Who would have thought....

that tracking down the pieces for a costume would be so difficult...

Ross and I are planning on dressing as Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett for Halloween. Granted, as a costume designer I could take my artistic liberaties and desgin my own look for the characters. It was piece of theatre long before Tim Burton pushed his look into the mix.

But people know that look and I'm lazy. Or rather...with a show the size and scope of Christmas Carol on my plate I've little desire to design yet another Victorian look. If Colleen Atwood's design isn't good enough for me...

We thought about taking the easy way out. There is one version of the costume available at various stores online. It seems to be of decent quality (though the one size fits all thing always annoys the piss out of me). However, due to the popularity of the character this season most stores are already out of stock. Combine that with several vendors ridiculous insistancy on shipping everything second day air via UPS to Hawaii instead of USPS...I'm sorry but I don't want a third of the cost to go to shipping. $31 in SHIPPING is ludicrious.

So...pull, build, alter. I found Sweeney's pants. And can order his shirt for a reasonable cost (thank you JAS Townsend). The cravat, boots, belt and possibly even the wig I can finaggle from the shop. The razor and the holster for said razor...well there are always quality replicas out there, but we'd prefer to not drop $50 on the props.

Mrs Lovett however proves to be the challenge. I know all the components. Due to rabid fans, suckers for detail and the popularity of the movie images and video clips of all the costumes are easy to come by.

Mostly its the cost and lack of time to build the garment that comes into play. I have to build the skirt and more likely than not the blouse as well. After a bit of snooping around I discovered this lovely image of her underthings...which explains the bit o red lace peaking out of her neckline. So lets start from the skin outward...

-black camisole with red lace trim (use long black tank top and add red lace)
-corset with CF busk closure (buy...period corsets has the exact cut, but I'm not dropping $200 for it)
-red bloomers with black trim (ordered from dharma trading company to dye and trim)
-black and red striped stockings (lingerie store...thank you Leg Avenue)
-Victorian boots (I should probably ask Mom to mail mine...or pull from stock)

So the under layers...not that challenging.

Moving outward...

-Cotton paisley petticoat skirt (no way around it, I have to build it, but skirts are always quick)
-brown blouse w/ sheer black sleeves (tried finding a brown blouse to modify to no avail...another build)
-black over corset (shit...again Period Corsets has the ideal, but I cannot fathom spending that much on a Halloween costume)
-gloves (already own, thank you Hot Topic)
-flour (no brainer)

So my build list:

Sweeney's Vest
Lovett's skirt
Lovett's blouse
Lovett's over corset

Maybe it's not as frustrating as I thought...