Halloween 2010. It begins..

Remember the big deal I made about Logan's Run a while back? I had mentioned making costumes for this year's Dragon Con, but never got around to it with all the crazy weddingness? Well what I didn't mention was while we were at Dragon Con Mr. Fiancé and I bought ourselves at model of a Sandman's Laser Gun (apparently the real name is "Flame Gun" according to my geeky sources)

Mr. Fiance will make a hotter Logan, just sayin'. 

and some Life Clocks/"those things on everyone's left hand". Hot mama!

We who are about to die sal--- I'll stop there. Maybe that's in bad taste. 

So I am now totally obligated to make these puppies and of course the first thing I had to do was massive amounts of research to figure out how the costumes for the movie were made. I've actually been researching this for a few months so I've been able to gather a lot of information and I have a pretty good idea of how these costumes were constructed.

This is a full body shot of both costumes to give you a general idea. Mr. Fiance will be Logan 5 (in front) and I will be Jessica 6 (Middle/not Ferreh)

Photos of Michael York's actual costume. The sandman shirt is actually two pieces. A "one-sie" type undershirt and a tunic over shirt. I'm going to hazard a guess and say that the undershirt was designed as a onesie to keep it smooth under the tunic. Need to discuss this with Mr. Fiancé, but we'll probably be skipping the crotch part there.

 Here are the two pieces layered on top of the other.

 And again with a better view of how the gray is placed in relation to the arm holes. You can also see that there's a little bit of batting behind the gray bar.

A Sandman belt. For times sake I'll be most likely gluing beads onto the belt or painting them.

Jennie Agutter's costume. This is the underpart of the costume, the belt is missing. This is what I'll be drafting this week. Looks like a big square with some elastic, I think I'll manage even if I have absolutely no drafting ability.

A similar Citizen costume with belt. Looks like it connects in the back somehow.

To start I purchased some uber cheap uncut patterns on etsy earlier this week. I mean both were very resonably priced. Don't you just love how cheap patterns from the 1970s are? Especially men's patterns.

Mr. Fiance does not want to wear Logan's stretch pants so we are modifying the costume just a tad. I'm going to use these wider leg pants, most likely view C. This was $1.75 or something ridiculous like that. 

This pattern was a dead ringer for the Logan's under shirt. To make the tunic vest I'll just have to modify this pattern a little. I want to say this one cost me a little closer to $3.00. I admit I splurged.

I'll try to update you all on the costume progress as best I can. Lets hope these get finished before Halloween. Those of you who follow $25V on facebook know that I sliced off a good chunk of my finger over the weekend. I'm hoping that won't slow me down too much.

So what are you wearing for Halloween this year? Are you making it yourself? Buying? Borrowing? Not dressing up at all? Let me know!

See you all tomorrow. <3

-Nancy

PS. I should also mention that according to Hollywood Reporter there's a remake of Logans Run in the works. Sweeet!

Glorious Halloweens of Ol'

For most of my young life my mother made my Halloween costumes and she was a very good sport about it. I certainly had some weird ideas for costumes in my younger days (anything from a fish to a pink Belle alla Beauty and the Beast),  but she somehow miraculously always made them happen. I think this is halloween 1990, but it might be 1989. I wanted to be Grover. I hope you get a good chuckle out of it.
 

 

Did you have any strange costume ideas in your youth? Do any of your kids have some interesting ideas for their costumes this year? 

The return of Vinspiration! Jacques Griffe

Oh man oh man oh man! Vinspiration is back! Why did it stop you say? Well, mostly because it's a lot of work to find information on certain subjects. I love to research don't get me wrong, but with the ridiculous search for a wedding venue within our budget going on I had trouble justifying the 2-3 hours of research and photo finding time that were sometimes necessary for a vinspiration post.

I've found myself missing my vinspiration lately and I figure you all wouldn't hate me too much if I slacked off a wrote shorter posts every once in a while. So today's Vinspiration are pieces by Jacques Griffe.

The History Lesson (I'll be brief today): Jacques Griffe was born in France in 1917. He was apprenticed to a tailor at age 16, fought in World War II where he was eventually imprisoned for 18 months, was employed at the House of Vionnet, and later opened Jacques Griffe Evaluation, in rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in 1947. He retired in 1968.

Jacques Griffe created some amazing structured designs in the 1950s-1960s. His runway gowns especially were structured to the point of wearable sculpture.

February 1951. 

Black Cocktail Dress with a very deep V in the front. Look at that thing, it goes almost to her belly button. A little more risky then anything I would wear, but I love the tight waist and structured bit above the pencil skirt. This is from the Paris Spring Fashion Show.

1952

Probably the most famous Griffe gown of all time. I have no idea how those scallops were made. Can anyone shine any light on this subject? I have to say this isn't my favorite evening gown of his... mostly it just reminds me of a pineapple.

Griffe very often used these Kimono sleeves in his dresses. Here combined with a belted waist and some seriously structured undergarments they make this model look like she has no waist at all. To me she looks like she's missing ribs. That's pretty darn skinny. I just love the draping on this garment. We can see the deep V neckline that Griffe favored here again, but this time the added ruffled collar and fur make it much more wearable.

Suzy Parker. October 1953. 

What can you say about this other than what a beautiful beautiful dress. Just looking at it gives me the warm fuzzies. The color, the shape, the outer wrap. This reminds me a lot of the Fortuny Gowns. The empire waist and that little bow are just too sweet.

 February 1956

Look at the structure of this mermaid dress. Can we say gravity defying? The cut is beautiful, the layers or skirt have such a great shape. This is one of my all time favorite Griffe gowns. Do you ever wonder if these pieces still exist somewhere? How much I would give to get my hands on this dress and figure out it's construction.

1965

Moving into the 1960s now. Again we have the V neckline, but it's softened with the high scarf like drape across the neck.  We also see more of Griffe's fantastic fabric draping. The shape here is much softer and much more 60s. Griffe was an interesting fellow. He very often had his hands in every part of a garments construction. Not only could be design, but he was an expert at draping and sewing as well.

Griffe later goes on to do several designs for Vogue patterns. I can tell you from experience that if you can find one of Griffe's patterns for sale they tend to be very expensive. I stumbled into this baby, but I don't think the seller really knew what they had... I'll admit that I didn't tell her either. It's missing one piece, but I'll take that over the $125 uncut pattern selling on etsy right now.  Don't you wish high end designers still designed for pattern companies today? Now don't get my wrong. I love Kay Unger, but she's no Vera and she's certainly no Griffe.

$25V's Facebook debut!

Jacqueline Bouvier ca. 1947

Much like Miss Jacqueline Bouvier above $25V is having its debut. Except instead of in fancy dress at a lavish party we're debuting on facebook. Come be our fan won't you?





Remember that we have a new Google Friend Connect Box over on the right as well so if you prefer to follow blogs that way please check it out!

See you!

Have you been watching the miners being rescued?

From cbsnews.com

I've been glued to cnn.com's live feed of the rescue of the 33 trapped Chilean miners all day. I've literally been teary eyed watching as each man is freed from the mine and reunited with their family. I don't know one of these men, but I'm so thankful that they are alive and being returned to their loved ones.

Vintage Beauty Tip Round Up

I finally installed a google friend connect box over on the right there. So if you prefer google friend connect to the blogger "follow" option or an rss feed, please check that out. 

Readers, I just love vintage makeup. I really only wear makeup in the 1940s style as most of my friends and family can tell you. It's easy, takes about 5 minutes, and looks super cute. Here, allow me to share today's makeup look with you via cellphone picture. I call today's look saucy secretary, though in actuality I am not a secretary. Enjoy the 1990s computer monitor behind me there. See, I'm so retro. Even at the office. Right...

Yes those are natural beauty marks (evidence), but I still like to highlight them with a little coal. Makes me feel very Marilyn. Maybe even double Marilyn? So intense? (It's still funny to me okay!) So you can imagine how much I love watching tutorials and reading blog posts about vintage make-up and styling. In the past week the blogging world has been blessed with some fabulous posts.

Lisa at Snoodlebug gave us a great little history lesson about manicures and shows off her fabulous nails. I love vintage manicures, though I admit I hate doing them myself. So hard to get those little creasants at the bottom right.

Fleur at Diary of a Vintage Girl gave us a fabulous fabulous video tutorial about creating that scrumptious 1940s lip. You might remember Fleur as the model from my post about Besame lipcolor.

Beauty is a Thing of the Past shared this neat article from 1938. What a pretty hair style I thought to myself, I sure wish I had the patience to create this updo. Maybe I'll do something similar for the wedding. Or maybe I just have a stylist do it for me. I like that plan better.

Couture Allure told us all about buying vintage stockings. I don't really do vintage stockings myself... mainly because I'm a stocking killer. I'm very talented when it comes to getting runs or getting my stockings caught on something, but do check this post out if you have any interest in vintage stockings especially if you're not sure what the different denier numbers mean.


And as a wrap up I'm going share with all of you the first official piece of my Wedding Ensemble. (Mr. Fiance, please avert your eyes).

Royal Blue Contrast Seamed Stockings from What Katie Did. $20.00 (You don't think that just because this is my wedding I wouldn't try to keep things under $25 did you?)

See you!

What the Heck is this?

Dear Readers,

While browsing patterns on etsy, as I often do, I came across this little number.

What, awesome readers, is this? A jumper on drugs? Paper bag? Clown suit? Some throw back to 1570s men's breeches?

Lo! Thoust hath pilfered mine breeches! 

The pattern itself is part of one a McCalls' maternity separates collection.

The mini dresses are quite cute, the pants/tops combos are also very cute. So what is that crazy thing in the middle? Maternity swim suit?

The back of the package didn't give me any better answers I'm afraid.

So I'm appealing to you, awesome readers. What is this thing? (Scroll Down for answer)














Edit: Thanks to Myra's help, I noticed a small line I didn't see on the pattern back beforehand. This is the world's most awful swimsuit. 

First batch of photos off the new camera!

Yay! I finally got around to purchasing the proper USB cable for my new camera. I'm so happy with this camera. It's awesome sauce. I'm a little bit shocked by the picture quality. I haven't been able to use a snazzy camera like that since I was in film school. Sure wish I could remember how to use it properly.

BUT with the addition of  a USB cable I am able to give you all a quick update on what Fiance and I have been up to. Via photo essay or some such nonsense.

Last weekend we took the fabulous 6 hour drive to visit my grandmother in Mississippi! And by fabulous I mean long, but Fiance drove most of the trip so I got to mess around with my camera on the trip. Most of the photos came out fuzzy as I tried to remember where the f-stop button was so I excluded those to be nice to your eyes.

Fancy photo. This is at the point in the trip when Fiance is getting a little tired of me taking pictures of him driving the car. 

Funky clouds on the trip down. We left Friday at about 6pm eastern time. This was only about 20 minutes into our trip and it was already getting dark.

 We arrive in Mississippi and enjoy a great weekend with the family!You might remember my Aunt Donna (center) and Grandmother (right) from some other photos I have posted.

UNO!

This trip was actually good timing if you can call it that. Earlier this week I received a call that my cousin Kyle (far left above) was admitted to the hospital. He's still in the ICU, but they have plans to move him to a regular room this afternoon. We're all praying for his recovery to go as quickly and as easily as possible. After a quick visit we headed back home on Sunday, this time during the daylight.

Pretty wet lands.

 The trip back home was much nicer. There are some pretty views along the highway going between Atlanta and Biloxi. It's so much nicer to actually see when you're roadtripping. 

Some River in Alabama.

Check out the waterway between the raised highway. Starting to look like it's going to rain.

We stopped at the Shed for some BBQ and a few of our favorite hole in the wall family gas stations on the way home. We really had a nice trip until a monsoon decided to swoop in on us somewhere in Alabama.

That thar' be some rain clouds ahead.

But we made it home safely even if we had to drive at 35mph on 85N for over an hour. Yick.

This weekend as you all know I finally finished painting/converting our spare room, then friend's room, later my sewing room, and now Fiance's office.

Tada! Paint!

You can see what I mean by the room not having enough natural light. That's the only window in that room and both the back wall and the wall to the right are outside walls. I really do know what the builders were thinking sometime. Fiance's shoulder also make a mysterious appearance in this photo. Or maybe it's a ghost. We don't really know.

And the other side of the room. I should not have looked so closely at these photos. My ceiling line looks wiggly!

And there's my update. Now I'm off to find somewhere to put my sewing machine so I can get to work. An old friend is coming back to play this month along with Halloween costume sewing bonanza time.