Flame Princess Dress Project: Part I

This is a little update, but I want to share anyway.

So, this dress was a Goodwill score. $7 for what I assumed was just going to be a crap-ton of fabric -- this baby has box pleats in the back, so it's about 3 dresses' worth of fabric. Thing was, I got it home, held it up, and thought, "Huh, that looks like it might actually fit!" and ... well, sorta.


It's clearly a bit like a sausage casing:

My plan was to rip the side seams and insert a couple triangular darts, but, well ... time got away from me, and whatever, I'm not ripping into the dress's architecture a week or two before Halloween. So since I can zip it up (even though I'd be hard pressed to say it fits), the current plan is to just wear a corset under it and alter it later. (Note: I'm obviously not wearing a corset in this photo! Presumably it'll hang a little better when I redistribute a couple inches from my waist.)

You may note one reasonably dramatic problem with the dress, though; Flame Princess's dress has a V-neck. This is going to be the template for the overdress, too, so I really wanted it to be the right shape! So this is what I did today:

transformed to

Arm pudge bedamned, this costume is going to look amazing! 

Side note: it is nerve-wracking to cut into a solidly constructed garment. I hand-stitched the whole thing, and while that was a pain in the ass, I think it was necessary to reassure myself that the fabric wasn't going to fray all to hell and leave me dressed in tatters at the end of the night.

So that's where things stand at the moment. I was hoping to make the overdress today too, but I think I pulled a muscle in my hip, and so my trip to my amazing artist friend's house, where I was to receive some tutorial and the use of her sewing machine, has been cancelled. Alas!

More as it happens!