Alice Madness Royal Dress- Skirts

 

I finished all the hand sewing on the bodice and Got the over skirt attached. I’m really not happy with the over skirt pleating and will likely rip it out tonight and start over. This dress has very weird construction. In order to get the look in the game, I cannot completely attach the over skirt in front, which means the underskirt is now going to have to be attached to the dress rather than a stand alone underskirt. the Waistband/Bow will basically hold everything together.

I also shortened the sleeves to be more Game Correct and will have to add the sleeve bands back. They have appliqued tiny hearts on them, So I will do them separately and then reattach them.

Sorry if the hearts look lopsided, My dress form is a bit warped and lopsided, not the bodice.

I now have to make handmade trim for the skirt, the Giant Bow in the back and start working on the Skull Sculpture that is attached to the bow in the back.

Royal Dress Update-Bodice Work

I worked on the Bodice last night which is far the most important and most labor intensive of the whole dress. Finding the right fabric for the appliqued hearts was hard at first but I scored a remnant piece in the clearance bin at Joann’s 1 1/4 yards for $4. It was $14 a yard, so score! In the game the hearts definitely look like they are glistening, maybe beads or crystals. the fabric I found was a semi-opaque mirrored material. It was also light gold. I debated whether the Hearts were Gold or Pink but settled on Gold as pink seemed out of place but I think there are pink crystals on the dress in some places.And will add some here and there if I have time.

 

Bodice needssome adjustment and still a little more tweaking before putting on the skirt.

I need to shorten the sleeves by about an inch and will work on that tomorrow afternoon. They need to be shorter in order to show off the arm warmers properly. Right now, I have the trim pinned and it’s ready for  . I prefer handsewing as I think it will look better but I may end up machine sewing some of it. I also have picked up a new textile glue by Alene’s. Same company that makes Tacky glue. I may end up using it for the trim in some places.I did a test piece and it held very well, No puckering or lumps. I think it’s a great product. Better than any fabric glue I have used before though I still live and breathe by E 6000. That’s the glue I always go to when I need to get something to stick. The only thing about the Alene’s is that it smells like airplane glue, pretty toxic. I guess if I was a huffer (lol), I might like it better. But I’ll stick with E6000 for most of my costume making.  I’ve been through tons of tubes of the stuff, it’s never failed me.

Next I will be adding the outer skirt and work on the bow in the back, the skull sculpture on the back and the apron. I plan on making her Omega necklace out of Sculpey.

 

 

Alice Madness Returns Royal Dress Part 3

I spent last night working on the Checkerboard and gold trim on the underdress. I like the way it turned out. I have to make a fabric store run tonight to get more supplies for the applique designs and some shiny Bits and pearls for the trim.

Here’s the underskirt:

Underdress for Royal Dress

Because I have very little Photos to go by online, I have had to go in and out of the game to make notes and sketches. One of the things that I have to decide on is pleats in the skirt. It really does not appear to have any. After doing some thinking and a little research, I’ve decided that a circle skirt style dress would be more befitting of the Original Alice Time Period, The Edwardian age. It will give the fullness at the bottom that I need but still leave a slimmer silhouette . the only bad thing is I will need about 2 more yards of fabric to do this. So I have to make a Run to Joann’s. I hope they have enough left!

Another thing that is puzzling me is some of the colors, Mainly the hearts  on the bodice. they look white sometimes and other times look pink. It’s really hard to tell. They even look gold at times!! So have decisions to make in regards  to the color. I’ll be picking up some crystals and beads tonight. I’m sure it will take me forever to make a decision. Believe me you don’t want to go bead shopping with me. It’s an excursion!

Alice: Madness Returns Royal Dress Part 2

I have always been a Fan of American McGee’s Version of Alice in Wonderland. Dark, Bloody and twisted. Right up my Alley. I know that some people may not be familiar with the Graphic Novels or the two Video games, as it is a bit of a niche fanbase. Basically Alice is now an adult who was living in an asylum, she lost her parents in a horrible fire and is now living in a home which houses the disturbed patients of a London Shrink. She goes back to Wonderland finding it a pretty twisted place. The graphics in the game range from very colorful to very dark and bloody. But the best thing about the game is that Alice has tons of costumes and props! Most know the Traditional Blue dress (In American McGee’s comic she bloodstained and carrying a Vorpal blade). In the New game, I have chosen to work on the Royal Dress which you unlock when going to see the Queen of hearts. I also plan on making a Hobby horse prop which is used like a giant sledgehammer in the game.

Royal Dress

Here are the main 4 hobby horses

The dress bodice is pretty much a custom pattern. It’s lots of princess seams and tailoring. I plan on doing applique for the diamonds and hearts and adding Crystals and beads. In the Game play, you can get a better 360 degree view.

For Fabric I am going with Bridal Weight Satins in black and red. The Giant bow in the back will be made of Black Moire Fabric to simulate the texture seen in the game. A lot of handsewing on this dress, tons of trim, some lace and small beads will be used to trim it out.

I already own a pair of Demonia boots and will be adding buckles and fake straps. The boots are hard to find in this particular style, so I plan on making the buckles from EVa Foam and Painting them.

the arm sleeves will be made from spandex and the pattern appliqued on (More handsewing!).

So far I have the main bodice, the “Snow White” Style Sleeves finished and the underskirt 90% done except hemming which I will do after I make the checkerboard trim.

Firstly, let me apologize for the crappy photos. I moved 4 weeks ago and I am still looking for my Camera Cord!!!!

Here is the bodice, sleeves and underskirt, Still lots of trim and applique to add:

Sleeve detail. Done just like a snow white dress.

Here’s the the Tentative Applique Patterns which will be made from gold fabric and trimmed out with crystals on the hearts and some gold beads around the diamond patterns.

that’s all I have done so far. It’s a lot of work. I suspect I’ll be doing lots of handsewing every night!

Jane