I feel certain that anyone who truly knows me, has no doubts about my sanity.....or lack thereof.
For those of you who weren't sure before, well.... Read on!
I'd been itching to dive in and thoroughly immerse myself in a huge creative project all winter; any medium would be just dandy. The opportunity presented itself (more like an excuse) when the 14 year old told me there was a big end-of-junior-high semi-formal dance coming up this spring.
So her crazy Mama decided to pull out all the stops for this one.
Sewing, painting, Mod Podging, dyeing, duct taping, ironing candy wrappers.
Wait....WHAT?!
I'd tried to keep this a secret from her, but the candy-snarfing friends and family I'd solicited for donations let the cat out of the bag, and after numerous stories, I had to eventually admit it....
Yep, you heard me right. A candy wrapper dress.
It's coming along nicely I think.
Here's the beginning---
The first three photos are the beginnings of the skirt, and the last photo is the bodice back.
Let me tell you....we thought we had this thing figured out, but not all candy wrappers are created equal!
They have varying degrees of waxiness (which we ironed out on newspaper), and none were the same size! I thought at least all of the Tootsie Pop papers would be identical, but no.
The size variations made patterning like we'd planned a wee bit more challenging.
We were left with gaps where the plain muslin fabric shows through.
The plan is to spray dye over the finished dress to fill in the gaps a bit; if it's still not just right, then we'll be sewing random papers over the gaps.
The Girlio has a great eye for color and pattern, and she's fairly handy with the Mod Podge too.
Each wrapper had to be 'Podged onto the fabric, then sewn in place once dry.
We found that all the ironing and handling had left the papers a little fragile, and we don't want the dye spray to ruin them, so we 'Podged over them lightly.
The next phase will be to put bodice and skirt together, then apply the candy papers to the flounce, which goes all the way around (it's a wrap dress...didn't want gathers or too much detail to complicate things).
AND concoct a large paper flower where the dress fastens at the waist.
It's possible that we'll trim the whole thing out with some teal or pink duct tape (love that stuff!), and create a fluffy crinoline for underneath.
And of course, we'll welcome any comments/suggestions/helpful hints that you may have!
This is a much larger and more complex project than even I had imagined! But what fun....a crazy Mama/Girlie project!
For those of you who weren't sure before, well.... Read on!
I'd been itching to dive in and thoroughly immerse myself in a huge creative project all winter; any medium would be just dandy. The opportunity presented itself (more like an excuse) when the 14 year old told me there was a big end-of-junior-high semi-formal dance coming up this spring.
So her crazy Mama decided to pull out all the stops for this one.
Sewing, painting, Mod Podging, dyeing, duct taping, ironing candy wrappers.
Wait....WHAT?!
I'd tried to keep this a secret from her, but the candy-snarfing friends and family I'd solicited for donations let the cat out of the bag, and after numerous stories, I had to eventually admit it....
I was planning a dress for the Girlie made from candy wrappers.
Yep, you heard me right. A candy wrapper dress.
It's coming along nicely I think.
Here's the beginning---
Let me tell you....we thought we had this thing figured out, but not all candy wrappers are created equal!
They have varying degrees of waxiness (which we ironed out on newspaper), and none were the same size! I thought at least all of the Tootsie Pop papers would be identical, but no.
The size variations made patterning like we'd planned a wee bit more challenging.
We were left with gaps where the plain muslin fabric shows through.
The plan is to spray dye over the finished dress to fill in the gaps a bit; if it's still not just right, then we'll be sewing random papers over the gaps.
The Girlio has a great eye for color and pattern, and she's fairly handy with the Mod Podge too.
Each wrapper had to be 'Podged onto the fabric, then sewn in place once dry.
We found that all the ironing and handling had left the papers a little fragile, and we don't want the dye spray to ruin them, so we 'Podged over them lightly.
The next phase will be to put bodice and skirt together, then apply the candy papers to the flounce, which goes all the way around (it's a wrap dress...didn't want gathers or too much detail to complicate things).
AND concoct a large paper flower where the dress fastens at the waist.
It's possible that we'll trim the whole thing out with some teal or pink duct tape (love that stuff!), and create a fluffy crinoline for underneath.
And of course, we'll welcome any comments/suggestions/helpful hints that you may have!
This is a much larger and more complex project than even I had imagined! But what fun....a crazy Mama/Girlie project!
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