Jane Porter – Tarzan

Made for: Anaheim Comic Con 2010

Background: I love Jane… I thought this would be such a fun costume to make.

Journal Entries: Read more at my Jane tag

Related Costumes: Megara, Merida

Patterns Used:
Butterick 4954, Simplicity 9769

Underthings:

I started out with the underthings. I made a corset (see above pattern) – it turned out all right, it was my first time doing an open front busk. It’s not perfect and I’m not crazy about the shape it gives, but it fits pretty well. I’d love to remake it one of these days. I also went ahead and bought a bustle online – I decided to save myself the hassle of making that!

Top:

I used matte satin for the skirt and top – though I ended up using it wrong side because even the right side was a tiny bit shinier than I wanted. I used a heavily-altered pattern for the top. Like so altered it probably would’ve been easier to draft it myself at that point LOL. It’s self-lined and zips up the back. For the collar, I bought a plain button up shirt, cut the collar off and used it as a pattern to make a taller collar out of my white matte satin (which is also what I used for the cuffs), and attached it back to the body of the shirt. I attached the little tie (made of purple satin) to the collar as well so that’s all one piece and closes at the neck with a hook and eye. The belt I cut out of a piece of leather I had, and stitched it in place in the front of the bodice. It closes with a hook and eye in the back.

Skirt:

The skirt was a pain, I couldn’t find any patterns to use as a reference so I came up with my own. It ended up ok. It’s also self-lined. I bought some lace to add to the edge, and went through four or five different versions of the front drape before I was finally happy. It closes with a hidden side zip and then a hook and eye brings the front drape over that to hide it. Or was it the back drape? LOL I gotta say, speaking from 15 years later, this skirt is like a memory game every time I’ve put it on since then. There’s like 4 different steps to closing it correctly and trying to remember them is challenging at times!

Accessories:

The helmet I bought online. And disappointingly within a couple of years of buying this (and it was not cheap!), the plastic brace parts that hold the leather interior sizing band in place all crumbled and broke out. Incredibly disappointing for what I paid for this, especially considering it has only ever been stored safely in temp controlled inside areas. If I want to wear this out again, I’ll have to figure out a way to repair or make or buy something else.

The gloves were my Hoth Leia gloves. The boots I bought online and made spats (white knit fabric) for. (And, much like the hat, these boots have also fallen apart since I made this!! Ugh! The soles came off.) and the parasol I bought at an estate sale – I grabbed it because it had a nice wooden handle and I thought it would be a good base. I was going to rip the fabric off and re-cover the frame with my yellow fabric, but in the end decided to leave it, mostly because I was running out of time (and feeling lazy…) I did hand stitch lace to the edge and clean it up as best I could.

History:

This is such a fun costume to wear! When I got it for a Halloween party in 2013, I wore it with a new petticoat and fixed some bustle issues. As of 2025, as noted above, both the hat and boots have fallen apart. I think the boots are fixable, but I’m still pretty mad about the hat. I’d like to get this wearable again because it’s always been one of my favs.

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