Halloween Costume: Make your own mask

In an earlier post,  suggested I was going to go as a mermaid for Halloween this year. I've since changed my mind! In my free time (I have a lot while recovering from knee surgery), Ive been watching a lot of TV shows... Downton Abbey, Drop Dead Diva, and the best Game of Thrones!

Image from Martha Stewart

I also have lots of time to surf the web. I got the idea to go as a raven from my new favorite show, Game of Thrones, and my favorite crafting guru, Martha Stewart. Here's a great page on her website to give you some ideas for your own costume: 

http://www.marthastewart.com/275248/homemade-halloween-costumes-for-adults/@center/276965/halloween

I know, I'm cheating as this costume's instructions don't include sewing, but in my variation, I promise I'll do some sewing!

I have had this mask for more than a decade and never worn it. I've kept it mostly for its sentimental value... I bought it at the gift shop of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in England. For my raven costume, I thought to repurpose it by painting it black and replacing the feathers with black ones. After all, it has a great, dramatic beak! 

I started by peeling off the glued on pink feathers and sequins. Instead of painting the bright yellow beak, I decided to glue on faux leather in black. I then reapplied feathers in black and added some leaf cut-outs around the eyes that I made with the same material and stencils I found online. The only adhesive I used was hot glue. I'm thinking of adding a 3rd eye, like the raven that keeps reappearing in Bran's dream in the show but haven't gotten there yet.

The rest of my costume will be simple. I'll post pictures of it soon! Here's what I'll need which I happen to have laying around: 

Black shirt and skirt

Tall black boots

black feather boa 

black gloves- or you could go the long-nail route

sheer black fabric for wings

How to Buy (and Sew) Curtains for Less

When my husband and I moved into our house, we were short on money for redororating due to all the money we'd spent on the down payment and closing costs. So, when it came to redecorating, I had a tight budget. Each room got a gallon of paint, some framed art we had from our old apartment, and curtains. But when it came to buying curtains, I had to get creative as they can get real expensive real fast!

I went hunting all over town for cheap curtains from Pier 1 to Bed Bath and Beyond. At BB&B, I was lucky to come across some 84" drapery panels in this shiny gold color. Their clearance price was $10 each, what a steal! So I took them home and cut each panel into 2 lengths, 1 shorter length for the window curtains above and 1 longer length for the closet below. After cutting to the right lengths, all I needed to do was hem 1 end and sew a pocket hem in the other end big enough for the curtain rod to fit through.

















Above are photos of the closet curtains both open and closed.  Coming from someone who hates bifold doors, these curtains were a more elegant option and just as effective at concealing a cluttered closet. And using the same fabric and the same curtain rods on both the window and the closet really pulled the room together.

Dressing up a Plain Dress

Like today's previous post (the zig-zag patterned dress), I found this purple dress in the same resale shop for $5. On it's own this dress is simple with smooth lines. Really, nothing needs to be done to it. But the dress is polyester, and I don't know about you, but I find polyester has a tendency to highlight flaws, especially in sunlight. The goal of this project is to create two dresses in one. The dress as you see it can be worn on its own or with a shawl in the evening. 

For the daytime flaw-hiding version, I'm going to dress it up a bit, or at least try to! Earlier this summer, I came across a pretty skirt with a cream-colored lace overlay on a salmon-colored base. I really liked the concept. Sadly, the skirt didn't fit right and I'll never pay retail for something that needs tailoring! 

Step one: Find a nice lace material for the lace overlay, see example to the left. While I don't like this specific lace, this is the concept I am going for.

Step two: Sew a simple A-line skirt with zipper. 

Step three: Attach a belt made of thick ribbon to the top of the skirt. There should be enough ribbon to be able to tie the belt in a bow in the back above the zipper.

Step four: Embellish the belt with sewn-on beading. 

Step five: Put on purple dress with law overlay skirt for daytime wear. 

Step six: Take off lace overlay and alternate accessories for evening wear.

Once again, this is a project that will have to be put on hold for a little bit while I'm recovering from knee surgery. 

Taking in a Dress that Doesn't Fit

Remember a few posts back I wrote about "resizing a dress that doesn't fit?" Well this post is just the opposite. I found this dress for $5 at a resale shop. It's in great condition with the exception of a few tears in the seam along the hip/leg. But that's okay because I'm going to take it in. The original size tag was removed from this dress but the store tag estimated it to be size 13-14, which is 3 sizes too big for me, so more material to work with!

Here is the dress on my dress mannequin. Size aside, the dress style is totally unflattering. If you removed the elastic band on the inside of the waist, you'd have a big rectangle of fabric, shapeless. Overall, the dress needs to be taken in, top and bottom.

Also, if you look at the way the dress hangs, the elastic should be at the natural waistline of the wearer, but when I tried it on, it sat several inches lower. So, the waist needs to be lifted which I will do by taking it up in the shoulders. 

Now, look at the droopy sleeves, if you look at the profile shot below, you'll see that there are intentional slits on the arms. Another unflattering addition. I'm going to cut off the sleeves and make an elegant, boat-necked tank dress out of this glorified potato sack! 

Obviously I didn't fall in love with the style of the dress but the zig-zag pattern in emerald and navy. 

Since I'm laid up right now 24 hours post-knee surgery, I can't finish this project right now. But come back in a few weeks and I hope to be done with it. Here is what it'll eventually look like (except it'll be about knee length):

In the meantime, since the dress is just laying around, I'd love to hear your ideas for an alternate remake. Post your comment below or, if you're too shy, e-mail me!

Evoking an Era with Accessories

If you're like me, you like to get your money's worth out of a dress no matter how much money, time, or energy you put into it. Remember that green dress from my earlier post "detaching a bodice from it's skirt"? Fast-foward a year or more and the dress has been hanging in the closet collecting dust since its debut in 2011. Time to whip it out again!

As I mentioned in a previous post, my husband and I hosted a cabaret show in our home. All guests were required to dress in attire evoking vintage hollywood...from fascinators, fedoras, feathers and fishnets...to bow ties and boas. Red lipstick, long-stranded pearls, and gloves also made appearances. I don't claim to be a vintage clothing historian, but surfing the web for 30s era clothing gave me some ideas... a long draping dress, sequins, a fascinator, gloves, and some vintage jewelry. I thought this dress would work perfectly for the occasion.

I wore the dress accompanied by this lovely fascinator I found at FascinatorsNYC.com. They have a great selection at a variety of price points. There I found some of the most inexpensive fascinators on the web; but don't confuse inexpensive with cheap! The fascinator I got was very well made and versatile, I can wear it as a hair clip or pin it on clothing. They shipped promptly and shipping rates were very reasonable.





















I also wore a vintage (faux) diamond necklace with matching earrings and bracelet and long black gloves. I would have preferred green ones, but couldn't find any at the halloween stores and worried that it would be difficult to find a green that matched the dress by shopping online.

At the party, someone said I looked like a mermaid in the dress, so I may wear it again! Come back after Halloween and look for my mermaid posting!