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Cost: $ $ $ $ $

Difficulty: • • • • •

Time: 72h00

Costume
A friend was having a themed karaoke birthday, with the theme being... Famous singers (wat? no wai! who would have guessed!).

Lately I have been obsessing about Björks version of "it's oh so quiet" so naturally I thought 'Hey! I'll make her swan dress'.
Little did I know how much of a pain in the neck it was going to be! So if you attempt to make one, here is a little guide that might make it a bit easier (or harder...my technique is a bit flawed ahahaaa awww)
This took about 3-4 days to make not including sourcing all the materials.

Posted by Hello Sweet Taco from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Published 27th August 2013 • See Hello Sweet Taco's 21 projects »

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Step 1
So I decided to edit an existing dress, I thought this might be a bit quicker. Maybe if I were to do it again I would make it from scratch, was a bit annoying trying to sew in all the layers of tulle onto an already sewn up dress, at times I couldn't even see my sewing machine, felt like I was sewing blind!
Oh well, Que Sera, Sera.

Anyway, I bought a white dress from an thrift shop for $6. I also found a heap of some weird fluffy curtain material there for $4. Tulle can become quite expensive so I thought if I bulk it up with this curtain material (and layer tulle on top) I would save a little bit of cash-ola.
Step 2
I used my sewing machine to gather the tulle and curtain mterial.
I had it set on 'strait stitch' - W5.0 - L3.0, I found this worked the best to gather it just right!

After gathering I sewed it onto the dress, starting from the bottom and working my way up.
I had a layer of tulle then a layer of curtain material and then a layer of tulle etc... with about 5cm between each layer. If I were to do it again I would probably have less space between, maybe 3cm?.

If your dress has a zip be careful that when you come to it you don't sew over it, just sew around it.
Step 3
I bought some skin tone mesh and made some arms and chest coverage. I also sewed the mesh onto one half of the top. Part of Björks dress is actually see through.. but I thought I should probably just give the illusion of it being see through rather than actually making it see through...
Step 4
Time for some fun!
I cut 2 arch shapes (rounded at one end and flat the other) out of white felt and sewed them together, I then turned it inside out so you couldn't see the seem and stuffed it with toy filling. Using PVA glue I stuck some cut up feathers over the top half (nobody is going to see the underneath and you want to keep feather-less anyway so it doesn't scratch your neck! NOTE: THIS IS SUPER MESSY!! After a week I still have bits of feathers floating around my house).

With the black and orange felt I used the real Bjork dress as a guide to cut out the right shape for my beak and eyes. I stuffed my beak and then sewed them both onto my swan neck.
Step 5
I sewed the flat side of the swan neck onto the dress and then with a glue gun I attached a cut up feather boa around it to hide the area.

I bought some crystal gems and glue gunned them onto the chest and arms.
Step 6
I attached Velcro to the underside of the swan head and the shoulder strap of the dress. This is so you can pull the swan neck on and off one side when getting into the dress, means you don't have to squish your head through the small neck opening!
Step 7
I bought 90denier stockings and glue gunned some more gems onto them. It's easier to glue them on if you are wearing them, this gives you a good idea of the spacing and it makes sure the glue doesn't go through the other side and glue the back and front together! I would only recommend doing this though if you have a 'Low Temp' glue gun so you don't burn your legs.
Step 8
Shoes! I just could not find the right ones. I wanted white ones with a closed in toe and low heals as I am rubbish walking in anything higher than 2 inches (TRUTH!).

I found some cheaper ones with all the requirements except they were tan. So, I decided to change them. They were made from some sort of material so I knew it would be quite easy.

I bought white fabric paint, a stencil sponge brush and crystal glitter fabric paint (for some bling).
I taped up the heal with masking tape to keep it clean and started dabbing white fabric paint onto them. This brand of fabric paint is great, you don't need to iron it, it sets to waterproof after 72hrs!

I did about 3-4 coats of white, letting each layer dry in-between.
I then coated them 3 times with the crystal glitter fabric paint.

I think they came out quite nice! I was going to glue some gems onto them but decided against it because with this subtle look I can wear them with other outfits. Not bad for $30.
Step 9
Ta-Daa! I'm all set to unleash my horrible voice onto the world!

I had some extra tulle petticoats lying around so added them underneath to give some extra poof!