Handmaid's Tale Costume

I had the wonderful experience of reading The Handmaid's Tale for the first time earlier this year. While the book was nothing like I expected it to be (somehow I had it in my mind that it was futuristic science-fiction, not near-future post-apocalyptic), it made quite an impression on me. You can read my Goodreads review of the book to hear more about my impressions. I had chosen to read this book finally (after years of hearing nothing but amazing things about it) because I knew Hulu was making an adaptation of the novel for a television show this year. 

While the show struck me completely differently than the novel (the dangers of adaptations...), it was still neat to be able to visualize fully the world Margaret Atwood had created. So when someone presented the idea of doing a Handmaid's Tale costume for Dragon Con this year, I eased into the idea of sewing my own. Because of the popularity of the show and the surprising (or maybe not?) choice of many liberal protesters to wear the iconic red costumes, there was no shortage of costumes out there to buy. But, the guilt of buying something that I could definitely make was too strong, and so I set out to sewing. 

"Blessed Be the Fruit."

Of course, I've been busy making Dolores for most of the summer, so this costume was made over the past two weekends. Probably about 12 hours of sewing all told. At least I was able to re-use Dolores' boots for this one!

"Under His Eye."

Making the Dress

The dress looked simple enough. The challenging part was going to be the bonnet/"wings" that make the costume so iconic. Armed with reference photos, I started perusing the internet and sewing stores.

I also joined a Facebook Group of people who were also planning to make costumes for Dragon Con based on the show. Much as I argued, no one agreed with me that the color was not tomato red and that the fabric was NOT linen. 

I mean, look at that picture. THAT IS CLEARLY A STRETCHY FABRIC. And you can also see that the color red is darker, almost scarlet. Certainly not tomato red. But since we had all agreed we wanted to get a group photo, I bent to the tomato red argument for the sake of matching.

I still went with a stretchy fabric though. (Nolite tes bastardes carborondorum). I chose a polyspandex knit in Tango Red from JoAnn's. It had the right shininess and the right weight to drape correctly.

Someone else in the group suggested using McCall's 7313, so I decided to try it as well. As I discussed previously, I tend to like McCall's patterns, and since this one was meant for a knit it seemed to be destiny.

The dress pattern had an elasticized waist, which didn't match the show's costume, but since it looked like there was a belt over the dress anyway, I decided it would be fine. I also had to add about a foot of fabric to the hemline to make it the right length.

I think I made an error when I was trying to correct the pattern for my weird proportions (I wear three different sizes on my shoulders, waist, and hips) and I think I ended up with a scoop neck that was way too low for the costume (and too low for my personal comfort!). OH well...

As I learned the last time I made a scoop neck, I altered the pattern so that the bodice was fully-lined. I think I made a mistake with this on this dress, though. The knit was so heavy and thick that I think it added way too much bulk when it was doubled-up on itself. I should have lined it with a thinner fabric!! Now I know...

The dress took a full day to make from start to finish. If I hadn't done the lining it would have been even easier. Maybe I can salvage this pattern and make some dresses I can wear to work?

Making the Belt

I had no pattern for the belt and no idea what I was doing. From pictures and watching the show, I could see it was wider at the hips than at the waist/small of the back, so I cut out this kind of shape with an opening in the back and adjusted as necessary.

Then I made an exact duplicate and sewed them face-to-face and flipped it inside out.

Finally, I sewed lines across it every 1/2 inch and added large hooks and eyes to close it.

It looks OK from far away... *wince*

Making the Cap and Bonnet

I never would have had the guts to attempt making an actual freaking bonnet if one of the women in the Dragon Con Facebook group hadn't been a professional milliner (I know, right?) who was making the bonnets AND selling bonnet patterns for us to use. The bonnet pattern is here if you're curious.

It involved downloading things and printing out the pattern over multiple pieces of paper and taping them together, which is not my favorite way to deal with a pattern, but now I know how to do it!

This is just basic white fabric, craft interfacing (used instead of the buckram suggested), heavy duty floral wire, and elastic.

It was hard getting the craft interfacing to stick to itself (Spoiler Alert: it doesn't) long enough to stuff the brim inside the pocket. I ended up sewing the interfacing to one side of the brim while it was inside out, then folding it into itself.

To make sure the casing was tight, I actually sewed it together while the interfacing for the brim was already attached and used a zipper foot to keep the needle really close to the interfacing. This made it harder to flip inside out, but it kept the fabric from drooping around the brim.

Probably the most annoying part was sewing the heavy duty floral wire to the brim. The wire looks sturdy, but is actually SUPER flexible, so much so that it kept getting bent out of shape as I was sewing. I think I used the wrong gauge wire!!

By comparison, the little cap was a breeze. It was just an elasticized bag with an interfaced brim that folded up. Super easy!

An added incentive to finish this costume was that I got asked to be in the Dragon Con parade!! That's right! A group of "Handmaids" from the Facebook group had the foresight to register for the parade months ago and they had a few extra spots that were offered to me and a friend. If you live in the Atlanta area, come down on Saturday morning, September 2nd, and watch me march :)

You can also see the parade from most local news stations, but no guarantee we'll make the cut in between commercial breaks. I have a feeling we aren't going to have the most exciting costumes in the parade.

"May the Lord Open."

"Praise Be!"

Stay tuned for the final Dolores post and for my SURPRISE last minute costume (that required zero sewing, don't worry).