::scarlet costuming:: queen mirror / evil queen

this costume was a brilliant idea, and has turned out far better than i expected. i did go over budget, up to a grand total of $80, but i'd like to think it was worth it.

labor hours, though...i couldn't even begin to count them.

:: gown ::

this requires a bit of a novel. if i had the ability to magically change it, i'd have chosen crushed silk velvet instead of the crushed red acetate velvet i picked. however, in the summer of 2005, when i started working on this behemath, i simply didn't have the cash, and i got a very good deal on the fabric i purchased.

so, the pattern itself was drafted from several renaissance/fantasy style patterns. i have quite the collection, thanks to my obsession with 99 cent pattern events. it's got wee cap sleeves with a bottom strip to attach the fitted mid-sleeve. the white mid-sleeves are part of the overdress. they're tea-dyed chiffon, and hand beaded with pearls, gold seed beads, two typed of cherry red beads, and large faceted glass beads in blood red.

just like Monica Bellucci's, the bottom sleeve was made extra, extra long. the edges are trimmed in gold cording (this goes for the entire dress...it's got gold cording everywhere. the inner, satin parts of the bottom sleeve have beaded spats, just like the Queen's. they just don't show up so well in photos.

because i had to take some liberties with fitting the gown, i ended up adding corset lacing to the back to add or delete a couple of inches and make for a skin-tight fit like hers. that also meant that there's no zipper.

yeah...not so smart on that one. oh well.

it did, however, allow me to make a fantastic raised back collar. it's triple layered, and helps keep the elizabethan-style collar up at all times.

there's actually a train on this gown, you just never get to see it. shame, too.

the whole gown's lined in blood-red satin, courtesy of the 99 cent a yard halloween fabric sale. when it photographs, it looks like crap.

as for the beading...yeah. there's alot of beads, pearls, and bedazzling.

yep. bedazzling. that was my first step. i used iron-on jewels and faceted metal 'jewels' and affixed them to a brick red cotton, cut to the shape of the bodice's design. the beading came later...with much patience. and alot of good DVDs playing on the tv.

:: belt, earhooks, rings::

the rings, thankfully, i had already. there's a factory outlet for weird jewelry in Gatlinburg that i hit up with my mother every year. i get alot of weird costume-related stuff there, most for less than a dollar a piece. it's worth the drive, yo.

the belt's composed of a very long piece of red cording, folded over. there's something like 20 pairs of gold diamonds, bejeweled, with two beaded, wire strands between them. to get the metal effect, i painted the clay diamonds an antiqued gold, and varnished them.

the earhooks were fun to make. i basically put my years of jewelrymaking skills to work. the medallion's courtesy of my clay process, and bejeweled. they weigh practically nothing. they do, however, dig into the top of the ear after a while.

:: underdress ::

this is two pieces. sleeves that snap on, and the collared shift. the shift is actually stitched onto the overdress, for simplicity in putting the gown on..and it's got one hell of a psycho collar. it's very tall, and took a very long time to make, thanks to my lack of collar-making knowledge at the time. now i know better.

it's boned, and every edge or stitched area has a covering of a hand-pleated off-white organza ribbon. yeeah! i made the trim myself. because i am INSANE. the trim goes all the way down to the slit in the dress. whee.

all the fabric is teadyed. i'm too chicken to use real dye...but i am the master of the tea.

as for the sleeves, they could use more detailing on them, but i have officially decided not to mess with this costume anymore. they have the pleated organza ribbon, satin ribbon, and strands of pearls on them. stitched on. whee.

:: headdress ::

this is what people ask about the most.

honestly, it was the easiest thing to make, even though it was the hardest to conceptualize. i started off with styrofoam cones, wiremesh, 20 gauge wire, hearty clay, quilt batting, and a hot glue gun. basically, i used what i had on hand. the fabric part is courtesy of an old table cloth i found in the garage, in the 'toss out' pile. it teadyed it to darken the color. i made two covers for the cones, and after i had the batting on, i put them on. i needed them to have a snug fit.

the metal-like coverings were made very carefully...out of clay. very, very carefully. then painted, very very carefully. i put them on the fabric-covered cones very carefully, and used pearl-tipped corsage pins to affix them.

the crown's a wood-dowel and wood-embroidery hoop base, covered in clay. it's got alot of detail on it, and alot of pearls, jewels, and beads. getting this badboy to fit into the rest of the headdress, though, was not fun. i made the crown first, which was a mistake.

i really love this costume, and i've been very anal about caring for it, so hopefully i'll get to wear it again...and again...and again...

:: the braids ::

yeah...these ate up about six packs of brown braiding hair. i hate the way they attach (she photo, courtesy of Sister Sola), but it's the only way i could support the weight on my head.

the joints of the two braids meeting have tight-stitched red velvet covers. there are four metal-like gold, jeweled bands on the braids.

one braid is longer than the other, and they both collect fuzz from everything. i am not too thrilled with this...but, hey, they're five feet long. what do you expect? heh.

most photos courtesy of Eurobeat King.