Spider-Man Dress

 And now for the big reveal: my Spider-Man dress for DragonCon!

My girlfriends did a group costume on Saturday night, and the theme was Retro/Pin-up Superheroes. Although duplicates were allowed, I started telling everyone who would listen months in advance about how I wanted to do Spider-Man, my all-time favorite super hero. Once word got out that I was sewing a dress from scratch, people started acting like sewing was super power! I felt like kind of a badass. Yeah, I can whip up adorable baby shirts by day and custom fit-and-flare dresses by night. I'm your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

This is me, um, "web slinging."

Okay, back to the dress. I used Simplicity 1755, one of the Leanne Marshall (of Project Runway) designs. I cut a 10 in the shoulders and then blended to 12 in the waist, with my usual SBA and 1" waist lengthening. I had some major fit issues in the beginning and went through two muslins, but looking back I think I was just really tired or temporarily lost my fitting Spider-Sense or something, because it really shouldn't have been that hard. It's probably still a little too big in the bust, but c'est la vie.

I made the Spider-Man symbol by fusing some heavy-duty interfacing to some black fabric from my stash and then carefully gluing it on with Tacky Glue and a paint brush.

The blue fabric is a poly crepe. For the bodice, I used a shiny spider-web mesh I got on clearance after Halloween last year (yes, that's how far in advance we plan for DragonCon haha!), and underlined it with cheap quilting cotton. I really like the final effect, but the mesh is very delicate and the spider-webs have rubbed away in places. I kept trying to handle the dress like glass as I sewed it up, terrified would ruin it before I even got a chance to wear it!

One of my favorite things about the dress are the cute upturned sleeves with the button closure. I think the instructions have a mistake though. The diagram shows the button loop at the top of gap, but the loop actually has to be in the middle. The marking on the pattern piece seems to be in the right place though, so I'd stick with that.

My other favorite part is the in-seam pockets!

As for things I didn't love so much, I'm not sure that the pleats look any better or all that different than a simple gathered skirt would have. It was a huge pain to mark and baste dozens of pleats, and it took two tries to get the two sides even. Here's a pic without the belt you you can take a look and decide for yourself:

The other thing I wasn't crazy about was how the collar came out, but I think that had more to do with my inexperience and a the multiple layers of fabric than the pattern itself.

Still, though, I am pretty proud of this dress! It's probably the most technically challenging thing I've made so far. I got so into this dress and the matchy-matchy look of the 1960's along the way that I went kind of overboard with the accessories. I made the belt using a vintage belt kit I got at a thrift store for $1, glued the spiderweb mesh onto the headband, and made a matching clutch!

I used a 5" purse frame from Joann's Fabric and this tutorial. It was juuuuuuust big enough to fit my cell phone on the diagonal, which is why the bag looks a little misshapen in the picture. It was fun to make though, even if I did end up with fingers covered in super glue by the end.

So that's my Spider-Man dress! I had a fabulous time, all of my friends looked drop-dead gorgeous in their retro costumes, and I'm already dreaming up plans for next year.

Life Lately: Costumes and snow

My friends are not the kind of people that only dress up on Halloween. Ohhhhh noooo. Just about every party has a theme and needs a costume, and I freakin love it. Already I've been to three costume parties this year, with a hair metal birthday and a fancy English tea coming up next month.

In early January there was an Alice in Wonderland themed birthday party, for which I made a "Painting the Roses Red" fascinator. I made the roses out of felt using this excellent tutorial, McGuivered together the base out of a cereal box and more felt, and hot glued on some hair clips.

At first, nobody got it, and then after I explained, several people were impressed that I made it, having assumed I bought it on Etsy. I'll put that in the win column. The tunic I'm wearing was actually my wearable muslin of the Lisette Traveler Dress (never blogged).

Then there was a 90's birthday party, which I sadly fell down on the job. I tried to throw something together at the last minute, but my husband gently told me I looked more like a crazy person than a recognizable Gwen Stefani. I still had the greatest time, and really enjoyed hearing my friend's amazing 90s cover band, Tomagotchi.

Last night was a midcentury tiki party - meaning Mad Men meets Hawaiian. I had no idea, but apparently Tiki culture was huge in the 1960s, and it was fun to be a little fancy and drink fruity cocktails. I found the perfect dress at a thrift store, but it was a little big. No problem, I thought, I'll just take it it in. Famous last words. I spent waaaay too much time futzing with the fit, but at least I learned some new alterations skills. It's also a really good illustration of how a good fit makes a huge difference.

And, on a completely different note, it SNOWED last week. The entire city shut down for 2 1/2 days, and several of my friends were stuck in traffic for hours on end. I was very, very fortunate to get home before things got bad. I had never seen so much snow in my life, and I was giddy with excitement.

I can't remember the last time life felt so magical.

Hope you have a magical weekend too!