Hello, and First Costume Blog

Welcome to my Costume Blog, where I will be describing in pretty good detail the process of how I make/design/sew/produce my costumes. And to let everyone know right now, I DO NOT make all my costumes by myself, though, I have made a few on my own. I have a lovely group of girlfriends that help me make my costumes when I unable to figure it out. Sometimes it's just out of my comfort zone or I don't have the right machine. Some pieces for costumes I have had commissioned or have traded work for work.

My first costume I am going to go over is, since Halloween is getting closer!!!:

Sally - Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas

Completed March 2009

Why I wanted to make it:

This costume came from my love of this character. She is very sweet and innocent, but can show her stronger side by meeting adversity (or should I say Oogie Boogie) straight on. I always thought this would be a fun costume to design and make. Plus, I really wanted to make a Tim Burton character... and I have a few more in the to do pile. :)

Work in Progress:

I felt that I could pull everything together myself, the only daunting thing was the dress. As usual I wanted it to be spot on to the one in the movie, with the very subtle colours and designs (not the horrible easter-egg coloured Disney version you can buy at Halloween).

I started looking for fabrics that would match or reflect the colours and designs on the dress. But it soon became too time consuming and frustrating since I wanted it so exact. One evening I was doing research online and I came upon a seamstress that had designed a Sally dress to be pretty much exact to the movie! She designed the dress initially for children, but I found out she had made some adult sizes. So I emailed her for a quote and sent her my measurements and a few weeks later it was in my hands. The dress was exact, down to the muted colours, designs and embroidery, and it was all hand stitched together using black yarn!

Where I found it.

The wig was another challenge. I decided to go with a yarn wig rather than a 'hair' wig because I wanted to portray Sally in her ragdoll form rather than just a 'human' version of Sally. I did a online search for a yarn wig tutorial (really easy and great pics for instructions) changed it a bit to reflect Sally's hair. I bought a nylon netted wig cap and attaching the yarn to that was very easy (time consuming, but easy). I bought dark red yarn from Michaels.

The shoes where my own. I bought them from Spring Shoes. And the socks where actually licensed "Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas", I found them at Claire's Accessories last Halloween, I only had to fold them once so they were the correct length.

Costume and Price Breakdown (estimates):

Fabric: n/a - Commissioned dress from another seamstress - about $200

Pattern: n/a

Wig: Yarn (800 yrds)-$8, Nylon Wig Cap-$7

Shoes: My own... I think they were $50, plus the stripped socks... bought two pairs for good measure... about $20

Weapon Props: n/a

Other Accessories: I got red nail polish, red lip stick, black contacts, large fake eyelashes (kinda spaced like Sally's, and then white-blueish-green make up for my skin and blue eyeliner pencil for stitch marks.

Time to Build: The wig took a long time to make, probably around 5-6 hours, applying the make up took about 3 hours. I would like to thank my wonderful friend Rita Rogers for applying the makeup and drawing on the stitch marks (oh yes and Liann helped too!). Rita is a fantastic makeup artist. :)

Enjoy the photos :)