50's Christmas Tree!

Coming up with new ways to use old things is one of my favorite things to do. I made tree garlands from old worn out fake Christmas trees in 2012 (follow link!). I made SEVERAL different kinds of garlands and placed them all over the house. I had so much FUN! Over the years adaptation has been necessary. The garland over the blue curtain is now on a different door and the garland I made for the stairwell was taken apart (hanging that garland was always dangerous as the stairs are super steep!!) and I turned part of it into my 50's tree!

When you google dress form dummy trees, you get a zillion hits and images. I have had this lovely dress form for several years and often put her (I call her Oprah, she does dress very well!) in some of my Gunne Sax dresses. Unfortunately, she needed oiled and the dresses were too small for her. SO, Steve fixed her up. She was prime material for a project! I decided to take this dress dummy from 1915 and decorate her. She is pretty short, so I asked Steve for a box to set her on. She is now a smaller version than she used to be, although, her waist is still an inch larger than mine was in the 80's....

 I wanted to give her a 50's look. Where would we be without google??? I looked for ideas on skirts and tops and came up with a red top and button up sweater. I originally had her in a bright red sweater, but it was too big!!!!

 I added a bungee cord to hold in the fake boughs. Steve straightened out the hook parts and then ended up cutting them off to make them a little shorter. They were sticking in her rib cage area!!!

 If you use real boughs, it is a good idea to create a chicken wire 'cage' to put the branches and decor in. The odd garland from the stair, I bent down to make a fringe. This was wrapped around her middle to make a waistband.

She is beginning to look a lot like Christmas!! 

We had gotten our hands on a short string of battery operated Christmas lights. There were perfect for this project of mine! I 

 I tried the three light settings and preferred the white lights. The blinky ones were a bit much. Jon suggested we name this Christmas gal Lady MacBeth, because she was disguised as a tree. I told him it wouldn't work. She doesn't have hands and couldn't wash out that spot. I then said, the one thing we will NOT name her is Holly. Jon grinned and said, "Short?" I had no choice. Our Christmas tree is now Holly Short (see awesome books by  Eoin Colfer!). Jon also decided Holly needed a helmet. It didn't last long. We were pretty sure Foaly would have wired this Yuletide gown with a potent arsenal!

 Introducing, a lovely 50's dress made exclusively for Captain Holly Short, LEPRecon. (Lower Element Police for the uninformed!)