Greetings everyone! My apologies for this late post. It has been a busy few days and I have been away from my computer. I am finally getting to my computer to get things done here!! Today after seeing pictures of myself, I realized I am not the happiest in the way I look and I think I have let myself go some. So today I was at the salon getting brand new spanking blonde highlights which took forever since I let my hair grow too much. Combined with fabulous wine tasting event, shopping, today has been a great day.
Unfortunately I just found out online that I did not make the next round at Refashion Runway. I would like to take the time to personally thank all of my blog followers, friends, and family for supporting me through this journey. I will admit I am ready to not be on such a big timeline and now go in my own direction. It truly has been fun. I did say also that in my time off I was super productive and actually sewed an additional 14 garments unrelated to the challenges. It was nice to catch up and also finally heal this horrible cold of mine! I am doing really good and barely have a cough. It feels good to feel like a normal human being.
I did complete the next challenge, which was Halloween. I had actually planned this costume about 1.5 years ago when I found this dress for $0.99 one Sunday and snagged it up. I knew I wanted to make a costume out of this dress but what exactly I didn't know. I had thought it could go many ways.
I then found this lace top from Talbot's that I liked that I wanted to add to the costume. It was really nicely sewn however there was a lot of princess seams. I realized this after I purchased it. I also realized that it buttons down the back.
So what I made was actually 2 costumes: one that was Rennaissance Faire inspired and the other one was Marie Antoinette. Here is what I did.
First I cut away lace to cover my bodice between the 2 princess seams. I used green thread to baste the 2 fabrics together to make my life easier to sew.
I actually had leftover gold trim from an old bellydance costume I had that I had pulled it off of (which btw on a side note I only started to sew b/c I was a bellydancer. I started to sew costumes first then transitioned to fashion clothing, b/c you know wearing bellydance clothing to work is just not cohesive being a scientist). I also cut off the bottom of the dress which I don't have a picture of.
I began to attach it to the dress bodice. I made sure I curved it with the dress. Then cut off excess. Sew down with gold trim- this was the only time I sewed the trim with my machine everything else after this was done by hand.
Next I detached the skirt from the bodice and cut it in half. I only went to the side seams. Then gathered each detached piece and then reattached to the bodice.
I curved the skirt using a bowl. I hand sewn the hem since I wanted to have it not look tortured. I then also added trim by hand to the skirt.
One of the good things I noticed was at the bottom of the dress was the lining had a netting connected to it and decided to use this as my underskirt.
I needed to make a portion of the skirt to peek out from the blue satin and I wanted it to be lace and match the bodice. I did not have enough to salvage from the rest of the blouse so I decided to use the sleeves. I needed to combine them together for it to be long enough.
I connected to mid skit to the bodice.
Now to also connect the underskirt. I gather stitched it and then connected to elastic. And then skilly attached it at the waistline.
Now I also needed sleeves so I cut the leftover fabric from the bottom of the dress and made sleeves. I will say in my initial feel I wanted them to bell more so I added in a gusset down the seam. I created an elastic casing at the top of the sleeves. Then at the elbow area of the sleeves. I added another elastic to gather. Now I have a poof above the bell of the sleeves.I also added trim to the bottom of the sleeves. Of course by hand- this is one of the reasons why this took so long.
I opted to not fit the bodice to Present tense Lauren. Only because I would like to have this costume for the future. I would like to wear it whatever size I am and also I wouldn't mind if others could borrow it too. So instead to fit it I added elastic to the back top portion of the dress.
The elastic wasn't enough and I did not want to mess with my costume while at a party. So I opted to make straps. I had some leftover grosgrain ribbon that I used to used in my bellydancer costumer days so I cut some grosgrain. I sewed one side and left a lot on the opposite side. Foldover. Seal with some simple iron on fusible web. Then add trim. And attach to the bodice. I crisscrossed in the back so I did not have to worry about having my skirt slip off my shoulder while wearing it. Which is something else I learned from making bellydance costumes.
Now if I wear it as is the costume has a Renn Faire sort of feel.
However, I wanted options with my costume so I opted to sew some bows with the little bit of satin I had leftover. Simply cut a rectangle. Sew to lining. Turn right-side-out. Close seam. Sew gathering stick down center. With a quick few tacks, the bows were attached to a bodice. Added a fluffy petticoat underneath. Attached to add some white out shadow. Gray hairspray and a lot of teasing my hair. Pearls. And now I have something else I can go as to a Halloween Party. Marie Antoinette.
Sorry for all the photos. I spent a LOT of time spraying my hair and teasing it. Then spraying it witth the white hair spray. Which by the way smells so strong. Made my apartment stink! The peacock feathers I had on hand (because yes I have a stash of peacock feathers- don't ask). Here is the close up.
Love it! Unfortunately b/c of some scheduling conflicts we are actually not going to any parties this year so this costume will be in my closet. And hence why all the pictures. I got to enjoy my costume for a bit. And best part is I can wear it 2 ways so I can have future options. Got to love multi-functional costumes.
Cheers!! :)
Lauren
