Last word on the Mermaid!

Unfortunately, we were not able to get a good picture of the princess in her costume, also her mother and I aren't sure how we feel about putting pix of the kids online. I did get a photo of the top with the crushed foil ribbon straps ... the ribbon is silver-colored with gold ribs and gold edging. I got it at Cliff's Variety Store in the Castro (San Francisco) years ago. Don't know why the bodice fabric is so dark blue--it's actually the lavender color shown in the previous photos.

 I used some of the scraps to create a Mermaid Barbie* from a junk doll (she came with the choker and frizzy hair) The sequin mer-body and ruffled organza tail fin are the same as the child's costume, the bodice is another piece of fancy wired ribbon. The costume is sewn on. The background is composed of some of the other fabrics I gathered together and some plastic fern for seaweed. 

 *Barbie doll is a registered trademark of Mattel.

Happy Halloween! Mermaid costume, part deux

I actually got the costume finished and delivered on Wednesday, but between working on that and getting ready for Halloween and having a cold, I am late posting. The top was completed with a kind of fancy metallic wired ribbon--I don't know what it's called. I didn't get a picture yet, but the princess herself is coming over later, so I will try to get a good pic. I wasn't quite sure how to get the effect I wanted in the skirt/fishtail, so I cheated and found a used copy of the Ariel* costume on Ebay. I did use the front of that pattern to draft the back of the skirt, but I wanted a low point in the front and I wanted it to be all one piece with only one seam up the back. I found a heavy-ish piece of peach-colored cotton damask in the stash and made a muslin from that. Got a quick fitting and used it to cut out the spangly stuff (officially called "dot confetti" I believe). Basted spangly stuff to the damask which is now the underlining.

 Notice my fancy new hip ruler! "Fairgate fashion form by Stamp, Inc." If you plan on drafting or even altering patterns, get one--it helps grade one curve into another. This is part of my problem with the craze for quilting: Jo-ann's had a zillion quilting rulers, templates, cutting mats, etc. but when I asked for a hip rule or curved rule, the manager said "Oh, we don't carry those anymore!" I had to order it online from a place in L.A. (check Amazon) I have a set of small French curves, but wanted something bigger. Buy one!

Notice interfacing added to hip area: trying to get it to look more like a fish body and less like a little girl in a skimpy skirt! The skirt is at least half the fullness of the Ariel* pattern, which IMHO is too poufy. I finished the skirt by making a simple elastic waistband, and gathering a doubled piece of the aqua sparkly organza into a big ruffle and the blue-green tissue lame into the under ruffle.

                                                    Front of skirt

                                                    Back of skirt with "fin"
More pictures later!

*Disney Princess, Ariel, etc. are registered trademarks.

Mermaid costume

When the princess mentioned that she'd like to be a mermaid for Halloween, I remembered I had 1 yd. of that spangly stretchy stuff in the stash and volunteered to make one. Online, I found some pictures for inspiration and some rather pricey RTW costumes e.g. $35-80. A trip to Jo-ann's yielded a plethora of fantasy fabrics, things I don't normally work with, so a little bit of a stretch there.  I did not find any nice patterns so drafted my own: the bodice was based on a too-small sundress I extended to a point in front and rounded in the back. The main fabric is a tissue lame (LAH-mey) with a sheer glittery organza over it, both cut on the bias. I used regular cotton muslin as an underlining to give stability.

 Back of bodice with muslin underlining

Front of bodice with half-underlining for stability and comfort.

 The lining for the bodice is a small piece (about a fat 1/4) of a stable silk blend in just the right color! It will feel nice next to the skin, too.

Finished bodice, still needs straps. That's the "fish tail" fabric pinned below it. Next: complete the tail and find straps for the top.

Halloween dress

I was going to start off my brand new blog with something grand, philosophy of surface design, color theory, the love of silk. But since I've actually finished a small project, maybe I'll start with that. My 4-yr old niece's birthday is in October, so I made her a dress from some Alexander Henry fabric, featuring vintage illustrations of children in Halloween costumes. The fabric is "trick or treat", available everywhere apparently, and a nice weight. The plan was to use some black eyelet for the hem ruffle, but I messed it up and just clean finished the hem. Gave her the dress at her party, took it back, and redid the hem and ruffle properly.

As she's a very active little girl, but likes dresses, I made her some orange pantaloons from a remnant and trimmed them with scraps of cotton lace.

Next project is the Mermaid costume she requested (she's already approved the fabrics!)