Eliza Doolittle

My daughter has always been tall and thin and to fit her size I tried to think of iconic people who were the same. This costume was made by first drawing up a paper pattern with my daughter's proportions.I had to watch the movie scene with this dress quite a few times to get all the details right. There is an underlining with a lace overlay,both in white. Its is impossible to find ribbon in the width that was needed so I had to make ribbon from black and white satin fabric. I cut out the desired sizes of satin and then using fusible facing I fused the satins together creating a wide black and white stripe, This method had the added benefit of give the ribbon more strength and possibility. I created the hat starting with a paper mache base for the brim and cover it with white satin that was glued on . I then added silk flowers, black feathers  and a giant bow from the hand made ribbon.
   The handbag and umbrella were both made from left over fabric from the dress. The umbrella pole is a dowel painted white,