Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Introducing Project Arendelle

Don't know what Arendelle is? Well, someone hasn't been out to go see Frozen yet. Shame on you. (Unless, of course, you cannot go see it for some reason...)

If you don't know the details on Frozen, then I'll just run over them quickly.
Frozen is the story of two princesses, Anna and Elsa. Elsa is becoming the queen of Arendelle, but she has ice powers that she has difficulty controlling. In a moment of weakness, she accidentally releases it on her kingdom. She ends up making it all, well, frozen. And there you, that's the movie in a nutshell.
(But really it's so much better than that, so go see it.)

One of the best parts of Frozen is the visual appeal. The animation can be nothing short of breathtaking here at times. The time that sticks out most to me is when Elsa changes into a dress that looks to be made of the delicate ice and snow around her. I fell in love with that dress faster than you could say "let it go."
I just made a joke. You should be laughing.

Well, my little sister has been obsessed with this movie for months on end. She's gotten herself transfixed on Anna. After the movie, we made a decision-we were going to dress up as Elsa and Anna for Halloween 2014. Or something like that. She would be wearing Anna's outfit from most of the movie, of course.
Of course, we're adult sizes now. Pretty much. You can't exactly get a costume for that. We have to make those costumes. It's going to be quite an ordeal, I can tell you that much.

That, my friends, is Project Arendelle. My little sister and I will be dressing ourselves up as the characters from Frozen. These are going to be made from scratch. I'm really going to be trying myself with this whole project, but oh well.

I've already decided on a sewing pattern, started thinking about fabric and glitter, and more. I've tried to work out the more difficult aspects of Elsa's dress (the whole sewing on several thousand sequins to the bodice has been fixed, I've found a much better idea for me). Of course, I'm also going to need a wig and more.

I'm going to need a whole lot of money and help.

But today I feel like I can say Project Arendelle has officially begun. You see, I recieved a new sewing machine for Christmas. I had been using one from my grandmother. It just didn't work, which was a shame. I couldn't figure half of it out, and the bobbin was a demon. I swear, no matter what I did it would not work.

With this new sewing machine, I don't even have to worry about the bobbin. You don't realize how amazing that is: the old one literally used to break down every three stitches because of bobbin problems. It's a wonder that I was able to get anything made on that thing. (In case you're wondering, I made a bunch of stuffed animals, the grand master of which was the Kikwi.)
I tested it out for the first time. It's sitting on my desk where my laptop would usually go. Oh well. So far, it's been working out brilliantly. I can't tell you just how pleased I am about that. There were no bobbin problems, the stitches seem to be working well, and all that jazz. I was trying it out on some tricky fabric too. I believe this is a good sign for the future.

Well, I have a twenty five dollar gift card to a fabric store. Looks like I'm going to have to use this wisely. I might have enough to buy the fabric for the cape. That's all. But, you know, the cape really does make the outfit.

Still, I sometimes think that I'm making a horrible mistake by deciding to make Elsa's dress. I mean, I don't even have a dressform. I'm going to have to make one, which is sort of a terrifying prospect. That means I have to measure myself. Ugh.

And then I still have to think about the Anna costume for my little sister. She's going to be working on her own, mind you-she learned to use a sewing machine at the same as I did, she can do this herself as well. But I do want her to be involved in this.

Hopefully next time I post something about this I'll have something-the sewing pattern, some fabric, a jar of glitter. Who knows? This is going to be an interesting ride.

-Rain

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