It's SHINY, Sugar!

Sometimes a plan works out far more beautiful that you imagined it.  :)

Remember this?

When it was all taken apart, I was left with this beautiful metallic sheer.  The debate became, what to line it with.  The smoky lavendar color is really affected by the color of the lining.

I pulled four choices from my fabric stash...

The pink was TOO much for me, and I liked the purples, but under light it was too sedate.

In the end, I LOVED the way the silver fabric shimmered under the sheer, and the fact that its cotton (and therefor makes a very stable base) was icing on the cake. 

It just looks like sugar and sprinkles and all things pretty. 

And in the end...

Yummm.  :)

The bodice is cut from the back of the tunic top, where there's no embroidery and completely assembled before any of the embroidery was added. 

The embellishments were taken from the neckline and bottom hem of the tunic. 

They were fussy cut and stitched in place by hand.  The flesh panel was stitched in last and can easily be  removed and replaced if the dancer has a darker skin tone. 

It tapers off as it wraps around the back and on an appropriately sized body (I need a smaller dress form!!), the two ends will just meet along the center back.  :) 

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. :-)

I picked up this beautiful outfit at my local thrift shop with a sort of vague plan to pull it apart and make 'something' out of it.

I pulled it out of the stash this week and it's suddenly screaming to be made into a Sugar Plum tutu! 

It's a lovely violet/lavendar crinkle sheer with an amazing amount of embroidery and embellishment on it.  It's lined with a lavendar cotton that's headed for the scrap bin. 



The neckline.



Pantleg trim (bottom right) and the bottom edge of the tunic (upper left)



Sleeve Edging



Tunic, bottom edge.  SOOO pretty!!

The best surprise of all is the nice fat seam allowance along those decorated edges when I started pulling it apart.  I can't wait to start putting this together.  More pix to follow!

The Return from Oz! :-)

I'm not gonna talk much, 'cuz I know you really just want to see the pictures.....  So I'll just say, the kids were AMAZING.  They did a fabulous job and the show was so much fun to watch! 

So, here we go!
   





Those "shiftless farm hands." 

The Farm Critters.

A better shot of the Billy Goat.


Dorothy

The Tornado.

The Rainbow

In the studio.  
The little girl in the orange broke her arm
three days before the show and didn't get to dance.
I'm glad we at least got a picture before then.

Glinda

The Munchkin Girls.

The Lollipop Guild.

The Lullabye League (again, missing our little broken dancer.)

The Munchkin Mayor, missing her top hat for dress rehearsal. It may or may not
 have been sitting on my dining room table at this point.
():-)

The ruby slippers for Dorothy?!?

The Wicked Witch of the West.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road!

 Lion, Tinman, Scarecrow, Dorothy, and Toto!  :)

Scarecrow

Tinman.  This was final dress, for the show she had silver hairspray and face paint.  :-)

Lion.  She was absolutely hysterical. 
She played the part so well.  It was too cute! 

Scaredy cat.  lol

The Spooky Forest

The Poison Poppy Field

The Gate Keeper to the Emerald City.

The Emerald Trio

The Emerald Twins

Scarecrow and Tinman recieve gifts from the Emerald City
Tour Guide and Queen of the Emerald City.

The Great and Powerful Oz Sends them on a mission.

Give me the shoes!!! The Witches Guard, the Witch and the Flying Monkeys
try to get the shoes from Dorothy.

The, um, Great and Powerful Oz...
Out from behind the curtain.  ;-)

 The Group Shot!  :-D  Excited dancers getting ready for the big show. 

And just because I think it's rediculously cute......

LOL  I love these kids. 

"Hey, are you guys twins?"

YES WE ARE!  

My girls have been accused of being twins since they were 2 and 3 years old.  (It's pretty funny, really, because they actually don't even look like sisters.)  They were tickled pink when they were cast as the "Emerald Twins" for this show.  FINALLY they could say "Yep!  We ARE twins!"  lol

The skirts go from center front, to center back on opposite hips.  When they stand side by side, they make little mirror images.  :)

And they think they're pretty darn cute....

And just for giggles....this is what you get when the 'photographer' falls over....lol

Picture day survival, and a sneaky peak. ;-)

PHEW!  We made it through the whirlwind that is picture day with only minor scrapes and abrasions.  lol

One oops where a cast member got added late...she had a skirt, but no bodice.  We put her in another dancers costume so she could get her photo though, so not really a huge problem.
Two jackets (oz and munchkin mayor) that need gussets under the arms so they can raise their arms without the jackets riding up. (Tutorial, anyone?)  And everything else fits!  YAY!!!!

Now the finish work begins.  Hooks and eyes, straps, a few stray hems, but all in all my list is pretty short. 

Still waiting for the photos to come through, but here's a little "behind the scenes" sneak peak.

From left to right, the baby chick, lamb, toto (she's the tall one) and the billy goat.  :-D  This is one seriously cuddly bunch! 

Jackets and Bloomers, lather, rinse, repeat.

Busy busy week with photo day TOMORROW. (Eep!!)

The to-do list is rapidly shrinking, with many thanks to my tireless friend Deb.  (THANK YOU!!)

The munchins have bloomers, the guards have tunics, the lullaby ALMOST has tutus. zooom!!

Here are some cute goodies for you to see. 

The Great and Powerful Oz Jacket:

There are six BIG silver buttons that go down that center placket....3 on each side.  :)  I need to see her in it before I can place them, though. 
Here's the back:

It's hard to see in the photo, but the white fabric is actually silk suiting with silver threads running through it.  It's BEAUTIFUL fabric that I got a majorly good deal on.  On which I appliqued Lycra...and ric rac.  I have a strange job.  lol

And here is the Munchkin Mayor!

There are also six BIG buttons waiting to go down the center front of this jacket.  They're green, dk blue and lt blue, three on each side.  :)  I think that little repetitions of details like that really help a show feel cohesive.

Here's the back:

 The tails split down the back up to the high waist. The bloomers are VERY high waisted and held up with elastic suspenders under the jacket.  That should keep us from having any problems with jacket/pants gaposis.  (The technical term for tummy hang-outage.)

And just for a "What on earth was I thinking" moment....THIS was the original fabric I had for this costume:

Yeah....I don't know either.  o.O  It doesn't go with the rest of the munchkin scene at ALL.  Deb and I made a fast dash to the fabric store, found the blue/green plaid, and it all instantly fell into place.  SO much happier with the new fabric. 

Picture day is tomorrow.  (Did I mention that?  I'm kind of obsessing.)  That means I SHOULD have some new things to show you.  If I don't, I'm in trouble. lol