Category: Costuming

My Tormund Costume

4 Comments

The biggest, heaviest, greatest costume I have crafted so far!

This costume is now available in my Etsy shop: The Baytree Spectacle (update: on request, please leave a comment in my About page or here if you want to buy it)! For this one I am sadly not going to write a tutorial, because the making of cost me one (awesome) year. But it turned out so lovely, so robust and so awesome: that I have to share it with you! This is my homage to the Tormund costume. Questions of course are always appreciated and always answered <3. The first few pictures will show you the end result, and after that are some process pictures! Enjoy this new wildling costume.

foto met logo4

comparisonwordperss

Comparison!

Continue reading →

Cersei on a Budget – Black Coronation Gown tutorial

6 Comments

Beware of Game of Thrones season 6 spoilers!

Oh my! I am Back Again! This time looking back on a two-day-dressmaking project from quite some months ago. This is very exciting! I really wanted to try and make Cersei’s latest dress from the finale of season six Game of Thrones. ‘Cause damn, we’ve never seen a garment like that before! Today we are going to have a look at Cersei’s black coronation dress from Game of Thrones and how to make it.. On a budget.

The piece of garment itself is a thin black leather, with holes that hint a sort of harness like texture below that layer of leather. I think the entire garment is a reflection of her as a queen, she has lost everything, and so she puts on the armour and chains. The entire look is raw and masculine – I love it. Even for a dress to be worn by Cersei ;). And the crown is just amazing as well. It completes the harness and chain look while playing it subtle but strong. Black and iron – that is the colour palette of this costume. Continue reading →

Quick & Easy Ren Faire costumes – Last Minute Quality Edition

4 Comments

Back with the costumes! This time a quick and easy go on the complicated look of Ren Faire costumes. Either way, you could also use these costume hacks for conventions, cosplays and even Halloween if you want to give your look a renaissance and fantasy flick. The looks are Scottish inspired, fairy inspired and strider / archer / badass / cloak inspired. And of course: super easy and quick to beat that last minute stress! Because.. We have all been there before ;).

takingarrowsYou might have noticed I’ve been away for a bit. With pain I have had to let go of my post-every-month resolution because of busy life outside and inside Baytree world. But now we are back with a very fresh post! Also, I do really want to thank Costume Yeti for featuring my Ygritte post on their site and giving it some love <3. I also want to thank the Guardian for featuring my Outlander tutorials. And I want to thank a certain customer for whom I am designing a custom costume (aha!). You are so lovely. Oh and: welcome to baytreecostumes.com!! So much excitement and new stuffs.

But now: This post highlights the problem of a lifetime. A cosplay / costumer lifetime of course ;). What do you wear when you are going to a ren(aissance) fair last minute? I’ll teach you how to make a Legolas or elf inspired costume, a strider or Aragorn inspired costume, an Elf or mage or witch inspired costume, a fairy inspired costume and how to go Scot with as little materials and time as possible! Excited yet? 😉

Fast forward to:

  1. Scot: Great Kilt / Arisaid
  2. Ren Fairey
  3. Badass cloak style (archer, elf, mage)

Continue reading →

This Month’s favs: Grantchester & Kaleo

1 Comment

A different post today! Or not? 😉

I’ve been loving a few new things this month..

One of those things is the beautiful band Kaleo:

And yes I call them beautiful because I have no other word to describe all their talent in one word. Their taste in music, genre diversity, instruments, depth of their songs, depth of their lyrics – and … they are ICELANDIC. A new land obsession? 😉 And by the way, JJ’s voice is só diverse. He can sing high – higher than me ;p – super low, soft and / or rough. I LOVE IT. Play this video definitely until the guitar solo hits.

Another thing is the TV Show Granchester. I loved Continue reading →

The Musketeers – An Introduction

2 Comments

From Game of Thrones, to Outlander.. and now I’m delving into another super-interesting era and world. The world of the Musketeers! And not just the BBC Musketeers or the book or the movies, but the real Musketeers. Ok, ok: and of course the BBC series ;). Who are we kidding.

I’ve got a problem making this new project. Do you want to see a full-on Musketeer tutorial? Than perhaps you can help me. Scroll down to the end of this article or click here. Thank you ❤

Be aware of some BBC Musketeer spoilers!

Costumes

What do the BBC Musketeers look like again..? Watch this:

Continue reading →

Simplicity Outlander Patterns are out!

2 Comments

Lets start May blogposts right off the bat!

I was looking around on the internet for Outlander inspired costumes, and just like a lot of my ideas I landed onto a blogpost of a seamstress; the American Duchess. And I saw that she, together with Simplicity, recently made Outlander patterns for cosplayers. OMG and they look amazing. And the reference pieces she used, the sketches she made.. *drool*

I wouldn’t dare to display her amazing drawings on my blogpost, so go check that article of her out here: http://americanduchess.blogspot.com/2016/04/introducing-new-simplicity-outlander.html.

5/20/2017 Update: For some reason the link and video are not working? So here is the link to the simplicity pattern itself: http://www.simplicity.com/simplicity-pattern-8161-misses-18th-century-costumes/8161.html

I thought that my followers might be very much interested in this, as much as myself! So go watch this video and get inspired:

Outlander Simplicity pattern hack series by American Duchess. Support her, she seems awesome. It just makes me so happy seeing all these creations come to life because of Outlander. The power of people!

Have a great day! ❤

TV Shows on my list

Leave a comment

The Walking Dead, Outlander, Game of Thrones! All TV show pearls I have been following for the last few weeks. The Walking Dead has ended its 6th season, Outlander has just begun its 2nd season, and Game of Thrones is at the very start of the most entisipated season 6!

Beware: this article contains spoilers for all three TV shows! If you are not up to date with any of these, please click away now. Thank you 🙂

You guys know I am a fan of Outlander (obviously!) and Game of Thrones.

Ygritte Left Side  Arisaid 2 Back Collage Wool

Obviously…
Click on one of the photos for a tutorial on Ygritte, Jon or Claire / Jamie 

And if you have been following my Pinterest you might also know I love The Walking Dead. Although, love is of course a strong word considering the violence and gore of the show. But excuse me for saying: damn this season! The story was more violent than ever, which made it even more explosive. A lot of people I have talked to about The Walking Dead say that they have stopped watching at some point along one of the previous seasons (or even after a few episodes) because they thought the story stayed the same the entire time. Which is true. That is why I didn’t like last season.

But even though it’s always zombies *excuse me: walkers*, disease or the eternal kidnapping, the story still leaves me extremely curious about every next episode. The story has this core of extremeness – of survival, which feels sort of reassuring to watch because humans are seemingly capable of keeping themselves standing in such a situation. And yes, I do sigh whenever somebody gets kidnapped by other people AGAIN or when they announce another group of bad people or another villain.. But I must say they kind of laughed at their own loop this season, I mean: the way Daryl was able to exterminate that group of ‘saviours’ in episode 9.

An amazing out of action shot with the walkers and two of my favourite characters ❤
Courtesy of AMC

Continue reading →

Podcast #1

2 Comments

Hello everybody!!

I’ve uploaded the first Ava Session to my Youtube channel Ava Baytree – and I’m so excited to be adding this new dimensional layer to this ever growing universe.

Even though it has mistakes, tongue twists, and highly irritating voice clicks sometimes, it is very much a portrait of human kind and moreover of the autodidact. And because of that I am very proud to present an almost true rendition of a live talk; what the session is, in its core, about.

It has talking, a little anekdote, philosophy and singing and guitar playing! Start listening wherever, whenever you want and in as many parts as you prefer. Enjoy:

 

A Happy One Year Anniversary

Leave a comment

Our Baytree universe has grown! It has reached its one year anniversary, of which the rapidness is truly surprising.. Time has flown!

To sum up this amazing – insightful – creative – inspiring and heartwarming year:

  • Finished 5 costume pieces
  • Posted 22 posts, keeping a minimum of 1 post per month
  • 7,932 total views from 3,543 visitors from more than 54 different countries (I am mesmerised every day by seeing countries visiting my blog from places all over the world and from some small countries I didn’t even know existed)
  • October 28th was the most booming stat day with 253 views, a day which I still very much remember 🙂
  • I have received 68 likes overall on this blog from awesome people and 9 – all memorable and heartwarming – comments, where there are even more over on Pinterest

Continue reading →

Make fur | Tutorial: Make Jon Snow’s costume fur under €25

6 Comments

I am literally so excited to share this tutorial with you – since this is a struggle so “easily” solved! I loved the process a lot, it doesn’t take a lot of time, doesn’t hurt any animals, doesn’t cost too much money and the result is just amazing.

Let’s celebrate easter with a new tutorial!
Make your own Jon Snow fur, viking fur, a rug or even a fashionable shawl within one day.

Jon Snow’s imposing coat and characteristic fur hide – Courtesy of HBO

On the internet, a few things became very clear about Jon Snow costumes and cosplays. Most of the time, the costumes are absolutely amazing and beautifully tailored, – You can hear it coming – But.. A lot of people tend to get stuck on the fur-part. Mostly because real fur is too expensive or because the fake fur is not realistic and big, fluffy and imposing enough. I made my Jon Snow costume alongside my Ygritte costume which tutorial you can find here, which is some time ago now. As you can see from the title, this is not going to be a full Jon Snow tutorial – yet. Ygritte’s costume was a big project, but oh boy, Jon Snow’s was even bigger! It is a very “mathematical” and precise project, and even though my work is half done, it is still not near as close as I want it to be. Alongside that is the fact that season 6 is already on the doorstep (april!) and from photos, we can see that Jon’s costumes will dramatically change next season. I’ll have to see whether the hype around Jon’s older costume is going to change, because if it does, I might not finish the costume..

Collage Wool

But – why the tutorial on the fur? You can’t possibly make your own “real fur” now can you? …Can you? Continue reading →