I was petrified but I bit the bullet, went to Home Depot, bought polytubing and built mah hoop skirt. It only needed two hoops to poof out as much as I wanted it to. I wanted to soften the harshness of the hoop edges, and Snorth recommended ruffly tulle, so ruffly tulle has been added in shades of yellow and green. Because tulle doesn’t fray the way fabric does, I’m going to build the skirt over it and then trim the tulle so you only see a wee bit underneath (I’m coy!)
Here’s where the sadness comes in. I keep forgetting I am shaped like a refrigerator, so in my mind’s eye when I put on this outfit I will look awesome and ethereal, like the goddess of the ocean. At least I will resemble Ursula, or maybe one of those dudes from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, with all the ocean stuff stuck to them. I tried on the jacket, the hoop skirt and the corset all at the same time and looked in the mirror, and it turns out I look like an even split between Brunhilde from the Ring of the Nibelungen operas and the hippos in tutus from Disney’s Fantasia. This is not the look I was going for.
But when life gives you lemons, you quietly cry for a little while, then pull yourself together and convince yourself you wanted to look like a chorus girl from the musical number “Springtime for Hitler”.
So I embraced my inevitable dorkiness and continued working. I made seaweed strips for the sleeves out of chunky white lace.
I dyed it yellow, painted splotches of green, covered the back with a plastic glue that prevents fraying, trimmed it to make it look more “seaweed-y”, then sewed green rocaille beads to add pizzazz. I think I may have to trim the sleeves on the jacket because with the seaweed the arm-parts come down to my waist area, which is too long. That’s the good part about designing your own costume slowly – you can adjust as you go because, hey, who’s gonna complain? More costume to come.