2015 in Review

This has been a really amazing year. I finally had the opportunity to attend a lot of the events that I had seen others going to, but had never been able to go to myself, like the Battle of New Orleans reenactment, The Francaise Dinner, and Costume College. I even got my sweetheart in on the fun, and he's been costuming with me for most of the year! I had a wonderful 18th Century birthday party, I became president of the DFW Costumers Guild, I traveled a lot, and I completed a 4.0 year at university. It was a very good year.

Of course, looking back at my list of goals, there are, inevitably, ones that weren't met for one reason or another. Let's see how I actually did:

- Finish the 1905 Ballgown
Nope. I was working on it, and then I realized how much work was really going to have to happen before CoCo to get it done, and I completely switched gears. I'm really glad I did, though, because it gave me the opportunity to join in on the 18th Century court gown group!

- make more garb for my sweetheart
Yes! I made him many new things - 2 Regency waistcoats, a Regency shirt, and Regency breeches; an 18th century coat and waistcoat; and a Victorian coat.

This next year I'm planning to make him a fully embroidered 18th Century court suit for the Francaise Dinner, and to make him some complete Victorian and Edwardian outfits for some upcoming events. He also needs more shirts and things in general, so he'll be getting some more of those, too.

There's also a banyan in his future, since he saw one in a film and now really wants one. XD

- do at least one large detail oriented project (1905 ballgown is in mind with this one)
I didn't manage to finish the 1905 ballgown, but I did make an embroidered stomacher (well, I did the embroidery for it, I haven't actually finished the stomacher yet), which I definitely count toward this goal. I suppose you could also include the 18thC court gown here, since there was a lot of work that went into that, as well, but...well...I really don't. XP

- host more costume events
Yes. I started running more Guild events and I hosted a couple of independent costume events at my home, as well!

- make more accessories, especially jewelry and purses
It was year of the tiara, definitely. I made so much jewelry this year! But, other than jewelry, I didn't manage much. I have absolutely no purses to match my any of my outfits, and I'm in desperate need of them. I'm going to try and do better on that next year. I've also become totally obsessed with caps, so I need more caps in my life.

- take better costume photos of finished pieces (on the mannequin)
Meh. Not really. XP Gotta work on that...

- do a proper wrap-up post for Charlotte 
Nope. This is the only goal I didn't do a single thing toward.

Here's a look at the things I created this past year:

Dresses

Menswear

Undies

Accessories

Tiaras and Jewelry

Take a deep breath, it's a long way to the bottom...

Tutorials

That was quite the year!

This coming year is going to be quite momentous - first, it's the 10th anniversary of the DFW Costumers Guild. I'm determined to make it a smashing one, with lots of neat new events and trips.

Also, it's the last full year I'm going to be living in the States. I'll be wrapping up my last year of undergrad and graduating in December, and then it's off to grad school in Germany the following Fall.  There aren't as many costumed events in Europe as there are here (I've been really fortunate to live in a very active area when it comes to costuming!), so I have to make this year count! Part of my summer will be costume-free, as I'll be in South Africa working on a dig, so I'm going to cram as much stuff into the other months as I can!

It's also the 50th anniversary of Star Trek this coming year! Sadly, I won't be able to make it to Vegas for the big shindig in August since I'll be in Africa, but thankfully, Dallas is going to have its own convention in April! It's even right around First Contact Day, so the timing is perfect. I'll have to make a whole new batch of costumes and prosthetics, but I'm super excited to finally be going to something Trek again.

So, what do my goals for 2016 look like?


- make the 18th Century men's embroidered suit

- finish the 1905 ballgown

- whittle down the UFO pile - get rid of any projects I feel I'll never return to

- create entire outfits for my sweetheart, with a couple of waistcoat options so he has some choice of styles

- do more English Country Dancing

- organize The Stash and take a proper inventory of all my fabrics so I actually know what all I have

- make more purses and caps (especially caps!)

- get better at historical hairstyles. I've been half-assing it way too much lately.

2016 is going to be big and busy. Thankfully, I don't think my schoolwork will be as all-consuming as it was in 2015, where I had quite a few intense, difficult classes that required a lot of work. At this point I'm really just trying to finish up a few required courses and get the rest of my electives out of the way, so it shouldn't be too difficult of a school year. Hopefully that means I can focus on making more pretty things to wear!