Alice in Wonderland Skirt for Halloween

For an Alice in Wonderland party I decided to go as an untraditional Alice; instead of the usual Disney-inspired look, I went for a more Gothic, Victorian costume and incorporated elements of the story into an applique at the bottom of a full, long skirt. 

It is a pretty quick and easy make: you'll need an old skirt, a few yards of grey cotton sheeting, assorted threads and fabrics for the applique around the hem and some fusible web. 

I cut the bottom off of the old skirt so that the new hem was an inch or so below the end of the zip and stitched a new hem.  There is no need to cut the grey cotton, the width would be the length of the skirt until I trimmed/finished it and the chosen length would dictate the skirt's fullness.  I measured the old skirt's waistband and, starting an inch in from the end, pleated the grey cotton into tiny 1cm pleats (you can choose any width that is comfortable, my pleats made for a surprisingly heavy skirt!) until I matched the length of the waistband.  I trimmed the excess grey cotton, leaving another inch for the seam.  The grey cotton pleats were then lined up with the waistband of the old skirt, folded over the top of the waistband and turned under for a neat trim and then handstitched in place.  I started on one side of the existing zip and continued around until I was back at the zip.  On both sides of the zip I turned the spare inch of grey fabric under and handstitched it down the side of the zip and then machine sewed the rest of that seam from the bottom of the zip to the hem.  The hem length was chosen and trimmed, and sewn to length. 

The appliques were chosen from a variety of sources; I focused on Chapter 1, when Alice follows the White Rabbit down the rabbit hole.  Using a black and silver colour scheme I appliqued and embroidered the various pieces onto the skirt (with an added Halloween bat and cat) and then tied them all together with a curving line of machine stitched hearts.  At various points the skirt was then tightly gathered to shorten it's length and create interest around the hem.

The outfit was finished with an appliqued fob gold watch that I made, a Victorian style navy blue jacket, black and white tights, a tiny top hat on a hairband and white gloves.  Sadly, there is only one picture of it from the party... where a very alternative Mad Hatter is untangling my necklace and Alice (Cooper) is hovering in the background!