Friday, October 7, 2011

Red Riding Hood Costume

At the end of last week I had the sudden realization that my boyfriend and I were attending Renaissance Fair soon, and I had yet to make my costume! Oh, and we're going tomorrow, so I had a week to pull something together. 
Actually, that's sort of an exaggeration. Months ago - months - like back in the spring, I had figured out what my boyfriend and I were going to be wearing that way I wouldn't run into a last minute situation like this. Well, I stuck to that pretty well - I made 2/3 of his costume - the shirt and vest (which I don't and won't have pictures of until tomorrow at the fair) sometime in the summer. He wanted to be a generic hunter-man - easy enough. I, on the other hand wanted to attend in Pirate Lolita. Well, I found really nice striped fabric that would work awesome for an overskirt, and I was super excited to get to work on it. But I never did. When it comes to working on things for myself, I always put it off 'til the last minute because I feel.. I don't know selfish or something. Like I'm wasting time on myself when I could be working on a commission or something for somebody else. 
Anyhow, it was last week when I was reviewing what still needed to be done for this weekend, and I came to the conclusion that a Pirate Lolita and a Hunter did not make sense at all. That's when Red Riding Hood came into my mind like a bolt of lightning: the Hunter and Little Red - a perfect match!~


^^I started off by making a super quick sketch. Like super quick. I spent maybe 15 minutes on this? I didn't even bother to color it. Although it was tempting, I didn't want to go as a Red Riding Hood Lolita, because that's not very time or style appropriate for Renaissance Fair. 

^^Fabrics! Since I'm going for authenticity, I chose to stick with fabrics of that time. In my research, I found that cotton was actually a really expensive fabric in that time, and linen and wool were cheaper/more common. So 100% wool and linen is what we have here. I decided on darker reds, because I think it's more appealing/natural looking than fire engine red. I also decided on using an ivory colored linen instead of a stark, bleached white for the same reason ♥

^^It's not in my original sketch, but I sorta changed/modified things as I went. I decided on a different sleeve shape, and ended up trimming the cuffs and neckbands with this lace. Yes, I know it's cheap and ugly lace and I'd never ever dream of using this on a Lolita garment. And I have a ton of it, so I decided to use up a bunch. The lace was stark white, and since my linen is ivory, it looked really awful next to it, so I ended up tea-dyeing it. I've never done this type of dyeing before, but it was pretty simple. It worked wonderfully, and matches just perfect. 

^^I didn't take many photos during my process of making this, so this is pretty much all you get :p

And the finished piece: 

^^A front view. In these photos I don't have any sort of petticoat underneath. I may wear one tomorrow though... 

^^The hood is way oversized! :D I wanted a really dramatic hood shape, and I've definitely never made one this huge before ♥


^^Detail view of the cape. I originally wanted to have ties in the front to make a bow (as in my sketch), but honestly... I didn't buy enough fabric. This wool is $27/yd, and I bought 1 3/4 yards. I seriously had just enough fabric to make the cape. I think if I bought the full 2 I probably would've had enough to make the ties /: However, I still think the toggles do a wonderful job. (That's also part of the reason why the cape is the length it is, rather than being knee or ankle length.)

^^Front view without the cape. The neck actually turned out quite huge, lol. So it can definitely be worn how it's pictured, or off the shoulder. I'm not sure how I'll be wearing it yet. 


^^And the back. I hadn't planned on having a corseted back like the front, but as I was working, it sorta just happend that way. I'm glad I decided to it like this though - I think it gives it a nice shape, and really accentuates the waist. The underdress is actually really huge, and so it definitely benefits from having the lace ups in both the front and back. 

^^Sleeve detail. You can see how well the lace matches the fabric here. Speaking of huge, the sleeves are also really big. I think the circumference is something like 36"? It's really dramatic though, and I love it.

^^Ruffle detail on the underdress. As always, I do love finishing ruffles in matching satin ribbon ♥

^^Front detail. 

^^Wow, look at those gathers! This neckband was really big as well. I think the full circumference was something like 90" before I put elastic in it? So that's like 2.5 yards! Even with the elastic it's quite huge, so hopefully it won't be too much of a cleavage party tomorrow! However, I do suppose that'd fit in pretty well... lol. 

^^Back detail. Lots of grommets - 26 in total! 

Normally, this would be it. However, I do have more pictures to share... shoes! I ordered shoes for us a few weeks ago, hoping they'd arrive in time. Well, come to find out my shoes I ordered were not in stock, so I fully was not expecting to have them in time for tomorrow. Well, guess what? They came today! And just as I had finished up taking these photos :D I justified spending money on shoes because the boots I ordered for my bf were a pseudo early birthday gift (his is the 22nd, so close enough right?), and mine were pretty much the cheapest on the site - $38. I only have 2 pair of shoes: boots and flats, so it's not like I'm a shoe-whore or anything >_<





I'm really happy with them and I'll definitely be wearing them with Lolita coords :D (Although, I may be adding a bow or two to make them more dolly ^_^) And the heel is only 2.75" which is awesome when you're the same height as your boyfriend. If you're interested, I ordered my "Victorian Riding Boot"s from a site called medievalcollectibles.com, and they can be found HERE.

I do have a basket as well! I picked it up while I was at Joann's earlier this week getting supplies. It's pretty tiny, but it's better than nothing :3

*Whew* Well that was a lot of stuff. I also got new business cards in today with my new logo, which I'll be posting about later. Expect an update soon about our Renaissance Fair experience! :D

Miss Chubi

2 comments:

  1. That outfit is to die for! It's amazing. Will you also be using it for halloween? Or do you have another costume in mind for that one?

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  2. Aw, thank you! ♡
    Hm. I don't really have any Halloween plans, so probably not /:

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