When I left off, I had mostly completed the gown. At this point, the skirts were almost done. The bodice was complete and the sleeve tops had been attached. I then returned to the sleeves and did the bottom half. This was a bit odd schedule wise but it worked for me. I knew they wouldn't be terribly difficult and I wanted to see the dress on to get the right proportions. Having entire sleeve done beforehand would have just gotten in the way (again, this is my personal preference. You may be reading this saying you could never and that is fine too).
You may remember this from part one. The sleeves are on just floating around at the bottom.
I had made the tops of the sleeves out of a rectangle, gathering the tops and then hand sewing it to the bodice. You may recall that the sleeve was made of several layers. I refer to it as essentially having two. I had the top (that you see) with sheer white, then rainbow organza, then lace, then white cotton. and the second layer under that, the lining, which was broadcloth interlined with stiff netting. I took white tulle and shoved in between these two layers. I measured around my arms and cut out another rectangle. This one consisted of the sheer white, rainbow organza and white broadcloth. My lining was a silky polyester something (official name I just came up with) that felt comfortable against my skin.
I then attached the top sleeve to the bottom by way of tucking under the top edge and hand sewing to the lower sleeve bit. This was tedious and frustrating. Despite serging all edges the rainbow organza still tore. Thankfully the sleeve was enough layers that it stayed put. I sewed lace applique to the edge of the sleeve. It is worth noting that the sleeve ends in a v on the on hand. I did a shallow v because I thought it would be more aesthetically pleasing. The movie costume has random tulle sewn to the sleeves on ether side. They sort of trail out and create a little indentation. I ended up ripping some white tulle and simply tacking in place, sewing through all the layers.
Due to how I attached the lace at edge the v got a bit lost.
The tulle shreds ended up blending in with the gown!
Gold net bag, check!
And then the fun accessory stuff! I started with my white satin shoes I had worn with my green robe a la francaise. I ripped off the purple bows, cut out more lace and applied it to the shoes with shoe goo. I carefully added gemstones at random. I figured the goblins would have sprinkled gems in the same manner they did the bodice. It was actually very enjoyable to decorate the shoes and I would like to do more in the future. I also quickly threw together a satin bag with some lace applique and got a sparkly silver fan (even a goblin princess gets hot).
I really do love how these shoes turned out!
Next was trying to replicate the hair. I have seen many variations of this and obviously all we can do is use movie stills. There are some pesky promo pictures that confuse things. Obviously I ignored those.
The three main pictures I used
Promo picture. She is so very beautiful. And that hairpiece is so very different than in the movie.
Lets break this down the hairstyle. The dress had a fabulous 1980's poof in front that is almost half up half down. The poof is a bit high in the very front but then really extended out further down the head in the back. You can see in the picture above with Bowie that the hair really had a lot of volume that didn't start right at the top. Silver wire is woven through the hair, starting on either ear. The wire has leaves and small sparkly bits intertwined. There are iridescent ribbons tied to both Sarah's hair and the hairpiece. Note the hairpiece looks pliable. It is molded to gently rest on her teased hair. The hair itself is teased throughout with giant curls.
I began with silver jewelry wire (Joanns had a sale and I was inspired). I grabbed two packs and then headed to Michaels, where I found silver leaves in the wedding department. I also found little clear gems on the tips of silver wire and grabbed a pack of those. The leaves are already attached to wire which is very handy! I then went home and my sister helped me devise a method to get the volume to my hair. We cut one donut in half (H&M sells them in two sizes) and left one small one whole. We teased my entire head of hair then gathered the front and secured with some bobby pins. We then fed some hair through a donut and secured the other right next to it. I then attached a hunk of false hair above that. We smoothed the entire thing up and out.
You can see some hair pulled through the donut and then a cut donut above that.
Once the hair was smoothed out we took the wire and simply scrunched and carefully pinned to the hair. On one side I created a loop and attached some ribbon and leaves to it. My sister carefully bent and twirled the wire around my hair. She then went back and twisted the leaves and gems in. Overall I was happy with the result, though we both agreed I needed more volume and less wire on the very back. The false hair was also slightly too dark so I ordered some more to better match my own hair.
The make up was fairly simple. Jennifer Connelly has green eyes. I obviously do not so my make up was a little different to accommodate. The eyebrows were brushed up and some pencil added. I then applied some light purple and silver to my entire eyelid and a dark brown only to the half the eyelid. Some eyeliner on top and bottom of the eye, again starting halfway. Light blush and light pink lipstick completes the look.
If you squint and use some goblin magic it looks like Sarah is in my guest bathroom
It was time to pack up for Costume College! The bodice went in a big box and I hung the skirts on hangers. The grand pannier thankfully flattens into a big circle, which is very helpful,
The bodice resting in the hotel room. It was so unwieldy I had nowhere else to put it!
Sat afternoon I did my hair by myself. I forgot to bring a hand mirror so I was reliant on my phone and the bathroom mirror. I couldn't see the back of my head. Thankfully I think it worked out. In went the wire and the gems. My friend made me the most beautiful Sarah necklace and I wore my earrings that my niece had gifted me for my birthday. I felt pretty great!
In the hotel room right before I got dressed
On the way down to the red carpet I discovered my tulle layer was a little bit too long. I ended up tripping on it repeatedly. Right before I walked the red carpet I reached down and simply tore a huge chunk of it off. I then had to lift my skirts to move fast. I managed to sit in my giant grand pannier. I did take some pictures but not many as it was such a busy night. On my way however I managed to get some window photos, where you can see how big the skirts were! I attended the gala dinner, got to talk to so many wonderful people and danced in the ballroom afterwards. The whole evening was a bit of a blur. Everyone looked absolutely lovely. And then just like that, it was time to take off Sarah and leave the Goblin world behind.
Don't let that camera angle fool you, my skirts were HUGE!
I apparently took quite a few of these
Photo by Debbie Boyd
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