Halloween came and went with its usual fervour. I often dream up the costume I might wear, sometimes make it - and more often NEVER EVER actually wear it. It is actually something that bothers me, this irrational tendency. What a positively STODGY thing to do.
GOOD NEWS! This year did not follow the usual pattern! The weeks leading up to Halloween, I had been using every spare moment to work on the Bird Pattern UPDATE. Let’s just say birds have been on my brain for months…
The day of the playful holiday came and I decided to DROP EVERYTHING and make a ruffle collar to complete a MOTHER GOOSE costume. I was determined to use fabric from my stash and landed on some gorgeous rose taffeta… of course, blissfully ignoring the fact that fancy fabrics do add significant time and fussiness to any project. This ruffle collar was no exception.
Notes on the Collar:
I used the Ruffle Collar Sewing Pattern
Initially I used far too wide of a piece of fabric. Luckily, my brain started buzzing with a distant memory that taffeta simply does not gather as tight as cotton… less is the key! In the end, I would guess it was 72” wide. If I did it again, I would go down to ~60”- 65”. The gathers were very tight and bulky to sew! The length was 11” - I believe, a little longer would have been wise. Maybe ~ 12”-13” in the future. Enough to do a traditional rolled hem and save myself some fussiness!
For the 4 corners of the ruffle, I used a dinner plate to trace a curve and cut them.
I used a rolled hem foot on my sewing machine. It was perfectly smooth and FUSSY in turns.
The Goose Hat was made with a vintage sheet. The beak is one of the new shapes that is included in the pattern update!
As for the rest of the outfit… I scoured my closet and found the perfect ensemble!
Shirt: The ZW Cropped Shirt by Birgitta Helmerson (pattern review here!)
Skirt: The Zomara Skirt by Madswick
I dearly hope you found some merriment with the playful holiday!
