Alison
Battalion Dalek
Posts: 24 
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Post by Alison on Jul 12, 2013 7:07:28 GMT -5
I had intended to make a red and gold Dalek dress to go with a hat I have (complete with eyestalk and ear lights), but I couldn't find a suitable red dress. So I found one that is kind of Coral, and am going to go from there. This is my first time making a Dalek dress (or any type of creative costume, really), so I will keep this updated with my progress, both successes and potential fails, on my way to hopefully having a great cosplay for FanExpo!
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Alison
Battalion Dalek
Posts: 24
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Post by Alison on Jul 18, 2013 21:22:13 GMT -5
Ok. So, the first step in this process was finding the perfect dress. Possibly the hardest part of this whole thing! Yorkdale Mall in Toronto, SO MANY stores...I was looking for a red dress that pouffed out on the skirt, so I was kind of blind to the other dress styles. However, after a while of not being able to find one, we went to Costa Blanca as a 'last store before we give it up' for the day, and found a great dress! Different colour, but so cute.  |
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Alison
Battalion Dalek
Posts: 24
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Post by Alison on Jul 18, 2013 21:39:18 GMT -5
After that, it was off to the Dollar Store (I almost accidentally typed "Dalek Store" there...actually) to look for accessories. I ended up with some little plastic shot glasses for ears - which I am hoping to get my boyfriend to put some little battery-powered LEDs in them so they light up. I also got a hairband (headband?) to attach the ears and the eyestalk to. I got a little clip-on flashlight that looks like it will be perfect for an eyestalk, once I paint it.   I was (and am) determined to have 3D hemispheres (as opposed to painted on), so I also looked for something to use for these. I found these little foam balls in the kids section, and I thought that maybe if I cut them in half they might work. So I picked up one to try out. Sorry, Avengers fans!  |
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Alison
Battalion Dalek
Posts: 24
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Post by Alison on Jul 18, 2013 21:45:57 GMT -5
Oh, I also bought a whisk and black paint at the dollar store. So, with this foam ball. I cut it in half down the centre seam, and then painted each half black. This worked really well, so I bought a bunch more.  To be fair, I didn't pick on just the Avengers. Many Disney characters have suffered to make this dress. So I cut all the balls in half and painted them black. Two coats!   So I have 24 total hemis so far. I have to go back and get 8 more balls (i.e. 16 more hemis) for the total requirement of 40. |
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Alison
Battalion Dalek
Posts: 24
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Post by Alison on Jul 18, 2013 22:02:15 GMT -5
New day. I went to Ardene Outlet, got some amazing deals (seriously, go there if you need girly accessories, it's got great prices!). I bought some elbow-length black gloves. I've always wanted to wear these style gloves, and I finally get a reason!  Then I bought some fishnet leggings. I don't know if I'm going to wear them on my legs, or if I'm gonna wear solid black, or none at all. I'm also thinking of trying to find something for a grille of some sort around the waist area of the dress, and was thinking that the leggings (or ones like them) might possibly work for this. Haven't totally figured it out yet.  |
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Alison
Battalion Dalek
Posts: 24
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Post by Alison on Jul 18, 2013 22:11:50 GMT -5
Today I went to Canadian Tire to get a plunger. Dollarama didn't have any...So, if you desperately want to see a picture of what the plunger looked like when I got it, check out Alissa's White and Gold Dalek Dress Thread. On second thought, check that out anyway, because she's awesome. I wanted to try something different with the plunger, rather than carrying it around all day, because I'm lazy. (I'll probably try to do something different with the whisk too.) So, I took the handle off the plunger, and then I cut the centre out. That was hard! I was stabbing with a knife and cutting and yuck. (I learned that I don't own a decent pair of scissors.) So the cut is slightly messy, but I still think it should work. I then painted it with two coats of black.  What the heck am I going to do with this, you might ask? Well, I THINK I'm gonna wear it on my wrist like a bracelet, and this is my suction-plunger thingy. I have to make sure this is acceptable, but I like the idea of not having to hold something.  I'm not totally sure about it, what do you guys think? |
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Alison
Battalion Dalek
Posts: 24
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Post by Alison on Jul 18, 2013 22:20:44 GMT -5
So, I learned that for the skirt, the requirement is that it be a decahedron (10 sides), with at least 4 hemis per row. And each row must be separated in some visual way. I counted the (...I don't know what they're called...pleats?) little sections on my skirt, and it came to eight. So if I split two in half, I'll have ten sections. I think I'm going to split the ones on either side in half (because they're kind of bigger because of the seam anyways), and then I have ten. The hemis seem to fit pretty well - they may be a bit close to each other at the top, but I've committed to them now, and I kinda like it.  So now I just need to figure out how to separate the rows - maybe black duct tape cut thin, if I can make it look nice. |
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Post by christinab on Jul 20, 2013 15:36:55 GMT -5
I LOVE your plunger idea! Mind if I steal that?!
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Alison
Battalion Dalek
Posts: 24
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Post by Alison on Jul 20, 2013 16:53:14 GMT -5
Go ahead! That's why we're on here, to share ideas  |
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Post by alissa on Jul 21, 2013 19:14:00 GMT -5
Oooh the hemis look nice! I almost want to switch!  But I've actually cut out 2.5inch circles that I'm painting instead of free styling right on the dress... |
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Alison
Battalion Dalek
Posts: 24
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Post by Alison on Jul 21, 2013 20:45:10 GMT -5
Hahah, that's probably a very good idea. Im sure it will look great tbough since you're so artistic. I just bought 8 more balls today, so gonna get going on them I really gotta make sure I getthe head stuff started soon. |
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Alison
Battalion Dalek
Posts: 24
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Post by Alison on Jul 25, 2013 19:35:06 GMT -5
Bought some duct tape the other day to try to make my division things between panels. Pulled out some really long pieces of duct tape and then folded them in half lengthwise so that they wouldn't be sticky, then cut them into approx 1 cm strips. Made enough of these to separate 10 panels. I then had to figure out the panels. It actually wasn't too hard to figure out, because lucky duck that I am, my dress had about 10 sections to it. So I just separated them there. I then stuck the strips on at the top (the waist of the dress) in each spot where they would go, then attached them all the way down to the bottom. This is the part that I worry isn't going to look great - because with the way the dress phloufs out, it's really hard to figure out exactly how the strips should go. But I'm just going to go with it and hope that it looks alright, because it was a lot of work, too much to change it now. I then attached the strips all the way down, then ran a piece of duct tape along both the top and bottom of the dress to hide the messy parts. The strip on the bottom doesn't look too great right now, I might go over it later and see if I can make it nicer. And here is where I am so far, with 10 panels!  |
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Post by alissa on Jul 25, 2013 20:10:26 GMT -5
Ooh I like that
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Post by christinab on Jul 25, 2013 22:33:04 GMT -5
That looks really nice!
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Alison
Battalion Dalek
Posts: 24
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Post by Alison on Jul 25, 2013 22:41:57 GMT -5
Thanks you both! I'm having some issues with the actual hemis, but working on it soon! |
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