Alice in Wonderland Costumes

I have had a very busy couple of weeks making a beautiful Alice Dress and 11 Card Soldiers  as per the latest film starring Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter. The Dress is made with Organza over turquoise taffeta with a white lace edged petticoat. I have made it almost exactly as the film to fit a 26 inch chest. The dancer tried it on and danced in it last night and it fitted perfectly. I made some striped stretch fingerless gloves too using white stretch mesh and drawing the stripes on with a permanent marker pen.



Alice in Wonderland Dress
 

I made the cards out of dark red vinyl lined with red lining material. They consist of a tabard with a hole cut out for the neck. I made a helmet out of stretch jersey and designed a heart shaped mask with a cut out for the eyes. I used back permanent marker pens to draw on the hearts and details on the mask. I made leggings and long sleeve top in the jersey fabric, attaching some heart shaped gauntlets to the sleeves with numbers and a heart motif. The vinyl is quite difficult to work with, you feel like you have been in a wrestling match by the time you have sewn up the eleventh tabard. I was surprised that my machine managed to cope with the quadruple thicknesses of the sides, but you just have to take it steady and almost go one stitch at a time on the risky bits. I managed to not break any needles, which is quite an achievement. To get the masks on correctly, I had to try each one on and pin it to the helmet whilst I was wearing it, which was another struggle.

Alice in Wonderland Card Soldier Costume

 

 

I had the original caterpillar costume back to alter, so I have taken a couple of pictures. I had forgotten how much detail I had put into it and how heavy it is. The head is made of a plastic wire netting frame covered in wadding and the body has curtain wire running through channels to give it the caterpillar shape.

 

 

 

 

 

Caterpillar Costume

 

My next blog will be about the Red and White Queens.

 

 

chrisdavoilecostumes.org.uk

Anna from Frozen Costume

 

 

I have just completed the Anna Costume, which is the last one in the troupe. The painting of the skirt has taken much longer than I anticipated. I tried to use a stencil, but kept getting smudges, so had to do it all freehand in the end. I used four different colours of fabric paint and the flowers are in a pearl paint, so that they will catch the light. I added a pale blue wavy edge to the skirt in a semi stretch fabric so that it would bend round with the hem using a zig zag stitch.

Anna Costume from Frozen
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The skirt is made of two half circles, but tapered down to reduce the size of the hem because I want it to flare out nicely when the dancer spins round so the the flowers can easily be seen. It is lined with a polycotton lace edged petticoat with a matching pair of bloomers.

To get the pattern on the stretch velvet bodice, I drew the pattern onto some bondaweb, cut it out and then ironed it onto different colours of lycra

 

You then have to peel off the paper backing and iron the pieces onto the velvet using a protecting cloth checking that the glue has firmly adhered. I have stitched a couple of bits for extra security.

The top has been edged with gold lycra strips and I have attached pale aqua lycra sleeves and neck. I made the V Shape out of gold lycra stiffened with heavy interfacing, taking care to match up the angles. I then sewed this onto the top then attached the skirt. I tacked the point down onto the skirt so that it won't keep sticking up.

 

 

 

I managed to find a lovely soft fabric for the cape in exactly the right colour and a pearly trim to match, which I thought would look far better on stage that the trim in the film. I then added a padded bonnet to complete the outfit

 

 

 

I have since trimmed the hat with some lilac feather trim. I dyed some white using a purple felt tip pen broken open and soaked in a bowl of water, as I hadn't any lilac dye and this was cheap and easy. I dried it with the hair dryer and hey presto :-

 

 

 

My next blog will be about the cards and other costumes from Alice in Wonderland

 

chrisdavoilecostumes.org.uk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sven the Reindeer Costume

At long last Sven the Reindeer is finished and ready to go. I have become quite attached to him over the last few weeks and really don't want to let him go, but go he must as Kristoff is waiting for him and they are both going to be dancing in the Allesley School of Dance Christmas show in December.
There are 31 characters in the Frozen Troupe, 10 Trolls, 10 Girl Villagers, 6 Ice Maidens, Olaf, Sven, Kristoff, Anna and Elsa. I am just finishing painting the flowers around Anna's skirt, which I will blog about next, and once I have put her costume together, they can all go to their new owners. Here are some photos of the stages of making Sven, starting with the finished Costume




Sven Costume

 

Basic Face

The base of the antlers which I cover with strips of wadding and then white jersey tubes that I sew on

 

 

I have used expensive fur to give him an extra plush look. The eyes are made with white lycra and black velvet which I sew on painstakingly by hand. There is a cream lycra helmet inside the head so that it will grip tightly to the face and I will be attaching some straps so that it can be tied onto the child's body so that he can dance freely without fear of it falling off. I have made hooves out of thick black vinyl and trimmed them with long cream fur.

 

Here is a photo of the finished Kristoff Costume, which fitted the dancer perfectly, It is complete with mittens and boots, which are sewn onto the costume to prevent them falling off/getting lost.

 

 

Kristoff Costume

I make up my own patterns for most of the costumes I make, spending a lot of time studying the character and then having a go and developing them bit by bit. I keep checking the measurements to make sure they will fit.

Once I have finished this troupe, I will be making 11 Playing Cards from Alice in Wonderland, the Johnny Depp version, A Red Queen, White Queen and Alice herself in her little blue number. I will try and blog as I go along.

Bye for now, I hope you have enjoyed a little insight into my world of fantasy and creativity. I am looking forward to watching Alice over and over now to get me in the zone. I will be talking like the Mad Hatter by the end of it, or even worse, the March Hare!