Last year for Halloween I created a pipe band. It had bagpipes and kilts and drums, and it was pretty epic if I say so myself. It was a huge hit with the neighbourhood kids and adults alike. I’ve been wondering what to do for this year. Currently it’s just the beginning of August, and I’ve had an idea floating around for a while. I don’t think it’ll top last year, but it’ll still be fun and pretty striking - Victorian ladies, with their walking skirts, leg of mutton blouses and little boater hats, but add in halloween fabrics, fake spiders, a tea set, and black lace and flowers. I don’t know if I’m completely crazy to attempt it, as making my own leg of mutton sleeved blouse nearly killed me off! But skeletons don’t care about fit or finish, and they’re much easier to drape too. Plus, I’m starting early so I’m not having to rush come October.

The Preparations.

I unearthed a skeleton from the garage a few days ago and placed it on a stand from last year. Then I got measuring. I always get a giggle when I have to measure up a skeleton - it just feels so daft! Especially when you have to take measurements like ‘neck to noodle’, and ‘noodle circumference’, or ‘noodle without ease’.

The question of how to defy gravity and keep a walking skirt on a 5ft skeleton helped during nights of insomnia. After much humming and hawing, I decided a pool noodle would be perfect! I attached it to the skeleton with milliner’s wire and reinforced with zip ties, slightly above the hip. If I make the skirt waist slightly smaller than the noodle circumference, it should be ok - I think. I hope! Because of the way the noodle is tied to the ribs, it’s not possible to tuck the blouse underneath the noodle, so it has to go over, meaning it has to be wider than the noodle.

The pool noodle adds a foundation for the skirt to sit on.

The Blouse.

From my rather chaotic measurements, I drafted a very rough pattern of the front and back onto paper. Then I decided to try a mockup with the halloween fabric I’d bought. A bit risky, but I left huge seam allowances to be able to let the blouse out if I needed. The sleeves are a bit too intimidating to try right now, I want to get the body right first.

I added pleats to the centre front of the blouse, and to the back shoulders to add a bit of bulk so the blouse could get over the pool noodle. There’s a sentence I never thought I’d type!

A very rough draft. I added in the front and shoulder pleats after this.

Here’s a video I took while trying the mockup on the skeleton for the first time. Apologies for the low volume.

Initially I was happy how bulky the blouse was, but on reflection, the blouses I have seen the huge leg of mutton sleeves on tend to have tighter fitting blouses, and I wondered if this might actually provide more support for the weight of the sleeves. I would need to lower the armscye quite a bit to get the volume of sleeve I want, but as range of movement isn’t too important in this case, I think it would be doable.

My next step is to sew it together properly, add velcro to the back fastening, shape the neck, and take in the blouse in a little. The thought of trying to draft those sleeves is already giving me palpitations! I still have my pattern from when I made my own blouse, so I will scale it down and see what happens. Wish me luck. Stay tuned for part 2!

Victorian Ladies Halloween display - Part 1.

Outfit created from genuine 1940’s patterns.