Jolly Holiday is, indeed, jolly!

The "Jolly Holiday Project" shipped to its recipient and it was received in good time.  Thankfully, it all fit and looks great.  Check it out:

Its a Jolly Holiday...

A friend of mine, who is also very interested and involved in Steampunk, approached me about making a version of Mary Poppins' dress from the "Jolly Holiday" sequence.  I've really always wanted to make this dress, but as I'm built like a Slavic milkmaid, I knew the style would never look right on me.  So, I jumped at the chance and let the panic of "ohnowhatifidoitwronganditlooksterrible" set in later.

Having just put the final touch on the outfit tonight, I'm pretty darn happy with it.

Check it out...

 Mary Poppins didn't skimp on her "fluff", so this dress needed a petticoat.  I based my design off of a 3-tiered skirt, and simply added a second layer of the bottom two tiers.

 My friend decided that she didn't want the traditional pink and red colors for this dress, and she chose blue instead.  The dress is made with a soft blue broadcloth base and then an organza overlay.  This is a back-view of the dress, which I closed with a zipper.

 This is a front-view of the dress.  Mary Poppins' dress features a girdle-type piece which I did not make for this dress, as my friend owns a leather middle-cinch that will be taking its place.  Since this dress will be worn for steampunkery, this is completely appropriate.

 An inside-view; since I was working with organza, I worried that the inner seams were going to become scratchy.  This problem was solved with a bit of patience, a lining, and some bias tape.

I love hats, making hats, wearing hats, and decorating hats.  I managed to find this hat at Target and then decorated it up a bit.  The hat-band is braided suede and ribbon, tacked down with pearls, and those three little rosettes are actually made out of metal! 

Finally, I make a hat-scarf out of the remaining organza from the dress.  Mary Poppins has one, but after trying on the hat with the scarf myself, I have a feeling my friend will make it an optional accessory.

All in all, this ensemble took me about a week and half worth of time and, as JoAnn's Fabrics loves feeding the bargain hunter and coupon clipper in me, the fabrics were extremely reasonable in cost.

About Me...

When I turned 16 years old I came to the conclusion that if I did not learn how to sew RIGHT NOW, I would never be able to make my children the same kinds of wonderful costumes my mother had been able to make my sister and I throughout our childhoods.  Egged on by hobbies such as LARPing, Renaissance Faires, and (most recently) Steampunk, I find myself creating wonderful costumes for myself, my son, and my friends.  Recently, people have been wanting to commission my work, which is extremely flattering and extremely scary at the same time.

Being asked to do a commission is flattering because it means that someone admires your work enough that they want to *pay* you for it.  It is scary because there is a fair amount of self-doubt and worry that you'll make something that doesn't fit, or doesn't work, or just doesn't look right.  Commission work is also scary as I have a nasty habit of cutting deadlines extremely close.

Hence the name "Eleventh Hour Sewing".

/blush

In any case, I decided that my work needed something better than Facebook as a showcase, and so... here it is.