Murder Mystery Costumes

So, Drew and I got invited to a Western Murder mystery party for which we got to dress up.  Drew was supposed to be some wealthy gambler from the east and I was supposed to be a Southern Belle.  Drew's costume was pretty easy to throw together because he already had a suit that would work pretty well and then we just had to get him a flashier vest  and I got to make a western puff tie for him to wear.

My costume was a little harder because I was supposed to wear a floor length dress with a hoop skirt and that is a little harder to find.  I was able to find a dress at a thrift store that worked reasonably well, the only problem was that it didn't have sleeves so I had to sew and attach some to the dress.  I then found a hoop skirt to put under the dress for cheap and then tried to find as many of the accessories as I could that went along with my costume/character.  I found shoes that worked pretty well, I had some gloves, I got a sun hat and then I made a sash to go with the dress because a lot of dresses in that time period had defining bands at the waist.  I thought I did pretty well considering I was trying to keep it cheap.  It was also a fun sewing project doing the sleeves and sash for my dress and the tie for Drew's outfit.

This was the puff tie that I sewed for Drew.  I made my own pattern after looking at pictures of them online.

This was the main piece that hung off of the neck band.

Here are a couple pictures of the finished tie.  I thought it came out well considering I was making up the pattern on my own.

This is the dress that I added sleeves to.  It started out as a halter top but then I did my best to find fabric that matched and then sewed the sleeves and attached them.  It didn't look perfect by any means but I thought they came out pretty well.  At least they worked and I was able to wear the dress.

The hardest part of sewing the sleeves for me was learning how to do the gathering on the shoulders and the sleeves because I hadn't done that recently enough to remember how to do it.

Here is the finished product of dress, with the hoop skirt under with the sash, hat and gloves.

This was us and a couple friends at the party.  It was really fun getting to dress up for a night.

Here are a couple other shots of my outfit.  It worked out reasonably well.

Then I had to show off my shoes that I had matching the whole ensemble. 

Drew and I had a really fun time dressing up and going out on a date. It was a fun experience and I am glad that we got to do it.