So with the start of 2016, I’m getting started on my big project for the year! I am making Kaylee’s floofy pink dress from the TV show Firefly, episode Shindig. It will first be worn for the costume contest at Jordan Con 2016 in April.

Images from www.costumersguide.com:

So much dress!

I’ll be making a petticoat, skirt, and bodice.

The petticoat is very key to getting the right silhouette. You can see that it’s not the bell-shape of a mid-Victorian petticoat, but is very triangular. As such, I’ll need to make the petticoat myself, since commercial hoops are all the wrong shape. Luckily, it’s pretty easy to do math around cones, since it’s all just triangles and circles.

So, over the holidays I did a lot of math to calculate how much hoop boning I would need, and the height and width of the petticoat and skirt ruffles.

So far it’s looking pretty good, and HUGE! This is very intentional, as I measured out the width of the skirt to be just slightly shorter than my height.