Making Miss Magenta pt. 1
Hey reader!
I had two looks to put together for that murder mystery party. I was to portray America's sweetheart: Miss Magenta. My brief was that she would be wearing a full length gown with fur and jewels. I set out looking for an outfit that would be 50's inspired and fit the bill. I found Simplicty pattern 8731. I cite this pattern as mild inspiration because I deviated pretty sharply from it.
A few Halloweens ago, I made a dress that had a large poofy skirt using all the tulle that I could find. I decided despite it being purple and black, it would be perfect to give my dress shape. Plus no one would be able to see the color under my gown. Since I was Miss Magenta, everything would be dazzlingly pink - of course. First problem I encountered was that this pattern was the petite version. I don't know if they sold it in other sizes, but it was definitely going to be too small for my man sized body.
Further, I found the skirt pattern in 8731 unnecessarily complicated for a costume part and decided to simplify. Since there was no way I was going to eyeball it to fit me better anyway, I felt free to experiment. I made a loose waistband and sewed the fabric to it. Working my way around the waistband, I sewed pleats in the fabric. It didn't need to be perfect, because I had a plan for that too. In this picture, you can see the waistband and the fabric - ignore the lace for now.
I added a strip of elastic inside the waist and suddenly had a fluffy and flexible dress. I wanted to add the lace, but that had to be sewn on by hand because the sewing machine was having trouble getting through all the thickness. I couldn't just wrap it haphazardly, because it also had to have pleats. To get it even, I sewed the ends of the lace to each other in the back, and then sewed the middle of the length to the front of the dress. Then I just kept sewing the half of the lace length to the half of the waistband length until everything was all neat and tidy. If that sounds complicated - that's because it was.
In case it wasn't complex enough, there was also a lot of work sewing some beads into the lace as well as some pearls along the bottom. We will get a better look at that next time.
The original pattern had the dress being one piece, but given my changes that wouldn't work. I decided to make the top part separately and use some lace in the middle to make it appear like one connected bit.
The top was very simple - essentially a vest you wear backwards. I used the pattern that the dress had with a few small alterations to make it fit my size. I was desperate to avoid zippers so I used ribbons in the back to hold it all together - and it allowed me to tighten it as I saw fit.
I had a plan to make a fur coat using the pattern that came with my design, but then I found this amazing pink remnant fur from Sprocket. That is the beauty of having an organized craft space, I easily found the fur and it was a perfect match to my dress. Incidentally, my thread was also a perfect match. I didn't even really try that just happened.
I knew I didn't have enough of this pink fur to make a full coat, but I could make a muff. It is super pretty and was by far the easiest part to make. All I did was sew the fabric into a loop and turn the raw ends inside. It was tight enough that they stay in there and I can use it to hold my phone all night.
The final bit is the hair. I really messed up here because I didn't take a lot of good progress shots of the hair. I got a wig from a costume shop and prepared to transform it into something brand new. I have been watching a lot of Jaymes Mansfield wig tutorials and I decided I wanted to try. I had a much easier time with it than I expected and got a lot of great height.
I will need to do another wig post totally on its own because I didn't give this one the attention it deserved for a decent post on here.
Jaymes has a bunch of great tutorials, but I teased the hair a bunch and then used hairspray and a light touch to give it a new style. I also attached a pink streak for my Miss Magenta experience. I have decided her first name is Cerise, which also means pink. Cerise Magenta.
I finished it off with a quick bow I made on the sewing machine, some pearls strung on a chain and some hot glued earrings.
The next post about this won't be about making things, but it will be showing off my lack of makeup skills. Get ready.
Keep making cool stuff.
Until next time,
JoshPrime
I had two looks to put together for that murder mystery party. I was to portray America's sweetheart: Miss Magenta. My brief was that she would be wearing a full length gown with fur and jewels. I set out looking for an outfit that would be 50's inspired and fit the bill. I found Simplicty pattern 8731. I cite this pattern as mild inspiration because I deviated pretty sharply from it.A few Halloweens ago, I made a dress that had a large poofy skirt using all the tulle that I could find. I decided despite it being purple and black, it would be perfect to give my dress shape. Plus no one would be able to see the color under my gown. Since I was Miss Magenta, everything would be dazzlingly pink - of course. First problem I encountered was that this pattern was the petite version. I don't know if they sold it in other sizes, but it was definitely going to be too small for my man sized body.
Further, I found the skirt pattern in 8731 unnecessarily complicated for a costume part and decided to simplify. Since there was no way I was going to eyeball it to fit me better anyway, I felt free to experiment. I made a loose waistband and sewed the fabric to it. Working my way around the waistband, I sewed pleats in the fabric. It didn't need to be perfect, because I had a plan for that too. In this picture, you can see the waistband and the fabric - ignore the lace for now.
I added a strip of elastic inside the waist and suddenly had a fluffy and flexible dress. I wanted to add the lace, but that had to be sewn on by hand because the sewing machine was having trouble getting through all the thickness. I couldn't just wrap it haphazardly, because it also had to have pleats. To get it even, I sewed the ends of the lace to each other in the back, and then sewed the middle of the length to the front of the dress. Then I just kept sewing the half of the lace length to the half of the waistband length until everything was all neat and tidy. If that sounds complicated - that's because it was.
In case it wasn't complex enough, there was also a lot of work sewing some beads into the lace as well as some pearls along the bottom. We will get a better look at that next time.
The original pattern had the dress being one piece, but given my changes that wouldn't work. I decided to make the top part separately and use some lace in the middle to make it appear like one connected bit.
The top was very simple - essentially a vest you wear backwards. I used the pattern that the dress had with a few small alterations to make it fit my size. I was desperate to avoid zippers so I used ribbons in the back to hold it all together - and it allowed me to tighten it as I saw fit.I had a plan to make a fur coat using the pattern that came with my design, but then I found this amazing pink remnant fur from Sprocket. That is the beauty of having an organized craft space, I easily found the fur and it was a perfect match to my dress. Incidentally, my thread was also a perfect match. I didn't even really try that just happened.
I knew I didn't have enough of this pink fur to make a full coat, but I could make a muff. It is super pretty and was by far the easiest part to make. All I did was sew the fabric into a loop and turn the raw ends inside. It was tight enough that they stay in there and I can use it to hold my phone all night.
The final bit is the hair. I really messed up here because I didn't take a lot of good progress shots of the hair. I got a wig from a costume shop and prepared to transform it into something brand new. I have been watching a lot of Jaymes Mansfield wig tutorials and I decided I wanted to try. I had a much easier time with it than I expected and got a lot of great height.
Jaymes has a bunch of great tutorials, but I teased the hair a bunch and then used hairspray and a light touch to give it a new style. I also attached a pink streak for my Miss Magenta experience. I have decided her first name is Cerise, which also means pink. Cerise Magenta.I finished it off with a quick bow I made on the sewing machine, some pearls strung on a chain and some hot glued earrings.
The next post about this won't be about making things, but it will be showing off my lack of makeup skills. Get ready.
Keep making cool stuff.
Until next time,
JoshPrime
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