At long last the skirt for my Lady Tremaine outfit is done! I’ll post a tutorial for the under and overskirts later, but for now here are some pictures of the two together.
First is a side view. I stuffed a pillow under the skirt for the photos, but later I will be making a small bustle pad specific for this outfit.
Here is a view showing the open front with the black velvet underskirt.
And a view from the back.
I took some liberties with the flowers. I used a lot of poppies and leafy sprigs, while Lady Tremaine’s skirt has more abstract flowers and vines.
Since the skirt is open in the front, I put the closures on the side. The skirt is pleated into a velvet waistband made from the same fabric as the underskirt, and closes above the hip with some heavy duty hooks and eyes.
If you’ve been following the story, getting the material for the appliques was quite the saga!
- Supplier #1 sent me a bright neon green flocking material, when I wanted chartreuse. I couldn’t find chartreuse flocking anywhere, so I switched to wool-blend felt.
- Supplier #2 had to send me felt swatches twice, after the first set got lost in the mail.
- After I received the swatches, Supplier #2 said they didn’t have the full amount of chartreuse felt I wanted.
- I felt the felt (ha!) I did get in the end didn’t cut cleanly enough for the flowers to have neat edges, so I went back to flocking.
- I took a gamble on Supplier #3, where I bought a roll of flocking. Despite being labeled “green,” it was a little too yellow for me, but still better than the bright neon green I got at first.
I would have preferred a color in between the two below, but the bottom is still closer to what I wanted.
I used a Silhouette machine to cut the outlines of the appliques, then used a little hook and spatula to weed out the excess material (which took a really, really long time). What is left behind is velvety flocking on one side (and attached to a plastic backing sheet), while the other side has a heat-sensitive adhesive that melts into the fabric.
This was probably the most terrifying project I’ve done! The iron had to be hot enough to fuse the flocking, but not so hot it would melt the organza. I had to make sure the adhesive didn’t bleed through the organza into something else underneath, so I had to protect the areas around and beneath the applique with plenty of parchment paper.
Heat-transfer flocking is best done with a large heat press, but I used an iron. I had a little bit of puckering in some areas, but I think the iron gave me more control, especially over the small detailed areas, even though it took longer!
For the bodice I will be using black heat transfer flocking, which is luckily much easier to find. However, I’ll have to experiment again with the temperature sweet spot that will fuse flocking to sequins without melting them.
Fresh Frippery 
Still completely in awe of this.
I think after we both finish our outfits we’ll be petting each others dresses a lot!
It looks absolutely stunning! I can’t believe how much time and effort you put into making this skirt – it must have been quite challenging but entirely worth it in the end! 🙂
Thank you Ellie! It was a lot of time, but I learned some new things along the way, so it was definitely worth it! I can’t wait to finish all the pieces and wear the complete outfit!
Amazing work! Did the flocking have some kind of backing to keep the pieces all in place relative to each other, or did you have to arrange each piece of each flower separately?
Thanks! The flocking comes on a plastic backing sheet that keeps things in place. You have to adjust your blade depth to cut the flocking without cutting through the plastic backing. After you peel off the extra flocking then you use the backing to apply all the petals together as one flower.
There are truly no words that can express how much of a Rock Star you are!!! This is crazy awesome and over the top fabulous!! I need to invent a new word for you….I cannot wait for this outfit to be completed and to see pictures of you wearing it!!!
Blessings!
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Thank you for the very kind words Gina. I think you might be even more excited than I am! I’m slowly crawling towards getting this finished!
Ha! I probably am because I’m not in the middle of doing all the hard work! Interesting how that happens isn’t it?
Oh my, so much dedication! I’m taking my hat off and bowing to you to the floor:-) It looks absolutely and utterly delicious and smashing. All those appliques! And the way the skirt looks with the padding! Gorgeous.
Hi Rosa thank you for your sweet and enthusiastic comments! I’m glad so many people like my skirt!
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Where did you get the template for the flowers? And if you drew them, would you be willing to put them on Etsy or some such for sale?
Hi! I downloaded various flower designs from the Silhouette Design Store and put them together or deleted portions. They are not screen accurate but have the right feel!