31 Days till Halloween

And, thus, we begin!  True, we are still a month away but stores are now fully stocked with Halloween goodies.  Speaking of which, as most of you have probably noticed, each year the first reminder of the impending haunting season to appear is nothing else but the candy.  Admit it, you can't help but pick up a bag of candy corn in the checkout of the grocery store in late September.  That's what I thought.  So, without further ado, let's jump right in:

The Top 10 Halloween Candies

A Countdown to Halloween

It's coming folks!  Yes, yes, it's true.  We are but a little over a month away from one of the best days of the year: HALLOWEEN!  In anticipation of the ghoulish celebration, I will be presenting a countdown.  Instead of simply counting down the days, I will also include a look back at the Halloweens of yesteryear and countdowns of some Halloween favorites.  So check back every evening throughout the month of October.  Oh, and, yes, I certainly welcome suggestions and comments!

The 30th Chesterton Wizard of Oz Festival

I would like to make a quick, shameless plug:



THE 30th CHESTERTON WIZARD OF OZ FESTIVAL
September 16-18

Come and celebrate the most beloved film of all time.  Guests include original Munchkins, Oz historian John Fricke, Judy Garland dress collector Michael Siewert, Judy's stand-in Caren Marsh Doll, and more!  Events run the gamut from costume contests to our world-famous parade to a birthday party for Dorothy!

By the way, I am the official Scarecrow; so if you are going to be there, come and say hello!

The 2-Week Glinda Dress

Haley and the Pannier

Two days after I wrote about my scramble to create a new Glinda gown, I come to you with progress!  That night very night, I rushed home after classes to begin trying to figure out where to begin.  After some thought I opted not to buy a pre-made pannier.  Instead, I opted to alter the hoopskirt from our previous Glinda costume.  It actually took about an hour to make the transition thanks to some help from Haley.  Basically, we used ribbon to pull the hoops into a more ovular shape and removed the uppermost hoop altogether and pulled the second tier up.  The hips were then "padded" out with a makeshift bum roll made of tulle netting (not pictured).

Kristen working on the wand.

My next task was to run to Hobby Lobby to pick up some bedazzlement materials.  After some bitch on an intercom reminded me the store was closing (well, I would have been out on time if I hadn't waited for 15 minutes at your cutting table for no one to show), I left the store with about 500 star-shaped sequins, 300 simulated diamonds, 300 pink rhinestones, and 100 rhinestone stars.  Then I was off to good-old JoAnn's, where they know me by name (like Cheers...but without the boozes).  

At JoAnn's I found myself shifting through all the tulle.  They didn't have my color.  Shit.  Now, some of you may be saying, "they didn't have pink."  Well, yes; they did.  The issue is Glinda's outfit isn't pink, per se.  It is actually "sorbet," a soft color that lies on the border between pink and peach.  I went to ask the manager if she could look and see if any neighboring stores had the right color.  Thank God I chose to do this.  Turns out they had a bolt of 11 yards on their Red Tag rack.  I quickly snatched it up and danced at the $1 price tag.  I was even more happy when it rang up 50% off at the register.  

The bodice as of 12:00 last night.

Believe it or not, 11 yards is not enough.  So the next morning found me, Haley, and Mom driving out to the Richmond store to purchase all of their 15 yards of sorbet tulle as well as an entire bolt of matching stretch satin.  I spent a good 45 minutes or so in there making sure I had everything I needed.  This was an ordeal in itself as the store is so out of date, it's not even funny.  I like to say I had to go back to 1991 to get what I needed.  Of course, this was suitable as our GPS attempted to take us directly into the Twilight Zone...long story short, we ended up in the middle of cornfields just over the Ohio border with the GPS saying "You have reached your destination!"  Yeah, right.  

Anywho, let's cut this short.  After almost an all-nighter of sewing, the bodice of the dress is pretty much complete.  I just have to whip in the zipper and attach the collar and then it's ready to go off to the "bedazzlement" department.  The magic is happening, people!

LOOK! It's Glindaaaa...maybe...

This got turned into...

So...as those of you who already know me know, I work for the Chesterton Wizard of Oz Festival.  I am costumed character director, costumer, and the Scarecrow.  I love this job.  I really, really do.  It just turns me into psycho for the months of August and September.  I always find myself scrambling to get stuff done.  Just when I think I'm good on costumes, etc. something happens.  I'm on a constant pursuit to make our costumes the best as possible.  If I don't like something, I fix it, I change it, I do whatever I need to.

This

This year I decided it was time for a new Lion costume.  If you want the detailed reasoning or read about the creation process, check out my costuming blog.  I also needed to make new Scarecrow pants.  After three years of dancing, splitting, falling, rolling, what have you, they have just had it.  OK, now big deal.  Also, I needed to do some detail work on Scarecrow's shirt and make Dorothy a new petticoat; each of which would take me all of like 40 minutes.  Just as I'm wrapping up the Lion, I find out that the new Glinda dress I was promised was not going to happen.  My to-do list just got infinitely longer.  Now, I do have a Glinda dress as is...well, two.  One of them has recently been rendered unusable for the festival.  I allowed it to be used in the production of The Wizard of Oz I did this summer.  She had asked if she may "alter" it.  I said, "yes."  Fast forward, it no longer looks like the film dress nor does it fit our Glinda.  As for the other dress, I really don't want to use it.

It's just so PANK!!!

OK, so maybe it's not as daunting as I'm making it out to be.  In fact, beyond the sleeves, it's pretty simple construction.  Fitted bodice, gathered skirt, bridal sleeves.  It's complex in the fact that everything is layered with tulle, the sleeve tops have to stay fluffed, and there is a crap ton of fabric to work with.  OK, it's expensive as Hell and that scares me too.  Oh, and probably the most time-consuming detail is the bedazzlements.  I'm most likely going to outsource that to my resident glamorizers - Haley and Kristen.  Hey, Haley is the one that gets to wear this gorgeous monstrosity.  Let her do some of the work!  Luckily, I have found a pannier (Marie Antoinette-style hoop skirt) that I can buy.  Praise the sweet, merciful Baby Jesus.

Well, it's time to make magic happen, people.  Say a prayer.