Mary Poppins | 2016

Mary Poppins – Jolly Holiday | Mary Poppins

Made for : Overload NZ 2016

Background : Mary Poppins has always been a favourite film of mine. I was fascinated by the chalk drawing scene as a kid and tried to jump in to my own chalk drawings a number of times. So it felt right to make the Jolly Holiday dress for myself so I could partially live out my chalk hopping dreams.

Things used :

Hat : The base hat was a lucky find at a second hand store. I added some tulle along the brim and as a chin strap. I then decorated the brim with some small pink paper roses.

Dress : The dress is made in two separate parts. The bodice and a separate skirt. The bodice was made from Simplicity 9092 which is a 1970s kids dress pattern. I found it at the second hand store and decided to use it because I liked it’s high neck and pleated front details. I used the sleeves from another pattern though as the kids one’s were too small for me. The skirt was a simple circle skirt with an elasticated waist. The whole thing was made from a white chiffon which I hand sewed white floral lace appliqués on and red velvet bows. I also added eyelet lace around the collar and cuffs and threaded through the red velvet ribbon.

I created the bib bit by cutting out a rectangle shape from the chiffon longer than I needed it to be and curving one of the edges. I gathered it down the center using a strip of elastic sewn on the back. I added a lace trim I had made which was a wide white lace with a smaller red sewn directly in the middle around the edge of the rectangle. I then sewed the bib to the blouse and added (non-functioning) buttons down the middle.

Corset : This was my first time using the duct tape dummy method to draft a pattern. Basically, you wrap yourself in glad wrap, cover that in duct tape and draw on the pattern you want to make, cut it out and transfer it to pattern paper and viola! A pattern fitted to you (at least in theory).

The corset was made from a red cotton sateen that was backed in a sturdy interfacing. It had plastic boning for a bit of extra structure sewn inside and was lined with a poly cotton. It did up in the back using hook and eyes because at the time I had yet to discover the exhibition photo that clearly shows it had a lace up back done with ribbon and eyelets.

Umbrella : I took the umbrella apart and painted the metal part in a baby pink. I extended the handle by adding a length of dowel. The bird head handle was sculpted from a two part apoxie putty and painted using acrylic paints.

I reskinned the umbrella by making a pattern from the original fabric and transferring it on to a red and white acetate fabric. I sewed all the pieces together and then added a ruffle trim along the edge and reattached the new skin to the umbrella.

Gloves + Shoes : The gloves were a pair of white lace opera length ones that I cut off at the wrist and took the fingers off.

I found a pair of red pumps at the second hand store. I made the spats from white lambskin leather by eyeballing the shape. They went over the shoes and had functioning red buttons down one side and a strip of elastic that went under the sole of the shoe to keep them in place.

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