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Well, I had to do it...the kids were ready to plan their costumes for our TOG Year 2 Unit 2 celebration.  As usual, they want me to dress up too.  So here we go!  So far, dd's costume is finished, so I'll share that one this week.

14yod wants to be Portia.  We found a great pattern...which uses lots of fabric!   DD selected her key fabrics, which we got on sale.  DD was really taken with the tapestry used in the bodice. Then we supplemented with extra fabrics from my fabric closet.  That was not only a great way to save money, but a terrific way to clean out the closet!

Here are the bum rolls for each of us.  They are worn around the waist to make the hips look bigger (like I really want to do that) and help make the skirt poof out more.

Here is dd's Portia costume.  It doesn't look too good on camera...but it actually it looks better in person. I was really disappointed when I saw this picture.  It's difficult to see the subtle colors and patterns and just looks blah.  DD was delighted when she came home from Awanas to find her dress finished last night!  This morning I started playing around with changing it up somehow, but dd says she likes it just the way it is.  So we'll stick with that. Of course it needs a conical hoop skirt.  I got an idea overnight of how to cheaply incorporate that.  Hopefully that will be done by next week!

Here is a close up of the trim.  Sadly, I didn't even think to lay the pattern carefully to get the stripes symmetrical on each side.  DD picked out the buttons and just loved that pop of red.  For the red and gold trim, I used a roll of Christmas trim I've had sitting around for a few years.  That red and gold trim actually runs down to the bottom of the green skirt.

This dress is so stiff (and it's meant to be) that it has startled me more than once as I see it out of the corner of my eye.  I keep wondering who that Elizabethan woman is!  It can even sit up in a chair...like I had it last night when everyone came home from Awanas...but forgot to take a picture of it.  One reason why it is stiff, is because there is actually boning in the bodice.  That was cool to work with...easy too!

Here are the bodices laid out before I did the boning.  The white fabric is canvas...which makes it even stiffer.  The red lines were made with chalk pencil, so I could sew the channels.

Here is a close up of where I sewed the channels for the boning.  The boning is the round curvy stuff on the table.  This is a nice mesh that was twice as wide as I needed.  I just cut it in half down the middle.  Then I cut it to the length I needed and inserted it in the channel.  The pink lines on the white canvas are the drawings I made to sew the channels evenly.  When you flip it over, you see the green lining.  After all that, I sewed the tapestry you barely see in the middle on top of the canvas, wrong sides together.  So you never see the channel stitching on the tapestry.

Here is a close up of the boning.  I can sew through it and not hurt the needle.  Have to be more careful with the steel bonings.

Here are the bodices now with the boning in them.  See, they are already taking shape!  LOL

My dress is similar, yet different.  That caused me no end of mistakes the other night, while I spent more time ripping out than sewing together.  Here is the bodice.  Those crescent moon shapes will be sewn to the shoulders.  The sleeves are next to it.  The reddish orange pieces are tabs that will go between the bodice and skirt.

 Here is the skirt!  The reddish orange will be the outer skirt.  The gold will be the underskirt...the part that peaks through the outer skirt, like dd's.  The white will be the rest of the underskirt, which no one will see.  These are practically new queen sized bed sheets dh didn't like.  These are cut from the bottom fitted layer. The top sheets have a gorgeous lace trim that bothered dh's face when he slept. I used the top sheets for Greek costumes for dd and I last year.   

Next week I hope to have the rest of the costumes finished.  Can you guess who I am going to be?  ;)