Becoming Bellatrix (THE FINALE)

So the premier was Friday and I had all of my stuff gathered.

As I waited for my friends to arrive, I decided to get started on the small stuff like the tattoo and fixing the wig.

I wanted to add more pictures that showed all of the steps I took on becoming Bellatrix that final night but, unfortunately, I ran out of time. I'll skip to the final result.



In the end, I was really happy with how everything turned out. The corset gapped a little and I would have preferred for the silver swirlys to be embroidered instead of painted. Heck, in a perfect world I would have used a more expensive fabric that would have moved better but for the price I think it was a win.

Here's the rest of the crew (because it only makes sense for Bellatrix and Lucius to hang with Harry and Hermione.)

Here's a better picture of Lucius (who happens to be my brother.)

And me at the theatre.

Here's another one of all of us in the theatre.

I think my favorite part was, after the movie, we decided to get something to eat. In the restaurant the waiter came up to the table and asked, "So guys, how was the movie?" And without rehearsing both my brother and I said, "What movie?"

That's why we're related. :)

So, what did you do for the premier? Are you having mad Potter withdrawals? I know I am.

Becoming Bellatrix (Stage 5)

Okay, with the premier only a couple of days away, I had to put the finishing touches on my costume and that meant finishing the corset. Let me tell you, I thought the arm gauntlets were a pain in the butt. I had no idea.

The trouble with a corset is that the final piece must be precise when it comes to fitting. And, as a self-taught seamstress, precision is not one of my strong suits. In the end, I'm happy with how the corset turned out, I just didn't expect what I thought would be a "night" project to bleed into a "couple of days" project.

Anyway, here's what I did:

First, using my handy-dandy 50% off coupon, I purchased some awesome looking black "pleather" at JoAnn's fabrics.

 

Then, I laid the fabric on the floor and cut random pieces out of it.

 

Next, I sewed the pieces back together. I know this seems strange, but if you look at the original picture of Bellatrix, you can see that her corset looks like it was pieces together by chunks of leather. This was how I went about getting the same look. 

 

When I had my scrappy piece of fabric, I used a corset pattern I had lying around from an old witch costume and used it as my pattern to cut from.

After I had my shapes cut out, I used a zigzag stitch over the piecing seams to give it that extra rough look. (Sorry for the picture blurriness.)

Next, I sewed the pieces together and added the leftover grommet stripping and silk thread from my arm gauntlets.

 Before Grommet Stripping

After Grommet Stripping

Now it was time to piece together the back lining and sew it to the front.

 

Leaving a small hole, I flipped the corset inside out and stitched around it, sewing the hole shut. 

And finally, I hand sewed three hook and eyes to the back.

Viola!

So tell me, now that we're down to the final days, are you doing anything special for the premier of the final Harry Potter?

Stay tuned for my post on putting the entire costume together!

Pots & Pens

Hi guys! Today I'm sharing one of my favorite summertime recipes over at Pots and Pens. I'll give you a teaser: it involves cheese. Lots of cheese. Yum.