Tour de Fat!

   If you know anything about Tour de Fat, you know how fun it is! This year my boytoy and I sorted through old prom dresses at the thrift store to find one that I could butcher and alter to make a fun and flashy costume with that would match my boytoy's no-shirt blue tux outfit. 

   Unfortunately I totally spaced on taking before pictures of the dress. I know, I know, but you'll just have to use your imagination to picture the original dress, which extended to the floor and had no flashy sequin belt or large ruffle. 

I cut the dress at knee-length, and then used the fabric from the very bottom of the dress to create a large ruffle. Having a serger saved loads of time, as I simply just serged along the edge of the pre-cut ruffle, and ta-da!

Using the overlock machine on the ruffle. I pinned small pleats to create a puffy effect.

I had to sew the sequin belt (which I also found at the thrift store) just below a large opening in the back of the dress where the zipper was. The dress was a tad tight, and depending on the day it was a challenge to zip it all the way to the top. I decided to extend the belt just a tad and add a button with elastic under it, this way the dress would be held together with the button closure at the top of the zipper, yet be covered by this added belt.

Oh, and I also used some of the scrap tulle from the bottom of the dress to cut into strips and tie onto my pigtails, somewhat noticeable in the pics. And we used some of the sequin belt to attach to my boytoy's top hat to match our outfits. What a fun costume, and what a fun day!