So on to plan 2 the morning of the tea reservation! I found some black cotton gauze (much cooler than the synthetic from the chemise dress) in my stash and whipped up a quick sheath dress. The gauze wanted to stretch a bit when I sewed the neckline, so I added a couple of quick pleats to the finished neckline by hand.
I still really wanted something that fit the Nightmare Before Christmas theme, so made a quick caplet out of some skull lace, bias tape, ribbon and lace trim from my stash. The caplet is basically a square with a hole cut in the center for the head. I bound the edges of the neck hole with bias tape and then edged the square with the lace trim. I had some stashed ribbon with a graveyard scene left over from a previous project that I also wanted to use. Originally, I wanted to lay the graveyard ribbon right along the lace trim edging, but I did not have enough ribbon. So I improvised and laid the ribbon is a square between the edge and the neck hole. The size of the square was entirely dictated by the amount of ribbon!.I also found a black widow button in my stash as an accent. The black widow reminded me of the mayor from the Nightmare town.
To finish off the outfit, I pulled out the choker and feather fascinator I made with the ribbon the year before. With all these pieces I was ready for tea in the Nightmare Before Christmas area!The tea room was really lovely and the food was amazing. The themed areas are more inspired by than based on a particular movie, but I really loved the whole experience. My friend and I had a great time and the staff was very friendly and helpful. The staff is happy to rearrange things as well if a larger party space is needed. I am so happy to have a new place to go for tea! Here is a picture of us in the Nightmare Before Christmas area.
