New Ideas for Fancy Dress Parties

Southland Times, Issue 21273, 19 December 1930, Page 17

New Ideas for Fancy Dress Parties

COSTUMES MADE FROM- AMERICAN CLOTH. American Cloth makes fine Fancy Dresses! You can get it in many gay colours, and it is quite easy to sew. A Dutch Doll is a good costume. Get scarlet cloth for the bodice, bright blue for the skirt, and black for the tight-fitting little cap, which will suggest Dutchie’s glossy black-painted hair. About three-quarters of a yard of material will do for the bodice, if you get the 50-inch-wide cloth. Fold and cut it as shown in the upper part of Diagram 1. Sew up the side seams, and turn in a narrow' hem round the neck and wee sleeves; the sticking-up frilled edges to the sleeves can be’iadded with crepe paper. You will need one and a-half yards of stuff for the skirt, as you can cut it and join it into a long strip, deep enough to reach from your waist to just above your knees. Sew up the seams, hem the bottom, and gather the top into the lower edge of the bodice. You can paint huge scarlet blobs on the skirt, using a small brush and a twopenny tin of scarlet enamel. The cap is made in two pieces like Diagram A and B; cut it in newspaper first, to get a good fit. Wear tiny black slippers, hold your legs and arms very stiffly, and ask someone to paint “joints” round your elbows and knees, to give you a real “dolly” look.

A small brother or sister will look sweet in a Peter Pan Lantern dress, made of orange American cloth. You will need about one and a-half yards! Cut it in romper style, like Diagram 2, making casings round the wide leg-openings through which you can thread elastics. The cap is just a little round affair, with the big peaked point edded afterwards; diagrams A and B give, you the front and side views of this, and you’ll find it a good idea to sew a wire round the edge to keep it stiff. A paper lantern on a long handle will complete the costume. Bigger Brother will enjoy wearing the Aeroplane Dress. Use aluminium-coloured

cloth for this. It consists of a plain tunic, with rounded back and front, panels, straight sleeves added at the shoulders, and ■ the long “wings” added to the sleeves. These wings should be about twelve inches wide and a yard long. Diagram 3 shows you i how the different parts of the tunic are assembled. Paint the red, w'hite and blue circles on the wings with enamel paints,

when the dress is made up. A tight-fitting cap, trimmed with a propeller cut out of cardboard and covered .with cloth is easily made; so are the cardboard goggles. Plain “shorts” of the same cloth will complete the costume, and the tunic will look nice with a brown leather belt around the waist. The whole dress takes about 3j yards of material.