Miss Piggy - Kermit Dress #2

the fabrics: pistacchio satin, light green nicky velvet, salmon pink felt.
the embellishments: light green and yellow iridescent half pearls, an acrylic xmas ball, and the ring.

Last Thursday, I finally found the pistacchio green satin. After going to almost all fabric stores at Baixa, I wasn't in the mood to climb the stairs to one that's on an upper floor, at Praça da Figueira anymore. In fact, I don't even know if the store still exists, the last time I was there, it looked like they were about to close... Anyway, last Thursday I went with my cosplayer friend Carol to Bispos, in Parede (a small town near Lisbon), where I found a treasure trove!

¼ of the Bispos shop.

The store is smallish, but packed with fabric. The best part is, it has plenty of variety. I finally found my satin, and Carol also found her purple fancy fabric, two hard colours to match. When I started sewing, if I wanted light green satin, the only tone available, wasn't neon bright green. But nowadays, these neon polyester satins, took over the market, and the only light green fabric I found in most stores was exactly the same bright green as the nicky. In the reference photo, Piggy's collar is clearly less bright than the dress and hood, so I needed that colour contrast. Neither green really matches the reference, but the difference between both green tones is similar. So I'm OK with it.

The day(s) I went to Baixa to gather materials, I got the felt, fabrics for the Card Girl, and to replace Yuuko's sakura choker I lost at IberAnime, and also went to Max Biju to get materials for the ring. Unfortunately, when I arrived there, another store took its place. They told me where the store "had moved to", nearby, but unfortunately they now only sell complete jewellery pieces... They have a warehouse near Samora Correia, which is about 40 minutes by car from Lisbon, and with poor public transportation. I'll have to resort to buy that kind of stuff online, but currently, besides ebay, I don't have many resources. Going to most of the smaller similar stores in the area, I managed to get the ring base, even though in a heart shape, a big stone, an "emerald", to match the green outfit, but not the small "diamonds", which fortunately I had some in my doll jewellery stash.

The Ring.

emerald, iridescent diamonds, ring base, and oval ring base

I usually keep one or two soda cans around (after I drink them), so I can upcycle their metal. I marked an oval shape at the bottom of one, because it's a bit thicker, pressed it flat with the help of a small glass bottle, for the base of the ring. The ring base comes with a flat heart shaped surface, but it's not big enough, and the wrong shape, for the big fancy ring I wanted.

Note that Miss Piggy wears this outfit for a very short scene in the movie, so there are parts I can't see properly. The ring is one of them, so I decided it would be an emerald, surrounded by diamonds. Luxury!

glueing the emerald to the base

glueing the diamonds to the base

glueing the oval base to the ring base

the finished ring

I don't have proper jewellery making tools, apart from a few pliers, files and tweezeres, so I glued everything, with E6000 glue. But first I scratched both surfaces, the oval and the back of the stone backings, in order to adhere better. I first glued the emerald in the middle, and let it dry overnight. Then I glued the small diamonds, first the top and bottom ones, the left and right ones, and then filled the gap in between with two stones each. Left them dry overnight again, and finally glued the oval to the heart of the ring base.

½ hood and ½ collar patterns

Drafting. 

Today I drafted the hood and collar patterns. For the dress I'll use Non Gou's dress pattern, with small adaptations to the neck opening and straps.

While I was drafting the hood, taking a (nicky velvet) hoodie of mine as a base, I realised Piggy's dress may have been made not from raw fabric, but from a similar hoodie. Piggy is smaller, so there's enough fabric in one hood or two, to make her dress and gloves. If I'm right, they just adjusted the hood to her size. How did I suspect this? Piggy's hood is lined with the same fabric, and there is no need to do it, as she never takes it off. I wouldn't make a lining for a hood that appears for a few minutes in a film. I'd just make a wide hem. Another thing I noticed, her hair comes out of the back of the hood, over the spiked collar, in the back.

I put my hood on and marked where I would place the strap to close it. Put the hood flat over my paper and traced it. Added the front closure strap, and that's it.

The collar was a little more complicated. Looking at the pictures, one can see it's not completely flat, it's a cone shape. I can't see how it is in the back either. Miss Piggy's head comes off, so she really doesn't need a closure, so I think the hood should be one whole piece. I counted the spikes, 5 at the front, 10 in total, and measured from my throat to over my shoulder, where the collar should end (30cm). Measured my head circumference, so I can put the collar over my head, and looked for a circular object in my home to help trace it. I have some larger cork coasters that are the right size.

Cut a 30cm strip of tracing paper, and folded it in half, lengthwise. placed ¼ of the coaster, its centre over the corner fold of the paper, and traced the circle. Measured 30cm using the corner as an axe, and traced the outer curve. Cut the half doughnut shape and, in front of a mirror, marked the diagonal over my shoulder.

Back to the table, I placed the half doughnut, folded in half, with the straight sides matching the cutting table sides, to have a centre point, as I had cut it off. Then I traced a straight line from the centre point to the shoulder mark and cut it. Carefully, using the measuring tape, I measured the outer curve side, multiplied it by four, and then divided it by ten, to get the points distance, and marked them. By eye, I measured the distance from the head opening to where the spikes should end, and traced a line from the opening with that measurement. Carefully measured that line with the tape, multiplied it by four, and divided it by ten. I had the tops and bottoms of the spikes. In fact, I made the last step twice, adding one centimeter to the tops, because I didn't like how acute the spikes angle was. You can see the first lines in the picture. Then I traced the spikes with a ruler, and that's it, half a collar.

The plan is to make the base out of thin EVA foam, glue it together, side to side, and then do the same with the fabric, but sewing it, leaving it open at the neck opening. This will be covered by the hood.

+ I think I can make this before mid-July, for Spring IT Con, as it's an easy costume. The drafting is done, and one out of 7 pieces is made. I think I'm doing good. My cosplay mojo is also still here, which is good news.

- Nothing negative to point out, but a heads up not to con crunch.

THE CUNNING PLAN

After I finish the Card Girl, start this one, by cutting the fabric and start making the nose and ears out of upholstery foam.