“It’s Christmas Eve. A time of mystery, expectations, who knows what might happen?” ~ Drosselmeyer
Do you get that overwhelming feeling that you’re about to do something crazy and should probably stick to your plans, but want to do it anyways? Of course, I’m talking about sewing. In this area of my life, I’m a go-getter + perfectionist + diligent + a wee bit of crazy (or maybe; a whole lot of crazy!)
When I first glimpsed the costumes of “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms”, I didn’t think much about them. I’m not a huge Nutcracker fan. To be 100% honest, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the ballet, either in-person or on DVD. As a matter of a fact, I don’t even know the storyline!
First thought “Hmm, there’s a Nutcracker movie coming out…scroll onto the next post.”
But then I kept seeing the sneak peak, then the trailer, then the posters. I finally saw the Lilac dress…”Oh, now I’m interested…dive into a rabbit trail of pictures, videos, stills, etc.”
After the rabbit trial, I realized how spectacular the costumes were. They sparked a bit of inspiration for my seamstress heart! The whole movie seamed to scream Alice in Wonderland type costuming and I got hooked!
After some deliberating, I decided the costume I wanted to eventually recreate was the solider costume worn by Mackenzie Foy.
And then it happened… I spotted something in my fabric stash. Red wool, peeking out of a Mood bag. It was several yards of extra fabric from a project years ago. Thanks to overestimating yardage, I had the perfect fabric for the skirt of the soldier outfit!
I pulled a few misc supplies from my stash and ordered the other supplies needed.
I was on my way to creating a costume I really didn’t have time for…but as they say, where there’s a will, there’s a way!
~ The Supplies ~
Red Wool from mood.com
Dark Forest Green Velveteen from fabric.com
Gold (faux) Platted Brass Buttons from eBay.com
Metallic Trim from JoAnn.com
~ The Progress of the Skirt ~
I have a love/hate relationship with circle skirts. The fullness of these skirts are wonderful, but the hems… 😛
For this outfit, a circle skirt was the way to go. It’s a full circle!
One of the main features of the skirt is it’s gold appliqués. I zoomed up on a picture of the design and printed out the section (in black and white.)
The next step was to trace the outline on a fresh sheet of paper.
Then outline it with a Sharpie.
Enter; the fat Sharpie to fill it in!
Now’s the time to use the scanner.
And then, the magic! I have Brother PE Design as my digitizing program. It does the job!
FYI, it’s a Windows only program. If you have one, great! If you have a Mac (like I do), not so great! 🙁 Fortunately, I have a program called Parallels that allows you to have Window’s only programs on your wonderful Apple computer! (And that’s no joke, I truly love my MacBook Pro! <3) 
While I sewed the skirt together, I got my Brother embroidery machine going with a test design.
~ The Skirt Pleats ~
Another one of the skirt features are it’s pleats or darts, or whatever you’d like to call them.
For my replica, I decided to do upside down darts!
I’ve decided to not explain with words on this process; let the pictures speak a thousand words!
Did the photos speak to you? 🙂
In case you’re wondering what I thread I used for the embroidery design, here’s the link!
And for that very frustrating part of circle skirts…
I decide to use a bias bound hem. It was a good decision!
∧ The finished hem! ∨
That’s it for this post; round two of this outfit is coming next week!
Thanks for looking and learning with me! ~ Bella Mae
Psst..If you happen to like the links I shared and decide to purchase the product, I’ll make a small earnings. Just FYI!
You are so talented, plus gifted. What a glorious combination!!
Thank you! <3
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Love it