Bizarro Lois
Sr Member
For the Pittsburgh Comicon this year, I dressed as the Queen of Hearts. Alice in Wonderland is one of my favorite Disney films and I decided that the Queen was a great fit for my body type, plus a fabulous character design. This is the most complicated thing I've ever sewed. It is the first dress I ever made, and I enjoyed the challenge. If you'd like to see a few progress pics, here is the original build thread: http://www.therpf.com/f24/queen-hearts-costume-disney-animated-version-194570/
Some reference art:
This took me about two months to complete, and probably around $250 to make, although I do have some leftover fabric and some of the materials were things I already had around the house.
The first part I started on was the pair of bloomers, with red hearts. I started searching for acceptable fabric as soon as I decided to do this costume, shortly before Valentines' Day. But no luck - I never found any plain white fabric with plain red hearts of any kind. I ended up cutting out the pieces for the bloomers, then using Stitch Witchery to iron on the hearts I cut out of red broadcloth. The bond doesn't last forever, so I might end up stitching them on more securely someday. Even though they're a detail only briefly seen in the movie, I wanted them to be awesome, so I even picked out lace trim with hearts on it.
As I started the black and yellow under skirt, I found some yellow material in my craft room from another project, plenty for what I needed. I grabbed some of the same fabric in black. Then I noticed that on one side, the yellow stripes were a different shade. I thought about skipping that detail, but it bugged me. I came across another piece I already had in a suitable shade, so BONUS!
I considered making the red/black bodice and outer skirt in something more satiny, but I hate working with slippery fabric. Plus, it tends to be very warm on convention floors. Someone recommended Kona cotton to me, and the red was gorgeous, which made up my mind right then and there.
I did want to make my dress a little flashy, so I started looking for fun white trim to use on the bottom. I was thinking of marabou until I found this faux fur. It has a swirly texture, which reminded me of roses.
The collar is several layers of white muslin and interfacing. It just velcros on, to make it easier to fit my head through the neck. The crown is made of two layers of craft foam, although I originally planned to cut a 1 liter soda bottle and cover it with fabric that matched the yellow in my dress. The fabric just didn't really work, and I didn't want to paint the bottle, because I was afraid pinning the crown in my hair would botch the paint up. So craft foam was lightweight, flexible, and I didn't have to worry about the color being damaged. The day before I wore it, I realized that I hadn't made earrings, so I cut some more craft foam, stuck an earring post through it, and glued a smaller piece on top. The hoop skirt was borrowed from my sister-in-law's reenacting supplies. I've never thought of myself as a girly-girl, but I will admit to loving the hoop!
The only thing that didn't work out as planned was the flamingo croquet mallet. I bought a lawn flamingo, expanding foam, dowling, and paint to make it, but ran out of time. The biggest problem was, since I had never made any kind of dress before, I had never gathered anything as full as a gown. I've always done it by hand, not realizing that my machine has a stitch that works for that. My mom helped me with it, and we ended up pinning one fourth of the skirts(over and under together) in place to the bodice, gathering that section and stitching it before moving on the next fourth. With that taking way longer than I expected and still having to attach the fur trim, I chose to make sure I was happy with the actual dress and worry about accessories the next time around. I did have an old purse with the Cheshire Cat on it, plus a stuffed toy one to carry with me, so it worked out anyway.
I plan to wear this costume several times, because I had a fun time with it and I got some great reactions. I don't mean to brag, but I think I got the details as correct as I possibly could. I've had other costumes that I really liked, but I think this is the one I'm most proud of to date.
And now...the pics!
And a short video too
IMG_0580 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Some reference art:
This took me about two months to complete, and probably around $250 to make, although I do have some leftover fabric and some of the materials were things I already had around the house.
The first part I started on was the pair of bloomers, with red hearts. I started searching for acceptable fabric as soon as I decided to do this costume, shortly before Valentines' Day. But no luck - I never found any plain white fabric with plain red hearts of any kind. I ended up cutting out the pieces for the bloomers, then using Stitch Witchery to iron on the hearts I cut out of red broadcloth. The bond doesn't last forever, so I might end up stitching them on more securely someday. Even though they're a detail only briefly seen in the movie, I wanted them to be awesome, so I even picked out lace trim with hearts on it.
As I started the black and yellow under skirt, I found some yellow material in my craft room from another project, plenty for what I needed. I grabbed some of the same fabric in black. Then I noticed that on one side, the yellow stripes were a different shade. I thought about skipping that detail, but it bugged me. I came across another piece I already had in a suitable shade, so BONUS!
I considered making the red/black bodice and outer skirt in something more satiny, but I hate working with slippery fabric. Plus, it tends to be very warm on convention floors. Someone recommended Kona cotton to me, and the red was gorgeous, which made up my mind right then and there.
I did want to make my dress a little flashy, so I started looking for fun white trim to use on the bottom. I was thinking of marabou until I found this faux fur. It has a swirly texture, which reminded me of roses.
The collar is several layers of white muslin and interfacing. It just velcros on, to make it easier to fit my head through the neck. The crown is made of two layers of craft foam, although I originally planned to cut a 1 liter soda bottle and cover it with fabric that matched the yellow in my dress. The fabric just didn't really work, and I didn't want to paint the bottle, because I was afraid pinning the crown in my hair would botch the paint up. So craft foam was lightweight, flexible, and I didn't have to worry about the color being damaged. The day before I wore it, I realized that I hadn't made earrings, so I cut some more craft foam, stuck an earring post through it, and glued a smaller piece on top. The hoop skirt was borrowed from my sister-in-law's reenacting supplies. I've never thought of myself as a girly-girl, but I will admit to loving the hoop!
The only thing that didn't work out as planned was the flamingo croquet mallet. I bought a lawn flamingo, expanding foam, dowling, and paint to make it, but ran out of time. The biggest problem was, since I had never made any kind of dress before, I had never gathered anything as full as a gown. I've always done it by hand, not realizing that my machine has a stitch that works for that. My mom helped me with it, and we ended up pinning one fourth of the skirts(over and under together) in place to the bodice, gathering that section and stitching it before moving on the next fourth. With that taking way longer than I expected and still having to attach the fur trim, I chose to make sure I was happy with the actual dress and worry about accessories the next time around. I did have an old purse with the Cheshire Cat on it, plus a stuffed toy one to carry with me, so it worked out anyway.
I plan to wear this costume several times, because I had a fun time with it and I got some great reactions. I don't mean to brag, but I think I got the details as correct as I possibly could. I've had other costumes that I really liked, but I think this is the one I'm most proud of to date.
And now...the pics!
And a short video too
IMG_0580 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
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