The Sanderson Sisters – Hocus Pocus

Made for: Dragoncon 2012

Background: My two friends and I have kicked around the idea of doing these costumes for several years, and at Monday night dinner at Dragoncon 2011, we decided we would do them for 2012 and this time we stuck to it!

Journal Entries: Read more at my Hocus Pocus tag

Sarah Sanderson:
Patterns Used: Simplicity 2621

Bodice:
I did mine, Sarah, first, to get it out of the way. I started out with a corset pattern, slightly altering the shape a little. I dyed the cotton lining and the outer silk pieces pink. I made the corset out of the dyed cotton and canvas, then embroidered the outer silk piece and attached it to the main corset. (I did a lot of the embroidery on a car trip to Minnesota and back earlier in the year!)

Skirts:
The skirts I made without a pattern – I bought some red eyelet cotton and pleated it, and added the fringe. The back section of the skirt I made out of leftover green suede, and the purple “swags” was some chiffon I had leftover that I dyed purple, and attached.

Etc:
The sleeves were difficult – I couldn’t find a “fishnet” I liked well enough, except one that came in yellow. I ended up painting it dark pink and sewing it on. The wig and boots were from other costumes; the wig was a little short but I liked the look.

Mary Sanderson: This costume was worn by Ash!
Patterns Used: Simplicity 3623

Bodice:
We started out making a bodice, using a “medieval” pattern, out of red cotton. We bought some rough burlap, and I dyed it red, and attached it over the cotton bodice. Added some eyelets for the lace-up in the front. I had some leftover red fabric we used for the capelet attached to the back. I ended up making the “hoops” attached to the front after not finding anything close enough, out of gold sculpey.

Skirt/Shirt:
The shirt I dyed a darker orange than it was originally – used the same pattern for it, altered for the neckline. I added the beaded necklace along the edges of the neck, and it can be used to tighten or loosen the fit of the neck. The skirt I used a different pattern for – it’s just a simple elastic waisted, gathered skirt. I attached the extra red burlap to the front.

Wig:
Ash did most of her wig herself; it was fun. She bought a long, curly black wig. We built up the shape with foam, covered in fabric, and sewed it into the wig. We covered that in some leftover wig wefts I had. We cut the extra length off the wig, and used that to cover the wefts.

Winnie Sanderson: Cath’s costume was her birthday present from me 🙂
Patterns Used: Simplicity 9891

Robe:
I used a white cotton velveteen for her outer robe. I used a pattern for most of it, altering the skirt shape and the collar. I put it on my dressform and loaded up a spray-bottle with green dye, and had a sponge with purple dye on it. I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out, though I had to keep doing it layers and it took 3 rounds (and a lot of dye.)

I painted the symbols and floral designs onto the outer dress, with yellow-gold paint. I intended to sculpt the snake “belt buckles” but ran out of time, and replaced them with some jewelry pieces I bought. I added the gold cording to the front, just sewn into place, and glued the gold beaded trim along the edge, stitching it in a handful of places just to make sure it wouldn’t go anywhere.

Underskirts:
Instead of a full underdress, I made and attached the fake “front” of her dress to the robe, and then the lower half of the under-dress is just an elastic-waisted skirt, made of two different purple fabrics.

Wig:
The wig was my old Black Widow wig, built up with foam pieces and sprayed into place.

I’ve got a slightly more detailed write-up on the construction here in my blog.

History: We only wore these for a bit at Dragoncon 2012 (it was hot!) but it was a lot of fun. The best part was doing a photoshoot with ChasingPhotography for Halloween 2013 – the pics are in the gallery above!

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