Halloween Costume

This year I decided to make a new Halloween costume.  I have about 3 costumes that I can rotate every year, but now I have 4!  I decided to make this pattern that I bought last year (the purple dress).

As you can see from the picture, I had to modify it a little so it would have sleeves and be a little higher cut.  So I decided to change most of the bodice pattern.  I started by making a muslin bodice based on the original pattern.  Making a muslin is a cheap way to make sure something fits.  It takes longer but it can be worth it in the end if your fabric was expensive.  I also needed to make a sleeve pattern since there wasn't one.

Here is the pattern mess before beginning.  There were a lot of pattern pieces, but no sleeve!

Here is my finished muslin with sleeves attached.  I had to improvise a little but I was pretty happy with how it turned out.  

After finishing the muslin I was still unsure about cutting the real fabric so I ended up making a brown dress (boring!) with the same pattern.  In fact, the dress is so boring that I didn't take a picture of it.  It turned out great so I was ready to cut my expensive fabric.   

At this point, we moved to a new apartment so I tossed everything into a box and hoped I could find it and start it again after the move.  Turns out I did a pretty good job organizing because it was almost the first project I found when unpacking and everything was together too.

Here is the fabric laid out on the floor so I can cut it out.  My water bottle stands sentinel.  

Cutting out the purple chiffon.  Sometimes I used the pattern pieces and sometimes I used the blue pieces.  

 
So the process for this dress was to have the blue on the bottom and the purple chiffon on top.  To do this, I had to sew and pin and hope that the slippery fabrics stayed together.  It was actually fairly easy and turned out well.  You can see that they didn't match perfectly.  It didn't matter in the end. 

Here is the finished bodice with the blue trim.  I cut the neck a little wider because the neckline on the brown dress was a little tight. 

Here is the bodice with skirt attached.  The stuff under the bodice is elastic and I knew that it would be covered so I was not deterred by it's frumpy look.  It also turned out to be too big which was mildly disappointing since I had fitted the elastic before completing it.   

I finished the skirt that goes under the dress.  It's blue on top because it wouldn't be visible and it makes the dress look smoother on the outer layer.  

Here is the full effect of the costume with a mock tie at the bust line (it was just a large scrap of fabric).  At this point I despaired of finishing because the only thing left was the hemline, which promised to be very complicated and/or tedious.   

Here is the hemline I came up with.  I wanted it to look like Peter Pan or Tinkerbell sleeves.  I cut the sleeves, dress hem, and skirt hem with my pinking shears.  I cut the blue fabric and the chiffon separately.  It took me a few movies to finish everything and my pinking shears a little stiffer than they used to be.   

Here is the mess of cutting the hem and all the leftover fabric.  Ugh.  There are still stray threads and frays wandering around my house.  BUT!  It turned out perfect!

Halloween day my husband did a photo shoot for me.  Here is the costume.

Addendum: You may be wondering what I am wearing in my hair.  About three days before Halloween I had a vision of a crown that I could make out of the leftover fabric.  My vision was unsolidified until I went online and looked at different headbands and braided crowns.  I made a knot and braided my fabric in a friendship bracelet way.  

I tied a knot at the other end and stared at it for awhile, trying to figure out how this could possibly work.  The knots were so big and I couldn't just tie it around my head.  To me that would be lame.  

So I whipped out my quilting foot (to go through all the layers) and sewed the ends shut and cut off the knot.  Then I followed the Chinese finger trap as my guide.  

Finished crown.  This was so easy to make!  

I decided to add a train of fabric from my scraps which was equally easy (well I did have to sew it on by hand).  I was so pleased with how the crown came out since it was just a foggy idea before I began.

I wore my costume to work at the library and I got plenty of compliments which made me feel good inside.  Hopefully this costume can last through the coming years since I only get to wear it once a year.