elizabeth_mn

We had a blast this Halloween. The weather was freezing (literally) but we all had enough warm underlayers on, thank goodness. Ok, well, when we started out around 6:00 it was about 42, but as soon as it got dark the temp just plummeted. But F only complained about being cold when we were already on our way home, and even then, only in her left toes.

Okay, pictures. First here is Dorothy in Kansas.



( Lots of photos! )

So far, so good.



I don't know why I was so afraid of doing this part. Either I dreaded the tedium of cutting all the stars, or I feared the synthetics would melt under the iron. Or maybe I just didn't want to be faced with the reality not being as good as the vision. Whatever, this process was much easier than I feared and I am liking the result.

The stars really do hide. I can only see a dozen but I know there must be at least 50 so far.

I really love doing progress posts but I should probably stay off the computer for the next 4 days and just sew!

Left to do:

More stars on skirt
Attach skirt to bodice
Zipper
Neckline trim
Sleeves
Crown

The wand. Hot-glued, painted, and stuck a bunch of jewels on, at 9:30 at night after work with no plan.





I honestly can't tell if it looks like I did this while drunk and wearing mittens, but I'm gonna go with it. I wouldn't have done all the colors but that's what she has in the movie.

And with the dress so far.



And here is some of the pile of bling, old and new. At first I was just collecting and had no idea what I would put where.



I experimented to combine some of these pieces for the central bodice decoration. I think this gives the right shape. I'll sew them to a foundation before attaching to the dress.

This morning I wanted to prioritize my sewing, so for once I told The Girl it was just too bad for her and headed to my sewing room directly after breakfast. Finished these up.



Yes, I am in my jammies. Please don't judge.



They are scaled up with no modifications from Corsets & Crinolines (once again, thank you cheap projector). Several years ago I made some very small side hoops based on the same pattern, but reduced in scale. That was a time in my costuming life before I realized that More Is More, and I was worried about making anything too big. For these ones I went full-size with no worries.

I took a tip from the J.P. Ryan pattern and sewed weights into the bottom piece. I do remember my last set of hoops riding up quite a bit, so hopefully this will prevent that.



And with an old petticoat (clearly not cut to go over the hoops!).



Clearly not as huge and awesome as the full hoopskirt, but much easier to manage on crowded streets. I am annoyed with myself for wasting all that time on the big hoop, but at least now I am back on track. This afternoon I plan to make the petticoat to go over these.

Ok, so here's how it went down.

The Girl, out of nowhere last April says "Mom, for Halloween, I want to be Dorothy. Can you make me a Dorothy costume?" and I say "Of course I will," but I didn't expect the next request: "Mom, if I am Dorothy, then Daddy has to be the Tin Man and you can be Glinda!"

At first I said, aw gee, I think that might be a little too complicated for me to make just for Halloween, but the thing that convinced me was the hoops. Glinda's skirt has a very 18th century silhouette, flat front and back and wide sides. "I could make hoops," thought I, "that I could then use for all kinds of awesome 18th century things!"



So I decided to do it. I did talk her into letting her dad be the Scarecrow instead of the Tin Man, because I really doubted he would wear a Tin Man costume, and anyway I didn't want to make one.

So, I have the pink shimmery organza (probably not enough but we'll see). I need to figure out how to do the silver stars. I probably will not make them as dense as the original, but I need to do some. The crown I will probably buy. The wand I can make. She is also wearing quite a bit of bling, so it will be fun sourcing that. All in all, this will be the most involved Halloween costume I have ever done.

And it might end up coming along to Costume College with me, though that was not in my head at all when I decided to make it. I thought the hoops would probably come with me, but we'll see how this turns out.

The most suprising thing is that she has stuck with this idea for months, and still wants to do it! I was so sure she would forget or change her mind.