DIY Costumes: A blog around costume making and costuming. Contain links to videos of lessons and tutorials from steps to full.
The first step to making any costume is to figure out what you want to do. You can either pick a character that you like, and then modify it, or you can pick a period, and figure out what you want to do.
I’m going to be doing the latter for this project; I’ve decided that I want to make a dress from the 15th century. So with that in mind, I went looking for pictures of people from the 15th century and started taking notes on things that I liked.
The first thing I noticed is that the women’s hair was usually up in some way, so that meant that I would need some sort of head-dress or hat. I also noticed that many of the dresses had sleeves of some sort (not necessarily long ones), and also that most of them were made up of layers. From these observations, I decided that my dress would have several layers, including an underskirt, an overskirt, a top layer and probably a hat as well.
I made this petticoat for a wedding dress, but I also use it under many of my other dresses as well. I think it adds a nice touch to the dresses. It is one of the most fun and rewarding parts to making costumes.
I used about 3 yards of tulle for this petticoat, and I know that sounds like a lot, but the tulle was only $1.50 a yard and it makes a huge impact on the way the skirt looks when worn.
So I’m working on a Bo Peep costume for my daughter, and I’d like to make it as accurate to the new movie design as possible. So far I’ve been able to justify the cropped jacket, but I have no idea where to start with the headband. The bow on it is similar enough to the bow on the jacket that I’ll be able to use what I make for that, but since it’s a hard headband…I’m stumped. Any ideas of how to go about making this?
How to make a bo peep costume
There are many variations on the classic Bo Peep costume. She’s traditionally dressed in an old-fashioned petticoat with a long sleeved blouse, and a full skirt. She also wears a bonnet and carries a shepherdess crook or staff and a basket of her sheep.
For my take on the traditional Bo Peep costume I used the dress pattern from Simplicity
As my first tutorial, I’m going to show you how to make a bodice. This is the core of many dresses and gowns, and is easy to make.
* 2 yd main fabric
* 1/4 yd coordinating fabric
* 2 yards boning (I used spring steel)
* 3/4″ wide elastic
* Thread
* Scissors
* Sewing machine
First, using the pattern piece you’ve made or modified, cut out 4 identical pieces from your coordinating fabric. Keep them all together. Cut out 8 pieces total from your main fabric, keeping them in two groups of 4 pieces each.
I’ve been looking for a Bo Peep costume for quite some time. I wanted something simple and comfortable yet recognizable. So I decided to make my own. I took the basic steps of making a simple skirt (as seen in my previous post) and added a few elements to make it Bo Peep worthy.
I started off with a white blouse, which I had in my closet already. Then I added the black vest. This is not an easy thing to find, so I made one out of black fabric and some interfacing. The collar was made separately and attached with snaps on the inside so that I can take it off when needed.
The skirt was created by using the same method as my previous skirt post. The only difference is that I used 3 yards instead of 6 since the skirt is not floor length for me.
The basket was found at the dollar store, but any basket will do, really.
And finally, I topped it all off with a shepherd’s hook and the ever-important sheep!