The Boyfriend and I are planning a trip to Germany in the fall, which will include a day or two at Oktoberfest. (Yes, the non-drinking vegetarian is going to Oktoberfest.) Never one to miss an opportunity to make and wear a costume, I decided I need to make a dirndl.
My first thought was linen, in black and a deep royal purple. I figured linen would be the right weight that I'd be comfortable anywhere in temperatures from 60 to 80. And then I'd do subtle bat embroidery along the hems. So it'd be mostly traditional, with just a touch of my insanity.
And then I went to the fabric store with a friend and saw both bright orange and hot pink linen, but no deep purple. Of course, my mind started racing. Pumpkins on orange! Spiders on pink! Lace! Ribbons! Buttons and trim and embroidery! Mwah ha ha! Which then led me to thinking I should just out and out make the dirndl in Halloween fabric. Which is completely the opposite of "mostly traditional, with just a touch of my insanity."
So, what do you think? Traditional? Completely off the wall? Somewhere in between?
Of course, I still have two broken bones, so sewing anything right now is difficult to impossible.
You could use the Halloween fabric for the apron and go more traditional on the rest. But gothy dirndls are not taht unusual, I've seen them before. By the way: Enjoy Germany, I like it here a lot!
ReplyDeleteHmm, I suppose if I did pain black for the skirt and bodice, and then did the apron (and maybe the blouse) in a Halloween fabric, I could make a traditional one and a gothy one!
DeleteAnything you'd recommend that we absolutely need to see or do?
Germany has an active goth scene, although they don't really celebrate Halloween, so it'd probably be a wash.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to go kind of subtle, I'm a fan of Alexander Henry's Midnight Pastoral stuff: http://www.ahfabrics.com/collections/category/227-midnight-pastoral
It wasn't really to celebrate Halloween so much as to be my typical weird self.
DeleteYes, to all!
ReplyDelete... I know... not really much of an opinion-- but you had me at bats, purple, orange and halloween print. Pretty much it all, I guess.
It would be pretty amazing to see that in something non-traditional, that's for sure.
There will definitely be some sort of non-traditional Halloween element, no matter which way I end up going.
DeleteI like the idea of spiders on pink. With spider buttons maybe?
ReplyDeleteOooh, I like that. And maybe spiders dropping down the skirt on strands of web?
DeleteGood luck with the dirndl! The trip sounds exciting!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it will be! We've already planned so many things that I'll need a vacation from my vacation.
DeleteThat sounds to be fun. I am German but the bavarian culture is so unfamiliar to me, I just lived too far away from it. So Octoberfest may be as foreign to me as it is to you, same applies to dirndls. Therefore I can't give you any advise, but I would go modern, the combination of orange and pink sounds pretty interesting, with some Halloween-motifs on the apron or the upper part of the dress I can imagine it will be gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteHave fun in Munich, I have only been there once but it is a great city.
We aren't spending the whole time in Bavaria. We're trying to spend a few days each in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, and Cologne. We have a long list of plans.
DeleteI hope it turns out well. I decided to go with purple bats after all.
ReplyDelete