Evil Queen - Cosplay
My version of Regina, the Evil Queen, costume from the Once Upon A Time TV series. I chose the dress she wears when giving Snow White the poisoned apple.
Me at my Masquerade 40th Birthday Party
The original costume from the series
The Evil Queen with Danielle Du Barbarac (Ever After) AKA Katie Millan who also hand made her costume.
Materials
Main Fabric: finding the main fabric for the dress was the hardest part. I searched all over fabric stores in Adelaide for a navy & purple brocade fabric but came up empty handed. The fabric I eventually chose was this black and silver brocade upholstery fabric I bought on sale at Spotlight for $8 a metre.
Contrast skirt overlay: I bought a sheer curtain fabric with a flowering snowball quilt block pattern woven into it. This is used for the over skirt and collar.
Synthetic horsehair fabric was used to stabilise the collar.
Embellishments:
For the embroidery I used purple Wonderfill Razzle rayon twisted thread colour 124.
The gold thread is moonlight by Designer threads.
White lace motifs were dyed gold with Ozpol dyes.
Pattern
The pattern I used is McCalls 6097.
I have altered the jacket so it closes at the front with an open ended invisible zip. I reshaped the front neckline to be deeply scooped.
I made the sleeves straight and changed the cuff to be pointed.
I changed the peplum to have two v points at the front and one at the centre back.
The shoulders were also extended out a little.
The skirt is the same as the pattern with the same overlay but no back bustle.
Construction
I wanted more colour and texture on the main fabric on the jacket. To achieve this I freehand machine embroidered a thick purple thread using a bobbin work technique all over the fabric after partial completion of the garment.
close up of bobbin work embroidery
I followed the pattern for most of the construction. The invisible zip is hidden in the centre front seam.
I stitched a sequin braid around the neckline, front opening edges and hemline. The sleeveless jacket with purple sequin braid pinned in place around the edges. The exposed bra has a test run gold sequin braid accenting it in this photo.
I added gold rats tail braid as a border to the sequin braid. The gold metal closures are for decoration.
The peplum points each have a beaded tassel. Tassels were made from a purchased bugle bead ball. The fringe was hand sewn lengths of beaded bugle, seed and facet beads sewn into centre hole of the large bead.
I decorated a plain black foam cup bra with a border of the painted lace and added extra beading and couching.
Sleeves
The sleeves on the jacket are heavy decorated with beaded lace. I couldn't find any gold metallic lace I liked so I bought white motifs and lace and dyed them myself.
A test run of dye and painted lace to see which gives the better gold effect.
In the end I found the best results from dying each piece of beaded lace using Ozpol gold dye to colour the cream beads and lace first. Then to hand paint each piece of lace with lumiere metallic antique gold paint to give it an antique metallic lustre.
Bottom - original lace colour
Middle - dyed with gold Ozpol
Top - painted with Lumiere metallic gold
Painted lace pinned to the sleeve cuff
The lace and couching was embroidered onto the bottom of the sleeve, then the sleeve was constructed and the sleeve cuffs were faced to finish the hem neatly and give extra shape.
Finished sleeve with lace motifs and couched metallic braid.
Collar
The collar is made with 3 layers of synthetic buckram and lines of boning. The collar was made in two parts as a front and back so each side could be embroidered then sewn together as one stiffened piece.
The front is purple lame' with an overlay of the sheer black organza fabric used in the skirt, metallic bobbin work embroidery around each circle and beaded with sequins.
The back of collar has more painted lace, metallic cord and beading with the main fabric as a background. Narrow scalloped black lace edges the collar.
Skirt
The overskirt is heavily embroidered with bobbin work to add colour to the organza.
To create more sparkle and interest I freehand machine embroidered a pattern of gold diamonds with a background of purple stippling across the fabric.
Inside each circle is a wiggly line embroidered using a thick purple or gold thread with bobbin work freehand machine embroidery. Each circle is also outlined in gold metallic thread.
A sequin and seed bead has been hand sewn into the middle of each pattern.
The skirt was constructed as per the pattern with a change to the waistband. I made the waistband wider and close with an overlap and velcro to make it easier to get on and off.
The overskirt skirt is trimmed with painted scallop lace and the hem of the underskirt has an edge of painted lace.I also made a hooped underskirt using calico, curtain lace, net and irrigation tubing to hold the skirt out in shape.
I did not gather the curtain lace enough to fit over the layers of net and i was forced to slash it in several places so it would sit smoothly.
the Evil Queen texts!
My friend David Leane asked to photograph my costume. The model is a smaller size than me and required some pinning into the jacket to make it fit her.
Photography by David, David Leane, model Jess Elliott
Suppliers:
The Thread Studio for Wonderfill thread. www.thethreadstudio.com
Starr Lace and Ribbons for the lace and dye. www.starrlace.com.au
Babylock for Designer threads. www.babylock.com.au
Jewellery from Equip, ornate chandelier necklace, diamante border earrings, large crystal encrusted ring.
Dairing for 4mm metallic gold chain (not a metal chain) made in Japan. www.dairing.com.au
DK Fabrics for the purple sequin braid. www.dkfabrics.com.au