A year in costumes.... Corpse Bride

My daughter is a bit different than my son. He knows right off the bat what he would like to be for Halloween, no mind changes, she changes her mind 83 different times before she decides what she wants to dress as. The discussions start on November 1st, the day after Halloween.
Last year, she wanted to be;
a fairy, Lady Gaga, Alice from Alice in Wonderland, Alice from Alice in Wonderland with the Red Dress, a punk fairy, Belle, Little Mermaid, Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas, etc, etc, etc.
Well, this year (last year), she finally decided to be the Corpse Bride from Tim Burton's "the Corpse Bride".

So I began with the bustier. Simplicity has a good basic one that you can dress up. Pattern #5006. I picked a basic white rayon and a cut of lace to applique.

After I had made the bustier, I cut a hole in the side by her ribs and placed a piece of fabric that I had painted to look like ribs under the hole.

I made the skirt out of a white satin polyester, added a train, opened the front and cut the hem jagged.

The veil is of cheesecloth and ribbon flowers.

I air brushed the edges of the dress, bustier and veil with blues, grays an black fabric paint to give it an aged, rotted, corpsey feel.

I bought black sparkley roses, Christmas silvery foliage and ribbons with blue sparkley swirls from Michael's for the bouquet.

We bought the wig off eBay.

                                                      Isn't she a beautiful walking dead?

A year in costumes... The Mad Hatter

Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter

In April, Alice in Wonderland came out in the theaters. As soon as my son saw the movie, he wanted to be the Mad Hatter for Halloween. The genius of Tim Burton times the brilliance and talent of costume designer Colleen Atwood made Alice in Wonderland a feast for the eyes.

I started on the costume shortly after we saw the movie. I bought antique spools of thread on Etsy and strung them together with leftover chains I had lying around. The pants I made from pin striped wool fabric. I made the cut as a capri length and flared the bottom of the cuff. I used variegated hand embroidery thread to make the stitched vines on his left leg. Shirt was a basic man's white shirt that I dyed pink and added lace on the cuffs.

The hat posed more of a challenge. The base of the hat... believe it or not, it is a cardboard box and poster board. I bought dark brown iridescent fabric and covered the hat. I then covered the hat in an elastic type lace, hand stitched the brim and top with dark hand embroidery thread and then faux painted the hat with antique gold spray paint to give it a burnish look.The band is a silk scarf from Dharma Trading Company that is dyed apricot colored. For the hat pins, I purchased various medallions and beads and hot glued them to metal posts that I also spray painted gold.

Of course you have to add the 10/6 size card!

The jacket was simple enough. Brown faux suede with added cuffs. Men's vest, I cut on the bias. The buttons on the jacket and the vest were a bunch of mismatched ones I had laying around. Added a scarf and ribbons for the final touch. He needs fingerless gloves, a pin cushion ring and thimbles. Crazy red wig, mismatched socks and shoes with red shoe laces.

Doesn't my son make a perfect  hatter?!