A Botanical Gala Gown – Part 2: The Skirts and Bustle…

The Skirts

I found a pair of really great imitation silk curtains that had been donated to the textile loft at the Powerhouse. I took them home and put them through my washer/dryer to make sure they would hold up to wearing. I was thrilled to pull them out and find both the hems and cotton lining intact, so all I needed to do was cut them to length and gather the waist onto a cord. I overlaid that skirt with an overskirt from my steampunk wardrobe, made from vinyl window screening and edged with black fringe I rescued from a dumpster a decade ago. Over that I overlaid a beaded shawl I had been recently gifted. The window screen overskirt would be the base for the nightshades, bleeding hearts and silk foliage.

The Bustle

To create a garden-inspired lobster-tail bustle, I made a panel from heavily stiffened linen which would form the base for all the materials I had collected from the Powerhouse. I added some heavy ivy vines that I stripped all but the larges leaves from, and used them to form a cage that would be filled with wads of black netting, avocado bags that simulated lichens, butterflies and amanita muscaria.

The arrival of red polka-dot balloons at the Powerhouse one evening spurred me to add the classic poison mushrooms to the mix. I made the larger amanita muscaria from half globes, the smaller ones from plastic balls that were soft enough to cut in half with scissors. Foam stems wound with white fuzzy yarn allowed me to sew the mushrooms into the bustle. I used black yarn to tie things into the black netting and left the ends exposed because they resembled worms. Because what’s a garden without worms?

All materials in the bustle are second hand, courtesy of the Powerhouse, which should be called a Treasure House. Next step – the jacket…