Please note that this costume was inspired by Tia’s… I do not claim to have everything identical to the original. Thank you for your understanding…. I made this costume just for fun!

Dress Description:

  This dress has four main pieces….corset, underskirt, dress and belt.

Corset: The corset is a colonial style with rows and rows of boning and stitching. I think this was the most time consuming piece of the costume to create…but it was also the first piece that needed to be made in order for the rest of the costume to fit properly. So once I had the corset finished I hand sewed the fish net and other trims to it to give it the Tia Dalma look.

The corset can be made with or without straps... laces up the back.

         Oh, yes I also acquired a locket....much like that of Davy Jones.... 

Underskirt: This was fun….to make the underskirt I used a simple cotton fabric with a row of Asian tapestry fabric sewed along the bottom of the skirt to give the allusion that it was a full tapestry skirt. Next came the draping…to do this part I dyed and redeyed the dark colored drapery fabric and trims to make them look aged. Once that was done the tasseled trim was added along with a large row of gold and rust colored rose fabric.

Dress: Before I could start sewing the dress I had to first dye all the fabric to make it look like it was aged and sun faded. After many boxes of dye I finally got the correct results. The basic dress pattern is a colonial style that does not have the front of the dress…basically it is only half of the dress. I then modified the back to look like the original gown. After lots of hand sewing I added yards of rust colored silk all the way around the edge of the dress. Last, but not least came the tasseled fishnet type trim.  

Belt: I tried to copy the original movie belt as much as I could. First I dyed and distressed the fabrics and then added beads and shells to complete the Tia Dalma look (Thank you Rose for the beads) The leather lacing that hangs down also has shells....

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The Tia Dalma costume is a custom made costume that is very intricate and ornate. I have hand dyed all the fabrics and aged them so the costume would have that worn used look….each fabric is carefully selected and most of the details are hand sewn.

 My Tia Dalma costume (the one pictured on this page) is not for sale, but I can make a version of it just for you. Please contact me for prices and estimates… I can also make girls sizes of this costume, so please feel free to contact me with any questions you might have.