DIY Red Queen Costume

UPDATE: The poster used at the Tea Party set is for sale. The dimensions are 20 feet tall and 25 feet wide. It comes in 5 ft strips. Pictured above. Listed at $1000 plus shipping. Please email questions and interest to norwaymeg@gmail.com

I used the Simplicity 2589 pattern, and modified it in the waist by making the bodice dip down to a deep "u" in the front. Online reviews said that the pattern was too short in the waist, so I also added 2 inches to the bodice as well. I also omitted the rings of fabric around the waist, and modified the sleeves to be short, puff sleeves, although I used the pattern for the black lace sleeves that I attached under the puff sleeves. The underskirt to my wedding dress worked well to fill out the skirts. You can tell that I'm wearing it in the 2nd picture, and not in the first. I wore my costume alone to our company Halloween party, but made a bigger hit when Dan also dressed up as the Mad Hatter! People stopped us at houses and in the street to take pictures!

The decoration on the front was done before the boning was inserted. I simply sewed straight lines of a decorative stitch over both the black crushed velvet and the gold material. It gave a puffy, 3-dimensional effect to the front.

The company party shown above. We won a 5K prize for best decorated area to theme. We used our winnings to play paint ball as a group and go out to dinner.

 With Google and the right tools, you really can do ANYTHING.