This was very much a last-minute costume, so I made it pretty much
straight from a commercial pattern, and I didn't make a muslin beforehand.
Thus, the fit suffered quite a bit, and I actually had to gaff tape myself into
the bodice so it would stay in place. I used McCall's
4460,
view C, except I omitted the tulle and added a lot of layers to the skirt.
Bodice
My decision to make this dress was cemented when I found a pin-tucked,
cross-hatched muslin at Hancock Fabrics. It practically screamed
"pineapple!" I bleached it and then dyed it with RIT Golden
Yellow, which I had left over from my adventures in rainbow
dress dyeing. Here's a brightness-adjusted picture that shows the
bodice fabric quite well:
There are four layers in the bodice: the outer layer of decorative muslin, an
underlayer of bright yellow cotton, a stiffening layer of cotton duck, and a
lining of bright yellow cotton. I didn't use any boning, although I
probably should have. The dress closes in the back with a zipper.
Skirt
The skirt also has four layers: two underlayers of dark green poly/cotton, and
two overlayers of iridescent green chiffon. The underlayers
follow the pattern, so they have a straight-across hem, but for the overlayers I
had each skirt piece come to a point, to simulate the pineapple's leaves.
I rotated the top layer about 45 degrees so that the points are staggered,
rather than overlapping. All hems are finished with a serged rolled
edge. The seam between the bodice and the skirt is kind of messy, and the
yellow zipper really shows up against the green of the skirt, so I added a gold
ribbon around the waist in the hopes of camouflaging these imperfections.
Pineapple upside-down dress main
Photos
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