This dress really isn’t that complicated, I have nobody and nothing to blame for how long this is taking except for myself. I have had these pictures sitting here waiting for this write up for a fair bit of time and I just haven’t been able to get around to it until now. Technically this project is in the ‘done’ stages because I only have two things left to do on this costume.
In my last post I said I wanted to be done this costume by September. Technically I succeeded in that because textile wise it is just all the extra bits that are holding me up.
So lets just get into it,
The first thing that I did was attaching the sleeves to the body of the dress. I pinned and sewed the bottom half of the sleeves on first and then carefully pleated the top to fit. Then I pleated the other sleeve on so that the pleats were identical. This took a fair bit of time, but was so worth it. Then of course I sewed them on.
And once I had the sleeves on I was uncontainable in my joy. I was beaming from ear to ear, unable to stop. I got my sister to take pictures of me in the dress and I took an obnoxious amount of said pictures.
The next step was to add the neckline. Now in the movie Odette’s top has a slight sweetheart neckline shape. I chose to forgo that shape because of how low the neckline was already laying on me. Since the dress is already seamed differently from the original dress the sweetheart neckline with princess seams would have been a little bit risque cleavage wise. I created some bias tape for the neckline and pinned it on securely.
The next thing I made was the sash for her dress, which I lost the pictures of. I sewed a long strip of green that got larger towards the bottom and tappered into a sharp angle. I then sewed that piece to a piece I had made that fit my waist. The waistband piece tapers into a V at the front. It closes with two snaps. Easy!
The last thing I had to do with the physical dress itself was hem it. Which was a bummer because I was super not looking forward to hemming two huge skirts. I was really sort of lazy with the lining hem. I just did a double folded hem as I went on my machine by eye. My bobbin wigged out on me and it was quite frustrating, the hem is slightly uneven. But since it is lining it doesn’t really matter.
So for the outer portion of the dress I ran into a tragic issue. My lining, even after being hemmed, was longer then my unhemmed outer fabric. Which left me confused and more then a little bit angry about the whole dress. But I sucked it up and figured it out. And the answer I came up with was bias tape.
I created strips of bias and pinned it to the whole bottom of the skirt while the dress was on my dress form inside out. The lining fabric was pinned up about the waist so it didn’t get in my way.
I ended up making way more bias tape then I needed, which is a bit frustrating since for most of the strips I didn’t have my iron with me I was finger pressing the bias. Which is rough on my fingers, let me tell you. And once that was pinned on and stitched down my dress was done. DONE I SAY!!
The sleeves actually look pretty ridiculous and slenderman-ish when not being worn.
This is a very long post guys, I hope you’re still sticking with me. I only have a little bit more to go. Now let us move on to the locket because the locket is a key part of this costume.
I couldn’t find a gold locket charm so I settled for buying a silver one and painting it.
I need to get a gold chain for the costume, right now I have the necklace on just a random silver chain I found in my drawer. I am going to maybe add a picture to the inside of the locket at a later date. Not 100% sure on that bit yet. So with the locket all finished up all I have to do is make the broach thing that goes onto the center of her sash and get the wig into a decent looking place.
Hopefully that will all be taken care of soon so I can work on other things. I want to start my Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker costume really soon, I have the pattern and the fabric for it. Just need the time.
Also please enjoy some pictures of a dress I made in like 3 days for the Ren Faire. I didn’t actually get to go to the faire but I really like my dress!
Alright, thank you so much for the patience and interest. Cheers!
And Now Sewing 