Lady Macbeth Beetlewing Gown, Part XIII: Crown

The final touch for this costume was the crown, which Lady Macbeth is shown raising above her head in the Sargent painting.

That being said, the internet assures me that 1) this was supposed to be King Duncan’s crown, not hers, and 2) she never actually struck this pose in any of her performances of the play. But it’s still the most recognizable pose, so I had to make a crown to carry– and also to wear, since I wasn’t about to just carry it around all night.

Since I am not experienced in metalwork, I had three options: First, have a metal crown custom-made for me. That seemed awfully expensive for a prop. Second, make a fake metal crown out of craft foam and gold paint. That was definitely something I considered, but ultimately I wanted it to look really shiny and polished both inside and out, and I wasn’t confident I could do that in the time allotted. So I went with my last option, which was to find a reasonably decent-looking crown online and go with it.

My Fair Lady Ballgown, Part VII: Tiara

 

For one of the accessories for this outfit I had to find an appropriate small tiara. It was actually harder than it sounds– while there are tiaras galore on eBay, most are much larger than the delicate piece Eliza Doolittle wears in her gigantic updo. The few smaller ones weren’t much better– they were usually too rounded and none had the tiny dangles you can see in the original. I finally came to the conclusion that I’d need to cobble one together myself. Luckily, after much searching I found this comb, which had the radiating tines decorated with rhinestones, even if it was in the wrong color. I removed the heart from the front and snipped off the extra tines so there were only seven, just like the movie version. I had to bend them into the correct position to make them look like they were radiating from a wider base, as well.

 

The Grey Lady, Part IV: The Lost Diadem of Ravenclaw

To take a brief break from sewing, the first accessory I purchased for this outfit was a no-brainer*: the Lost Diadem of Ravenclaw. I’d considered making my own without being shackled to the movie version, but let’s face it, the movie version is actually reasonably attractive and at $9.99 for an eBay knockoff there’s no way I’d be able to make something equally nice for as little money. So I ordered it, and figured that I could remove some of the larger dangly jewels if they turned out to look too hokey.

Unfortunately, when it arrived there were several issues– first and foremost, it was angled so sharply that it was impossible to wear– seriously, there was a clear inch of space between my head and the curve of the diadem, and there was no way to bend it to fit. Also, despite the side pieces being too short to wear as an actual headband, there were no loops or anything else to pin the diadem to the head– so even if it had been angled properly it would’ve fallen off easily. Clearly, something had to be done.