Legendary Eliza Doolittle Costume from My Fair Lady

My daughter is a fan of musicals and asked me if I could make this Eliza Doolittle Costume from My Fair Lady for her one year.

The basic dress was made from satin with a lace overlay. It is a relatively simple dress design. I didn’t use a pattern. I pinned and tucked the fabric over my daughter to get a very form fitted look.

The most challenging part of the costume and the part I felt was absolutely critical for the costume to look good was the stripe ribbon. It is not possible to find a ribbon this size or one stiff enough to hold shape. The ribbons and bows on this costume were made by fusing strips of black and white satins together using fusible interfacing. I folded all the edges of the ribbons and ironed them flat before fusing, so there would be no frayed ends. It took several hours just to make the ribbons.

After the ribbons were finished, I fashioned a couple of bows in the right sizes and dimensions for my daughter. Then I hand sewed the ribbons and bows on to the dress while my daughter stood ( watching TV) for several more hours.( Be careful what you ask for).

The hat  has a paper mache base. It is simply cardboard. I covered it with satin. Then I glued  and sewed on silk flowers and feathers. The hand bag and parasol are made from remnants of the dress. The parasol has a dowel in the center with a wood knob glued to the end.

My daughter was thrilled with this costume. It’s a pity we don’t dress like this any more.

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