Skip to main content

Constance Hatchaway, the Black Widow Bride from Disney's Haunted Mansion

 “I do… I did”


    My plan this year was to do a Disney Parks specific cosplay, and I am so pleased to have achieved that goal. I am delighted to introduce Constance Hatchaway, the black widow bride. If you are familiar with the Haunted Mansion attraction in the Disney Parks, you will know this deadly, dastardly lady. Somehow, any man that marries her mysteriously passes away. And of course, the grieving widow receives all the inheritance from her dearly departed hubby. In each new wedding portrait you see, she has added a pearl necklace. It’s an obvious symbol of her power and wealth growing with each husband. She’s been married 5 times, but she’s looking for husband number 6. 



    Haunted Mansion is my second favorite Disney attraction. (Only Pirates of the Caribbean ranks higher on my list.) There are an overabundance of happy haunts to choose from, but there was no doubt I would do Constance first. Her dialogue is basically just twisting the traditional wedding vows into very threatening remarks, and it’s hilarious.


    It’s really difficult to see details on the character’s costume in the attraction. (It’s dark in the mansion). So lots of artists have created lots of different versions of her outfit. When designing a new costume, I like to decide a time period and specific location first. It gives a direction to my research. I have decided to set this version of Constance in the 1880s/1890s, in New England, USA.

 
    I could have built a wedding dress from scratch, but honestly I didn’t want to do that. And I knew I would spend a lot of money on supplies and way too much time starting from nothing. So I searched thrift stores, hoping to find a perfect candidate to transform. Finally, I was out thrifting with my mom, and I found a dress! I have no idea of the age, but I don’t think it’s any older than the 1980s. But I could tell immediately that it had SO MUCH potential. The neckline was elegant and curved, and there was lace everywhere.  There are also some very much not-period-appropriate plastic sequins. But it’s ok. I can ignore that for now.


    Constance’s gown has fabulous sleeves, with a full puffy upper sleeve and a tighter lower sleeve. Sadly, this dress didn’t have sleeves.  I have Simplicity 8695, a reproduction 1930s sleeve pattern. I think I cut a size 14, but cut it down to a 12. And it’s still pretty loose, but it’s good enough. This pattern was easy to follow and I recommend it. It offers some unique shapes you don’t really see anymore. The lace to make the sleeves was a lucky find at a thrift store. It matches so well with the dress!



    For accessories, I made a few pearl necklaces with some plastic beads. I bought her axe at Spirit Halloween.  I made a petticoat from the Victorian Petticoats pattern from Truly Victorian. It was a chore and a half, but I’m glad it’s done. I can use it for multiple costumes in the future. I made the veil with the remainder of the lace from the sleeves and a few flowers from Michaels. The bouquet is a bunch of faux white roses and the rest of the veil flowers, all from Michaels. The wig was, once upon a time, my Galadriel wig. Alas, the ends were very much destroyed from years of brushing. So I just made it into an updo. And obviously, I couldn’t resist buying some blacklight bulbs and trying out some blacklight photography.


    I couldn’t resist making a little pouch for the jewelry. I bought a Haunted Mansion embroidery font on Etsy, but I didn’t realize I needed an embroidery program to actually use it. Annoying. In the end, I just used one of the native fonts in my embroidery machine.

    I hope you enjoyed this bit of spooky content and thanks for reading!


Yours in hard work, creativity, and a dash of Pixie Dust


Sarah






Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bow-Tie Necklet

Are you, dear reader, in the mood for some winter accessories? Or, like me, are you already anxious for spring to arrive? The only good thing about winter is the cute accessories, I always say. I have a big canvas basket full of scarves, gloves, mittens, and hats. I have a black and also a purple peacoat. Plus my dramatic leopard print fleece cape, which I have previously discussed. Simply put, I don't like to be boring with my accessorizing. It is my only source of cheer and happiness when preparing for a cold winter's day. Ok, enough with the dramatics. On with the subject of today's blog. I knit this up several years ago. This is what the pattern calls a “Bow-Tie Necklet”. It is a scarf, but not in a traditional long rectangle shape. One end is pulled through a loop on the opposite side, forming a sort of bow tie. I have seen several examples in mid century photos of similar knit scarves that seem to have been made the same way. Of course, I forgot to save them/...
Post a Comment
Read more

Disney's The Little Mermaid - Ariel's Blue Dress

    Anyone who has spent more than 3 minutes with me knows I'm obsessed with Disney. My three favorite movies are Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and Aladdin. So for Halloween 2011, I made a version of Ariel's blue dress. She wears during "Kiss the Girl" scene and when they are riding in the carriage around Eric's kingdom. . It was fairly easy to make. I used McCall's 4090 (View A), a simple skirt with a waistband. For the bodice/over corset, I used another McCall's, 4861 (view A). I didn't want side lacing, so I just traced each of the four pieces separately, then taped them together at the sides, overlapping the seam allowance. This left me with the back lacing only. When it was assembled, I roughly "eye-balled" the sweetheart-shaped neckline and cut it out. The shirt was made with Simplicity 3677. I just added cuffs to the sleeves instead of elastic. A couple things I lea...
3 comments
Read more

Reconstructing History RH017

This is review of RH017, 14th Century Kirtle or  Cotehardie. (Link to buy this patten at the end) I ordered it to make a new dress for the 2015 Medieval Fair of Norman. I had been playing a princess for many years, but decided on changing it up this year. I wanted to be a Bard, a poet/singer/general performer. Naturally, I could not wear the Princess gowns of years past.  It came in a timely fashion. I knew it had a booklet of historical notes, I didn't know it was going to come with a textbook! Seriously, this booklet is 15 pages long (including historical notes, bibliography, actual construction, and a section on period stiches) and is in an easy to digest format. The pattern is on regular paper, not the usual tissue paper, which I appreciated. I had trouble with setting the sleeves, but it was my own fault. I made it oversized purposefully to adjust down to my exact size, and didn't quite adjust the sleeves to match correctly the first time. My own fault. I will pos...
Post a Comment
Read more