On a wing and a prayer

All I can say is thank goodness for safety pins, duct tape and fishing line. Without these three things, my last minute Halloween costume would not have been possible. If I hadn’t flip-flopped between Stefon, Cruella and where I ended up, I could have actually made the costume, but as it was, I was pressed for time.

IronMan sat patiently cutting fishing line into certain lengths while I hacksawed into a jumbo sonotube. Add some leftover cushion stuffing, drape the fabric and voila, dress complete. Creating a fake neck was my biggest challenge but after a suggestion from Kitkat and a mask from Fauntleroy, all become clear and I saved myself an elaborate fan to cover mistakes on the back.

This headless Marie Antionette, who FYI had a very long neck and was about 8 feet tall, costume, in the grand scheme of things, was on the cheaper side. The majority of fabric was leftover from my bedroom walls, the jacket re-cycled from my Scarlet O’Hara costume and the head was a pre-purchased decoration.

I spent an additional $40 on fabric and $19 on a wig. Not as cheap as Lizzy Borden, but much cheaper than Scarlet, although she has now practically paid for herself.

Head in hand, our smaller than usual group ~ two day of the dead dolls, Frankenstein & his Bride and King Tut ~ hit Church Street and let me tell you darlings, we were the hit of the evening!

I did have a Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction however. Given the size of my costume I had to dress the Fire Hydrant's place and realised I forgot my boobs. Two zip-lock bags, a few cups of sugar, some duct tape and 3 minutes later all seemed rectified. We underestimated however the weight of sugar.

While my left chest stayed in place, the right side, ever so slowly started moving down. One adjustment must have been a little too much and I was soon leaving a sweet trail down the street in my wake. Oh well. I kept it covered with my decapitated head.

You can always judge your success by how often you are stopped on the street and I can honestly say none of us took more than 3 steps without being swarmed by the masses. It was FABULOUS! Fools that we are, we didn’t get a group shot of ourselves.

Thanks for another fabulous year! And here I was thinking I was getting too old for this.