FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
Escaping the Queen of hearts
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Outline the story …
Entry inspired by Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. My design is inspired by a drawing I made a couple of years ago with an Alice in Wonderland theme. The design is what I imagine the Queen of Hearts might have dressed Alice in, if she had given her new clothes like she did in the Tim Burton film.
Outline the construction…
I wanted to mix inspirations from different time periods and decided to make an 18th century inspired mens shirt, a pair of stays using a deck of cards, and a turn of the century inspired (walking) skirt. The stays are made up of a 2 layer fabric base with made out of real playing cards as an outer layer. The front panels consist of the queens of the deck because it feels in character for the queen to dress her guests with her own face. I designed each panel separately to make sure they could curve around my body as much as paper can curve. Surprisingly (for me anyway,) the binding at the bottom was my biggest challenge for these stays! All of the garments were constructed using a hand turned sewing machine and by hand. None of the pieces are historically accurate in construction but there are many small nods to history such as the underarm gussets, hand felled seams and some piecing in the back of the skirt where the pattern was wider than my fabric. Tying the whole look together are the black velvet accents (the trims and waistband on the skirts, button loops & neck ribbon on the shirt, the lacing of the stays) because of lockdown in Holland it was challenging to find the materials for this project but it was fun to get as creative as possible with the things I had at hand! Despite my mistakes I am very proud of this costume!
The stays look soooo cool, I love them! And your video is so nice, what a lovely touch!
Aww thank you so much, I had so much fun doing it!
I love this- fabulous!
Thank you! 🙂
Wow! Love the corset fabric – fabulous idea!
Thank you! The underlayer is actual fabric but the outerlayer is actually made up of real playing cards! (Really big ones for the panels and really small ones for the tabs)
I love the creativeness of the fabrication of your garments especially using the playing cards for the stays.
A job well done.
Thank you! 😊😊
Your costume is so original and fun – I love it! And now I just discovered your YouTube channel and that you sew on a hand crank machine (so do I… they’re objects of beauty and need to be loved and preserved). Have just subscribed to your channel and will look forward to watching all your videos.
Thank you! and yes I love my handcrank machine it is so nice to use!
thank you for subscribing, I shall endeavour to be entertaining 🙂
Oh my goodness, I’ve been admiring these stays for a month now and I never knew they were made with real paper cards! I thought it was a fabric print! So, well done making something that is not cloth at all form to the body like a woven. Wow! I love how strong and graphic this design is. Good luck! (from craftyroo/icarus!)
Thank you 🥰 to be honest I am still surprised myself that it worked out in the end haha
I love this! Stunning!
Thank you !
Your project is so eye catching! I’m amazed how many entries are inspired by Alice – mine included. With entries like yours it’s a nice club to belong to.
That is so kind, thank you very much!
Its so much fun to see all of the unique takes on Alice in wonderland, all of them are so creative!
Looks amazing- Love your video!
So eye catching!! Fantastic idea, super creative! Definitely a favourite of mine!
This is so awesome! The card fabrics make for a really striking design. Well done!
The stays with the card deck pattern is a wonderful idea for the Queen of hearts!
Oh wow, I really like this. That corset is to die for! You look like my size (NOT) can I borrow it some time?? LOL Thank you!
Wow! I love the stays, such a great, eye-catching design, and a perfect Queen of Hearts aesthetic! I’m just wondering… where did you get such enormous playing cards from?!
THIS IS SO COOL!! 😀 ♠️ ♥️ ♣️ ♦️ <3