FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
Sumi on the Banks of Confection
(click images to to enlarge)
Other Credits
Photographer: Shannon Forrey
Outline the story …
Sumi is one of the main characters in the series "Wayward Children" by Seanan McGuire. She, like all the children, found a doorway to a world that is perfect for her. Her world was Confection, a candy and cake world created by Bakers. Sumi was murdered in the first book, but in the third her daughter Rini travels from Confection to bring her back to life (so that Rini could be born, among other things). During that journey, Sumi's rainbow covered skeleton emerges from a strawberry rhubarb soda sea, and it is from there I drew my inspiration. The beads embody the delicious bubbles of soda, lightening from darker depths as they make their way to the surface to wash upon a cake crumb shore the color of raw sugar. The candy flowers are placed as stars in the sky, with lacy marshmallow clouds drifting across them. The rainbow split skirt is Sumi at her most vibrant, someone who can never stand still, throws her whole heart into embracing the Nonsense inside her no matter how our world would rather she didn't, and whose bright shining spirit will save Confection from the villainy of the Queen of Cakes.
Outline the construction…
This corset and split skirt are full of firsts for me! I've never made anything remotely like them before, nor had I even tried to fit something to my measurements by altering a pattern. I started with patterns from Corsets by Caroline (Patsy) and Truly Victorian (TV299). The corset is cotton, coutil, and cotton lawn lining. I made my first ever mockups then made adjustments to get a better fit. Sewing the beads on was an intense process, but the most rewarding detail of the outfit. I painted the lace and sewed on the pieces to form my candy sky. I then attached the lining by hand. After making my first split skirt mockup, I realized I didn't want front center buttons, and had to adjust the pattern to remove the placket folds. Two more mockups later I had a workable front pattern piece and split each piece in half to create stripes. I chose two tone dupioni silk for the rainbow because I love the iridescence and flatlined the panels in plum habotai. I arranged the colors so that each leg is a rainbow and they form a large rainbow when I stand with my legs together. I had to learn to handsew buttonholes after failing them with the machine. Almost every step of these garments was new to me and I spent hours on FR's site - the videos on self fitting and article on beading were particularly invaluable, along with many YouTube videos.
What a fun, beautiful costume!! Your description of Sumi’s skeleton emerging, rainbow-colored from a soda sea is so perfectly realized in your costume. I see you have great attention to detail and this really adds to the success of your costume!
I love this costume, it really does look like something Sumi would wear in the books. The beads are the best!
We should all embrace the nonsense inside of us! You did a wonderful job bringing that imagery to life, I adore this!
You have inspired me to sew and read a book series. Your work is beautiful!
I can absolutely see Sumi wearing this: twirling and leaping in the pants, fidgeting with the beads, revealing that the flowers are actually edible…
The corset is a master piece and I love how the pant’s complement it! Great work!
SOO CUTE!! The details. WOW. It’s just so perfect and making me hungry!
The corset details are stunning! Well done.
This evokes such a light-hearted and whimsical feeling. I love the vibrant colors and the concepts of both the inspiration and the design.
I love all the colours!
This is such a great representation of the character! I love it!