Mary Poppins Dress

I've always wanted to be Mary Poppins (in her Jolly Holiday dress) for Halloween. This year, I made it happen.

I wish we'd (my hubby and I) noticed during our photo shoot that my hair had been blown into the tulle around the hat and got stuck, but we didn't, and I'm too lazy to do the shoot again.  So, this is what you get.  :)

I used Simplicity 2813, the Cinderella pattern I used last year, for the bodice and skirt.  I shortened the skirt considerably (Mary Poppins' dress is tea length, but I liked the just below knee length better on me.) and added an overskirt made of tulle.  If I had the time and money, I would have used organza or something for the sleeves, overskirt, and neckline, but as this is a costume I will only wear a few times, I went cheap and used tulle.  It's  "inspired-by" if you will.  :) I gave the hemline a tuck to add a bit of visual interest in the all white skirt.  I added to the fullness of the skirt by wearing a petticoat with it, which I'd previously made to go with my White Christmas dress.   I drafted the tulle neckline myself, and the sleeves were from a blouse pattern I had laying around.  

I also drafted the waist cincher (complete with boning) myself.  The jabot is just a bunch of ruffled tulle tacked on to the bodice.  I threaded ribbon through lace and trimmed the neckline and sleeves with it.  I tied the neckline in the back with ribbon, as I had already added the zipper in the back of the dress, and needed a way to close the tulle.  :)

And, I tacked on several bows on the overskirt.  The hat and parasol were from a local costume shop, though I spray painted the hat white (it was natural tan when I bought it) and added the tulle to it.

My husband went as Bert (which I will blog about in an upcoming post) and we were the hit of our church Trunk or Treat--we won Best Couple Costume.  :)