On top of that I used one of Mehron's Paradise color cups in a bright yellow around the eyes. I wanted to be pale but not deathly white. My makeup is a combination of Mehron Celebre in alabaster and my usual powder foundation. These also added some stability to the butterflies with longer wires. To hide the silver wires I slid them through black coffee stirrers. The butterflies are attached with a combination of wire and hot glue. I don't like them as much as the Floral Trims butterflies, but I ran out of time and they were available. For the fascinator I used some orange butterflies I found at my local Michaels store.

I hotglued a hair comb to the back and was really surprised by how well it stayed in place. You'll have to add your own fastener to the back. The fascinator base came from Lush Lapel on Etsy. I think that I would use a different wig if I were to wear this costume again. With a lot of hair spray and shaking I got at least some of the height that I wanted. Then I wrapped the top hairs over some foam rollers and hit them with steam from my iron and a good bit of hair spray so they'd stand up. This one I combed backwards and shook out to loosen the curls. I never really know what I'm doing with wigs. This wig was thinner than I'd like, but it was the right price for me. The wig is the Effie Hunger Lady Hostess Wig by Lacey. It is not going to be able to stretch or form itself to your curves unless it starts that way. When finished, this dress can stand all by itself. I also stuffed some padding under the skirt curves so that they dried in the shape I wanted. I did all of this with the dress on the form, padded underneath so that it all dried into a shape close to my own. I went through a couple of bottles of glue on the overall dress. They don't like to go around curves, but a little coaxing and plenty of glue will make them work for you. The butterflies are glued onto the base dress with plain craft glue. If you have any dye sensativities you may want to coat them with a clear coat of some kind or look for a different option. It's important to note that these butterflies are not recommended for outdoor use and long wear may cause some of the dyes to transfer to your skin. I also bought a dozen 1-inch butterflies for the little ones on her arms and used a couple of 3-inch butterflies in the hair, hat, and above her eye. You can still see some gaps in the back, though. I would have used more except that I had a ton of 3-inch butterflies to fill in the gaps between. I cut the wings off and discarded the bodies.

For the base dress I used 25 dozen 5-inch butterflies. You can also find them on eBay if you prefer. Their butterflies are actually pretty close to the original dress and their shipping and customer service were excellent. I bought almost all of my butterflies from. They flare starting at the waist, but reach their widest at my hips. The curve of the sides is done entirely with the side seams. I had to approach it as though it were a straight skirt, with darts in the front and back, to keep it from sticking out too far from my legs. Patterning the skirt was actually rather tricky. But the butterflies dried into such a stiff dress that I'm not sure how much of this mattered. My thought was that I wanted to provide the most secure foundation for the butterflies that I could. I lined it in orange cotton and interlined it with some eggplant purple silk organza I had. The bottom is some kind of stiffened petticoat fabric I had lying around. The bodice is made from some white coutil I had leftover from previous projects. The base dress is almost all stash-busted from my fabric closet. I put this dress together for Dragon*Con 2013.

Effie trinket costume