COSTUMES
DISNEY'S HAUNTED MANSION DAISY DE LA CRUZ
STRETCHING PORTRAIT TIGHTROPE WALKER BALLERINA
(A.K.A THE ALLIGATOR GIRL OR PARASOL GIRL)
September 2015
I made this costume to wear to Mickey's Halloween Party at Disneyland. We had a Haunted Mansion group that included Alexander Nitrokoff (dynamite barrel stretching portrait), and the original white version of the Cat Lady lightning portrait from the hallway. I am so thankful that after over a year of working on the costume Disney still permitted adults to wear costumes to the Halloween events. I sincerely hope they reconsider the new "Costumes may not be worn by Guests 14 years of age or older" security policy for Halloween time in the future. Dressing up at the Disney Parks is far more fun, safe, and family friendly than a local bar's Halloween event. And Halloween is a socially appropriate time of the year to explain to children why they may be seeing adults in costume at the party (we are having fun dressing up just like they are!).
I had a hard time settling on one single version of the tightrope ballerina portrait artwork to base my dress on. I'm usually very particular about following one reference to the T - but in this case I figured this costume was for me, and different artists over the years have taken the liberty to make subtle changes to Daisy's dress. In the end my bodice, sleeves and cape (shawl) are based on the current 2006-2015 portrait from one elevator (each elevator at Disneyland has a different variation of the dress!) and the floral pattern on the skirt is based on the flowers on the skirt from the other elevator. I just liked number of petals and the layout of that print better.
To view more of my photos and information on making the costume visit my facebook page:
facebook.com/KayDeeCollectionCostumes/
2015 Disneyland - Mickey's Halloween Party
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||
| Haunted Mansion Dynamite Portrait & Tightrope Costume | Disneyland Haunted Mansion Portrait Costumes | Haunted Mansion Daisy De La Cruz and Jack Skellington | Mickey Halloween Party Haunted Mansion Costume |
Reference Photos
Davelandweb.com and long forgotten haunted mansion are an excellent resource for researching the different variations of the stretching portrait paintings as they have changed through the years. The portraits switched from being hand painted to printed in 2005. The current painting is actually different in each of the two "stretching" rooms in Disneyland! One portrait has pale lavender (or mauve) sleeves with a striped trim on the cuff. The flowers on the skirt in that portrait also have more petals. The other room's tightrope walker has bright pink sleeves, and there are fewer petals on the skirt flowers!
WIG
 |
I used the HB Waveryly wig by Sepia to make the wig. I actually had to purchase three wigs - one wig was the base, and the other two wigs were ripped apart to use as wefts to fill in the style of the wig and create a center part in the back. A tutorial on the details for making of the wig can be found on my facebook page facebook.com/KayDeeCollectionCostumes/
PARASOL
 |
I purchased a small Victorian parasol off of ebay, stained the wood and recovered it with silk dupioni. You can read my parasol re-covering tutorial on my facebook page: facebook.com/KayDeeCollectionCostumes/
FABRIC: The bodice and shoulder cape (shawl) is eggplant silk velvet, flatlined with cotton twill for support. The sleeves are silk taffeta. The cape is trimmed with white faux fur. The skirt is hand painted silk dupioni, flatlined with cotton broad cloth and trimmed with pleated silk taffeta. A few more details on the skirt painting process can be found on my facebook page Kay Dee Collection & Costumes.
SKIRT PATTERN: I drafted it myself. It's a pleated skirt.
BODICE PATTERN : Butterick 6196 - I did change the shape of the neckline a bit, and altered the fit of the princess seams since I was wearing it over a corset. I had to make the sleeves larger, and rather than gathering them into elastic at the shoulder I gathered the sleeves into a shoulder strap.
CAPE/SHAWL PATTERN: I began with Simply Victorian 1890's cape pattern. Naturally, my cape is shorter. I modified the collar to be much shorter and not as flared outward in the center back. There was no need for wire in the collar since I made it shorter, stiff interfacing was fine.
UNDERGARMENTS: I wore a Laughing Moon Victorian corset (Pattern #100) underneath the bodice. In order to give the skirt a full supported shape, it turned out I needed more than just a multi layered tulle petticoat. So I switched to hemming a store bought metal hoop skirt, and making a ruffled petticoat to layer over it.
SHOES: I used dyeable satin bridal ballet flats. I wanted something sturdier to walk around Disneyland in than real pointe shoes or soft ballet shoes.
