I was undecided whether to post this project, because Andy constantly made fun of me for wanting to dress up for Halloween. Andy is not a big fan of Halloween, or any holidays at all in fact. But we had a party to go to on Halloween weekend, and I needed something to wear. I forgot how I ended up with a fairy, and am a bit embarrassed by it since I’m almost 30, wanting to dress up as a…fairy.
Anyway, at first I wanted to make a Tinkerbell costume, but as I made progress with sewing, it did not look like a Tinkerbell costume. First of all the fabric was wrong. I was too cheap to buy one of those shiny costumy fabric, so I ended up using a home dec fabric..the same one that I used to make for our bedroom curtains. By the way, this fabric is just a terrible synthetic, and when I ironed it smelt terrible. You know, I don’t know about you but I just assumed that I can whip out a costume in a few hours because I can sew women’s clothes. It was disappointing to realize it was not the case, and sewing a costume is a totally different story. My costume kind of turned out to be the same as the rest of my dresses, and lacked drama. It reminded me of one season of the Project Runway…I forgot his name, but he was a costume designer before he was on Project Runway, and although he might have been a great costume designer, he wasn’t a good woman’s clothes designer at all because everything he made was just so dramatic.
So I was irritated that this did not turn out like I imagined, and on top of it Andy gave me his honest opinion as always and reminded me that it looks like “just one of your dresses”.
Well, I shouldn’t have been so surprised to hear his comment because I did use one of my dress patterns (same as this). I added the “leaves” to skirt part, and inserted a wire so that it creates some movement. The fairy wings were made based on this tutorial, using two wire clothes hangers, pantie hose, and spray paint.
As opposed to my costume, Kiko’s costume turned out well! Because I used a costume pattern! I’ll post about it soon. Did you dress up for Halloween? Do you feel as silly as me for dressing up as an adult?
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Claire. says
Oh ! I love your costume ! You look like a ghost fairy or something like that 🙂
I agree with you : making costumes is totally different of making every day clothing. A costume has to ”say” something about a character while clothes has to be more pratical and wearable…
Chie says
I agree! It’s hard to have that mindset, when I am so used to making something wearable. Thankfully, party was at night, and in dim light, so people could not really see the curtain fabric I used!
Ingrida says
This dress is amazing!!!! I would wear this dress not only fo Halloween… 🙂
Chie says
Oh thanks Ingrida:)
Dalila says
I like your costume! It’s very funky – the shapes the wire creates are cool! But it’s also not garish and is kind of refined while being fun.
Did you try washing your fabric? Sometimes the chemically smell comes out once it’s dried outside in the sun (if you have that option?).
Thanks for sharing your fun dress!
Chie says
Hi Dalila, yea the wires worked out well! I inserted in the seam allowances, pretty easy:)
Ginger says
Ooh, this is so pretty! I love the leaves! I like Halloween, but I rarely dress up because I’m a total procrastinator and never get a costume finished in time. 🙂
Chie says
Hey Sonja, I was like that too! But this year I was going out with friends and I didnt want to be the only one without a costume:p
theperfectnose says
Love it. You should totally go nuts with fabric paints to make it more ‘magic’ XD I’ve bought a bunch of glass vials with aerosol spray tops just for that sort of thing..
Chie says
I know! Next time I make a costume, I have to plan it better to make it dramatic! By the way, when I went out with this costume, I put a lot of make up on to add more drama, and Andy hated it..
Ai says
i like your costume though.