Happy Halloween!

Ok it's a day early but so what! I decided to show all of you what I came up with this year for my costume. I decided to be Jadis from Narnia. The costume photos come from the Disneyland Trick or Treat event from last night. I will end up wearing this costume three times this season. So far it is still clean after two wearings haha!



I came up with the idea when talking to one of my customers and the idea just stuck in my head. I love the way they costumed the characters in these movies and loved the idea of wearing all the dreads.



I was going to use a pre-made dress and use a felting technique over the base, but I was having no luck finding the right dress at the thrift stores. So I went to the fabric store and found this plushy yumminess, that while I knew was not exactly like the real fabric in the film, it gave the right effect I knew would carry over.

If I have not told you guys before, I am an "ok" seamstress and that might be pushing it. I decided to start more simply and create a tank cut top and a A-Line framed skirt. This was mostly so I did not have to work with any professional patterns (just my handy paper bag patterns). If I was a better seamstress I would have loved to have made a dress and a short sleeved top like the movie, but this is what I could sew :)

The next piece was the bridal petticoat, it added a nice bell shape the skirt really needed. The only issue is, it's time for me to get a new petticoat! I have had this for years and even wore it when I was in a Independent Film (it was the 90's all of us did it you know haha!), the thing has seen better days, but I am still happy I had it!

The cape was made from a full faux fur, flipped to create a full top and slit at the bottom. I then went back in and sewed in more pieces of the fur, to recreate her seal fur look "pelted" cape.

The crown was pure luck! I had some great plans to make my crown but was having issues finding the glass and the time to create the piece. I had seen this crown at Joann's and since it had a similar shape and it was on sale I bought it as a back up, but decided to use it in the end.

The dreads were a lot of fun. It was the first time I had ever installed the dreads directly into my hair. I only did the crown area because of the shortness of my hair at the back (I have a A line bob). I also added in four dread falls to the bag to give my hair extra fullness and tied them up in a bun similar to how she does in the movie.

I used Vapor from Urban Decay as my base eyeshadow out around my entire eye and then added a irridescent glitter I found at Sephora over the top.

Over all I am very happy with how this turned out. Yes I would have liked it a little more like it shows in the movie, but one thing you learn about costumes is people don't remember the details. If you give them a big picture that is close to what they remember they will think you look exactly like the character you are trying to recreate.

The total cost on this was from material and the crown only, everything else I already owned. I think with sales this costume was approx $20

Happy Halloween!

Lizzie Borden Living Dead Doll

This is another costume I created a few years back when I was working at Hot Topic. This costume came from this doll, Lizzie Borden from the Living Dead Doll series. I will say this was not my main costume of that season, but it was actually one of my favorites.

At Hot Topic (where I worked at the time) we were encouraged to dress-up for one week before Halloween so this was on of the earlier looks. It was designed to be simple and easy to wear, but dramatic at the same time. Sometimes the most fun costumes are the easiest to throw together. I have re-worn the wig many times and the only other piece I purchased for this costume cost me $3.

I started by hitting my own closet, I had a long satin skirt and a burgundy shirt that I thought would work to recreate part of her outfit. The wig I purchased for another costume that I was going to use later that season for another costume (Jessica Rabbit), it was very easy to style up into a simple bun like the doll's.

Then I hit the stores to find a simple shrug or jacket that would help to create the look of the dolls top. After some searching I found the perfect piece at a local thrift store for around $3.

This costume had a simple look with the clothes that was very easy to recreate with simple pieces like I mentioned above so I knew the make-up was going to be what would set this apart from just everyday clothing. I started with black eyeshadow creating a full circle around the entire eye. I went in and lined my eye with black eyeliner. I focused on a dark, heavy shadowed look. I then added a very dark lip.

I added a choker and grabbed my dolly and I was off with my new costume. BTW sorry about the photo it was a scan off the polaroid picture they took for our halloween costume contest, in which I was a semi-finalist in the nationwide contest.