Queen of Hearts (Original Design)

So after doing a bit of research I decided to be The Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland.  I pieced together a lot of elements I saw from other designs (plus some of my own ideas) to make a completely original costume.  I think it came out really cool!

So maybe the combination with Bane doesn't make a TON of sense...

I admit I started making this one only 3 weeks before Halloween so I made it for speed not for making a how-to blog.  I did not make detailed steps or a lot of in progress pictures because I made it up as I went.  Best part of an original design is that if something comes out being too difficult, I just changed it.

The top is made primarily of a stretchy velour which was really easy to work with.  I did take a picture of the pieces I cut in case anyone wants an idea of the pattern.  The coolest part (I think) is the heart shape cut out that shows the red underneath- which is fitted to also make a heart shape.  One hint I can suggest is that the top part of the heart is actually attached to a safety pin clipped to my bra to hold it in place when I moved.  The red is not stretchy or else that step could have been avoided, but hey I wanted it shiny.  Anyway, the collar is a white satin around a stiff felt also cut with a heart shape top.  The tough part there is getting the sides even (as is the case with literally any heart ever) but the felt held up pretty well.  I lined the edges with some ribbon to give it a little flair and highlight the shape (I think it made it look more regal too) but it was completely optional and attached with hot glue.  The sleeves had the "puffy" parts added afterward and they are literally long oval shaped pillows stuffed with stuffing that wrap around my shoulders.  The gold accents both there and on the bottom were pieces of ribbon that were strategically hot glued to highlight the shape.  The bottom of the sleeves have a drapey sheer red (I want to say organza) that was way too difficult to hem.  Instead I hot glued a gold ribbon to the end and cut along the hot glue to stop it from fraying. The front had a little loop of black ribbon at the point that looped around the top heart on the skirt to keep everything in place and stop it from twisting. 


The skirt took me a while because I had a hard time deciding how it should look.  I decided to go big with a hi-low skirt with a long wire in the hem to make it stick out.  The wire runs all along the red part and bends up around the white but not connected in the middle.  The front only has a bit of elastic in it to make it easy to get on and off.  On either side there are snaps to hold the red to the white and at the very top underneath  is a security snap so nothing can pop off once its on.  I can show pictures if anyone cares how I made it secure.  I thought the ribbon lining the skirt was crucial to making it look like a "Queen" outfit so there was lots of chunky gold ribbon and accent details.  The hearts are the same shiny red (except the top metal one which was actually being used as a button) with gold hot glued on the edges ad hot glued onto the skirt.  If i had more time or I wanted to make it more secure or machine washable I could have sewn them on but again I was going for speed which is why I have zero pictures of this.  The bottom of the white part has a ribbon I made myself by lining a checkered ribbon with a fancy edging on the top and bottom.  I did it that way to make it stiffer- since the weight of the sides of the skirt would weigh in on it too much and make it bow in or out (that did happen some but to a minimum).  The bottom is pleated and gathered organza I had left over from the sleeves to make a ruffle.  The black on the sides (kind of like saddle bags) were Cinderella-inspired and were essentially triangular pillows stuffed with the same polyester stuffing I used for the sleeves.  The trick here though was to attach it up by my waist all the way around and to the skirt only at the point at the bottom.  This really made the sides poof and it wiggled when I walked which is very Red Queen.  Finally, to the back I added a long checkered bow which happened to be the perfect touch to make it less plain back there.

I bought the thigh high stockings from the internet and I already had the red shoes, so the last element to tie everything together was the crown which I am particularly proud of.  The old school Disney version and the Tim Burton one have a tiny crown with big head/hair combo.  My design had the perfect amount of steam punk and classic Disney (In my humble opinion).  I also made it attach to an everyday head band using a hidden strip underneath and hot glue to stabilize.  It is made of craft foam painted with my all time favorite bronze paint.  I love the metallic sheen.  The "bumps" along the rim are hot glue as are the puffy hearts but those are painted with red nail polish  (of course the shiny ones are rhinestones you can get from any craft store).

Hopefully this was descriptive enough to give you some idea of what I did in case you want to make anything similar but I know I did not document as well as I could have.  As always if there are any questions please feel free to ask and I would be happy to help!