Trick or Treat

Halloween is a relatively new holiday here in Denmark, and only few adults celebrate it. Last year, I hosted a small tea party on the 31st of October, using the holiday as an excuse to bake some themed cakes and see my friends on a weeknight.

While I was planning the cake menu for another Halloween Tea Party this year, I suddenly felt inspired to make an outfit for the occasion. The final outfit is slightly goth-inspired (lolita Wednesday Adams, anyone?), but each piece also works great on its own.

In the end, however, I wore my Alice cosplay for the tea party, as I ran out of time to finish the skirt.

The blouse is my second Rita blouse by Charm Patterns. I lengthened the sleeves to 3/4 length and sewed it up in a black Duchesse satin from Stoff&Stil. I used only little more than 1 meter of fabric.

The satin is not really ideal for this kind of top, as it is kind of heavy and doesn't drape or iron very well. Also, I need to replace the elastic, as it has stretched out while being pulled into the channel and will not spring back when steam is applied.

The skirt is a gathered dirndl skirt with a straight waistband, a short hem ruffle and 2 lines of black cotton piping. The fabric is 1,5 meters of a mid-to-heavy weight cotton with black skeleton parts printed on white from Stoff&Stil, and I used every last bit of it. Again, the fabric was a little too heavy for the project, but the print was too good to pass up. It closes at the side with an invisible zipper.

I love how the feminine shapes in both the blouse and skirt are contrasted by the monochrome color palette and the somewhat macabre print.

Next up in the sewing queue: Christmas!