29/09/13 - Rocky Horror DIY

I love fancy dress.  If you've been reading this blog for any amount of time, you've probably noticed.  And my favourite kind of fancy dress costume is one which becomes a project.  I'm not a costume-renting kind of girl and  I avoid those cheap tacky costume shops like a polyester plague.  I always attempt to construct outfits from things I already own, whether that means a bit of thinking a bit outside the box or chopping up and reassembling various items of clothing.  Let us not forget the stylish monkey costume, evidence of which can be found here - you can do so much with a brown T-shirt and some hair bobbles.  There was a previous version of it which also involved a tail made of two belts.  God, I'm good.

No longer being a student means that I have infinitely less opportunities to break out the dressing up box so when I get the chance, I go all out.  And next week, I will be in my element.  I'm heading back to Hull to spend some of Freshers Week with my friends there who still have a year to go before graduation (those lucky people!) and while I'm there, we're going to see the UK tour of the Rocky Horror Show...which naturally means dressing up.  So I've decided to talk you through how I've constructed my DIY Magenta costume, for a chance to do something a little different on here.




In order to reduce the costs of this outfit, I'm not making a carbon copy of the original.  I didn't have a black dress which would be appropriate, so I've adapted it slightly to incorporate things that I already had.  Also, I am no kind of seamstress - I don't have the skill nor the patience to be really good at sewing.  Everything about this costume ended up being a little bit slapdash, but I think it's passable.

I used:
A plain black dress (about £8, H&M last summer)
An old white shirt (free, never underestimate the power of your father's wardrobe)
Lace/broderie anglaise edging (66p a metre, I got two just to be sure)
White ribbon (no idea where this was from, I just found it in my room)
A plain black headband (£1, Wilkinson)






For once, the vision I had in my head actually (sort of) came to life in front of me.  The collar from the shirt fitted fairly well inside the neck of the dress and the rest of the shirt material was plenty to construct an apron and maid's cap.  I even cracked out the sewing machine to make everything faster and a bit neater.

The maid's cap proved to be the trickiest part but using this clever little tutorial, it came out much better than I had expected!

While I realise that this post is maybe a little niche for most readers, it might come in handy if you're looking to whip up a Hallowe'en costume or if you too happen to have tickets to the Rocky Horror tour!  

If you'd be interested in a post about the make-up and hair I intend to pair with the costume to create the finished look, let me know in the comments!

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