Hocus Pocus - Sanderson Sisters and Billy Butcherson

[keepcalmcostume]

I've been obsessed with Hocus Pocus since it first came out (25 years ago!) and I've always wanted to do the costumes. We did somewhat slapdash versions of Mary and Sarah Sanderson for Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at Disneyland a few years ago, and they served their purpose and actually went over pretty well considering the rushed effort, but I was underwhelmed with my attempt. I've been wanting to revisit/revamp/redo the project and do it properly ever since, but the timing was never quite right.
Until now.

We decided that it was time, and we're tentatively aiming to bring the witches back for Labyrinth Masquerade 2019 (can you imagine a better place?). Because we're committing to do things properly and with as much attention to detail as possible, but still on a budget as always, we're not locking ourselves into that deadline. We're just planning to work on them as steadily (and calmly!) as possible - if they're done by then, fantastic; if not, that's okay too and we'll finish whenever we finish.

During our first attempt, my friend was Mary and I defaulted to Sarah because another friend was going to be our Winifred. That fell through, but by then it was too late to change my own costume. I wasn't comfortable wearing Sarah for a lot of reasons, so rather than just make her again, I decided to go for Winifred like I wanted to in the first place. I'll be upgrading my friend's Mary as a backup, and just on principle at this point, but pending SFX makeup our plan A is to make her a Billy Butcherson. We were all set on just going as a duo again, but we had the great fortune to meet an Instagram costuming friend at Labyrinth this year. We broached our costume idea with her and asked if she wanted to be our Sarah, and we were so pleased that she said yes! So as it stands, we'll have all three sisters or Winifred-Billy-Sarah which also works great (we're already planning some girlfriend-boyfriend-other woman meme photos).

That's a big ol' text wall, so have some photos of the meager progress I've made so far.

Technically the first thing I started on was Winnie's spellbook. Here's a little teaser:


It's almost done, so I'll save all that for its own post.

In the meantime I also made Winifred's necklace, kind of on a whim. I'd done some searching to see if there was anything already available, and I couldn't find much readymade. I have a ton of random jewelry and craft supplies, so I got out some wire and beads and tools and sat down one day to see if I could make the thing myself. Turns out I could. No progress photos, because I kept improvising stuff until suddenly I had a finished necklace.


This was 100% a zero-cost stash-busting project. The wires for the circular pendant thing were a thin gauge from my ongoing King George III and a thicker gauge salvaged from an old notebook. The stone in the center of it was lifted from a pair of earrings I haven't worn in ages. The black beads are from an old jewelry-making bundle I bought probably 15 years ago, and they're strung with yet another King George wire. The little spirals were the same wire shaped around a paintbrush. The jump rings are also leftovers from King George. The small bit of chain in the back and the lobster clasps are extras from the Pirates of the Caribbean medallions I made a while ago. My friend sculpted the little scarab bead, and I painted it with some greens and yellows. The spirals were painted with a mix of red and brown (I might go over it with a glossy paint), and all the other wire was painted with gold. I love the result, and for being completely free and less than a day's work I love it even more.

I really like doing prop and jewelry work like this, especially as a break from the yards and yards of fabric I'm usually dealing with. I figure getting some small, cheap, easy costume pieces like this out of the way is also a smart way to go about things on a project like this.

I can't say when I'll be making more definitive progress. I've been steadily ordering swatches, but I'm saving that up until everything's in hand and decided on, so it might be a while. I was hoping to have the spellbook done by Halloween just for kicks, but progress on the last few steps has been slow. So no deadline, but I'll post on that soon. Otherwise right now it's a lot of research and construction planning.

Stay tuned!

 

[GirlyGothicGeek]

Beautiful! I love to see people focusing on smaller detail costume pieces/props like that, as they often get forgotten but can really bring the whole cosplay together.

 

[gothic]

nice details

 

[keepcalmcostume]

Beautiful! I love to see people focusing on smaller detail costume pieces/props like that, as they often get forgotten but can really bring the whole cosplay together.

Thanks! I love the small details too. I finally finished the spellbook a few months ago and I'm close to done with Winifred's earrings so I'll be posting photos soon.

nice details

Thanks!

 

[lululandia]

Oh gosh! The necklace looks great and I can't wait to how your group ends up. There is something so satisfying about having detail pieces completed.

 

[PlanetAlexander]

Ooh, exciting! My family loves that film and I can't wait to see the costumes and props you make.
I have to ask, though; what's that Disneyland 60th thing you're using in the spellbook?

 

[keepcalmcostume]

Oh gosh! The necklace looks great and I can't wait to how your group ends up. There is something so satisfying about having detail pieces completed.

Thanks so much! Finishing the little details really is oddly satisfying.

Ooh, exciting! My family loves that film and I can't wait to see the costumes and props you make.
I have to ask, though; what's that Disneyland 60th thing you're using in the spellbook?

Thanks! We all grew up on it so we really love it too. The Disneyland 60th thing is a box that looks like a book. It's hollow inside with a magnetic closure, which as a prop makes it handy for holding cards and phones and such. I'm getting ready to post the spellbook build, so I'll take some photos of the inside too.

 

[thegnome]

fantastic!

 

[keepcalmcostume]

fantastic!

Thanks!

Soooo it's been a minute since I worked on this. But the spellbook has been done for a long time, and getting close to Halloween has me thinking about it again and I realized I never updated anything. So here it is.

I did some minor mods to the book box itself (cut down and flattened the spine, which was originally very curved), then marked the placement for all the seam lines and attached pieces on the covers.

I found some old shoelaces that worked well enough for the raised seams, gluing those down and leaving a slight gap between them that the eventual paper coating can be tucked into.

But the hot glue soaked into the shoelaces more than I expected and I wasn't able to stitch through it anymore. So I pulled the shoelaces off, did a bunch of tests, and replaced it with strips of 2mm craft foam (cut at an angle to soften the edge and help blend it with the cover) glued down with Tacky Glue. No photos of that, but whatever. I was making steady progress at that point so I just kept rolling with it.

I also sculpted the snakes for the front and back covers, the three parts of the clasp, and the fingers for the spine, all from Premo Sculpey.

I initially planned to buy and modify toy snakes and fake fingers and sculpt as little as possible, but once I started playing with the stuff it was a lot easier and more fun than I expected, so I went ahead and did it all. The second set of snakes turned out a little rougher than the first, so those went on the back and the nicer first set went on the front. All the snake and clasp pieces were painted solid black, making sure to fill in all the lines and holes, then drybrushed with pewter, then drybrushed even lighter—just catching the edges and highest raised surfaces—with a brighter silver.

The fingers were glued to the spine with E6000, and I made the seams around the fingers and the ridges for the gathers at the snake's mouths with puffy paint. After all the base pieces were attached, I applied paper towels to the entire front/back with watered down Mod Podge, pushing it around a little to get some wrinkles and extra texture. I did a solid base coat of dark grey to mask the colors on the paper, then a solid coat of medium brown, then several different drybrushed layers of lighter browns and yellows.

After the eye was glued down (E6000 again), I made lids with more paper towels and Mod Podge and painted that to match the rest. In hindsight I should have just applied the eye first and then done all the paper towel and paint, but I had the time to set aside for doing the cover and didn't want to wait for the eye to arrive. I initially left off the eyelashes, but I have a lot of fake lashes and recently found one that's missing its pair, so I might cut that up for the eyelashes someday.

The stitching was the slowest and most time-consuming part, and the part I'd been actively avoiding, so that's what held up finishing. Dental floss ended up being a good match for the sinewy looking stitching on the book.

So I just went through doing random messy stitches. I kind of referenced the screen-used book, but mostly it was just getting the same overall look without replicating the exact placement. Once all the stitches were, I weathered them all a little with light brown paint.

The clasp pieces were glued to a metal hinge, and there's a set of magnets in the book cover and the underside of the front clasp (under the rhinestone), so the clasp actually functions.

Aside from stitches, the last big thing was just gluing all the snake and clasp pieces on, and that was that. I'd never made anything like this before so I'm really happy with how it turned out.

I actually finished it specifically for WonderCon last year. My friend and I went as Jay and Ice so I carried the book as a prop. It was handy to have to stash phones and business cards and stuff in and it was fun to carry around, even though weirdly some people thought it was the Necronomicon or the book from The Neverending Story.

I haven't had another chance to bust it out, so for now it has a place of honor on the shelf in front of my Hocus Pocus wall.

I'm currently in the process of researching and prepping version 2.0, which will be more screen accurate in size. Otherwise I'm just doing fabric research on the costumes but not super actively working on them. But I'll try to keep posting all that as I work on it (hopefully before another year+ goes by).

 

[PlanetAlexander]

The book turned out amazing! And I love those Jay and Ice cosplays too

 

[keepcalmcostume]

The book turned out amazing! And I love those Jay and Ice cosplays too

Thanks! I'm still really pleased with it even after all this time. Jay and Ice are so much fun to wear. We did a photoshoot a few years ago so I might dig those photos out and post some.

 

[keepcalmcostume]

This project is definitely not really in progress right now but I've been dabbling with swatches again. I spent last summer and fall finishing a LOT of fabric research and I've got a good list going of materials for each costume.

Winifred:
The coat:

I still had a swatch of kelly green velvet for the coat from when I dabbled with these costumes years ago, and I still love this fabric so much.

I've swatched some other velvets and looked at a few in stores and nothing has beat this, so it's definitely a winner.

Mint green chiffon and olive sheer voile for the coat sleeve trim.

I've been back and forth on these constantly. I like the drape of the chiffon better, but I think it's a little too vibrant and opaque. The voile is a bit stiff and just looks and feels a little more polyester plastic-y, but I think the more subtle color and sheerness are a better screen match. Then again, the chiffon seems closer to some of the display photos. Then again, washing and handling seems to help with some of the voile's stiffness. This might take some actual yardage to see how it drapes and moves.

Poly lining in sage green, pistachio, and dark sage for the coat lining.

In person, the sage is lighter and more seafoam-y, so there's actually more of a contrast between them. But I'm leaning towards pistachio or dark sage. The pistachio compliments the velvet okay and is a nice light color that should take purple dye well, while the dark sage blends in with the velvet and will be a more subtle contrast (which I think I prefer). I still need to do some dye tests with purple to see how the finished result would look.

The dress:

Kelly green peachskin and kelly green challis for the body of the dress.

These were pretty close, but the peachskin is just a little better in terms of color (a little more yellow-green) and weight (a little heavier). It also barely wrinkles, while the challis wrinkles really easily, and I'm all for low-maintenance costumes.

Purple crinkle poly, purple crushed charmeuese satin, and plum crushed charmeuese satin for the center panel of the dress.

The crinkle is pretty much perfect. It has a very faint sheen, which I think will help it move well without being too shiny, and the texture and color are a dream: perfect little uniform crinkles, and a really nice rich purple that ranges from nearly perfect to just a little warm depending on the dress photo. The plum crushed charmeuse isn't quite vibrant enough, but the purple has a really nice color, and even having more sheen it seems to still match the dress pretty well. This might just come down to preference of wrinkles.

Off white cotton crochet lace for the dress sleeve trim.

I actually found this for Billy's shirt first, and then realized that Winnie's lace was really similar (just purple instead). So I decided to double up and just get more of the same stuff and dye it purple. As a rule I generally hate dyeing things, but lately I've been using Dye-Na-Flow more and more, and it takes a lot of hassle out of the process. This project has a lot of unavoidable dyeing anyway, so what's a little more? And having Billy and Winnie wear the same lace is kind of fun on a meta level.

For the undersleeves, I'll be buying purple cheesecloth and weaving it through with yarn for the lines.

Because of how I think the dress needs to be constructed, the green will probably be lined in front, and for that I'll use the same green poly I choose for the coat lining.

The petticoat:

I was going to use a crushed charmeuse satin in red or burgundy, but then I started thinking about the actual construction of the petticoat and how to make it more multi-purpose to use with other costumes. So I decided to make it like an 18th century petticoat to wear it for historical stuff too, and I'll end up just using the same cotton-poly broadcloth I've made my other petticoats out of.

Red venise lace for the petticoat trim.

Speaks for itself. BEAUTIFUL. Looking for the trim is actually what made me think about reusing the petticoat with other historical costumes, because I just want to show this off all the time.

The bloomers:

Red diamond cut-out lace for the bloomers.

I'm so, so happy to have found this, because it's a very close match for a very particular fabric. The bloomers might never show so it doesn't really matter what they look like (I could even go so far as to skip them), but just knowing how accurate they are will be gratifying.

Red knit ITY jersey, red matte milliskin, red shiny milliskin, and red cotton jersey for the bloomers lining.

I came really close to just getting the usual poly lining, because it's cheap and works great. But with the outer diamond fabric being stretchy, I can cut the bloomers slimmer around the waist and hip to reduce bulkiness under the dress but still be comfy and able to move around. This only works if the lining stretches too, of course, so I decided to try a stretch knit. I tried an interlock but something about the texture gave me the heebie-jeebies. But the ITY jersey is pretty nice: soft and fairly smooth, good stretch and color. The milliskins and cotton jersey are still pending the arrival of swatches, but I have high hopes for them.

Red venise lace fringe for the bloomers trim.

Like the petticoat lace, this is kind of self-explanatory. Beautiful stuff, and has just the right look. If I have leftovers from the petticoat I might add some of that to the bloomers too, for the hypothetical extra row of lace at the top of the fringe. (I also have leftover venise lace from Lucille Sharpe's nightgown that would work for the extra row on the bloomers after a quick dye job.)

I was originally planning to do black suede boot covers for the shoes, and I still might, but first I'm going to try to permanently modify a pair of boots. If that doesn't work, I know a place that has great faux suede.

 

[keepcalmcostume]

Billy:
Billy's stuff is so distressed and decayed, that on the one hand I have a little more wiggle room than usual with the fabric choices because it won't look the same after so I don't have to worry about matching so much; but on the other hand, it'll help to choose fabrics that are already textured to make the distressing process easier and add some visual interest. Color is also tricky, because the coat and breeches are weathered differently, and all of Billy's scenes take place at night and aren't well-lit.

The coat:

Brown cotton gauze and various cheesecloth for the coat.

The gauze is fairly lightweight, so if I go that route I might have to play with interfacing (depending on how the gauze layers with lining). The cheesecloth adds great texture, but I'm worried it'll hide so much of the gauze I'd be better off using a plain cheaper fabric as the base. Which would be fine, but I do like the gauze for the option of tearing holes in the cheesecloth so texture still shows through from underneath. I really admire Cosmicsaur's amazing Billy coat, so I might do a similar technique and apply small strips of shredded fabric for the tattered bits, rather than having a whole solid ratty layer. In that case, the gauze will look nice for an overall distressed look that more rotten spots can be created on top of. I'm also thinking about cutting the coat pieces so the slightly pleated texture of the gauze runs horizontally to help match some of the texture seen on screen.

Brown crushed charmeuese satin and brown crinkle polyester for the coat lining.

The lining was a bit of a challenge, because I need something that can facilitate movement with the shirt and waistcoat (not let the coat cling to the other layers) but it can't look too crisp/modern/pristine. So these fabrics are a lifesaver. The crushed satin has a more random and distressed crushed pattern which looks like natural weathering, and the wrong side of the fabric is matte enough to be a little more subtle (and again, look more dusty/old and less shiny/fresh). The crinkle poly has a more uniform and subtle pattern, and the fabric is more matte. The lining looks green-ish in the movie, but I'm hesitant to stray from the brown-grey-black palette and neither of these fabrics come in an appropriate dark green. So that'll take some consideration.

The breeches:

Brown cotton gauze again (?).
The coat and breeches look like they're different fabrics, but it's hard to tell with the heavier distressing on the coat versus the fairly intact breeches (and again, the low lighting throughout Billy's scenes). My current theory is to use the same fabric as though they were a matching suit, and then let the layering/weathering on the coat distinguish them a bit.

Based on the texture in that behind-the-scenes photo, I'm also thinking about maybe some twills or tweeds for the coat and breeches.

??? for the waistcoat.

It's been incredibly hard to find a fabric that's affordable, non-stretch, black and gold/silver, and striped in the right width. This might come down to making my own. Luckily plain black fabric can be had just about anywhere for cheap enough (I might even have enough in the stash) and I already have tons of gold/silver paint. (The waistcoat stripes look gold-ish to me, if anything. But the buttons are all silver and the metallic trim looks silver too, so I might just do silver or at least grey stripes to make it all match—which is what makes sense both historically and for the character color palettes in the movie.)

The shirt:

Ivory cotton gauze for the shirt.

Basic cotton gauze is basic, but it's just about a perfect texture match, so that's a blessing.

Off white cotton crochet lace for the sleeve trim.

Again, it's the same stuff that I'll use on Winifred's dress sleeves. I'm scared and excited to shred it.

Mary:
Mary is kind of a unique part of this project in that the costume is more or less technically done. For version 1.0 I did manage to finish her whole outfit, if not to the standard I wanted, so for version 2.0 I could keep everything and just do upgrades. But there are distinct things I want to change, so more likely I'll be repurposing just some bits and pieces and completely remaking others.

The vest:

I used burlap for the old vest, and it looked okay but was stiff and hell to work with. I didn't want to deal with that again, so I got a sort of twill fabric that's a lot easier to handle and more pliable. The cape on the back of the vest was leftover red voile from Mary's skirt, and I'll probably do the same thing again (or likewise use leftovers from whatever I remake the red skirt out of).

The shirt:

I've continually struck out finding the right kind of orange checked/striped fabric for the shirt, so last time I got dark saffron voile and planned to stitch on the stripes.

I ran out of time to do the stitching, but I liked the fabric. So that's still a viable option for the remake, but this time around I'm looking for striped fabric again and I've found a few contenders with a white checked cotton in red and orange.

It'll have to be dyed of course, but again with this being a dye-heavy project I'm not too worried about this piece. Also being cotton, it'll be an easy process no matter what I use. The different stripe colors give me some options, and I'll do dye tests on both because I don't want the orange stripe to disappear into an orange base or the red stripe to be too bright/contrasted. The simplicity and scale of the stripe pattern seems pretty spot on, too.

The apron:

I'm happy-ish with the fabric I have, and I don't know I'll ever find something affordable that's better.

So for now the plan is to disassemble the pieces, weather and slightly customize everything, and then reassemble them more or less the same way (with a few little technical upgrades). But I'm also getting some crazy ideas about knitting the apron with specialty yarn. So we'll see what happens.

The skirt:

The skirt was the most properly finished piece so it more than anything else could be reused, but it could use some tweaks too. I'm also thinking about taking a different approach to the construction, so I might just sell the finished skirt to fund materials for a completely new one. Whether I use the finished skirt pieces or buy more yardage, I'll stick with the same plaid I already have unless I find something better by chance.

I skipped the houndstooth layer last time, mostly because I couldn't find a woven fabric in a large enough pattern. Last year while thrifting I found a scarf that's the perfect fabric, and there's just enough to make a short fake layer that'll be attached to the underside of the plaid along the hem.

I also want to replace the red under-layer, because the voile likes to stick to the plaid so the whole thing doesn't drape or move right. As an alternative, I'm looking at red crinkle poly and red peachskin.

Either of these are silky enough they should move well under the plaid, so it'll just come down to color and texture.

The bloomers:

I didn't do bloomers before, mostly to save time and money, but I want to add them now for the same reason I'm doing Winnie's bloomers: because I can, and because accuracy is cool. I haven't found any definitive photos yet, but the fabric is probably plain white like the trim, so I'll just use something from the stash. For lace, I'll probably get something suitable from the shops I'm getting the other laces from. These are a few good options.

Sarah:
Isn't my responsibility anymore. For the full Sanderson Sisters trio a friend of ours will be doing Sarah, so while I have some theories and might chime in with ideas from time to time, I'm not doing full-blown research and not constructing anything. Bless.

I'm sure I'll be back and forth on these right up until I order the fabric and start sewing, but for now I'm pretty happy with having things this organized.