I was absolutely amazed that I managed to get my costume for the party done. I showed up a bit later than I had intended to…but it was totally worth it. The costume was very simple…I went as a flower and was very glad, because my suspicions turned out to be correct…fairy wings EVERYWHERE! Lots of very beautiful and well done fairy wings, but I wanted to be a little bit different and I succeeded. I apologize in advance for the quality of the pictures, I have a crappy little digital camera and I’m taking them myself. Once my fiance is here I’ll have better pictures because I’ll make him take them. 
I made a tu-tu out of alternating layers of dark and light green tulle, four total layers made from 8 yards of tulle. I cut the tulle into 18-inch long segments that were the full width of the tulle (54 inches for the light green, 72 inches for the dark green). Each layer was four of these pieces gathered along the top. Since I was in a hurry I didn’t bother to stitch them together at the ends of the pieces and you couldn’t tell any difference once the skirt was done. I then whip-stitched the four layers together around the waist to hold the gathers roughly in place while I was wearing it. I added a hook and eye to the ends and that was it.
I made a wrap around skirt to go on top of the tulle. It was a really simple circle skirt…all you folks who believed you’d never use high school math…here’s your opportunity. I didn’t want to gather the waist into a waist band, so I had to cut it out so that the inner circle was my waist circumference and the outer circle was the length it was supposed to be. Measure your waist, divide by 3.14, then divide that number by 2. This is the radius of your waist. Which means you can now use a compass to draw out your circle skirt…or go the easy way. Cut a string about one inch longer than your waist radius, tie one end around a pin and one end around a pencil…stick the pin in your fabric and use it to draw a circle. Now all you have to do is measure out from the waist circle however long you want the skirt to be. I wanted my skirt to wrap around, so I cut out a half circle and a three quarter circle, sewed it together at one end, then put a hook’n'eye on the underneath side and grommets to tie it with ribbon on the outside. I cut the fabric in sort of a petal-ly curve on the front overlap.
Then I made the bodice. I used the Simplicity #8715 bodice pattern. I’ve made this bodice before and it’s a good fit if you just want a fantasy/faire/costume bodice. If you’re trying to make something more authentic this is not it. I like to make my bodices in three layers. I flat-line the lining and inter-lining together around the top edges, then sew boning channels into it. That way you don’t see the boning channels once it’s all put together. Since this was a costume bodice I boned it with plastic zip ties (get them in bulk in the electrical aisle of your local home improvement store), if they’re the narrow ones, put at least two in each channel. I boned this bodice about twice as heavily as the pattern recommends. I’m a well-endowed girl and I wanted it to be a self-supporting bodice. I put in grommets to lace it up and put it on and found…..it was WAY too big. My fiance pointed out that if you aren’t used to wearing really tight corsets and you were going to wear a bra underneath this bodice you would probably be fine with the size it ended up. I wanted it tight and supportive, so back to the sewing machine I went to take it in by about two inches at each side seam. Now it fit fine and off to the party I went. (the front of the bodice is actually straight…I took pictures the next day and the front got a bit of a crease in it during the party…this is a danger with zip ties, especially when it isn’t solidly boned across the front. The crease will relax a lot once I pack the bodice away flat, but be prepared for it if you’re using these to bone with. I will go on a brief boning tirade…do NOT use the plastic boning by the yard crap that you get at the craft store for anything that needs to be supportive. It will crease the first time you wear it and the creases will never come out.) (Another note…I’m not sure why the bodice looks so beige in this picture, it’s the same fabric as the skirt.)
I want to throw in a quick note about lacing. When I first started doing historical costuming I did that standard crossover lacing that you see on everything. A lot of women like to leave an inch or two gap up the front so that you can see the chemise underneath…I can’t speak for smaller ladies, but I always had an incredibly difficult time getting that gap to remain even throughout the day. Inevitably it would be touching at my waist and gaped wide at my bust. I now do spiral lacing on my period accurate stuff (we’ll talk about that another day…there are lots of good resources out there on how to do it and how to set your lacing holes for it)…but on fantasy stuff like this costume I take extra time and lace it like the below picture. Just start from the bottom and cross over to the next hole and go in from the top. Cross straight across to the hole opposite it and bring it up from the bottom, do the same with the other end of the ribbon. Once your done every hole (except the top two) will have the ribbon going through it twice…lots of extra work, but definitely worth it if you want your bodice secure.
