A 'Ruined Childhood' party turned out to be a good idea after all!

The thing I'm writing about today might just be the crappiest thing I've ever sewn. It looks awesome, but it's so incredibly shoddily made I'm not even going to show you  any details! Drawing on a deadline works fine, but sewing on a deadline seems to be a big NO!

My boyfriend and I just moved into our first appartment (are you tired of hearing that yet?) so we decided to have a little housewarming party. It happened to be right around Halloween, and even though Halloween isn't really a thing here (people just use it as an excuse to throw a party I guess) we'd never pass up an opportunity for fancy dress. We decided on a theme that could have turned into a very confronting experience: childhood fears.

I decided to go as the 'Queen of Underland' (Koningin van Onderland), a character from a Belgian children's comic that scared the shit out of me when I was six or seven years old. Basically, she's an insane woman, the last descendant of a noble family, and desperate to regain the power her ancestors once had. She decides to start a new nation in the expansive dungeons of her castle, and to populate it with children, since they aren't strong enough to oppose her. To do this, she hypnotizes a local policeman and makes him steal children from their beds in the night. Of course, our hero finds out about this and goes to investigate, and after overcoming some troubles (he gets tortured! His parrot gets shot out of a cannon! They find the policeman, chained up and wailing about his doomed soul) he manages to rescue the children and catch the queen.

The comic isn't very widely know outside of Belgium, but I think most other Belgians will at least have anotion of this character. She turns up a few other times, always cruel and insane. I decided on this costume because it's impressive but not impossible to make, and because SHE'S FUCKING SCARY.

So here is my version! I'm not joking when I say this was made in one evening and a morning. I frankenpatterned a long black dress (my own bodice block with a super high neckline, the Saltspring maxi skirt and a lengthened Peony sleeve), drafted a hood-like veil and a massive cape. The dress is made out of the cheapest and most disgusting polycotton I could find, so I didn't bother with decent construction (or finishing seams).

Googling 'evil plans'.

The cape pattern was very simple, I just made a big flared shape that would sort of match my shoulder curve and didn't bother with matching it to the collar. In the end, I pleted the excess fabric until everything fit. The collar is just one big rectangle I interfaced with horsehair canvas (fancy!) to make it stand up. The white bands at the front are applied like binding so they encase the raw edge of the cape, and the whole thing closes with a button tab. The crown is yellow paper.

I enjoyed wearing this, it was comfortable and warm (always a plus). I did take off the veil part after a while, since the cheap polycotton in my neck got VERY itchy!

Here are some of the other costumes at the party:

My boyfriend didn't have a lot of time for his costume so he improvised and went as the hunter who killed Bambi's mother (I refuse to accept that she's alive. Fuck you Disney, you can't mess with my childhood heart like this and then say 'OH NO LULZ SHE'S NOT DEAD AFTER ALL). His badge says 'I killed Bambi's mother and all I got was this lousy badge'.

I've never been scared of my dentist, he's a nice guy, but I see things could have been different!

These two came as 'divorce' and proceeded to freak everyone out for the entire evening.

But the true winner of the night was this gigantic eyeball. Imagine opening the front door to see that one!