Grim Grinning Ghosts

Anyone who has followed this blog for any length of time has probably already figured out that I am a GIANT NERD.  (It's kind of a requirement for a software engineer.)  While I definitely have the typical nerdy obsessions (like last week's Ms Pac-Man dress), I also obsess over spooky things as well.  Disney's Haunted Mansion is one of those things.

I had been planning on making myself a skirt featuring the Haunted Mansion wallpaper for a while.  I do have an embroidery machine, but embroidering enough fabric for a skirt was not a something I wanted to do.  My next thought was using a fabric stencil.  I went far enough to cut the stencil out of wax paper, but I lost so much detail in the faces that I just gave up.  I decided I would just embroider a couple of large faces on the fabric and be done with it.  I cut out the fabric for the skirt and it's been sitting in my sewing room for over a year, waiting for me to get around to it.

And then DoomBuggies made an announcement on their Facebook page: Spoonflower had a fabric with the wallpaper design.  It isn't cheap, but I couldn't resist, and bought three yards.  And that meant digging through the pattern collection to find a dress that used approximately three yards of fabric.  The winner was McCall's 6071, a Laura Ashley design, in view B.  (This makes four McCall patterns in a row, the last two of which were Laura Ashley.  This was unintentional, but now makes me wonder how long I can keep this going.)  This view actually calls for 3 1/8 yards of fabric, but considering the feat I pulled off last time, I figured I could do it again.

(Note: if you're even a slight fan of the Haunted Mansion, prepare to lose an afternoon at the DoomBuggies site. And if that still doesn't sate you, head over to Long Forgotten for even more info.)

By not lengthening the skirt, I managed to pull off getting the dress in three yards.  I picked contrasting black bands for the straps and tie.  I did this partially to skimp on the fabric and partially to break up the pattern.

I'm not sure what you'd call this color.  It isn't quite blue, and it isn't quite purple.  I suppose that would make it indigo, right?  But indigo is usually darker than this, so I'm proclaiming that this color will forevermore be called blurpligo.  Blurpligo is a hard color to match.  This thread is periwinkle, and while it is in the same color family, it isn't quite dark enough.  But it was the closest I could find.  (NB: I didn't try all that hard.)  As for the zipper, nothing was close.  It was a choice between this purple and lilac.  In retrospect, black or white probably would have been better.

So, as for the pattern itself, it's fairly straightforward.  The bodice has some gathering, but otherwise there's nothing particularly tricky or uncommon here.  The way the straps are attached makes it easier to lengthen or shorten them as need be.  This does make construction a bit trickier, because you need to leave holes for the straps.  I would say this is good for an advanced beginner.

The tie is sewn on over the gathering.  I think I actually prefer it untied, and if I made this again, I probably would have made it longer.

While I like how the dress turned out, I was a bit disappointed by the fabric.  It's thin and a bit scratchy. When I washed it, the blurpligo faded a bit unevenly.  I would have to really be in love with a fabric to buy from them again.