Honey O'Hara Part 3

Honey O'Hara

Lace, Lace and More Lace

The next step is adding the lace to the strips to soften the edges and give it a more feminine look, and of course to match the original inspiration of Scarlett O'Hara's HUGE ruffled dress.

Adding the lace was much quicker and easier than hemming endless metres of strips.  It was also a lot more satisfying because the finished effect is so pretty!

Just a quick snapshot of a strip with the lace pinned in place.  I also folded the lace over at the end and sewed a mini hem to make sure it wouldn't fray.

Just a close up of the layered effect of the lace with the strips above.

Below is a shot showing three of the strips just draped in place while a fourth strip waits to have its lace sewn on.

Finally all strips are sewn into place and finished off with lace in the below photo.

The skirt is actually very heavy! A lot heavier than I expected and I may need to put even more tulle in place to hold it out than I had originally planned.

It does look awesome though and I think it is going to be as true to the inspiration as a dog costume can get.

After having a feel of the weight of this skirt, I am definitely glad I reinforced the Velcro.

A pic to show the details of the lace, it really is very pretty.

I was amazed at the range of lace that was available, made it difficult to pick just one!

The last thing I did before declaring the skirt 'finished' was add an extra bit of lace to the top of the layers because it looked bare without the lace.

There is still gathering before the skirt is officially finished but there are no more bits and pieces to add so I can start working on the tulle.

 

Honey O'Hara Part 2

Honey O'Hara

The Skirt

 

 Apologies for the delay between posts.  I will put up another post about what crafty activities have been keeping me at bay.

Despite my absence from the blog, there has been progress with the costume.  The skirt is nearly there.

The first thing I did was cut out that main section of skirt - basically a HUGE rectangle!

The Honey O'Hara skirt uses a lot more material on the skirt than the Cinderella, even just for the base layer.

This is because the skirt is going to be a lot fuller so I had to allow more length. 

I hemmed the edges so it wouldn't fray and then moved onto the strips.

To create the layered frill effect of the dress I am making strips of fabric and attaching them to the base skirt.

Each strip needed to be pinned and hemmed individually.

This part of the costume took FOREVER!

 This is one of the strips all pinned, ready for hemming.

 I started with three strips so I could test out how much overlap I wanted with the layers and work out from there how many strips would be needed.

 Here are the strips shown all hemmed up and laid out alongside the base of the skirt. 

 Below is a photo of the three strips layered on the base.
I left a gap before starting the layering so I can fold the top of the skirt over when its connected to the rest of the costume.  This will hide any unwanted seams.
At this stage the untidy threads are all over the place but they will be tidied up before the strips are sewn on.

There's not much left over from all that material I started out with. 

I used the existing strips as a stencil to cut around to speed up the process.

Luckily there was just enough fabric left for the remaining strips.

The next blog post will cover the remaining steps for the skirt, adding the lace and attaching them to the base.

 

Honey O'Hara - Getting started

Honey O'Hara

Part 2 - Getting Started

The first step in this mammoth project was to sew the basic jacket which forms the base for most of my costume designs.

 

As I said in the last blog, there is a LOT of fabric involved in this one!

 

 To cut the shape out I first fold the material so its doubled over.

I don't fold it completely in half because I don't want to split the left over fabric. 

Just folding the amount you need leaves the leftovers all at one end which is handy if you have to cut another big piece out.

 I always pin the paper to the fabric so it can't wriggle around and muck up the shape of whatever it is I'm cutting out.

You don't need many, I just pin at all the corners.

Next step is to ditch the paper patter and pin the two bits of fabric together ready for sewing. 

I use a lot more pins in this step!

I do minimal pins toward the tail because the corners are going to be cut off to create the nice rounded shape.

Corners are now all cut off to make the desired shape.

Before sewing I add more pins to the tail end so it stays in place as well.

 Have sewn it all together and turned it right way out.
Also sewn closed the tail opening, added the Velcro and given it a quick iron.

 For this project I reinforced the Velcro because the dress will be much heavier than a normal outfit.
I haven't had any trouble with the Velcro pulling away yet, but better safe than sorry.

To reinforce it I stitched a zigzag across the middle of the Velcro in addition to the normal stitches I put round the outside to attach it.



The good news is that it fits perfectly and can now be put to one side while I create the skirt.

It all looks very plain now, but when it's completed it will look every bit as big and flouncy as they original!

 

Honey O'hara!

Honey is  . . .

Scarlett O'Hara!

This time I am taking my inspiration from an American and cinema icon - Scarlett O'Hara.

 

For those that haven't seen the 1939 epic, Gone With the Wind, the dresses are BIG!

Very VERY big!!

  

This particular dress is the inspiration for Honey's next outfit.

Lots of ruffles!

Lots of Lace!

And

Lots and LOTS of material!!!

Here are some more shots of the inspiration dress

You could almost host a tea party under a civil war era dress!!

 

My other favourite outfit from the movie.

 

 

 This may be a future outfit for Honey but for now sticking with the ruffle dress.

 

 

This dress will be even bigger than the Cinderella dress and will feature lots of layers on the skirt.

I'm also going to try to fashion feaux sleeves, also with lots of layers.

Lace will adorn EVERYTHING and there will be a red velvet sash for a belt.

 

Keep an eye out for the next post showing Honey's outfit taking shape.

Honey and Beau - Cinderella and Prince Charming final photos!

Honey and Beau as Cinderella and Prince Charming!

The outfits are all finished now and had a fantastic response at the Disney party!

Everyone loved them and thought they were adorable and fantastic.

 

I also want to take this moment to mention that I only use an everyday standard sewing machine.  There are no gadgets or fancy bits or even an overlocker, although one day I would love an embroidery machine.

 

Anyone can sew, and it can look awesome!

You don't need the best of the best wizbang sewing machine to achieve a professional look, just a bit of patience and practice.

 

 Beau doing his best impression of Prince Charming.

Since the party, little Beau has put on some weight.  Trying the costume on I noticed it was a little tight in places.  Poor little guy will have to go back on his diet.

 

Honey being a princess in her super poofy skirt! I love how big this skirt turned out, it really does remind me of a ball gown and looks spectacular on.

The only thing that bothers me about the Cinderella costume is the chiffon ovals.  They were lightly stitched together and that helped to hold them in place, but a rough night of play with all the dogs resulted in a bit of fraying which weakened the bond.

Now that they are loose they do tend to flop forward, which on the whole is not too detrimental, just not how I wanted it.  If I did another Cinderella costume I would put a few subtle hand stitches connecting the chiffon directly to the dress.

I'll also put this change in place on the current costume for next time she goes out dressed as Cinderella.

The prince and princess posing together.

: )

 Beau loves his Honey!

 I will just mention, for those of you who are concerned about Honey's red eyes, they are the result of allergies.  Because of this she does have good days and bad days, depending on season and weather as anyone with hayfever or similar allergies can attest.

Honey doesn't sneeze with all the pollen and fresh cut grass around but her eyes do get quite red looking.

Although it can look quite confronting be assured Honey is not slowed down by these allergies, she can still see perfectly and they don't seem to hurt her.  Even on her worst days, Honey is always keen to play and is completely herself in every way!

Beau's outfit is definitely my favourite costume so far.  It was challenging because it does have quite a few new techniques for me and I had to completely redesign the pattern, but I think the extra effort was well worth it with the finished product.

There is nothing I would change on the design of Beau's costume.  The only changes I would make would be in my method.

I had some difficulty with the coat tails as I mentioned in an earlier post, and ended up folding the seams under and sewing on the outside.  I have since managed to work it so I could hide both the seam and the stitching.  I thoroughly blame sewing into the wee hours of the night for not coming up with the solution at the time.

The only other adjustment would be sewing the edging further onto the epaulettes to make them more resistant to playful Staffies with sharp teeth!

(The right one has been pulled out from under the edging, but is easily repaired.)

Honey and Beau posing as regal monarchs. 

(Beau was a bit of a sleepy monarch)

 

Overall I am much happier with these outfits than any predecessors and I hope this is a trend that continues as my sewing and design skills progress.

Both costumes could be made in any size so if you are interested in having your own Prince Charming or Cinderella don't hesitate to email honeyis@bigpond.com or niki.turner@bigpond.com.
Hope everyone is enjoying seeing the new outfits as much as I enjoy making them.

:)

 

Beau is Prince Charming -Part 3

Beau is Prince Charming

Decorating

A golden collar is a must for every handsome prince.  I cut this piece out and hemmed it up quite quickly.
The seam allowance from the pattern to the hemmed costume made a bigger difference than I expected and I had to cut the ends down a fair bit (more than I expected).
 I folded the raw ends under and used the stitching to hold them down to hold them hemming in place as well.
 



Photo above shows the costume laid out with the collar sewn down and the velcro pinned down ready to be sewn in place.  In the previous post I showed the velcro pinned down without the collar but I remembered in time that the collar would have to go down first otherwise it would get in the way of the velcro. 

Beau got to have a little photoshoot trying the outfit on before the belt was in place, but all he wanted to do was sleep!

 

Beau is just tooo cute!

Belt is all attached and you can see it quite neatly covers up the seam attaching the maroon to the blue.

The gold belt is what holds this outfit in place.  Normally in the Honey outfits the belly strap is alot wider and further forward, tucking just behind the front legs. 

Instead, for this outfit I wanted the golden belt to sit further back so it sits almost where a real belt would be.  I made it narrower than the belly straps I normally make on Honey's outfits to make it more belt-like.

The smaller surface area of the velcro didn't significantly affect the costumes ability to stay on and despite some rough play with Honey and a friends staffy, Beau's outfit stayed on the best out of all the dogs (and better than some of the humans!)

 

The epaulettes were the last bit of decoration to be added.

They were fairly straight forward, half an oval cut out with a small amount of extra material on the straight edge for the seam allowance.

I didn't do the seam before attaching the epaulette.  Instead I folded the seam under the epaulette and then attached the epaulette, making sure to go over the seam, hemming and attaching in one go.

 

I then got this fancy bit of edging which I found in the ribbons and lace section and pinned it around the outside of the epaulette, overlapping a little so the epaulette will be sewn beneath the edging. 

Final photos in the next blog post showing Beau in all his Prince Charming glory and a wrap up of both Cinderella and Prince Charming costumes.