Sunday 16 March 2014

Stardust Dress

Every year for my birthday party I have a theme, and to my friends dismay we all have to dress up according to that theme. This years theme was heroes and villains and I went as Evaine from StardustIt was a really really big rush to get it finished in time, so much so that I was finishing the sleeves while 2 friends were making the sandwiches downstairs! This is why the hem isn't finished. I'm really not happy with how the dress looks though because it's just too short! Another 3 inches and it would be perfect! (And sorry about the lack of shoes- I didn't have any that matched and I doubted that a star that has just fallen out of the sky had time to put shoes on anyway)

However it is just amazing to twirl in... (all six metres of it) ((and thanks very much to all of my friends who contributed towards the fabric as part of my birthday present!!!))
and again...
Anyway, the pattern I used was style 2370 with altered sleeves.
Here are the inspiration pics I found on pinterest which you can find on my costumes board:
I was lucky enough to find the costume designers sketch which was really useful as I could see that I needed to add neckbands and sleevebands to the pattern as well as completely alter the sleeves.
“Yvaine” costume sketch from Stardust, costume designer Sammy Sheldon    From The Stardust Visual Companion

Stardust
And here's my version of this pic (bearing in mind that I didn't have a crater to pose in)
hmm maybe not.
The sleeves I messed up, a lot, quite a few times as I failed to realise that if I just drew lines straight out from the sleeve cap it wouldn't work because of the way it drapes. The way to do it properly is to make the sleeves extra long, put on mannequin and then slant them on the mannequin so they drape properly. Luckily I had enough fabric to do it again. The back is also all messed up for reasons that I shall explain in a minute.
Right, now to explain the mystery of the messed up back of the dress. One of my party surprises was a pinata which are really tricky little buggers to pin down. Like really tricky. We must of been outside for a good half hour, my poor friends shivering in the freezing 9pm January English weather. And, well, long story short my dress split from all my exertions in the back side seam rendering it indecent to wear for the rest of the night. That night I learnt a very important thing. This is why lumberjacks don't wear satin! Anyway, here are some pinata pics for your amusement!
And yes, to fit in with the theme they made it a superheroe pinata...
DIE PEDRO DIE!!!

Oh and I forgot to show you the speech that was the prelude to my surprise:
"DD (my nickname) we have got you a little something extra
its only for this very special occasion
his name is Pedro
we handpicked him ourselves
he is already paid for
we have protection for you
but be careful he is very hard
he is yours to do whatever you want with 
and has a sweet ass
he is waiting for you outside
Enjoy!"
As you can imagine I was quite apprehensive as I was led outside but it was great fun. Here is all of us on the night. Amongst us we had a Merida from Brave, Sherlock, Watson, Moriaty and Irene Adler from Sherlock the TV series and 2 other people that I can't remember who they were (oops)

 I think that's all I've got to say about this dress!
Thanks very much for reading this epic saga, turns out I had quite a lot to say. If anyone has any suggestions for next years party theme I'm all ears.