San Diego Comic Con!

I emerged from my solitary bubble of pins and thread after countless hours of costume making on the other side of the world - at the San Diego Comic Con! 

I really didn't quite know what to expect when I went but found myself with an hour or so to hang around before I could enter the convention centre. The atmosphere was buzzing with all sorts of folk eager to get in there and soak up the geekery. As Geek In Training (GIT) I dutifully wore my Cereal:Geek t-shirt to advertise the magazine and within the first couple of hours had a couple of people ask about it. For me, the preview night helped me gauge which day I was to be my alter-ego Jem and which day to transform into Sweet Bee of She-Ra fame. 

GIT

Jem was to come first. Mainly because I couldn't wait to be a bright pink 80's rocker, but a little bit to do with having a huge meal the evening before and feeling a bit like a whale the next morning. There's no space for feeling bloated in that Sweet Bee costume! 

The evening before, I sprayed my shoes from tasteful beige 4 inch heels into er, 'tasteful' sparkly pink rock star heels with some spray paint I'd bought at Michael's in LA. We did this in the dark in the car park of the Motel 6 with baited breath - if it didn't work then, well, I'd have mismatched shoes. And we can't have that can we. 

Discovering that the journey from the Motel 6 in El Cajon to the convention centre was much longer than we'd first thought and that I'm no morning person by any measure, I decided to take the Jem costume along with me and get ready when I got there. I felt like sticking on Blondie's 'Call me' a la Tiffany's makeover scene in The Bride of Chucky. Not that I was feeling at all murderous...

Apparently, if you dress up for a day at SDCC you become some kind of celebrity, especially if you are Jem. I was so surprised not to see a flock other fellow Jem's considering there is a movie coming up though social media tells me there was at least 2 others, one of which I only met on the last day of the convention.

It was great fun being Jem and I received many compliments on my costume including one from a woman who said I was everything the 7 year old her wanted to be and one saying it was the best Jem costume she'd ever seen. Win win! There were also comments from 70 year old men such as 'I should get my wife to wear that outfit...' - not so win win. 

It certainly did make taking a quick trip to the pretzel stand into a half hour trek though. Every 30 seconds or so I would be stopped for a photo or have someone excitedly shout 'Jem!' - which by the end of the week I began to automatically answer to. 

I met some other awesomely dressed people on the way too. Some of my favourites included the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Lichtenstein characters, Indiana Jones, Edward Scissorhands and the Joker. I was however surprised and slightly disappointed to see a lack of Rocky Horror fans, though I did meet a Columbia who looked damn awesome! 

Day 2 was my Sweet Bee day. After wriggling into my yellow Lycra bee warrior skin I fluffed up my hair, stuck on my antenna's and went off for a wander to check out the Sweet Bee figure at the Mattel booth. Not so many seemed to recognise Sweet Bee though when I wandered through the booth one of the men working there who was rushing off somewhere stopped me to excitedly point out that I should enter the Princess of Power costume competition. So I did. I'd thought this was reserved just for She-ra's but apparently not! So here I am, contestant number 19...

After wearing this costume for 9 hours I was super pleased to find that it stayed up and didn't embarrass me AND that I didn't break any of the seams. My wings stayed in tact too, which was impressive since they were created at 4.30am the night before the flight! I've decided if I wear the costume again I'm going to make the wings much bigger - due to suitcase restrictions they had to be quite small!

Overall I had a superb time dressing up at SDCC, it was a great experience and I'm so pleased Mr. Eatock gave me the opportunity to join the adventure! I met some great people and a particular highlight for me was seeing the vast selection of art on display. Especially, Zero Friends and J.Scott Campbell - who I got to meet and sign the print I'd bought of Tinkerbell sitting on a cotton reel surrounded by sewing and craft paraphernalia! He even agreed with James that I resembled the style of drawing he produces in the eyebrows and nose! Score!

One thing I will take away from this experience is that I officially look more like a cartoon than a person! My only regrets are not going to the costume parade because I was too tired one evening and not hounding Hulk Hogan and Breckin Meyer for photographs!

Here's me... Meeting me

To make a Sweet Bee...

In making Sweet Bee's outfit, I wanted to stay true as much as possible to her animated self. Tricky since I'm a human and she is a 2D bee person animation. Using the below picture as a guide I employed bold colours as close to the shades she wears as possible.

The outfit began as a rather convincing 1950s style bathing suit. As tempting as it was to leave it this way and don my 'new-old' bathing suit on Venice Beach I continued with cutting a circular skirt (or as close as I could get given my fabric limitations) and stitching it to the waist line.

 I utilised wire in the construction of the lower half of the dress to thread through the binding on the hem to make it kick out and come to life in 3D form.

 

The top half was doubled up to save embarrassment and boning was added between the two layers to avoid mortification. This boning not only helped the upper half stay up but also helped shape the neckline in the points.

The joys of costume making for oneself without the use of a mannequin are stabbing and on occasion actually pinning yourself to the fabric when having to shimmy in and out of the costume numerous times to make alterations. I should really get a mannequin... I was finally happy that the waist line sat in the right place and that the seams were sturdy enough but nonetheless, this costume wasn't one to wear after your typical American portion size. I was going to have to fast before putting this one on!

Now for the emblem... I used the same fabric that was used to make her antennae and backed it with interfacing to help it keep it's shape and avoid fraying so easily. It seemed to work but after wriggling in and out of the costume about 10 times already and the fact it was 5.30am I tacked it gingerly to the costume and went to bed. This emblem was stitched on securely by hand at the Cereal:Geek booth on day 3 of the San Diego Comic Con so that I knew exactly how much the yellow Lycra would stretch when worn so that the emblem would lie flat.

Stay tuned to see the end result of both Jem and Sweet Bee and to hear more about San Diego Comic Con 2014!

Peace out x

Back to the 80s!

A few weeks ago I went on an adventure to find the fabric that would make a costume for Jem and Sweet Bee. After trawling fabric shops, fancy dress shops and markets in Camden and Soho, I stumbled upon a fabric shop on Berwick Street which was like an Aladdin's Cave of colours and textures. After scrutinizing lots of shades of pink for Jem, a roll seemed to appear from another world, glowing from it's place on the rack on the back wall. It was perfect and exactly what I'd imagined. The shop keeper then took us up to another floor when I told him what I was looking for to create Sweet Bee. On entering the room it was like another private realm of rolls and reams, that's where I found the fabric that would construct the otherworldly Bee warrior's canary yellow outfit.

Back in my east London studio (aka my house), I managed to take over the kitchen and successfully made a huge pink mess (much to the joy of my housemates, I'm sure).

As a lover of all things 80s I had lots of fun putting this costume together especially with the help of an awesome playlist with the top hits, movie and TV soundtracks from the 80's to put me in the mood. We had a little party in there that night with all manner of tunes from Prince and Bowie and of course the soundtracks from Dirty Dancing, Back to the Future Ghostbusters and way more!

At first there was a shaky moment where the dress resembled a very OTT Dame Edna-esque dressing gown but after more sewing it shaped nicely into a very sassy and truly outrageous wrap dress - one that I definitely would/will wear in a night out!

For the belt I used silver leatherette as the base and covered it with a more shimmering silver to make it stand out while the tassels were formed straight from the leatherette. This part was way more time consuming than I'd anticipated! The blue detail on the belt was added in the same stretchy fabric as the dress itself which in hindsight I would have hand stitched to help it keep its shape though I was still pretty pleased with the outcome.

Maybe with the remaining fabric there might be some Jem/80s themed skinny bow ties... Watch this space!

The Fault In Our Stars & San Diego Comic Con!

Last week I read The Fault In Our Stars by John Green. I wasn’t sure if it would be wise to read it but I was too curious and after reading the first page I couldn’t put it down. It's heavy and made me cry most of the way through but I'm glad I read it. It didn't exactly leave me feeling wonderful, it's about dying after all. But it left me feeling hopeful in a way and I wish it hadn't ended. I’m not like Hazel and our stories are very different. However there were some parts that I could relate to and particularly the beginning of chapter 7 stunned me a little.

Exchange the word ‘brain’ for ‘abdomen’ and you have a scene from my life circa late December. Just one of many trips to A&E and every time being sure that I couldn't possibly live through the pain. But you deal because you have to, there’s not really another option. Until they pump you full of narcotics, then you can cope just fine - until next time!

I’ve thought a lot about this book, and about the last year and about life in general. Things are still a bit fuzzy around the edges but the human body is incredible how quickly it mends itself. I couldn’t have imagined ever feeling well again in February of this year. But here I am minus a portion of my large intestine, running around London (literally), singing in concerts (ever so slightly Bambi-like still, but I’ll get there) and preparing to take myself on an epic vacation to San Diego Comic Con (and Los Angeles and San Francisco). Huh?! Mind boggling, I know.

San Diego… Yes! I’m geeking it up and getting on a plane to Nerd Central and it’s going to be AWESOME! As it turns out, life’s too short. Earlier this year James Eatock (writer, publisher, illustrator and all round professional geek) asked me if I’d fancy going along to the Comic Con as mascot of his magazine Cereal:Geek and I will wander around pimping his magazine to all and sundry boosting the sales sky high. I’ve even made a cameo appearance on the official He-Man YouTube Channel (blink and you'll miss me around 20 seconds in...) and a few weeks ago I enjoyed a day of filming various He-Man/geek themed shenanigans for use in the coming months. Watch this space! Mr. Eatock also has a He-Man/She-Ra Blog which you should also check out here!

Anyway, I thought at first this trip to the US of A would never happen. But it turns out, it is! And I’m more excited than words!

But not just this, we’re going to be living it up in San Francisco and Los Angeles too! But at the Comic Con, it would only be in true Marianne style to don some fancy dress and in fact make it myself. So I’m going to be Jem and Sweet Bee. As one of my active days I met up with Mr. Eatock to hunt down the appropriate fabric to make myself the aforementioned costumes! I already have my Jem wig at the ready! I have also spotted some comic strip fabric in a shop in town that I’ve had my eye on forever so I might even make some comic themed bow ties/ties to really get in the mood!

On the bow tie front here is another for the Green collection! I present a schmancy silk dupion bow tie – no patterns this time but it has the slubs adding texture and interest, and it sure is nice fabric! There’s more where that came from!

As for other things already sold to happy customers, here is the Glenmorangie bow tie being modelled by its stylish new owner - guitarist, teacher, music shop owner and blogger - Adie Lawson!

Green

Term time is quietening down and so I'm making more time for sewing! YAY!

A couple of months ago I went for a photoshoot with my dear friend Amelia (a late Christmas present) and I decided I would take along a playsuit that I made last summer from vintage material given to me by Grandma Wright...

I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to make from it but because of it being vintage, I had originally thought some kind of vintage style dress but eventually I settled on adapting the pattern I'd began to cut and creating a 1950's style playsuit as my holiday to Spain was imminent (I actually finished stitching the playsuit at about 3am the night before I was due to fly at 9am - as is often the case when I plan to sew something!).

Adapting a pattern to fit yourself is tricky as I'm not exactly a standard shape and it's not stretchy so it was quite important to get it right! I also made a matching head tie for it but may still create a 1950's head scarf to go with it... or is that overkill? So, I wore this in Spain on the day that I lost a Go Kart race against the boys in Oriheuela - but they kindly let me stand at the top of the podium to make me feel better. Here is the finished product!

 

Poser.

In preparation for my Easter trip to Spain with Amelia, I made a v-neck tea dress from some vintage polka dot cotton. Since Spain is hotter than the sun it was the perfect light weight & loose holiday outfit! Again, I finished it about 5 minutes before heading out the door to get on a plane.

More recently I've been making bow ties! I had a request from a friend for a bow tie as a present for someone who liked green. Lucky that, since green is my favourite colour, I happen to have lots of it so I've been on a bit of a green mission to make as many green bow ties as I can... I've managed two so far... :S The bright green was originally the requested fabric for the bow tie in question but I'm not convinced. Love the print but the fabric was quite thick to tie so I think it would suit someone who suits/likes larger bow ties and wants to make a statement.

So, I went about making a completely different one from similar fabric to the Glenmorangie bow tie in my post This is from Matilda. Sadly, no Glenmorangie was consumed during the creation of this one. This one was created partly to the soundtrack of Milhaud's 6 Chansons de Theatre... Which I am learning. And are great.

I have decided to put this day aside to sewing more green things (and practicing and doing something active)... but mostly sewing green things.

Watch this space!

:)

Never Too Young

A couple of weeks ago I performed for the first time since late 2013. After beginning to use my voice again at the beginning of May I had my work cut out to perform a recital of Lieder and English Song for the Brighton Fringe Festival on the 31st May. After stressing myself out about it to the point of tears on numerous occasions leading up to the event I had to give myself a slap around the face and as instructed by my singing teacher, cut myself some slack! The only person I wasn't good enough for it seemed was me. A familiar story for the past few years when it comes to singing I'm afraid. Why the hell was I beating myself up especially since the reason for not singing was unavoidable and has also left me feeling rather low a lot of the time. It's not like I was being lazy, I started silent practice way in advance to avoid the freak out I knew I was prone to having approaching a recital, but when I began to actually sing again why was I surprised that my stamina and support wasn't what it once was? Lying in a hospital bed for a couple of days each week, high as a kite on morphine to control the pain and then having those support muscles you've worked hard to train cut open isn't going to magically return to normal working order the moment you try to use them again! Silly Marianne. Still, you watch all the audition deadlines come and go, all your peers zooming ahead with their careers and you still standing there, stuck in vocal limbo and feel useless and like it's all your fault. Stupid cancer.




A couple of years ago a wonderful singing teacher said to me whilst I was mid beating myself up over not meeting my own standards - 'you have to remember that you're a human being before a singer' - at the time, this alone made me jolt with realisation. Was I? I was supposed to be a singing machine, was I not? I misunderstood the message somewhere along the way, my passion for my subject had overtaken me as a human and the result was disappointment in myself, I was always striving for more. Which is something that I greatly admire in people, but in myself I was striving for more than I was capable of at that particular time, inevitably resulting in misery and disappointment. The next bit of advice she gave me was another shock, '...it's more important that you have a nice life.' This conversation in the midst of my self inflicted misery was a pivotal moment in my life. I believed I was nothing if I was not the most amazing performer. Why was it a surprise to me that I should have a nice life?! So from that moment I vowed to myself I would have a nice life AND be a human which meant focusing on other things rather than just being a singing robot! Nowadays, this translates as sewing, knitting, crafting and more recently '100 Active Days' but like I said, it still creeps up on me from time to time!




So the performance at Brighton Fringe went really well considering and the venue asked us back, what's to complain about? My awesome pianist also very kindly donated his performance fee to Bowel Cancer UK's Never Too Young campaign! What a star! Similarly, this weekend I sang with my trio Sinopia for the Royal British Legion to mark 70 years since the D-Day landings and the audience had a grand time and gave us a standing ovation at the end. Isn't that what's it all about anyway? 


Following my operation at the end of January, I asked the surgeon when I could safely go back to singing. At the time I was in such pain that I couldn't have thought it possible but he said 3 months. He also said that me being a singer explained a few things - he and his fellow surgeons had been scratching their heads wondering why they were struggling to cut through my abdominal muscles during surgery. They said they would expect it with a big rugby player on the table but looking at this 5ft 1 wee thing they were a bit confused. Well at least I was doing something right! But now, back to the drawing board! 




After being inspired by Twitter user and fellow cancer survivor @EleanorHarwood I thought I'd join her in doing 100 Active Days. A twist on the popular 100 Happy Days which I began the day I got the all clear. For me, I'm hoping that taking part in 100 Active Days will help my stamina for life and singing get back on track. I have created a Just Giving page in the hope some people might give a little money to the cause. I'm only on my second day and there's already been donations so it seems to be working! I was particularly saddened at reading about the incredible Stephen Sutton who sadly lost his battle with Bowel Cancer recently but managed to raise over £4m for the Teenage Cancer Charity. I read that he was tragically diagnosed with constipation for months before discovering he had cancer. This is why I wanted to help raise some money for the Never Too Young campaign as this is also what I was diagnosed with for 5 months of my illness, cancer wasn't even on the radar it seemed as I'm only 27. For me it wasn't too late by the time they found it and I feel so so lucky. Some people like Stephen aren't so lucky so please donate via my Just Giving page and hopefully it can go towards setting up the resources needed to get the appropriate tests sooner, regardless of age.

I tried to make a pancake... but now I have an omelette!

Hello! Back to the land of the living (mostly) after a crazy few weeks juggling a job being costume supervisor on an opera, a part time office job, teaching and trying to find the time to practise, have singing lessons and get to a doctor to help me shake off a horrendous lingering cough (which inevitably impeded my ability to do the singing part). I know I'm still recovering from it all as my feet are killing me from all the running around town buying suits/tattoos/trimmings and I'm so tired I can't even make a pancake properly. But, I still had a great time working on Romeo & Juliet with a fabulous creative team and a super cast! I managed to get some of my own wardrobe/my Mama's wardrobe on stage and even some things I had made/adapted - 3 cravats, a Duke-ified suit jacket and some masks. 

Gertrude's mask for the party

Mama's fur stole made its operatic debut looking fabulous on one of Riverside Opera's Choral Scholars

Adding some trimming to the duke and making him a cravat

Capulet's party mask

Capulet's Cravats

I've dabbled in costume making before on a production of Mozart's Magic Flute, a roller coaster of co-producing, singing AND costume design back in 2011 with student led opera company Puzzle Piece Opera. It was brilliant fun and was with a team of people I greatly admire and enjoy working with, although as Bernstein said - 'to achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time.' This was definitely true with learning a role, designing and making costumes and doing a degree at the same time! We singers do know how to push ourselves to the limit! I always loved the motto 'there's 24 usable hours in every day' - a quote from my favourite film throughout my adolescent years, Empire Records. However, what I was forgetting was that the character in question was a) on speed and b) fictitious. I am neither of those things, and also, I am human. Sitting up until 6am sewing and then going to college all day does not lead to productive and focused practise! But, if I do say so myself Pamina and her crew looked ace. Our Magic Flute was set in a medieval and fantastical world (with a hint of Robin Hood - I was in my Kevin Costner phase) with our three wenches corseted up and our armed men in tabards... chainmail is expensive and on a budget of £200 for the whole thing I think thats OK! Anyway, here is some photos of some of the costumes.