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  This was an ordeal in itself as the store is so out of date, it's not even funny.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!