Maleficent

Lightly Bounding Through Disney World

Disney bounding is a subculture, or maybe side culture, of cosplay, or dressing up in costume. But it’s a bit different, because adults are not allowed to dress up in costume the way kids are. So “Disney bounding” is a way to dress like your favorite Disney character without actually being in costume. Thanks to Kay, the woman who started it, and her *amazing* Instagram account, for unleashing an extra fun way to enjoy the Disney parks.

I don’t know what the exact rules for Disney bounding are, so I’m not 100% sure my outfits count, hence “lightly bounding” through Disney World. Not in your face, my subtle nods to some of my favorite characters made me happy, even if no one else noticed. (Actually, several people noticed my Maleficent skirt, but more on that later.) I began and ended with some of my more subtle outfits, two different shirts I made in the last several years, inspired by previous trips. In between, my outfits were a bit more obvious, but sadly, because the weather got really cold the last few days we were there, I was so bundled up, no one really got to see my favorite Star Wars shirt! Anyway, here’s a review:

Super Subtle:

Dinosaurs! I wore my Liberty of London dinosaurs shirt the first day, because I had lunch at the T-Rex Restaurant in Disney Springs. It was hard to get a photo, so sorry about the bad selfie. I haven’t outgrown dinosaurs!

My dino shirt in front of a dino in a truck!

Jungle Cruise! The last day, another travel day, I wore my Jungle Cruise shirt, yes, inspired by the ride of the same name. Again, it was cold, so I layered with my tangerine orange cardigan, to which I’d stitched a pale blue Disney “D.” Those who know will realize that it’s the Disneyland “D,” not the Disney World “D,” but I haven’t found the later in a patch. (I wore my jacket and scarf over all of this, to be honest – a high of 60*F in Orlando is chilly!).

The ceramic plates on the wall make a nice background for my Jungle Cruise shirt and bright sweater!

Less Subtle:

Spaceship Earth: At least, I think this one was more obvious. I really love the design of this classic EPCOT ride, so this Marcy Tilton fabric jumped out at me when I saw it last summer. The added bonus is that this is a shirt I can wear to work or anywhere, without it screaming “DISNEY!” What do you think – subtle or not so subtle?

Standing in front of Spaceship Earth in my Spaceship Earth top

Finding Nemo: I mean, this IS Finding Nemo fabric – can’t you see Nemo, Marlin, and Dory? But it’s a cute stripe of sorts, and one that can be worn at any waterside location. I took it to Bermuda the last time we went – hey, there are tons of fish there!

Finding Nemo print skirt with my bright cardigan and rose gold Minnie Ears

Also coordinated my Bikie Girl Bloomers under this skirt for some modesty climbing in and out of rides.

Fishes, next to fishes in Animal Kingdom!

Star Wars: I had several Star Wars themed garments with me on this trip. The Millennium Falcon top I made using the Sew Liberated Esme Top pattern (if I make it again, I can size down for sure). It was fairly subtle but hey, the Millennium Falcon and R2D2 are clearly visible – if you look closely.

Standing in front of the Millennium Falcon! <squee!!!> The necklace is supposed to be similar to the one Princess Leia wore at the end of the first movie, during the award ceremony.

Closer look at the print….

Although the first two days we were in the parks were hot, in the 80s, the last two barely peaked past 60*. So my fabulous Star Wars Hey June Lane Raglan tee was only briefly ever visible. I stripped off the layers to get this photo, then hastily added back my extra long sleeve shirt, my Leia jacket, and my supernova print scarf.

Star Wars print tee, silver holographic Minnie Ears, and droids in pieces – perfect!

Gorgeous Art Nouveau styling of my Princess Leia jacket, bought two years ago.

Princess Leia is my favorite Disney princess!

Not at All Subtle

Maleficent: My most obvious and more remarked upon outfit was the Maleficent skirt I made shortly before the trip. It was made specifically for the Villains After Party at the Magic Kingdom. I’m not normally a huge Disney Villains fan but I had to have something thematic – er, bounding! And this was the perfect way to test the skirt pattern. Several women complimented me on it, one wearing a scarf of the same fabric! Several wanted to know where I’d gotten the fabric, so I turned them onto fabric shopping on Etsy. Because the party started at 10pm and ended at 1am, and we were in the park until well after that, and the temperature floated down into the 40s (eek!), I wore tights, another pair of coordinated Bikie Girl Bloomers, a tee shirt, a turtleneck, a cardigan, my scarf, then purchased a Haunted Mansion hoody – and I was still cold! But it was worth it, 100%!

Showing off my Bikie Girl Bloomers! That’s almost villainous, right?

Accessories

I added some accessories to what I’d taken with me. But first, let me just shout the praises of the Minnie ear holder – such a brilliant accessory that made the trip. Those ears aren’t all-day-long comfortable, just so you know! I was able to move it between bags, and always had a place for those ears.

I bought this amazing droid/R2D2 fully reflective baseball cap in Galaxy’s Edge – it’s like they made it just for me!!!

Reflective droid baseball cap, standing in line at Oga’s Cantina in Galaxy’s Edge

Clan of R2D2?

I also got my “name” embroidered on a Mickey hat! I mean, why not, right?!

TinLizzie Mickey Ears

I also bought shoelace charms, no doubt intended for kids’ shoes. But the tea cup and clock face from It’s a Small World are two of my (admittedly many) favorite Disney designs. And hey, they are the same color as my Dansko sneakers! So now my shoes *and* my socks show my love of sewing for some lightly bounding Disney #memade outfits.

Sewing themed socks, Disney themed shoes!

What do you think? Subtle or not-so-subtle? Have you ever done Disney bounding? What are your thoughts on thematic dressing (not Disney related)? Do you think I’m crazy…? Don’t tell me if you do, haha!

Maybe I’m Overdoing the Disney Planning….

Not long now before a long-planned trip to Disney World with some girlfriends! I’m super excited, and have been madly planning and sewing for months now. So with apologies to my bike-y reflective fashion followers (and perhaps many more of you), here’s what I’ve been sewing for my trip.

In my last post, I shared my Spaceship Earth tunic. Spaceship Earth is not only one of my favorite rides, but the iconic feature of EPCOT. I’m really looking forward to wearing this not only because I love it and enjoy its subtle nod to the ride, but it’s not quite cotton lawn tunic weather here in Northern Virginia, and I haven’t gotten to wear it yet!

Style Arc Lennie Overshirt

I just made this fun Maleficent skirt to wear to the Villains After Hours party the last night we are there. I’m not normally one for the Disney villains but if I’m going to their party, I feel like I should dress respectfully, amirite? I had planned on downloading a skirt pattern from an independent company but they are on vacation and it wasn’t available. So I dug around in my pattern box and found this McCalls out of print pleated skirt pattern I bought ages ago. This is the perfect opportunity to test the pattern – if I don’t like it, I’m probably not going to wear a Maleficent skirt often, so it won’t matter if I don’t like it!

McCalls 7253 skirt pattern

Turns out, I love the pattern! And I love the skirt. The pleats are flattering and create the skirt fullness I love without making my hips look *huge*. I added some flame stitching, in homage to Maleficent (no dragon stitch on my machine, alas). Next time I will add pockets, since the pattern doesn’t call for them. Cause there is definitely going to be a next time for this pattern! Speaking of digging around in my stash – despite planning on wearing jeans with the tops I have made, I realized the weather might be too warm for jeans, and I might need shorts. Expect I don’t love the shorts I own. So I pulled out a knit skirt pattern that I have made multiple times for a friend but never for me, then discovered a big enough piece of navy blue knit fabric to squeeze out the pattern pieces. And voila! A new skirt that will actually be perfect for many, many casual occasions, even if I don’t wear it at Disney World.

I’ve also bought a few things for the trip that I probably could make on my own but didn’t want to work out with limited time. These clear vinyl zip bags are perfect for zipping (as it were) through the security lines on the way into the parks. I ordered one each from two different Etsy sellers, both of whom have fun options. But I really love the Mary Blair style of the one first one, and the calm parks scenes of the second one. I may be sorry I bought the smaller sizes; I have such a hard time packing light!

Clear vinyl pouch by Amy’s Small World/Etsy

Clear vinyl pouch by CYFCreations/Etsy

Another clever Disney trip thing I ordered from Etsy is this fun turquoise glitter Minnie Ear holder. The carabiner makes it easy to clip to any bag, purse, or belt loop, and the Mickey snap fastens easily around the headband’s bow. I should now, I tried all four of my ears on this! It also means I can take a smaller bag into the parks with me, since I won’t need to worry about fitting the ears into a bag when I opt not to wear them (they do squeeze my skull after a while!).

Minnie Ear Holder holding my silver Minnie ears on my #memade silver glitter purse

Going further down the Etsy-Disney rabbit hole, I found these *adorable* Hidden Mickey rose pins, and ordered a mystery pack. These will be so cute pinned to my tops or jackets!

Don’t worry, I will share my outfits with me in them after I get back (or you can follow along on my Instagram account)! Sewing projects never look the same on a hanger as they do on a body, so I do apologize for the lame photos.

MeMade Disney sewing – some subtle prints, some not-so-subtle prints!

Of course, once this trip is over, I need to start thinking about sewing for the next trip.! I’m all about the planning, haha! The Mechanic and I are going to Costa Rica with his family this spring, and although I don’t have much planned for that, I do have two garments that I want to make before we go. I’ll *try* not to over-plan that trip the way I clearly have this one though….

Really, I need to clear my table – literally and figuratively – to FINALLY make my reflective tweed jacket. That is a big project and I need to clear my head so I can really focus on that. I’m not good at slow sewing, but really want to do a good job on this.

Just because Cinderella’s mice friends made her a ballgown quickly doesn’t mean I need to make a tweed jacket quickly! Although if my fairy godmother would like to come along behind me to clean it up, that would be okay too : )

Cheese, Chocolate, and Champagne Goals for 2020

It’s a new year, and a new decade, and it seems like *everyone* has been busy posting goals and resolutions and predictions for both the year and the decade. But it seems to me like rather than “New Year, New You” resolutions, everyone really sees the new date on the calendar as the opportunity to return to their pre-holiday season selves. “Eat healthier!” – we were all doing that before Halloween. “Work out more!” – even the best intentions somehow fall aside during the last few weeks of the year. So rather than set resolutions, I’m simply going to return to where I was before the holidays.

But let’s be honest – it gets tiring after a while, the same ole, same ole. The Mechanic and I were discussing goal setting, and how really, there are BIG goals and little goals, and they should be categorized differently. He objected to my Bronze-Silver-Gold level goals idea, so I suggested Cheese-Chocolate-Champagne instead. This sounds much more fun, doesn’t it?!

The Cheese goals are the smaller ones, like “Doing 15 minutes of yoga four days in a row,” or “Biking to work RT once a week.” And yes, that means I earn cheese for achieving these goals. The Chocolate goals are a bit bigger, like “Biking to work four times a week (or RT twice – I’m splitting my bike commutes with the bus these days),” or “Blogging once a week.” Champagne goals are, as you might now guess, The Big Goals. I’ve included in this category “Not buying any fabric in a month” as well as “Not buying any clothing in a month.” Ad yes, I am creating a big ole giant spreadsheet to track all this.

Not buying any fabric in a month might seem a bit radical to you, especially knowing how much I love to sew. But I have such a long list of lingering projects that I want to finish, and need to finish, before starting anything else. The other reason for this goal is the fabric buying spreadsheet I started in June. I was curious to track when I was buying fabric, and from where, since I couldn’t keep it straight. Then I noticed that not only was I spending a ton of money on fabric (not even expensive fabric!), I wasn’t making the planned garments as fast as I was planning.

And really…. I don’t *need* any more clothing. Well, I always need pants. I can’t seem to find pants I like, #memade or store bought. But I have plenty of shirts and sweaters and skirts and things. So anything I make now is just for fun, “frosting,” if you will. Of course, this is why I sew, because it’s fun, but this past year, I was really trying to focus on things I need to have a more complete #memade wardrobe. I don’t think I’ll ever achieve a 100% #memade wardrobe but it is SUCH a satisfying feeling on the days it does happen.

That being said… I have several trips in the first half of 2020, which means sewing for them. Doesn’t everyone do vacation sewing?! First up – a girls’ trip to Disney World; then a trip to Costa Rica with my husband’s family; then a trip to Germany with my mom and aunt in August. Naturally I have sewing plans for each of them! A glitter vinyl crossbody bag, a Spaceship Earth-inspired tunic, and a Maleficent skirt for Disney World; a shirt and skirt for Costa Rica (from some of the fabric I bought in West Virginia); and most likely pants for Germany. I’m not making any plans for that trip for a while, though!

So circling back to my goals – finishing up these projects are definitely Champagne goals! Thank goodness for some long weekends in January and February to crank out some easy projects. Of course, there are many more goals on my list for this year, but I feel like setting them out this way, with things I enjoy as the rewards, will make it much more fun. Have you made goals, set resolutions, or ignored the whole “new year” thing?