I wanted to my costume this year to be a little more funky and creative. I like Björk's confident and unique style, her song "It's Oh So Quiet", and Jonny Pierce's (from the band The Drums) inspiration from her album "Homogenic" (which he calls his favorite album of all time). Inspired by Björk's performance on Kerid Crater, which I visited earlier this year in Iceland, I decided this Halloween was the perfect opportunity to channel her spirit. For my costume, I made the swan dress she wore to the Oscars in 2001. I think her dress may have been inspired by the picture of Leonardo DiCaprio holding a (live) swan in 1997.
I had a white silk dress with ruffles on the skirt that I had never worn, which I thought could work as the dress body, but the ruffles weren't dramatic enough, and the dress was too nice to alter by attaching tulle. So, I made my own ruffly tutu out of elastic and tulle. Starting out with a strip of white elastic a little wider than my waist, I sewed the ends together to make a loop. I bought 10 yards of white matte tulle, which I cut into strips to loop around the elastic. It took awhile to piece together, but I could see my progress as the skirt bulked up. Since my tutu is white and has lots of long, loose pieces, I felt more comfortable wearing a white lace slip underneath for some modest protection. The same white lace skirt I wore under the shift dress for my Mrs. White costume worked perfectly under the tutu, keeping it from looking too sheer without taking away from the look of the skirt.
To make the swan, I used scraps of black fleece, some orange felt, and remnants of a soft white fabric. I lined up some black scraps of fleece to make a swan eye shape to match Björk's dress. I cut two identical orange beak shapes and sewed the edges together, except for the end that connects to the head, and attached the black eyes to the beak. After measuring the white fabric by draping it around my neck, I cut a wide long strip with one rounded end (for the head), and folded it in half and sewed its sides together. I sewed the eyes and beak in place, making small adjustments to fit properly, and stuffed the beak with white polyfil stuffing. I also filled the head and neck of the swan, filling the head more densely to keep it round, and the neck more loosely so it would fit comfortably around my neck without being too bulky. I added a few layers of tulle, ruffled down the neck, to blend into the skirt. A safety pin connects the neck to the rest of the skirt and to the lace slip.
Björk is wearing a nude mesh bodysuit and tights underneath her dress, and I had several ideas for what I could do:
-wear an old rhythmic leotard, which has nude mesh sleeves (but is too delicate to wear outside, and might fit too small)
-buy a nude long sleeve shirt (but then never wear it again, and doesn't give me a chance to be creative and make something!)
-wear a light brown long-sleeve shirt (what I wore)
-make my own leotard! (for a look more similar to Bjork, but decided I didn't have time to make a leotard. to be continued in a future post!):
I happened to already have white sandal heels (wedges) that look really similar to the ones Björk is wearing. The last time I wore them was for my high school graduation! I'm glad I had the opportunity to wear them again and make better use of them, and that they worked so well for the costume.
Have a spooky and fun Halloween!
<3 Mandy
For my Halloween costume every year, I love being able to craft something myself instead of buying a pre-made costume. One of my friends gave me the idea of being a gumball machine, and I thought it would be cute and fun to make!
She told me she had seen the costume online, and that someone had glued pom poms all over a shirt and wore a red skirt with it. Another friend suggested I glue actual gumballs to a dress. I found that pom poms are more difficult the get ahold of than anticipated - I tried several stores with no luck. Online, I found that they were expensive, would not come in the mail in time, and did not come in packs large enough or in the right colors. I decided to use some leftover felt I had from other craft projects - I had several colors to use, and figured it'd be a lot easier to glue or sew onto my costume anyway.
This is how I made it:
I bought a red dress,
traced circles onto different felt colors (pink, yellow, gold, pale lavender, purple, dark green, and dark blue) to cut out,
and sewed the circles onto my dress.
Using black and silver duct tape, I made a quarter slot and place for the gumball to come out of.
I also made a pair of fun dangly earrings using red pipe cleaners - I rolled one into a ball for each gumball, and attached a ball to a head pin, and attached the dangle to an earring.
The whole costume was only $5! I found the dress on sale, and already had the other materials (tape, needle and thread, and leftover felt).
Have a safe and spooky Halloween!
<3 Mandy
For Halloween this year, my housemates and I decided to dress up as characters from the boardgame "Clue" one night. I thought it'd be fun to be Mrs. White, the maid, as I had an idea of how I wanted to make my own costume. Seeing as how I love lace, I was excited about the idea of crocheting and sewing lace onto an elegant black dress.
To make this costume, I took on making the following pieces:
-black dress
-lace collar
-lace apron
-lace headpiece
I bought a size XXL plain black T-shirt, which fit baggily enough on me to wear as a dress, and restyled it so it would fit more elegantly. I cuffed the sleeves to make them fit more regularly on my body, so they'd be less long and droopy. I sewed on a lace collar I crocheted (shown below), and also crocheted a leaf motif chain for each cuff. To prevent curling when worn or after washing, I secured all of the lace in place with lots of tiny stitches.
Though the shirt is pretty long, it's not quite long enough to wear alone as a dress. I plan to wear a white lace skirt or slip underneath to add some length and to have some pretty lace peeking out of the bottom.
The quaint collar I made a couple of years ago wasn't quite right for this project, so I wanted to make another one using lace. Referencing this video, I crocheted a white lace collar that more appropriately fit a maid costume.
My mom helped my dad to shorten his pant legs one time, and I decided the leftover cuff of one leg was the perfect size for an apron. I sewed around the edges to make them neat so they wouldn't fray, and I sewed a length of lace around the edges, ruffling it slightly. I left the top part open so it could act as a small pocket (perfectly sized to fit my phone and keys and other small accessories) while being worn. With the other pant leg, I unraveled the stitches and cut it into two thin strips, which I sewed on to act as strings to tie the apron around my waist.
Using a scrap of dark green velvet cloth and some lengths of black yarn, I crocheted little black flowers to top a barrette. I made 5 flowers in total: the center one adorned with little silver seed beads, the 2 surrounding it with white thread crocheted in, and the outer 2 plain black. I cut little velvet leaves and also wrapped my barrette with the green velvet. As a finishing touch, I added a bit of spotted white mesh tulle to make the barrette more maid-like.
Worn with a pair of black knee-high socks and a pair of black shoes (either all-black Vans for a more casual and comfortable look, or heels for a fancier occasion), and a white lace skirt worn under the dress, my Mrs. White costume is complete! The dress I made can also be worn, not as a costume, but as a lovely shift dress.
Happy Halloween!
<3 Mandy
