The Skirts:
When making this costume you have to first decide which season to go with. The second season costume is a lot more layer, hence it looks better and is more complicated. The first part that highlights this is the skirt layers. The best way to describe this is as a gypsy/pirate type skirt combination. The bottom petticoat was made out of a synthetic chiffon/organza with some lining fabric used at the top. I followed this pattern that is available online
http://www.burdastyle.com/projects/the-50s-petticoat
This is quite a lot of fabric but instead of turning the seams to the inside I turned the petticoat so it would be on the outside. I also left the bottom edge unfinished.
After I was finished with this I dyed it red but washed out most of the colour so that I ended up with a dark pink. The colours throughout this project were difficult to match as the pictures are quite dark but the costume is actually quite bright. The bright red comes off as a dark burgundy in some reference pictures. Remember that you must get hte appropriate dye for the type of fabric that you are using.
The next layer up was a little bit more of an issue finding the fabric. I was looking for a crushed/ruffled silk in red. I ended up finding the correct fabric online labeled Crushed Taffeta Red (doesn't seem to be available anymore).
https://www.fabric.com/buy/0342378/crushed-taffeta-red
Folloing McCALL's M7097 Pattern D
https://mccallpattern.mccall.com/m7097
I ended up with the middle skirt.
At this point I was quite happy with the progress and now I only needed the outer skirt/wrap. This red/burgundy with a large crucifix style brocade/silk just couldn't be found. I ended up finding a substitute with this fabric "BROCADE FABRIC RED & BLACK COLOR 44" on ebay.
This was made into a simple skirt with an slit down one side and elastic at the top. I knew this would work because the corset would hide the top edge additionally my wife was 4 months pregnant for Halloween so comfort was the primary concern.
[/h]