Living Pop Art

Getting back to that crazy printed dress I made in October . . .

You see, I had this brilliant idea for a Halloween costume.  After sorting through my stash of holiday novelty prints (only to realize that I did not have any Halloween themed options) it flashed on me - this crazy comic strip fabric would make a fabulous dress!  And I could wear a blue wig and put some exaggerated makeup on and become one of the characters in the comic strip that I was wearing.   Very meta, right?!

I finished the dress in time, and even found a wig that I thought might work for my purposes.  Alas, it was not very well made which was not all that surprising from the low price, and I couldn't manipulate the front into the 1940s rolls like I wanted (no lace front, see the comment about price).

Once the wig was out of the picture, I lost some of my motivation to figure out how to make my face resemble the dotted images in the cartoon.  Believe it or not, there are tutorials for this.  But without a wig, I didn't think the look would work.

Although I was still pretty darn excited about the dress.

I think I will do the full costume at some point in the future if I can find a suitable wig.  There's alway next year, right?!

But other than the missing parts to the "costume," I really love the dress.  

The Butterick 6412 bodice fits great with my standard adjustments, and the pleated skirt that I drafted works nicely with the print.  The skirt actually turned out even better then I was expecting with the bold graphic lines of the print!  I am very glad I didn't try to fight the print and make it work with a shaped skirt.

So this one is a definite success.  I've already worn the dress twice, and have been getting a lot of wear out of my matching face mask.

This also makes me want to get my hands on the original "Home Sewing is Easy" print and make myself another wacky dress.

So I guess I will add that project to the ever growing list!

Dress & Belt:  Made by me, Butterick 6412 (with modifications)
Petticoat:  Made by me, Vogue 4203
Earrings:  Vintage
Ring:  Grandfather's school ring
Shoes:  Nine West