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Wattle Costume

 

WATTLE COSTUME

Priscilla Queen of the Desert - Amateur theatre production September 2021. 
Murray Bridge Players and Singers


I started this costume in October 2020

Tracey as Wattle - photo by Jason McCullough 



Aversion of the wattle costume by charade-theatrical.com

For this costume I used two shades of green velvet the costume dept had in their stash. Along with scraps of other green velvets for the leaves and yellow net and tulle for the blossoms. 
I used view B of Simplicity 8768 pattern for the dress.




Back


Front


Showing the true colour

I completed the dress ready to decorate with flowers and leaves but I felt the skirt was too floppy. It didn't have any shape. My options were to add a full petticoat underskirt or use buckram to stiffen the shape. I chase buckram because I already had that. I lined the buckram and added it to the inside of the skirt.



The buckram is lined with some old parachute fabric I had


It is hand sewn to the vertical seam lines


from underneath.


With the buckram lining



Leaves

Now I had the hourglass look I wanted I set about cutting and decorating the leaves. Each leaf has been edged with thick thread sewn by an overlocker. The veins down the centre of the leaves are sew on sewing machine with the decorative thread in the bobbin. I added mask nose wire to some leaves spines so they would have 3D shape. 


Finished leaves


Overlocking the edges of the velvet


Wattle Flowers



There are two kinds of flowers on this costume. 
The bright yellow wattle flowers are made from t-shirt yarn cut into lengths and tied together. It's a half pompom sewn to the dress. 
The soft pom poms are made from net and tulle strips tied together and teased out into a pom pom. 



Side skirt



Back


Head Piece


For the headpiece I decided on a headband with a fascinator type decoration. I cut two circles from buckram and covered them in green fabrics. The splits allow me to create a slight cone shape by crossing the edges over and sewing them together. 
This shape is glued to a covered headband covered in velvet. I added leaves and pom pom flowers.

Buckram circle covered in fabric




On stage rehearsal 



Tracey as Wattle - Sahara as Bird (feathered headpiece by me) - photo by Jason McCullough


Tracey as Wattle and Alex as Frill neck Lizard - photo by Jaybirdy Photography


Carly and Lauren modelling Wattle and Koala




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