I wanted to reproduce Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride as closely as possible and was able to find all the materials I needed at the thrift shop and Dollar store. The cost for everything added up to around $15. The sewing was also really minimal – just a little bit of hand sewing here and there, including some snaps to keep the dress together.
The skirt of the dress came from a Christening gown found at the thrift store –even though these are for babies, they tend to be extra-long, and so the length was perfect as is for my 8 yo daughter. The gown had a satin underskirt and sheer overskirt. I also cut off the sheer sleeves of the gown and used those for the gloves.
The bodice of the dress was made from a stretchy cotton camisole ($1.99 at the Thrift store) overlayed with a lace table runner found at the Dollar store ($1.25). I just cut the runner into the right shape. The veil was made from a piece of sheer curtain (also the thrift store). I attached that to a Dollar store hairband.
The plastic and cloth flowers were from the Dollar Store and were woven into the hairband with pipe-cleaners (others were used for a bouquet). Both the pipe-cleaners and flowers were painted first with black, and then with a gray wash over top to make them look like the real corpse bride’s. I also stained all the fabric pieces with washes of acrylic paint, mostly using a sponge, so as to get a distressed look (my daughter actually helped me with that, so she got involved in making the costume).
The tricky part was how to make the ribs showing through a tear in a bodice. By a stroke of luck, among the Halloween paraphernalia at the dollar-store I found a jello mold made of thin plastic…in the shape of a ribcage! That was easy to cut and paint and then attach with strong tape to the bodice, through a tear in the lace.
Makeup was fun and easy, white face, defined brows, black under the cheekbones, and I have to say the blue eyeshadow was absolutely necessary to complete the look.
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