TARDIS fez and TARDIS top hat

So, we are going to be heading to Louisville next weekend to show off our amazing Doctor Who outfits AND to meet Matt Smith (for all non-Whovians, he is the 11th Doctor)!!!!  SO we decided to make a TARDIS fez to give to the brilliant Matt Smith.  Thanks to Tally's Treasury for giving us an awesome jumping off point for our fez!  Here are pics from the process....

I let my daughter decorate it because it is SOOOO much better for her to give something she made!

I also need a TARDIS top hat for my ensemble because hats are sort of my thing, so here is the beginning of that as well!

I still want to add some more feathers and I need to attach it to a headband, but other than that, I am SO happy with how it turned out!!

TARDIS corset

I am so in love with this costume.  I simply cannot wait to show this outfit off because I am SO proud of it.  Here is the corset so far.  I still have a little trim to add and the eyelets need to be inserted for the back laces.

TARDIS dress

I cannot wait to finish this costume!!  It is going to be so fun to wear and I am so excited to show it off!  I figured it is time to start the breakdown since there are so many pieces and each one is so complex.  Instead of doing a one piece gown I opted for a skirt and corset with a hooded shrug.  All three pieces are primarily blue cotton to keep them a bit lighter and more casual than some of the satin and brocade pieces I've seen.  Some of my inspiration came from a number of dresses I found while researching ideas and I'm sure some of the influences shown below will be apparent when I reveal the complete costume.

This article gives some fantastic ideas though I am particularly fond of 2, 6, 7 and 10.  I hope my dress could be found worthy of this list eventually!

Top 10 TARDIS dresses for fancy occasions

I think this one is pretty stunning:

TARDIS dress by Eveningarwen on deviantART

There are of course many more options to be seen by searching "TARDIS dresses" and there are some in nearly every style.  I tend to err on the side of Steampunk and I think you will see that with my finished pieces.  For now, I will post a few pictures to show where I'm going.

This is a close up of the upper bustle, you can see it is pinned at the top because I have not figured out how to attach it yet. I want it to be detachable.  I'm leaning toward using buttons.

This is a wider angle where the very bottom of the skirt can be seen under the second layer of the bustle made of a contrasting fabric (a lovely black cotton with charcoal swirls).

I tend to create my costumes by mixing and matching patterns and often combining pieces I like or parts of my current wardrobe to achieve the look I want.  For this outfit, I used these four patterns as my jumping off point though by no means did I stick to them or I would never have been able to create this.

McCall's 6911
Butterick 3012
Simplicity 9887
Simplicity 3921

I will have more to show soon since I have to have this ready to wear by March 29th!!

It's CON season!

OOOOOHHH!  It is that time of the year again!  We love Convention Season in this household.  This year will be our best year yet!  We are actually going to do the FAN thing at Wizard World in Louisville this year as we found out that Matt Smith (the 11th Doctor!) will be there! I surprised my kids with tickets and we will be there one day and one day only in our Doctor Who costumes so look for those pictures!!

Wait!  I should tell you what we are doing!  My son is going to use his Halloween costume and go as the 10th Doctor (he loves it, what can I say?).  It actually fits him better now than it did in this pic but you get the idea.

My daughter has opted to go as River Song.   This is the outfit we are replicating for her:

I am not complaining as most of her outfit is already in her wardrobe (I just need to get her a white blouse which I am NOT making myself) and I need to make her belt and holster.

Now me.  The kids chose my costume and I have to confess that I love it.  I am working hard on making something unique and I think it will be fantastic once I am done.  What did they choose?  Let me give you a hint:

I am sure you all want pictures and I would love to show them, but as River Song always says "Spoilers!"  Stay tuned.  Our first Con is at the end of March!

Amelie Jacket by Amelie & Henri (via Craftsy)

I love this site.  Seriously.  Craftsy is fantastic and full of amazing patterns and project ideas.  It's like Etsy meets Pinterest meets Hobby Lobby if all three were on steroids.  Yes, it is that good.  Anyway, my lovely friend (hi A!!!) and I were browsing this site when we came across this fantastic pattern for a jacket and I finally made it.    I purchased the pattern and finally had the opportunity to make it.  Well, I really didn't have the time for it being the holidays and all, but I wanted something new for once so when I saw the adorable white and black flannel with vintage keys all over it I knew it was meant to be.  I selected a black cotton with swirls to complement the flannel lining.  I could not be more thrilled with the result, it is LOVELY and I am looking so forward to showing it off but I simply had to share it here and give MAD props to Amelie & Henri for such an amazing pattern!  THANK YOU!!

Puppy Chow

I love this recipe.  My kids and I enjoy this munchie - along with almost everybody else I know - and it is SO easy to make.

The initial recipe is here.  But we have some little tweaks and tips to share.

1) Add a lil extra PB to the chocolate/PB combo
2) Add some vanilla and 1/4 c butter to the chocolate/PB combo
3) Try a flavored version of Chex (we liked the Vanilla)

It is SOOO easy to make this and a real crowd pleaser!

More recipes to come along with our Christmas crafts!!

Happy Holidays from Kharmic Chaos!

I've been neglectful.  I own up to it completely.  November is an extremely busy month in our house.  I participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) which means I spend most of my extra time writing.  This year, my daughter half participated and managed to write several short stories and poems which made me very proud.  The kids were heavy into toilet paper/paper towel roll creatures and people so our house is now littered with aliens, the 10th Doctor, a Dalek or two, and representations of our family members.

Now it is December and for us that means homemade Christmas presents and LOTS of baking!  We are cutting down our list of baked goods this year but only slightly.  I will share some of our recipes since I work hard to use family friendly recipes for the kids to maximize their help.  One of our favorites would be the Raspberry Star Cookies found on Allrecipes.com though we do not tend to do the star shapes and often use different flavors of jellies and jams.  

Tehawks, our Elf on the Shelf, has returned to wreak havoc on our house with her mischievous ways.  She's dumped the marker bucket in my son's room along with a few decks of cards, hung from the Christmas tree, fished for Goldfish crackers in the toilet - and all this in just one week of being here!!  It appears that we will soon have her pet moose joining us as well since he is causing too much trouble at the North Pole.  *sigh*

Look for pictures of our cookies and crafts as we move into the holiday season!