Little Red Folksy Hood

Turns out I don't have a single photo of myself from the party with my face in a normal shape. I'm either gesturing wildly, over-emoting, gape-mouthed in laughter, or otherwise really odd looking. You don't want to look at my weird party face, you want to look at the costume I made, so here you go.

I haven't been this ambitious in building an entire ensemble for myself in years, so I was kinda proud of it when it all came together.

The skirt is a full circle with a waistband cut to fit me dropped in (instead of hemming the whole thing, I just serged on a lace trim and flipped it over, easy!), the cape a half circle with a hood I drew and slapped on there. The top is basic peasant blouse from a 1970's pattern, and it ended up being really short waisted but fine since it was tucked into my high waisted circle skirt. The bodice was a last-second addition I threw together in the hours before the party. The armholes weren't finished (but hidden under the hood!) and I didn't want to button or lace it, so you see it rigged here with some old trim that completely doesn't match.

The floral print used throughout (the skirt, cape and vest linings) was a vintage bedsheet I got at the thrift store for $3 bucks. All other fabrics and trim were from my stash. The crinoline underneath (my favorite part, honestly, so pouffy!) was the biggest expense at a whopping $12 dollars and I imagine I'll have a use for it again.

The lesson we learned doing halloween costumes this year was that it's okay to buy cheap thrift store fabric and find a use for it later, and to not take up a last second project you don't have time to finish properly. So I still want to finish the bodice and give it some kind of closure as well as add some trim to the neck and sleeves of the peasant blouse and pockets to the skirt. But overall I was tickled with how it all turned out.