Happy Halloween!
This Halloween, Vince and I were invited to a house party with the theme "2011 Bates Senior Prom". Bates being from the movie Carrie (which was the Hostess costume). So, with that being said, I went as a prom teenager. I went to Prom in the early 90s, so the styles were not quite as strange as the 80s, but strange enough. My reconstructed dress might have more like a late 80s/early 90s feel to it, with elements spanning 3 decades (70s through the 90s) rather than straight 90s. To my original prom, I wore a knee-length fitted purple sequined dress with a white rhinestone halter strap. I LOVED it. I may have asked my mom to keep that one, but there was no way in this decade that I was fitting back into it (ah, size 2, 90 lbs) so I must improvise with a dress from Goodwill.
Vince was my date, but he went as Don Johnson from Miami Vice (aka Detective James Crockett). I played it off as the "boyfriend that went to college." You all had that friend that had the older boyfriend that no one ever saw because he either lived in another city/state or was older than they were and went to another school; whether they were totally lying or not, you may never have found out the real story. That was my story last night.
I bought my dress at Goodwill, which was a bridesmaid's dress made of satin and organza in GOLD. Yes, that is my throwback to the 70's decade. Oh, and it had BIG boobs.
I think saying that it had big boobs was an understatement. It had really big boobs. This dress had an organza attached skirt with the satin top extending below the waist in an asymmetrical hem. Underneath was a petticoat to make it pouf a bit.
To reconstruct this dress to be Prom-worthy, I first had to cut the length. A selling point for me was the asymmetrical hem of the satin top. My prom had asymmetrical hems all over the place, so I am playing them up to the max. I pinned up the organza and petticoat and just had the liner hanging down. I trimmed 12 inches down from the satin hem.
Once that was trimmed away, I sewed a hem. I then unpinned the organza and gathered it in little bunches along the new hemline of the liner. Once the bunches were made, I took needle and thread and tacked the bunches in place. I trimmed the remaining organza to follow the liner hemline.
I pinned up the liner and organza layer to reveal only the petticoat. The petticoat part was really only at the bottom of the dress, so I just pinned it up and sewed to match the same asymmetrical hem. This allowed the petticoat to have the pouf effect and stick out the bottom (in a Madonna/tacky 80s way).
I took in the sides at the top. Just so you know, I'm keeping the big boobs. I took it in so it's not falling off, but those boobs will be back.
You can't have a fun dress without the one-shoulder-poufy sleeve. I cut one strap completely off. I then unstitched the remaining one in the back only. I needed to reposition this strap to hold my new boobs up effectively.
I took some leftover liner fabric and made a tube. I affixed one tube end onto the front part of the dress encompassing the strap. I then stuffed the tube sleeve with leftover organza. I scrunched up the tube and sewed the strap back onto the back of the dress, but more towards the center zipper. I then sewed the loose tube end onto the back of the dress.
It's hard to tell, but that is the makings of the poufy sleeve in the above pic.
I still had more leftover liner. This is where my new boobs come into the story. I made another tube, but larger. I took leftover quilting batting and stuffed the tube. With some arranging, I made a nice set of C's for myself. (With my own boobs, they must add up to D's, right??) I put the dress on and adjusted the fill and evened it out. I just tied the boobs on like a bandeau top. Since they are not real, they don't weigh anything. I took the strap I cut off earlier and tied it in the middle of the boobs to give a bit more definition, rather than a uniboob.
Here is the finished dress:
The dress actually is not too bad. It's starting to grow on me. Vince then spray painted with gold, my shoes and the white petticoat.
These shoes rock! Who knew a can of spray paint can do such a transformation?
I then put on some finishing touches like black hose and teased my hair and I'm ready for the Prom! I did my hair just like I used to do it back in the day: banana clip with the hair wall for the bangs with a long tendril.
I had to take the picture by the hedge, just like my parents would have done it. Not only did I dress up, but Vince did as well, as I said above. Here is us taking a "professional portrait" at the prom (notice my new rack):
I have to say, no offense to my high school friends out there, but I had so much fun at this prom, more than at my real prom (no teenage boy drama). If anyone is looking for a party to throw, throw a theme party. They are a huge amount of fun. (You'll have to check my Facebook to get a hint of how it went) :-)
I also am dressing up for work, but instead of a prom teenager, I will be going as something else. You'll have to check back later in the week to see my Monday costume!
Happy Trick or Treating!
