Bonnie Parker: Skirt and Accessories

Today we will be covering the Bonnie Parker skirt and accessories. None of this is very complicated to do. As I studied the Joplin photographs, It appeared to me that Bonnie was wearing a gored skirt. The shape was popular in the 30's because they really don't use very much fabric at all.

Good View of Bonnie's skirt from the Joplin photographs.

My original thought was to just draft the pattern myself because it isn't something that is crazy difficult. I had just finished taken a class on pattern drafting so it was within my abilities to do so, but as I was flipping through a pattern book one day I saw Burda 6903. It is very similar in shape to Bonnie's skirt, and I am all for making life easier for myself.

Burda Pattern Envelope

I used the pattern as a base. I really didn't have to do much altering on the skirt. When I laid it out to cut I did add some inches to the bottom to make it longer to match Bonnie's. 

Cutting out Skirt

I assembled the pattern according to the pattern directions, but it was pretty straight forward how it went together. I may not have even looked at the directions much. I did have to do a little fitting in the hip area of the skirt to make it more fitted like Bonnie's. I found that the size I was supposed to be according to the size chart was a size too big, so that may have fed into the fitting I had to do. But as this skirt has lots of seam lines it was easy to adjust as needed. 

Fitting the skirt

After I had determined the right sizing of the skirt I attached the facing. I did tack the bottom of the facing to the serging of my seams to keep it down and invisible.

Attaching the facing

Last of all, I added my closure. I do believe the pattern called for an invisible zipper, but I opted for an all purpose zipper as the invisible zipper was not invented yet. 

Inserting the zipper

That was it on the skirt. It was very easy and straight forward. It took me about a day from start to finish. I personally really enjoy short projects. I usually work on long projects that seem to take forever and have no end in sight so it was nice to get to get to see the results fairly quickly this time. 

As for the accessories to the outfit you have the beret and the shoes. I was lucky to already have both of these things. I had a black beret from my lolita days. It wasn't an expensive beret by any means. It was one of the cheap ones from China on ebay and it most likely cost around $3. It had a very similar texture to the fabric I purchased for the skirt and bolero so it ended up working very well.

The shoes Bonnie wears look to me to be very similar to character shoes. As a theatre person I have a pair in my closet. If you are looking for a good pair, I recommenced Capezios. I had my first pair for around 8 years before I had to replace them. Please remember to size up one size as they do run a little bit small. 

I also decided to order a pair of seamed stockings to wear with the ensemble. It isn't necessary. I can no way tell that Bonnie is or isn't wearing stockings, but to me it seemed like a nice little touch that most people don't include. Since I was going to be wearing this costume as an educational event for children, I wanted to use it as a learning tool. And lets be honest, seamed stockings are just pretty cool.

That's pretty much it for the skirt and accessories. Next week we are going to dig into the meat of the project with the sweater and the bolero. 

Bonnie Parker: Research

I spent my high school years growing up in Joplin, MO, which was when I first became interested in Bonnie and Clyde. I had a classmate in my French class who was obsessed. She felt connected to Bonnie because they had a lot of similarities. My curiosity was peaked, and I did some research into the two. The phase was short lived as I was going through my Tudor phase which I was pretty much obsessed with from reading a book about Elizabeth I in seventh grade until the end of high school.

My interest was peaked again when the History Channel released their mini series in 2013 and when I discovered the Bonnie and Clyde musical in 2016. As I started doing mild research into the pair and knew I wanted to recreate the Joplin photograph ensemble sometime, but was lacking the opportunity.

Joplin Photograph of Bonnie and Clyde

I have the great pleasure of working part time for a living history ranch, and we decided to do an event that focused on Texas law enforcement and criminal history from 1830 until 1930. And I quickly suggested that for the 1930 section we focus on the Dallas outlaws. Okay, I might have completely suggested the theme with the intention of playing Bonnie Parker but that is beside the point. With my opportunity secured, I want along with proceeding with my research.

The first thing I wanted to do was nail down the color combination as the only photographs we have of the ensemble are in black and white. It has been widely assumed that the outfit was in red because Bonnie did prefer outfits made in red. 

Colorized version of the Joplin Photographs
that show the ensemble in red.

The Bonnie and Clyde musical also followed in with this trend in making the outfit in red. 

Promotional image for Bonnie and Clyde Musical

While lovely, the red never did seem right to be to me. Then I came across this article from the Texas Hideout about the ensemble. In the article, "Boots" Hinton says his father, who knew Bonnie when she was younger and was part of the posse that untimely ended her life, did see the ensemble and said it black with the upper portion having stripes in red, green, and yellow. The History Channel mini series chose to follow Ted Hinton's account when they recreated the ensemble.

Holliday Granger as Bonnie Parker in the
History Channel mini series.

As I really liked how the effect of how the History Channel outfit turned out so elegantly, I decided to follow Ted Hinton's account as well. Without an original garment in existence and no other account to compare it too, I decided to take his as accurate as it was possible he may have seen the ensemble. 

Let me tell you it was extremely difficult to find out any information about this particular outfit. Beside Mr. Hinton's, I was unable to uncover another eyewitness account about it, which just leaves several grainy photographs to gather the details from. And I swear I studied those for hours trying to decipher every little detail. My co-workers thought I got a little obsessive with the project, and perhaps I did between my costume research and the like seven books I read on the couple, but I really wanted this to be perfect. The more I learned about the two I really wanted Bonnie to get some justice in being portrayed how she was instead of who the media has led us to believe she was. 

In the above article by Texas Hideout, it was mentioned that Bonnie was known to be an avid knitter and it is likely that she knitted the famous sweater herself. My original thought had been to sew the sweater by piecing together different sweater knits as Lauren from American Duchess did in her Bonnie inspired sweater project. But the more I uncovered the more I knew I wanted it to be knitted. Unfortunately, I am not a very proficient knitter. I can almost make a scarf, but I reached out to a friend of mine, Kat, who agreed to knit the sweater for me. It was very important to me that the sweater be just right, as I felt that where most attempts to recreate this outfit go wrong is in the creation of the sweater. Because of this Kat and I spent a lot of time researching and creating this sweater. I will go more into detail in covering that in the article that details the sweater. 

I also fussed about which fabric to use when creating the skirt and bolero portion of the ensemble. It was very had to tell from the pictures exactly what it is. To me it did appear to have a rougher weave to it. I did uncover in my research (but I can't tell you where as I did do this research around a year ago) that fabrics made from natural fibers with a rough weave where more popular in the 1930's. I considered using a suiting fabric, but couldn't find the right one. I spent months looking for this fabric. Before uncovering a wool blend fabric hidden in the apparel section of Joann's. It was fairly cheap as I purchased the entire amount needed for $23. I was a little nervous as it does have a wide stripe woven into the fabric, I debated about getting it for a while before deciding to do so afraid I wouldn't find anything else I like. I am very glad I did so too. The stripes aren't very noticeable on camera, but help give the outfit depth and texture. 

That's it for today. I plan to do two more articles on the ensemble. One that breaks down the sweater and bolero, and the other that will cover the skirt and accessories before the final reveal of the outfit. I'd love to hear anything you guys have to say about the outfit so feel free to leave a comment. 

Welcome!

Hey everyone! (Because I know there are like none of you right now :) I'd like to welcome you to my new blog which is going to focus on recreating classic outfits. These could be of famous people, costumes or something else I deem interesting and want to throw in here. This is an idea that has been floating around in my head for a while, and I finally decided to take a jump and try it. Even if no one pays attention, someone is bound to be interested in this information when going to recreate their own outfit eventually.

A little about me. I am a 25 year old seamstress/costumer who is been sewing since the age of 16. I use the word seamstress very lightly as I still mess up frequently and have to redo something. I tend to compare myself to the best and so I feel I have so much farther to go, but most of my friends consider me such so we will go with their opinion. I got my start in historical costuming, and my first project was a 1500's Tudor Gown. I have since then branched out to cosplay and costuming for stage. Because of this you will notice in my sewing I tend to get obsessive over details. But in my opinion they really do help make the ensemble. I hope all of you enjoy this blog and I will be starting with a project that I am super proud of and is my favorite ensemble that I currently have my Bonnie Parker Joplin photographs ensemble.