Bellatrix Lestrange Dress

Good Morning, House of RaeGun!

It’s Kat from Sew Chibi here with my chibi Bellatrix Lestrange!

I was pretty stoked to be a part of this series! Harry Potter is much loved in our household!

Last year New Year’s I took a couple of pictures on Instagram and made jokes about how my Sephira, with her wild hair, sometimes looks very Bellatrix-y!

When I started brainstorming I quickly fell upon the idea of Bellatrix. And even though I had already overloaded myself with projects for July, I was compelled to be a part of this tour!

I don’t normally root for bad guys, and I may never forgive her for what she did to Sirius, but I can’t help but love anything Helena Bonham Carter does.

So I had to make a dress of course. And it had to be very wearable, well, because, it just had to! One of my favorite things to do is to take characters from various geeky things and make them into handmade, everyday wearables.

I decided to go with a simple black jersey knit and black swirl stretch lace mini skater dress.

The pattern is by Kitschy Coo and I feel like I don’t make enough of these!! I made it in a 18/2T size for my 3 year old and it fits just perfect!

And even though some kiddos may not gravitate to dark colors, my little one is a lover of all colors. I did take a little insurance and did a big sell on the dress to her.

“Mommy’s going to make you a black dress and it’s going to be so soft!”

“Black! Black’s my favorite color!” [which she says for every color]

Misson accomplished.

It was surprisingly easier and faster than I expected since I was dealing with two layers and one of them was slippery, err, slythery lace.

I didn’t want to make just a dress, so I fashioned a wand to look like Bellatrix’s crooked wand. I used fashion wire (that I always keep on hand) and a mixture of mahogany and black FIMO clay that I wrapped and molded around the wire, making grooves to mimic wood. I baked it for a little longer that recommended (although I should have gone even longer I think) and finished it by using various coats of black, mahogany stain, and a little gold acrylic paint.