Imagined Crinolines

(satin side up)

I'm not sure why, but I just bought this enormous and fabulous satin and netting wedding train at Goodwill. I saw it a couple weeks ago when we were shopping for costume parts for my son and almost got it then, but there wasn't enough room in the car. Plus I knew that since my family was with me, I'd have to explain why the heck I wanted to buy it, and at the time I didn't have a clue why this thing was calling my name.


(net side up)
After a few weeks of thinking about it, the car steered itself towards Goodwill the other day when I was doing other errands (with an emptier car and no family members along), "I'll just go see if it is still there, if it is, then I'll buy it." There it was with all the other hoopskirts and bridal gowns they put out every Halloween. I snagged it for $13. As you can see it is rather long (about 6 steps down my staircase), it has a really high quality satin and many many layers of netting.


Major confession time:
I've always wanted a nice puffy crinoline to wear under those imaginary Audrey Hepburn circle skirts and dresses that I envision wearing while I scamper off to who-knows-where.
I realize up front that this will most likely not be figure flattering for me at all.
But I miss that dressing up fun that I used to have with my mom's party dresses from the 50's which had the built in crinolines, the swishy, scratchy feeling, and the feeling of taking up more room than I'm usually allowed.

And somehow, this wedding dress train was demanding that I Am Your Crinoline If You Make Me. Well, ok then, now to figure out how the heck to transform this satiny, net-filled thing into a useable crinoline and then to actually wear it. I may even have to throw a dinner party to have an excuse to wear it. I'll admit that I was very likely inspired by the Project Runway episode this season where they transformed divorcee's wedding dresses into new outfits.

But for now, I really have to work on this thing, it is taking up a LOT of room in my studio at the moment and I'm worried the cats are going to start clawing it up. I had a few links that I was going to put on this post to show you what I'm envisioning but unfortunately the power went out (very windy today) and now it is back on so I just want to get this out there before it goes out again.

If anyone has any tips or tricks or ideas or whatever to suggest please do, I'm (as usual) making this up as I go along...