Hey everyone! I know that this group has been VERY SLOW as of late
but I was hoping I could maybe still reach out to you guys. I joined
this group years ago. I have every year since "The Phantom of The
Opera" musical film came out planned on making a Christine costume
for Halloween but for one reason or another have opted for other
equally complicated homemade costumes (Satan, pirate, angel, Nightmare
Sally, Vampire, and Evil Alice)that seems like a few too many but I
made 2 one year for different themed parties and one I made for my
finance of 2 years. My fiance, by the way, hates Halloween, and
what's more, hates Phantom. I respect that Halloween is my thing so I
have decided to go party alone this year and leave him at home. This
brings me to my first question.

How do you hint at being Christine when you have no Phantom? I HATE
having to explain my costume on Halloween and I like it to speak for
itself but if you're not a MEGA FAN you might not get it. I don't
really want to put on a name tag. My ideas so far are, to make a
Phantom doll to take with me, bring a cardboard cutout of the Phantom
and call it my "date" and lastly put a "The Phantom Was Here" sign on my
body. I'm not really digging any of those ideas and was hoping maybe
you guys have some ideas of your own. Perhaps there are some other
solo Christines out there who have already solved this problem.

My other question is costume related. I'm already halfway done with
my film copy of Christine's "Don Juan" costume, 3 months before
Halloween, but I have hit a snag. THE SKIRT! The actual construction
of the skirt looks uncomplicated but the fabric looks difficult to
replicate. How have you folks solved this dilemma in the past? Does
anyone have any fabric suggestions? Should I make the skirt first and
then sew diagonal pieces? Should I sew strips on the fabric? I'm
kind of stuck and would be REALLY happy if someone knew of a similar
fabric with layers of fabric already on it. PLEASE HELP!