Edith Cushing (Crimson Peak)

Gothic horror. Late Victorian costumes. Billowing nightgowns. How is a girl to resist?

Source.

When I planned this year's Halloween costume in February, I was going as the Woman in Black, but after watching the trailer (and suffering a sleepless night because aaaaaugh!) I remembered I had eleven meters white fabric just lying around.

The nightgown is sewn in two layers. The overlayer is a see-through polyester something with slubs, over a modesty layer of plain ol' boring cotton. I made the pattern from a sloper, for practice,. I started in July, so I had plenty of time to torment myself over every tiny bit of the costume, from pattern to what kind of interfacing would be best to use.

I made far too many sleeve toiles, and even took the time to baste everything by hand. Usually I just pin and sew very carefully. The insides are neatly finished (as usual), the yoke is lined, and weirdly, overall I am pleased with it. When I finish anything, I usually have a list over things I would have done differently.

I live in the middle of nowhere, so in my experience, what I can get of sewing notions and such is rather limited. And yet, sometimes I go to the shop with the lowest expectations and find small treasures, like these pearl buttons.

The buttons are just for show. I dreaded sewing button holes since my machine would rather eat fabric than do as I want, so I evaded the whole thing and sewed some pushbuttons in underneath instead. The lower sleeves have functionable buttons at the wrist.

While lining the yoke I put the dress onto a mannequin. It made lining very much easier, but every time I left the room and came back in, I'd almost give myself a heart attack. Toughest viking in town.

Halloween 2012

Rococo lady on the bus.

This year resulted in costuming extravaganza. And I teased the hell out of my hair so I could style it mile-high.  One of my housemates wore the tallest heels she had, and I was still taller than her. We were out and about, so I didn't get to take proper pictures of the whole thing. It'll have to wait till next con, I think.

Wearing the costume was fun. I got loads of compliments, though there were a few nasty comments too - people love to talk down about Halloween here because it's supposedly an American tradition. The costume was comfortable to wear, not too cold or hot, and I love the new stays, I completely forgot I was wearing them.

There was a staring contest. I lost.

This was what happened when I let down my hair. 

And this was what happened after I came home (and left bits my costume all around the house as I peeled it off). As if I don't have trouble with my unruly hair already, here it is teased and covered in a bullet-proof layer of hairspray.

These pics are by Sylvilel.

Halloween 2011: Huldra

Huldra is a creature from Scandinavian folklore. I guess she could be compared to some kind of vicious forest fairy. While she is usually described as a beautiful dairymaid with a cow's tail in Norwegian lore, I went for a trollish creature that lives in the woods and doesn't comb her hair.

The costume consists of a top, skirt, corset and a crown made from birch-branches. I also have a braided tail, but it sort of disappears in the tatters of the skirt and I don't have pics.
The skirt consists of scrap fabric left over from almost every project I've done the last two years.

For the top I used Danielle #9306 from Burda Style, the "corset" pattern was made from this tutorial. I sewed the corset entirely by hand because at the time I was sick and couldn't stand the noise from my beloved sewing machine. Finished it just in time.

Vampire Bride

The costume used for Halloween 2010 and Desucon 2011. It is an old wedding gown from 1992 that I destroyed teadyed and painted to look old.

The design is based on my favourite musical, Tanz der Vampire, where the ensemblevampires wear the tattered (and gorgeous) clothes they were turned in x years ago while they claw their way out of their graves and sing about how eternity sucks. It's in German, but it's a catchy song, and there's a solid helping of costume porn in there.

I am a Pastafarian vampire so I don't shy away from Christian stuffs.

Given that the wedding gown was from 1992, it's probably inspired by lady Diana's frilly confection and meant to go over a crinoline. I decided to wear it with just a poofy underskirt. Because of the butt bows and everything that's going on in the back, it's already slightly bustled.

I get my fangs from Vampfangs.com. I have long ones, Sabers, that I used for Halloween, but for Desucon I used shorter teeth, so that I could speak without shounding laik I wash drunhk. (And the Sabers were sort of actually sharp, so ouch.)

Back and forth from the convention there were loads of moms who bent down to their precious pink-clad daughters, pointed at me and said, "Look at the princess!", only resulting in their utter mortification when they saw my big, toothy smile.