This year, I decided to take the time to properly celebrate my favorite holiday, by spending an afternoon carving pumpkins and going to several costume parties with an actual costume for a change. I had an adorable new waistcoat I wanted to wear so I decided to be the rabbit in Alice in wonderland, with a set of velvet ears in a top hat, a bow tie, a pocket watch and even a little white tail.. it was very comfortable, and got lots of comments.
I thought that was it for the year and that I would be wearing it several times but then fate intervened. When discussing the next party with my friend, she said to me 'you have red hair, you shouldn't be a rabbit, you should be Jessica Rabbit!' My answer was that I would never be able to get a red dress shipped to me in time. Her response was 'Duh! You have a sewing machine!' at this point I was 2 days away from the party and had lots of stuff to do at work... There was no realistic way I would get it done in time. And then I happened to go by the fabric store. Big mistake. In the window there was this BEAUTIFUL cherry red cotton elasthan blend satin that has a wonderfully soft but thick feel to it and a slight stretch weft-wise. I didn't resist.
But that was a disaster as I had no pattern and no time to make a mock-up*. So I did some geometry. It was hard, confusing and I had to cheat on the lengths a couple times but finally some kind of shape came together. It is basically like a corset pattern but badly made by someone that hasn't really thought it out properly. When it came to making the bust part, I gave up on the ruler and just draped an approximate shape. This turned out surprisingly okay, I thought I was bad at draping. Also, I discovered that when you are too scared to accidentally cut too much fabric off, you end up making pieces that are slightly too large, but with this fabric and pleat configuration, that makes your cup size look bigger than it really is. Perfect for me trying to be Jessica. If I am able to reproduce this hack willingly some day, I am sure it could come in handy.
In terms of stability, I didn't even really try, I stitched it to a bra I had and swapped the straps for see-through ones.
I had a pair of long opera gloves from another project that I painted purple, added a pair of thigh high stockings and curled my hair, and was ready just in time for the party. Nobody needs to know that all the raw edges inside the dress are unfinished...
*I have to qualify here: it almost NEVER saves time to skip the mock-up at my level of sewing skill. What time you spend on it is saved at least twice in time you won't spend fixing your mistakes or starting over later. Even if you successfully get through your mockup-less project to the end without tearing all your hair out, you will find problems in it that you will suppose you would have seen in a mock-up, and they will bug the hell out of you. This project is a particular case where if I messed up and anything took longer than planned I would simply have to give up on the dress and don my waistcoat, ears and bow tie, and be a very late, but at least fully dressed, wonderland bunny. I would love to know if you have a different opinion. What is your experience in this matter? Let me know in the comments below.
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