DIY Jasmine Costume

     The beginning of this month marked homecoming week for Butte High school. This means a week of dressing up in crazy costumes in order to show our school spirit! (Side note- does anyone actually know what the point of homecoming is?? And how does dressing up show team spirit? Whatever, I'll take any chance I can get to dress up. I love costumes!! This is becoming a very long side note. Should I just end it or go for the 'longest sidenote of all time' record? Is that a thing? Wow, my English teacher would be killing me right now. I'm distracting you from the main idea of the writing, and thus compromising its integrity. But this is my blog, I can do what I want! I could do this all day. Cats.)

     Anyways, one of the themed days this year was "Disney Day" (again, Disney=School Spirit?) and my friend Sowmya asked me to make her a costume of Jasmine from Aladdin. So here's a step-by-step of how I made it:

Materials:

1. A sewing machine

2. About 1 1/2 yards of teal colored fabric-Sowmya picked  this stretchy, silky-ish knit fabric and the pants I made ended up being SUPER comfy, but you can go with a woven fabric like satin if you like.

3. A cami or tank top in a slightly different shade of teal

4. 1 1/2 inch to 2 inch wide elastic

5. Straight pins

6. Needle and Thread- You could get matching thread, but I just used white.

Step 1: Making the top

First, cut a long strip of fabric 7 inches wide and about 5 feet long:

Find the center of the strip and hand sew a running stitch down the center line:

Pull the thread tight to make gathers:

Find the top center of your cami. It helps to use a body form, but you don't need it:

Pin the center gather of your strip to the center top of the shirt. Extend the "tails" of the strip on the shirt to find where they hit the straps. Repeat the basting/gathering process here and pin back onto the shirt like so:

Sew the strip down with a straight stitch where it's pinned:

Drape the tails of the strip around the arm of the shirt and repeat the marking/ basting/gathering/sewing process where the tails meet the back straps of the shirt:

*back*

Lay the shirt out on a table and line up what's left of the tails:

Cut off any excess and then sew the strips together, right sides together:

I like the way that this drapes in the back, but if you want you can sew it on at the center back of the shirt.

And you are done with the top! Feel free to add any embellishments. I didn't add any because Sowmya wore gold jewelry with the costume.

Step 2: The Pants
First, you will want to make kind of a sketch of what your pieces for the pants will look like:

This is basically the pattern I made up (not to scale!), which is pretty forgiving for most sizes. This is tailored to Sowmya's height (about 5'1") so you might want to adjust a little for your height or inseam measurement. The fit on the waist will be determined by the length of elastic you use.

You can draw the pattern out full-size on some butcher paper or newspaper, or just draw it right on to your fabric. When you cut out your fabric pieces, they will look like this:

Cut two front pieces and two back pieces right sides together so that they mirror each other! You will have 4 pieces total.

Next, place the two front pieces right sides together. Pin and sew a straight stitch along the curved line (the crotch of the pants):

Repeat with the two back pieces:

Next, lay the front pieces and the back pieces right sides together and line up the two crotch seams:

Pin and sew all along the inseam of the pants:

Next, sew the outer edges of the pants together:

Now you have a super giant pair of pant-type things. Tom graciously offered to model them for you:

For the gathered waist, fold the top of the pants over 1 1/2", pin, and sew to make a casing for the elastic (usually you should do a rolled hem here, but this fabric doesn't fray and I was feeling lazy). Make sure to leave 2" opening in your casing so you can thread the elastic through!

Measure and cut a length of elastic that will fit snugly around your waist. For Sowmya, the elastic was about 22" long.

Put a big safety pin on one end of the elastic. This will help when you thread it through the casing:

Thread the elastic all the way through the casing and sew its ends together.

Sew the opening in the casing shut and the waist is done!

Now for the gathered ankles:

Cut two rectangles of fabric about 10" by 6":

Fold one in half "hamburger style" (the short way) right sides together and sew along the long edge:

Turn the tube you just made right side out and fold in in itself so you have something looking like this:

Repeat on with the other rectangle:

You made cute little cuffs!

Next, sew a basting stitch like you did on the shirt along the bottoms of both legs to make them gathered like this:

*Expert (haha) tip: to get more even gathers, you can sew a straight stitch with your machine on the longest stitch length. Pull on one of the threads and the fabric will gather quite nicely.

Slide the cuff thingy you just made onto the leg opening like so:

Pin the pieces together, making sure your gathers are even:

Sew all around with a zigzag stitch. (note- if you are doing this with non-stretchy fabric, it will work better if you gather the ankles with elastic, just like you did on the waistband)

It will look something like this:

Repeat on the other ankle:

And you are done! Just add a few accessories and you are ready to go. I made this headband with a scrap of the matching fabric and a vintage pin:

Here's the final look:

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and as usual, leave me a comment of you try it!

Thanks for reading :)

Dr.Frankenstein

Sophmore year of high school, my group in literature class made this video interpretation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I figured why not get some more use out of it and post it here!

I play The Monster in it and I really can't watch it without laughing! It's so cheesy! But don't laugh. Okay, you can laugh a little.

I thought it would be relevant what with Halloween just around the corner!

Timothy Ryan as Dr Frankenstein

Robin Gammons as The Monster

Dillon Larrovich Novikov as Henry Clerval

Ayana Nelson as Justine

Sowmya Sudhakar as Elizabeth Lavenza

Edited/Produced by Dillon Larrovich Novikov

Costumes/Props/Makeup by Robin Gammons


We had lots of fun making this! Dillon did an amazing job with the editing, and everyone else did such a good job acting! My favorite part was when we hoisted Ayana up in a tree with a rock climbing harness for the hanging scene. My LEAST favorite part was when I had to lay in a freezing cold garage in a little tunic-thingy covered in almost-frozen fake blood that gave me a rash. Not fun. But I'm not complaining.


Anyways, I will have some non-filler posts coming soon, including some last-minute Halloween costume DIYs. Stay tuned!






I can't believe I just posted this. If you guys in the video are reading, I'm sorry! But if it's any consolation, I only have, like, tens of readers.

(Not) Saturday Top 10: Spooooky Halloween Movies

The best day of the year is just around the corner! So to celebrate, here's a roundup of ten Halloween movies that will get you in the spirit of the season in no particular order (I tried not to give any spoilers!):

1.Beetlejuice (1988)


This is probably in my top 15 favorite movies. I just love anything out of the ordinary. The more bizarre the better!

This Tim Burton movie is so fun and unusual. And not scary! (I'm not a horror movie person) If you watch any Halloween movies this year, you have to watch this one.













2.Hocus Pocus (1993)

This one's probably on the list because I'm so nostalgic about watching it when I was younger. Also, the whole witchcraft thing, although kind of watered-down in this movie, is very intriguing to me.

I would recommend watching this one if you are babysitting a smaller kid in the near future. They will love it, and I bet you will enjoy it too. But you don't have to use a kid as an excuse to watch it- I just had a movie night with some friends where we watched a ton of kids Halloween movies without shame.








3.Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Another Tim Burton movie! I actually hadn't seen this one until last week, and I quite liked it. It's very dark and may not end as cheerfully as you would like, but its bittersweet story combined with super interesting visuals makes it really cool to see. I love the way they put together the fictional town that it takes place in, with each house a different easter-egg color and a perfectly mown lawn in front.












4.Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

It's a cult classic! Again, I love the utter bizarreness (is that a word?) of this movie, right down to the convoluted, barely-there plot. But fair warning, this ISN'T one you should watch with kids! It has a very strong message about sexuality and I think it's pretty cool. I really want to go to a performance of it and throw rice, toast, etc...














5.Practical Magic (1998)

Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman are witches! I really love the whole idea and aesthetic of this move, with the beautiful house and the laid-back, 90s style long skirts and crop tops. Again, the witchcraft theme is very intriguing.

This is more of a Halloween chick-flick. I watched it with my girlfriends at the aforementioned movie night.












6.It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)

Probably every kid (and adult?) in the country has probably seen this movie at some point. It's the sweetest Halloween story out there! I always root for Linus to find the Great Pumpkin and feel a little sad when he wakes up in the pumpkin patch the next morning.














7.The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

More Tim Burton! This time with an animated adventure. I can't really tell if this should be a Halloween or Christmas movie, so I just watch it twice. Since Halloween is my favorite holiday, it puts a nice spooky twist on the Christmas season.















8.Ghostbusters (1984)

I love watching Ghostbusters any time of the year! But it's especially relevant during Halloween because, you know, the whole ghost thing. My friend Rachel and I went as Ghostbusters for Halloween once! Unfortunately, I couldn't find a picture to put here. Just imagine two cute little 9-year-olds wearing painting coveralls and cereal-box backpacks with pvc ray guns.













9. Labyrinth (1986)

Labyrinth is one of my favorite movies of all-time! I remember watching it with my siblings when we were little. Don't tell her I told you, but Maggie used to have a huge crush on Jareth (and the actual David Bowie!)


One day I will create a bunch of Labyrinth costumes and they will be wonderful. I just have to get around to it...








10.The Craft (1996)

I just watched this movie last night with my friend Sowmya. I really liked the creepy witchcraft stuff in it. Moral of the movie: If you can use witchcraft to get rich and make people love you, don't get too power hungry! Also, listen to the nice lady in the Wiccan store.

This movie is definitely thrilling and fun to watch really late at night if you're a horror movie lightweight like me. Also, it's great style inspiration. I love the gothic all-black look with some dark red lipstick.

Also- if you've seen this, do you remember in one of the last scenes in the bathroom the paper towel dispenser thingy says "Gustav Klimt"? It's quite mysterious and cryptic. Was Klimt a witch or something?!? Let me know what you think.





So there you have it, 10 movies to get you in the Halloween mindset. Make sure that you have the proper movie-watching snacks in order to do this right. Gummy candy, popcorn, and Redvines are always good, but you can also get a little more festive and try some spooooky recipes (Martha Stewart always has something up her sleeve) Let me know in a comment below what you think of any of these, or if you have an addition to the list!!


P.S.-Sorry this was posted so late. Yesterday was busier than I expected!

Our Lady of the Rockies

    At the very beginning of last summer some friends and I went with the Montana History Club to spend a night at the Lady of the Rockies to help clean up the grounds and get it ready for tourist season.

     The Lady is a 90-foot statue built in 1985 that sits atop the East Ridge on the continental divide and overlooks Butte. It was built in dedication to all women.

*image via Wikipedia

   I hadn't been up there since I was in grade two, and it was so nice to see it up close again. Here are some photos we took:

A very dramatic shot from below!

We went on a little hike around to a different cliffy-peak area. From here you can see the lady overlooking the Berkeley Pit and the Yankee Doodle Tailings Pond.

Andrea, Courtney, and Me

The view from up there was incredible. It's very surreal to see the place you live from above.

Jessica took this lovely photo!

Inside the scaffolding of the statue is a little room where people leave letters and prayers and hang rosaries for their loved ones. People write the most touching, beautiful, and bittersweet things. It really makes me feel better about the world to know that people have such a capacity for love.

This plaque is at the base of the statue. Someone left some beautiful dried flowers at the base as well.

     The Lady lit up at night. On foggy nights when the mountains and the sky are the same color, she looks like she's floating over the town.

     We went up there almost half a year ago, but I think now is a good time to post these photos. When I look up at the lady, I feel the energy emanating from her and I am filled with love. I left a wish up there for a very extraordinary friend and I think of her strength every time I see the lady looking down on me. In any situation, rain or shine, the Lady of the Rockies stands strong, holding the hopes and prayers of the people of Butte in her heart. Right now I am especially thankful that she is always there to inspire and comfort me.

    If you have a chance, I would highly recommend reading some more about the lady on her official website, http://ourladyoftherockies.net/. There is also a short documentary about how and why it was built.

     If you've made it this far, thanks for putting up with my cheesy story. I should be back on track with a Saturday Top 10 and some Halloween stuff soon!