Marie Antoinette
From: historical figure
Date: Halloween 2008
Pattern(s) used: Simplicity 4092
Fabric Swatch(s):
At the end of last year (2007) I was fairly obsessed with Marie Antoinette, and since I usually decide my costumes a year in advance, I decided on Marie for 2008. I started collecting my materials early. Almost the entire costume is made from curtains. Yes, you read that correctly. I was wondering around Burlington Coat Factory one evening and found THE cheapest curtains, with a somewhat hideous pattern - for curtains - but just right for a French Court dress! And so I bought them. For the lace parts, I used a shower curtain that I had purchased the year before for part of the Mirror Queen costume (and which I didn't use). Originally I had bought a small piece of nice silk for the underskirt, figuring that it was faux in the pattern. It turned out not to be, so I needed to figure out something else - meanwhile, the curtains that I bought eons ago, there wasn't enough fabric in them, either. So back I went to see if I could find either the same curtain or one that would coordinate with the ones I had. Luckily, I found one more curtain and that proved to be enough.
On this second trip I found the gold curtain (two panels and a valence, all
attached together) for my underskirt and the under-sleeves. However, there was
only one, and I didn't have enough to complete the full skirt with the curtains,
nor did I have enough of the original gold silk, so I used plain yellow cotton
to round out the rest of the skirt. With a little ingenuity, I was able to make
use the front ruffle of the valence as a nice trim to the underskirt - I think
it came out great!
It is a good thing I had the gold silk "left over", because I needed
that for lining of the bodice (not that you actually see any of it, but it's
nice to know it's there. Heh)
To top everything off, I bought a Marie wig on clearance at the end of the previous
Halloween year, fluffed it up and Amezri added fake flowers (I had just made
it through the doorways!). I also decided that I needed to be "Dead Marie"
and we added a pearl choker that was "dripping" with blood. The "drips"
were beads strung together on fishing line. We used acrylic paint to add the
blood to the pearls (which were antique that I picked up cheap in Woodstock).
It was barely noticeable, but we did make my face white, with shadows under
my eyes, as well.
Favorite part: The whole thing! I think the dress came out AWESOME! My husband even built me a guillotine! It was great!
Least favorite part: when I sat down, I popped a stay and it was like
a knife! OUCH! But Amezri took care of me with a little bit of duct tape. ;)
Pictures:
