Voila`!

The candy wrapper dress is done.
The dance is over.
She didn't wear the outfit I'd worked so diligently on, but that's ok; she looked beautiful anyway.

 

Did it hurt my feelings?
Enh.. little bit, but all along I'd realized this project was as much for me as for her.
So now I have this amazing dress, which I'll soon place on Etsy. It's all good.

In my rush to get this project completed, I'm afraid I did not remember to stop and photograph each step.
After the last photos posted here, I sewed the bodice to the skirt, and was very unhappy....the wrappers on the bodice just didn't "match" the ones on the skirt; they didn't belong together.
I also realized there was no way a ruffled flounce was going to be attached to this dress. I created the sleeves/flounces and saw that it looked more like armor than a ruffle!  Bleh!
At this point, I took the dress outside and hung it on the mimosa tree, spraying the entire creation with teal dye, letting it run and drip randomly. Awesome!
This not only filled in the "blank" spaces of fabric, but helped the wrappers to "blend" together better.

The flounces would've finished off the dress edges, and since that didn't pan out, I was faced with a new dilemma--- what to do with all those raw edges.
Enter the duct tape I'd purchased.
I trimmed the entire dress edge with hot pink duct tape. Ooooh----VERY unhappy!
It was far too bright and shiny compared to the dress itself!
I immediately added a teal tape edge over the pink.  Better, but still SO shiny!
Mod Podge to the rescue!
A coat of matte Mod Podge saved the day, dulling that tape just enough to more closely match the dress.

This was a wrap-style dress, and to cut down on bulk, I chose not to add a tie-belt, but instead used snaps at the waist.
This left the dress a little plain, so I used one of the sleeve flounces to create a large rosette by rolling, pleating and hand-stitching. When it looked like a flower, I stitched it to a large safety pin and attached it at the waist.

I wasn't happy with the way the skirt hung (and with a real live curvy human being inside, it had a gap at the bottom of the wrap overlay), so I created a petticoat from muslin and hot pink tulle.
The plain muslin begged to be hosed down with that teal dye from earlier, so out it went to the mimosa.
The way the dye dripped and puddled into the tulle was delicious!

It was only then that I realized I hadn't remembered to take photos of the steps!
So I packed up the dress, the petticoat and a wig from my collection (don't you love the way it matches the dress?) and sent it all off to the studio with the Canadian to be photographed. His prissy little mannequin is just not the same as a real feminine body, but she'll do.

I love my dress, but now I have all these candy wrappers, and a million ideas....
I don't think this is over.....not yet.
All along I'd been contemplating a matching clutch and pumps.
And I'm in love with that petticoat....
No, I do not think this is over..... 
*maniacal laughter*

A Little More Crazy....

Just sharing the progress of the candy wrapper dress today----

The bodice back

Bodice fronts, also known as the "breast plates"

 

A portion of the skirt

Bodice front, all sewn together

Bodice back, attached to front

Today I'm heading up to complete the flouncing---it's ready to Mod Podge the papers on--- then we'll be ready to start sewing all the parts together!
We've also acquired some hot pink and some teal Duck Tape, possibly for binding the edges (I don't think that hemming is a real possibility).

More later....stay tuned....

Just in Case Y'all Were Wondering.....

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....

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---

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!