Halloween 2010 - Part 2 Tinkerbell
As I mentioned in my previous Halloween 2010 post, Lucy chose to be Tinkerbell. I was not thrilled with this decision, since I knew she would want to replicate Disney's Tinkerbell as closely as possible. (I do realize that this sounds silly since I did closely replicate Peter's Anakin Skywalker costume. I just have a bit of a love-hate relationship with Disney's portrayal of female characters. So I'm inconsistent - who isn't?) I thought Alice was such a much more interesting costume choice for a five year old. (Actually, I thought she should go as Coco Chanel, as I would have loved to make that costume, but Lucy doesn't know who Chanel is - and neither do any of her friends.)*
Earlier in the spring I purchased a few patterns from Simplicity when they were having a sale, including 2716 , a Daisy Kingdom dress with a layered handkerchief skirt. I never got around to making the dress this summer, but it came immediately to mind when Lucy decided on Tinkerbell. At the fabric store I picked out a lime green poly satin with a bit of a pebbly texture, a similar-coloured poly crystal organza (much shinier than pictured below), and a light green netting that had gold glitter glued on.
I made a quick muslin of the bodice. I wanted to remove the drawstring and casing going on in the shoulder seam and that involved narrowing the straps. I planned to use nude mesh for the bodice with the "strapless" top essentially appliqued on. So I also sketched the line of the strapless top onto the muslin and traced a pattern piece from that drawing.
This plan worked pretty well except for finishing the neckline. The pattern calls for lining the entire bodice (which I did - every little bit of extra warmth helps), and I was going along thinking that I could just stitch the necklines together and then feed it through the shoulder "tunnels to turn it around when it hit me... There is no opening at center front or back! Eeek! I decided to finish the neck edge with a bias strip of the crystal organza. I told Lucy it would look like a matching necklace. I don't think she was really convinced but she went along with it.
There you see a fine example of my nearly-famous Thousand Pin Technique for attaching anything slippery or doing anything tricky. Below is a close up of the finished neckline and shoulder seam. The neckline isn't as crisp as I would have liked because polyester crystal organza doesn't like to be pressed, thankyouverymuch.
The rest of the garment went together well except for the skirt. It was too long and not pointy enough. One of these days I am going to stop buying patterns that only have artist's renditions of the garment on a person. It is just not accurate. Photos only from now on! Anyway, luck was with me a bit because I had not yet hemmed the skirt pieces (satin underskirt, crystal organza overlay, and glittered net overlay). So I made a few marks with pins while Lucy tried the dress on and then whacked at it with my pinking shears. I AM SUCH A CHEATER!! (But wait, it gets worse...)
I purchased the wings at a local "dollar" store, but they had to be altered as they were too wide for Lucy's back and had these annoying little elastic arm straps. I shortened the width of the backing material pretty easily (fold in half, sew off a chunk, trim, press). We tried tightening the straps, but they bothered Lucy, so I ended up sticking ADHESIVE VELCRO to the wings AND TO THE DRESS!! Can you believe it? I stuck something very sticky to a garment that I lovingly made and altered/redesigned! But I just was not going to hand sew large snaps on to those wings through the thick, stiff back material and around the wires that give the wings shape. And you know what? She loved it!
She did discover that her mother was correct in saying that a Tinkerbell costume was not appropriate for the weather here in Vancouver on Halloween night. She wore a couple of shirts under the dress as well as tights and another skirt (she refused leggings) and she got very cold. On the way home from trick-or-treating we spoke about how for next year she should choose a warmer costume. She has decided - temporarily of course - that next year she wants to be Sleeping Beauty because she wears a long sleeved gown and a cape. (That's my girl, way to plan another use of that cape pattern!)
Stick around for a shorter post about Clara's elephant costume!
*Actually, it would amuse me greatly if I could get my whole family to dress up as famous designers. Three women and two men. Peter could go as Karl Lagerfeld. Lucy could be Chanel. Clara could be Betsy Johnson (that last link opens up a little video in the sidebar, sorry). What about David and me? Ideas?
Earlier in the spring I purchased a few patterns from Simplicity when they were having a sale, including 2716 , a Daisy Kingdom dress with a layered handkerchief skirt. I never got around to making the dress this summer, but it came immediately to mind when Lucy decided on Tinkerbell. At the fabric store I picked out a lime green poly satin with a bit of a pebbly texture, a similar-coloured poly crystal organza (much shinier than pictured below), and a light green netting that had gold glitter glued on.
I made a quick muslin of the bodice. I wanted to remove the drawstring and casing going on in the shoulder seam and that involved narrowing the straps. I planned to use nude mesh for the bodice with the "strapless" top essentially appliqued on. So I also sketched the line of the strapless top onto the muslin and traced a pattern piece from that drawing.
This plan worked pretty well except for finishing the neckline. The pattern calls for lining the entire bodice (which I did - every little bit of extra warmth helps), and I was going along thinking that I could just stitch the necklines together and then feed it through the shoulder "tunnels to turn it around when it hit me... There is no opening at center front or back! Eeek! I decided to finish the neck edge with a bias strip of the crystal organza. I told Lucy it would look like a matching necklace. I don't think she was really convinced but she went along with it.
There you see a fine example of my nearly-famous Thousand Pin Technique for attaching anything slippery or doing anything tricky. Below is a close up of the finished neckline and shoulder seam. The neckline isn't as crisp as I would have liked because polyester crystal organza doesn't like to be pressed, thankyouverymuch.
The rest of the garment went together well except for the skirt. It was too long and not pointy enough. One of these days I am going to stop buying patterns that only have artist's renditions of the garment on a person. It is just not accurate. Photos only from now on! Anyway, luck was with me a bit because I had not yet hemmed the skirt pieces (satin underskirt, crystal organza overlay, and glittered net overlay). So I made a few marks with pins while Lucy tried the dress on and then whacked at it with my pinking shears. I AM SUCH A CHEATER!! (But wait, it gets worse...)
I purchased the wings at a local "dollar" store, but they had to be altered as they were too wide for Lucy's back and had these annoying little elastic arm straps. I shortened the width of the backing material pretty easily (fold in half, sew off a chunk, trim, press). We tried tightening the straps, but they bothered Lucy, so I ended up sticking ADHESIVE VELCRO to the wings AND TO THE DRESS!! Can you believe it? I stuck something very sticky to a garment that I lovingly made and altered/redesigned! But I just was not going to hand sew large snaps on to those wings through the thick, stiff back material and around the wires that give the wings shape. And you know what? She loved it!
She did discover that her mother was correct in saying that a Tinkerbell costume was not appropriate for the weather here in Vancouver on Halloween night. She wore a couple of shirts under the dress as well as tights and another skirt (she refused leggings) and she got very cold. On the way home from trick-or-treating we spoke about how for next year she should choose a warmer costume. She has decided - temporarily of course - that next year she wants to be Sleeping Beauty because she wears a long sleeved gown and a cape. (That's my girl, way to plan another use of that cape pattern!)
Stick around for a shorter post about Clara's elephant costume!
*Actually, it would amuse me greatly if I could get my whole family to dress up as famous designers. Three women and two men. Peter could go as Karl Lagerfeld. Lucy could be Chanel. Clara could be Betsy Johnson (that last link opens up a little video in the sidebar, sorry). What about David and me? Ideas?
Comments
Brilliant!!!
- robin
I'd have to get a wig to be Wintour, though. I promised myself years ago that never again would I cut bangs into my hair. And every time I break that promise I am deeply sorry for many months.