I've long been an admirer of Susan Hilferty's wonderful designs and I've made a couple of dresses inspired by her work on Wicked but this is the first time I've attempted a full replica. I remember people on TSF being really lovely and supportive so I thought I'd start a thread here for when I need a gentle kick up the backside to keep sewing sequins on! Also I love seeing other people's work so hopefully someone will enjoy reading about this.
The first thing to do was to collect sequins. Each dress is slightly different but they all have approximately 70,000 sequins on the skirt petals and bodice. They've come from a wide range of sources including unexpected finds at the rag market which turned out to be a gold mine for cheap sequin trim and massive bags from poundland. I think the current collection of sequins is about half of the total needed.
Fabric wise, the skirt is sorted. It's sheer iridescent fabric (similar weight to organza but it doesn't quite feel like it) with pale blue organza over the top and white tulle over that which the sequins are sewn on to. The bodice is holographic lycra with blue power mesh sequinned and then streched over, both ordered but haven't arrived yet. The original dress has massive petticoats but to reduce the weight and cost of the skirt I'm using my hoops with a couple of layers of petticoats over the top. The movement won't be quite right but I think it's a worthwhile compromise.
Progress so far is an attempt at drafting the skirt petals and pinning them onto the hoops. They don't quite look right as the middle layers are too narrow and the skirt isn't full enough without the added petticoats but it's a starting point. I've tried to attach photos of everything!