Evergreen Gown Part 1

  I saw some dresses made from Christmas trees and fell in love with them.  I just had to have one for myself so as soon as Christmas was over I went out and bought an artificial tree at half price. Now there are some problems I had to consider before the construction began.
1. Artificial trees have a big metal pole going up the center of each branch.
2. How to attach the branches once they have I get them away from said big metal shish kabob.
3. How do I sit down once I have the dress completed?
 Answers I came up with,
1. I will get a sharp knife (YIKES!! only nicked myself twice) and cut them apart!!
2. I thought about hot gluing them down but I will be sewing them down too which will be VERY bothersome when the thread gets tangled and very time consuming.
3. Don't sit down.
  So once I figured that out I went to work on the style of the dress which as since then changed drastically.

This was what the floor looked like after I was done cutting the 635 branches off the shish kabobs.

That's what the shish kabobs look like without the pine needle/ mini branches off the main one that attaches to the center pole of the artificial tree.  The threads that kept the needles to the metal pole looked like hair once I cut them off. 

I wanted the skirt of the dress to be very full at the bottom but fitted at the waist without a bunch of pleats and gathers. I didn't want to be even more bulky at the waist than the branches were going to make it so I cut out a 6 paneled gored skirt for that purpose. The green,doesn't match the needles but I didn't need it to since you aren't really going to see the green behind the branches. I just wanted a green background color so it helped fill in any thin spots.

I made the bodice base out of  some cotton I had laying around then put some boning in to help it keep some shape once I put the heavily quilted velvet fabric on. 

Here is the design I settled with for the bodice top. I wanted something that branched together to tie in with the tree skirt but something that wasn't overpowering. Not sure if I achieved that goal or not but I did try and it was fun.  I'm making  a white with a shimmer overlay for the trumpet styled sleeves then I just have the bottom left. 

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The Hobbit errr Elf Dress

 I was invited to go see the The Hobbit battle of five armies the other day and decided last night (New Years Eve and the movie is on New Years Day)  that I would like to go in costume. I didn't dress up for any of the others and it occurred to me that this was my last chance! If I didn't do it now I would NEVER get another opportunity.      Where is my fabric?!?   I couldn't find enough fabric that was "Elvish" enough to suit me so as I was brain storming (yes it hurt) an idea struck me (no it didn't hurt). I had tried to make an Elven dress years ago and it was a disaster but I still had it somewhere in my stuff.  I found it and tried it on and saw once again why I didn't like it. The top didn't fit right at all. so I took it apart and re-cut the bodice front and made an insert panel and now it is ever so much better!
  Not perfect yet but better.

This was the first attempt and as you can see in the picture I wasn't happy with it but I did need to document it so I could do better next time. I changed the front bodice style and switched the under dress out for a gold color instead of the green. I also changed the style of sleeves. The drooping kind might be fun to play with but they really get in the way when you are trying to eat.

New top design has lacing on it to help with a better fit.

Would have looked a lot better if I could have found my boning but I couldn't and that's what happens when I clean. I can't find things. sigh.

I 

Showing the front panels and the contrast of colors on inside and outside of the dress.

The back is very simple with a small train in the back.

And that's all for now hopefully I will be able to get some better pictures soon. It took me last night and this morning to get it done. The longest part was hemming, I had to do it all by hand so the shirt, skirt front, and hem were all sewn by hand which I about never do and really should do more often the results are worth it.

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