Thank you, thank you!  As soon as I saw this I had a fever to go to Goodwill and make use of your totally clever tutorial.

I came home with this:



and am wearing this to work today:



(Although actually I took off the midriff belt and I look like this.)  All the photos are here.  Do you mind if I post a derivative of your tutorial on my blog, giving you full credit of course?

Thanks to the advice I got here I ended up painting my skin gray with watercolors (gesso as a base with a little bit of lamp black watercolor).  It was great!  Once it was dry it didn't wipe off too much, and it was easy to take off with soap and water.

I made the dress, the shrug, the purse, and the gloves.  I also painted the fan and dyed the stockings.





And here I am compared to Louise Brooks



I didn't attempt to be 1920s historically accurate because I only had one week to make the costume, but the feel is similar.

There are a ton more pictures on my flickr.

I didn't get a chance to go to the art supply store for gouache, but I already had gesso and watercolor (why didn't I think watercolor before I thought acrylic?).  I mixed a tiny bit of black into white gesso, watered it down, and painted on.  I didn't do a great job getting it even--I should have "primed" my skin with something but I don't know what.  But it definitely did the job and was much more comfortable and stayed put better than grease paints.  It washed right off in the shower with soap and water and I'm not broken out and my skin seems fine.

I made them out of craft foam painted with fabric paint (the slick kind, not the puffy kind).  The shape was the hardest part.  I believe I put a piece of paper over my eye and (very gently and carefully!) used a pencil to trace the shape of the bone/eyesocket.  Then I cut out a lot of paper patterns to finally refine it to the right shape, then cut out of craft foam and decorated.  I stuck them on with spirit gum.

Here's a pic of the final costume.

I made four mermaid costumes for the Mermaid Parade this year using the same idea--a base skirt of stretch fabric and then a long ruffle with tulle underneath.  They came out cute!  You can see all the pictures here

Pattern Review had a designer knockoff contest so I decided to enter since I had so much fun doing my Chloe knockoff a few years ago.

After perusing style.com I decided on an Alberta Ferretti from Fall 2006, but I saw the style as more springlike.

Here it is!



Pictures of the process (muslins, pattern, etc.) on my yahoo photos and more details on how I did it in my review.

I didn't see Down With Love until recently I just adored it!  It's a great parody of the Doris Day/Rock Hudson movies, but also funny in its own right.  And the early sixties wardrobe is to.die.for.  Perfect inspiration for this challenge!  I made two outfits.  One is a fantasy outfit that it's unlikely I'll ever wear out of the house (well, I'll wear the coat, but prob not the dress).  The other is a more practical outfit that I can actually wear to work.

I love the exaggerated collar and boxy fit here.



Here's my exaggerated collar; I did a swing coat instead of a boxy one but the roominess is the same concept.



The decadence of having a fancy wrap for each evening dress you own!  And the decadence of having evening dresses! 



So here is my matching dress and evening wrap.



This is all about the contrast bodice and just-below-empire line.



The bodice is the same as the coat lining (I also bound the back slit in the sparkly fabric).



In bed with Ewan McGregor.



Alas, I'm in bed alone.



Here's the practical outfit...with Barbara Novak's Best Selling Novel.  (Um, yeah, about the book cover?  I'm not an artist.)



There are about a thousand more pics on my yahoo photos, including photos of the process.  I drafted the pattern for the top of the bodice of the evening dress.  I'm trying to learn how to draft patterns.  I have a lot to learn.

I enjoyed this challenge!  And now have three new outfits (did a muslin for the evening dress that will be a cute summer dress--pics on the yahoo page).


**Edit** I tried resizing the pics to be smaller but they just became all pixilated.  Sorry for the gigantic images.  I wish photobucket still had the resize by percentage (instead of to fixed size) feature.

Here's the completed costume.  I made the jacket, corset, skirt, jewelry, and puppy purse.  Only the boots, stockings, (fake) cigarette holder, and wig are purchased.



The jacket is a modified version of of McCall 4919; I changed it to widen the shoulders, make the collar bigger, lengthen the sleeves, and add the french cuffs.  If you're interested in how I did it, it's explained in my review on PatternReview.

I couldn't decide what to do about a top.  I did a bunch of sketches, and actually ended up making a tank top with nested chevrons of white lace, zebra, and black but then decided it wasn't exactly what I wanted and moved on to the corset.  The corset is a modified version of view A of McCall 4455 . 



I turned the back piece into a back and side back (four pieces instead of one).  I sewed together the lining and then drafted the cup based on the way the front and side front went together.  First I traced them, then slashed and spread that tracing to add in ease.  I made it lace up the front and added boning (in the form of cable ties from Home Depot) for structure and voila.

The skirt is an old Butterick pattern for a six panel skirt.  I knew I couldn't put in a zipper, though, because of the eyelash fabric, so I made the front panel separate and put in buttonholes and sewed buttons to the side front panels.  I have a lot more pictures, including closeups of the jewelry and purse.

And one more picture just for fun.

Crulla de Ville!  Lots more pics on my yahoo photos, and a thread about the creative process.

All righty.  So I ended up making two different tops.  First I made the chevron tank:



which came out really cute.  But when I put it on with the jacket, the placement of the zebra chevron looked weird with the collar of the jacket (too close together or something).  Maybe someday I'll wear it out dancing.

Then on Friday night I went to see Marie Antoinette and was inspired by all the corsetry so I spent all day yesterday making a corset, heavily modifying view A of McCall's 4455 and using cable ties for boning.  Cable ties get a thumbs up from me!  The corset was really comfortable and I feel like it helped my bad posture.

The finishing touch was, of course, the puppy purse!



And the finished look!  Complete with cigarette holder and fake cigarette made of rolled up paper with a singed end.  (Lots more pics on my yahoo photos.



Me trying to look all fierce.