Flaming Nora's Cavalcade of Tomfoolery

It's a thing! It happens in Wellington to celebrate Spring arriving in the Capital of Dressing Up! A costume parade and competition that happens along the vibrant waterfront of our city.
We sponsored the Most Joyful category of the competition. And sure enough, after a week of the most rubbish weather you can imagine, the day was stunning!! The World of Wearable Arts aka WOW is on for the next two weeks but it is a coincidence that this fun event has happened at the same time as the Council made them move it from the original date which was not. It's a happy coincidence though.

 Some gorgeoous goldfish, Thing 1 and Thing 2.

 Some of Capital Steampunk, with Mrs Hudson (The Younger) in her wonderfully patriotic gown.

Two gorgeous "ladies" (not really ladies!) visiting the Colonies.

 Wally, or Waldo, who spent the whole parade hiding behind people. She was so sweet!

 A couple of fab costumes originally made as WOW entries

 A  Steampunker in a Blueprint jacket. So clever!

 I loved this entry - Mum, Dad and their son playing Nemo. The anenomes are just throw rugs safety pinned on and a bunch of skinny ballons around their necks. SO CLEVER!! And so lovely to see a family together.

 Another shot of Nemo as he is so gorgeous!

 Me presenting a prize to these two clever sculptures.

 Cavalcading along the waterfront!

Cavalcading. My gosh it was one beautiful day!

Christmas Plans already!

I have plans, Readers! Lots of USOs (un-started objects!) and in some ways that is worse than UFOs - because UFOs are a bit like those really active molecules hunting for atoms to bond with and make lovely new things, so have a certain energy that makes them attractive. But USOs are just piles of fabric that require cutting out. Erk, I dislike cutting out, and the idea of having to do it puts me right off sewing sometimes.
HOWEVER, I have made some progress. Constance is Emceeing several Christmas shows and I felt that it was time to make a special Christmas costume.
Remember, all costumes must be seen from space, so I was thrilled to haul a length of red sequinned fabric out of my stash (I don't remember buying it!). It is gorgeous - the sequins are sewn on not stuck on, at one point only so they can all move and shimmer deliciously. The fabric has a little stretch too.
Of course, a Christmas costume requires white fur trim. But we are having cream feather boa instead. Because Constance.
I riffled through my patterns looking for an off the shoulder number but to no avail. Then I thought oh good grief, that is why you penuried yourself to get a dressmaker's dummy! So I draped it using pattern cloth, and when I was happy, I cut it out of the sequin yummy stuff, checked it on me, tweaked it and tada! This is where we are at!

 Rolled up hand towels are an essential addition, replacing my arms ;-)

 And with the feathers pinned in place

I really like the drapey thing across the front. I used to look at such things with a sense of sadness that I could never wear them (where? why?) but now I have the perfect excuse.
Now, this dummy is very rigid in ways that I am not. I am soft, squishy and bumpy. BUT, under this costume I will be wearing a corset so I will be rigid at the time. Not super tight or anything, just firm and smoothing. Not for every day use however!

So, there we are. I imagine it will stay like this until three days before I need it, as usual. Right now, as in today, I need to complete and then learn a new song for next Saturday. And another one for the following Saturday, as well as a bit of costuming. And my six day a week job.

Oh one last thing, colouring in is a big trend right now I believe. So I gave it a go. We sell Doodle Art pads and one is on the counter with thee fab twist up crayons so anyone can have a wee go while they are being served or waiting etc.

I did the big butterfly to get the ball rolling :)

See you all soon!

In life as in Shakespeare

Shakespeare's plays often feature someone running onto the stage and telling everyone about the exciting thing happening where they just came from. Some of my posts are a bit like that!

So in the past three weeks, this happened:

 Sauron strikes again! Nerdlesque, at The Fringe Bar 22 August 2015

 The "Eye" just needed new batteries after being in storage since December last year. 

And then on the 29th, this happened:

Yes that is Constance and Me staring adoringly at the FABULOUS Pollyfilla. In her Helen Reddy Tribute costume. Polly was over from Melbourne and OMG, he (Colin) did his makeup at my house and showed me all the secrets!!!!! It takes three hours. One of the most generous and warm people I've met, both in and out of drag. The gorgeous young blonde with us is Martin, who is also lovely. But at 20 something, he had no idea who this Helen Reddy person is. He was given homework ;-)
People we walked out my front door at 11.15pm and I got home around 3am. This is how drag shows operate. I was quite proud of my tenacity actually. Not so proud of my makeup job. But then, it wasn't about me :)
On the 23rd, I had another photo shoot and I love the photos but I wish I had had Polly's makeup tutorial beforehand because I think the makeup is a little flat. Ah well!

We had fun and it's nice to have some promo shots with updated costumes!