken my sewjo away, but it has taken my TIME away.

Even though I have not been sewing for myself, I have been sewing. We are officially in musical season, which means I have been sewing for our production of Frozen! I have not gotten far with the costumes, but I have gotten further than I have in the past. I have completed one of the costumes even before September had ended, which is definitely a new record.

So instead of sharing my makes, I figured I would share a little of my progress with the costumes. I am going to avoid showing off full costumes, as I want to save that for February after the show is all said and done, but I can give you a taste of what I’ve been doing.

First up, I created Anna and Elsa’s capes. They are made from two variations of the same pattern. Anna’s cape was the official first cut of the show, something I documented in one of the photos below (top row middle):

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I am absolutely thrilled with how the detail on Anna’s cape turned out. I was so happy when I found that black ribbon trim to go with the pompoms. I was extra excited when one of the children on the costume crew looked at it and exclaimed, “Oh my god, it’s so perfect!”

In these early stages I decided it was essential to focus on the two main sisters, as some decisions about the ensemble have yet to be made and I don’t want to waste time. I’ve been slowly and steadily putting together the dresses for the coronation scene. Both are fairly similar to the cartoon, but I took the liberty of deciding on solid gold for Anna’s skirt detail trim (which I am hand painting, along with many other detail trims as we go along).

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I did many paint tests before finally deciding that the solid gold was the way I wanted to go. My hand painting is not perfect, but I think it’s pretty good and from far away you won’t see the tiny little mistakes I made as I went along.

We also practiced the plan for Elsa’s transformation for the “Let it Go” scene, but you will have to wait until the show has premiered to get any details about that one! It’s top secret stuff for now. However, you can see a little bit of what the coronation dress looks like:

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This year I was lucky enough to get an overlock machine for work so I am able to make the costumes just that much stronger and more professional as I go along.

I’m so pleased and excited about the progress I have made so far, but there’s a long way to go! You can definitely expect to see more of this progress as the months go by, particularly if I don’t get the chance to make anything for myself. In February I will also outline all the costumes in their entirety, so that’s something to look forward to as well!

Moving forward I’m going to call this my “Monthly Sewing Update” so that I can feature works-in-progress as well as finished garments! Brand new finished garments may start getting their own separate posts!