Janet Weiss Accessories

My Janet Weiss costume posts are my most popular blog posts. All five posts are listed below.

1. Janet Weiss Makeup & Hair
2. Janet Weiss Accessories  (THIS POST)
3. Janet Weiss Lingerie
4. Janet Weiss's Pink Dress
5. My Janet Weiss Dress

Some more Janet Weiss analysis, this time we're looking at accessories. Click the pick for bigger.

CARDIGAN
Well I only had to check the entire internet but I found a reasonably accurate Janet cardigan here
It is white (snow white, not off white), crew neck as in buttons all the way to the neck and has no collar, and long sleeved (raglan). It is a fitted shape and hip (low hip) length. Feel free to compromise on any of this other than the long sleeve if your dress is also long sleeved. For instance a long sleeved no collar zip up sweater might look quite accurate.
You might have better luck finding a new white cardigan that meets these requirements if you look in the warmer months as white cardigans tend to look great with summer dresses. Go places where dorky people shop.
Cardigan patterns are also pretty common if you can find a suitable cotton knit. Her buttons are pearly white (semi-transparent).

PURSE
Janet carries a white purse on a chain. For the wedding she wears it shoulder length then later it is shorter like a handbag. Perhaps it is the type that you can rethread the chain through a loop on one side and attach it back to the beginning to make a strap one half it's original length. See pic for evidence.
This handbag is a simple envelope clutch rendered in a patent leather or vinyl. Shiny white vinyl is commonly available at fabric stores and there are patterns available (modify to make flap reach the bottom and for chain loops and good luck working with vinyl... use an awl).
Handbag chain is best bought at bead stores but many fabric/craft stores now have jewelry items. The chain is silver colored. Purse closure seems to be a magnet (ie, not a buckle). White handbags have been out of style for quite some time but besides the thrift store you might have luck at places like Ross. Put your hershey bar in your bag.

SHOE
Janet's shoe is a white mary jane with about a 2" heel. The key thing here is that again it is snow white and fits well. Any heel height is acceptable but for stage performances I would recommend a character shoe - it will look really close and you will be able to perform in it.

JEWELRY
Janet's gold name necklace is available in a screen accurate rendering. Get your own name or get Janet, damnit. Walmart has a 14K gold version for $70. You can find goldtone versions, like on Etsy for $16.
Janet is also wearing little gold hoop earrings. I heartily recommend hinged sleepers but any kind of plain hoop one inch or smaller will work fine. If you don't have pierced ears don't bother with earrings.
Janet is of course wearing her new engagement ring. It has a round "diamond" and a thin gold band with two lines etched each side. Get something tacky.

Note About Pantyhose
As you see in the shoe picture and throughout the movie, Janet is sometimes wearing pantyhose. When she is shown close up in her underwear (with Rocky in the tank), she is clearly not wearing pantyhose. For those of you who were never old fashioned ladies, underpants are worn under the pantyhose or omitted (that would be less old fashioned). I do recommend that women wear pantyhose to perform on stage (unless you're in trousers) across the board. This provides some modesty and will make your leg color more uniform and can help with thigh rubbing (if the pantyhose fit correctly). This is all a story for another day but my point is I do not consider pantyhose part of Janet's outfit to emulate as she may or may not be seen wearing them and based on her underwear situation, would not actually be wearing them. Susan Sarandon wore pantyhose because the shoot location Oxley Castle was cold as hell.
Choose high quality pantyhose, either heavy-duty hose such as Oroblu or those designed specifically for dancers.

Janet Weiss Makeup & Hair

My Janet Weiss costume posts are my most popular blog posts. All five posts are listed below.

1. Janet Weiss Makeup & Hair  (THIS POST)
2. Janet Weiss Accessories
3. Janet Weiss Lingerie
4. Janet Weiss's Pink Dress
5. My Janet Weiss Dress

Hi! Halloween's coming up so I imagine lots of other people are working on their costumes and halloween look... because I am! Here is a pic of our heroine, Janet Weiss. Click the pic for bigger.

HAIR: Janet curls her hair in hot rollers. If you are wearing your own hair like I will be, do a natural part down the middle and curl it whatever way gives you the best curl (as seen bottom left), all the way around your head. This could be hot rollers, a curling iron, or in my case rag curls. Don't brush your hair, but style it with fingers. Use gel or mousse before rolling hair and set with hairspray when you're done. If you have those silly O-shaped barrettes pin your hair back as seen here. I don't so will probably just use bobby pins. You want your hair off your face. If you have short girlie hair definitely try to find some white barrettes and make it look more soccer mom and less pixie cutie-pie. If you have short man hair, consider a wig.

MAKEUP: FACE & LIP
Janet is sporting a natural-ish look with heavy emphasis on her eyes along with a rosy blush and lip. Wear your normal foundation or powder (i.e. to match your skin). She is wearing a rosy powder blush/rouge and lipstick -- that elusive your-lips-but-better shade of pink. If you have dark skin chose a MLBB shade even if it's brownish, reddish, or whatever, and ditto for the blush. You want to look natural. For lips, I'm pretty sure Janet wears lipstick as it's a creme finish. Not a glassy gloss look and not matte. Revlon, Maybelline, Cover Girl, NYX, and Mac have good lipstick formulas.

MAKEUP: EYE
For the eyeshadow Janet appears to be wearing a rosy taupe shadow over the whole lid. You can wear a basic neutral eye. Keep it in the brown family and make it a look you could talk your dorkiest aunt into wearing (this is not sexay eyeshadow). Really slather on the brown pencil eyeliner top and bottom. I've tried to recreate this with dark brown and now I think Janet is wearing a lighter brown.
Janet is also wearing a ton of brown mascara.

NAILS
Janet wears a longish fingernail with a natural, oval tip. Buff your nails for shine or use a clear nail polish. Personally I'd wear a silly girlie light shimmer pink just because it'd seem right for Janet. Note the ring is worn on the fourth digit of her left hand (but I'm covering accessories in a different post ;).

I know it's not the most perfect screen accurate whatever ever, but I'm trying to make it look Janetey. Some recent high school graduate who makes her own dresses, thinks weddings are swell, and has never seen a man in his underpants before.

Check The Anal Retentive Rocky Horror Costume List for more info.

Janet Weiss

Infant Pinafore Dress and Bloomers

Update: I am offering this outfit for sale, check it out: Broadway Handmade. It is $20 and Priority Shipping anywhere in the U.S. is $6 (free delivery in my hometown of Chico!).

I recently completed this infant pinafore dress and bloomers.

I found a black and white rayon (viscose) skirt at the local thrift store and had to have it. It's Italian and we all know that Italians are kings of both rayon and loud prints.

The trim takes this outfit up a notch, I think. It reduces wearability but dresses up the look from playdate to something where mum and dad are dressed fancily. As a pinafore dress you could team it with a white collared short sleeve onesie or polo and the bloomers, or something with sleeves and black tights when it is cooler. Pinafore dresses, or jumpers, are designed to be worn over a top, but being in such a great rayon I would also use it as a sundress (with just the bloomers).
This is a size newborn, so I think the reduced mobility you get from a dress is partially mitigated by the fact infants 1-3 months are barely mobile, especially in a dressed up setting (guessing?). But, being a "pretty" dress it gets brownie points for being machine washable. I doubt I will make any infant dresses longer or fuller than this one due to the decreased mobility
Overall I will say that I think this outfit is super cute and the print is amazing.

Ugly Dresses

It's a real shame that the first garments I make for myself are so awful, the pics are awful, and just ugh.

The first dress is a fitting shell B5627. This had ten pages of instructions and took weeks to do. But overall I think it came out really well. I learned some things about working with patterns. I used my reader's digest book in conjunction with it.
One problem I had was the area above the bust was bunching all funny. The bust was sufficiently roomy, the armpit was a little low but not tight at all, the shoulders seemed fine, what could it be? The neck was too tight and ruining the bust area's fit. It wasn't in the guide or the book or anything, I just decided to ignore it and go ahead with other alterations and it solved itself.
There were a lot of alterations I had to make to get proper fit. Of course bust (for "D"), let the waist and the hip out, take the shoulder point in, raise the armhole, widen the neck hole, widen the sleeve (a lot) and fix the armhole for it, and shorten the garment length. But once all that was done, I think it looks really good.
Of course this is still an "ugly dress" for many reasons. One, yellow is not my color. Two, I would never wear a sleeved dress made of (floral!) calico because I am not 10. Three, I can't pull off set in sleeves to save my life.
Also yellow is not my color! The fabric was a dollar from the thrift store. The pattern was a dollar on sale so plus the zip this whole project was about $5.
I may use this dress as pattern blocks for a straight skirt or dress. This dress inspired me to try drafting my own patterns as the bust dart was huge and there were so many adjustments.
Now I did make errors in this dress most notably with hinging the sleeve wider. On the dress the wrist is too wide because I had to make an adjustment on the dress. I fixed it on the pattern after. I also probably should have raised the armhole a little but I like roomy armholes anyway.

The second dress is from B5618. This dress is awful. The shoulders (and neck) were way too wide and I don't think it was roomy enough through the hip, either. Who the hell is shaped this way? If you want a dress like this you could probably just draft it yourself with less drama. I added pockets to this dress so it would at least be useful as a housedress.
I paid a dollar for this pattern and feel ripped off. This fabric was from the thrift store and was a dollar. It is surprisingly soft which is probably why I actually wear this hideous dress.
I also made errors in this dress (ugh, pockets) but there's no point talking about it because we all know the whole project was a waste of time.

various projects

Years ago my dad brought this kimono back from a trip to Japan. To hang this on the wall I used two curtain rod mounts (that don't seem available anymore, from umbra) and a five foot length of steel rod that I spray painted silver. I screwed the rod mounts into my picture rail. I think the cream color of the silk looks great against the fawn brown walls and I love that it's a landscape. The kimono does waft a little in the breeze which is a nice change from a painting for instance. I have more planned for the brown bedroom but so far this is all I've managed.

This pattern is a teaser for a project I recently finished. It is a gift so no pics yet! I liked B5584. The pieces I made went together without much confusion.

This overdone lump of whatever is a plum crumb cake. Verdict on the recipe is "needs work" but it was a decent enough way to get rid of more plums. Good for breakfast.

Plum Crisp

A friend gave us plums from his tree. This recipe used 3 pounds of plums and a double batch of apple crumble topping. This crumble/crisp topping uses almonds rather than oats but I threw some oats in as well. Shown with homemade french vanilla ice cream. This plum crisp didn't taste pruney at all; the plums have a mild almost apple-like flavor. Both plums and almonds are grown locally.

More Window Treatments

It's true, I went on a curtain whirlwind.
The drapey green velveteen tie-up shade I originally designed for an altogether different window. It's complicated and kinda weird but it came out OK considering I had no pattern and no clue. The luckiest part was I had these pull-stops from a hoodie, so the adjustable swoopy part is really easy to raise and lower.

The purple curtains I just "banged out." I had an old polyester sari which I thought would be perfect for lightweight summer curtains. I didn't use the detail print at the end of the sari, just the main part. This fabric has an edge print and a tidy selvedge so I didn't sew any side seams. Very simple.

Bee Overalls

I present to you - my second garment. I got this pattern at the thrift store for 25 cents. The black fabric I already had (just a light cotton). I got a happy bee iron-on patch, yellow grosgrain ribbon, and little happy sun buttons to finish it off. I also needed snap tape (baby clothes have snaps in pant inseams to facilitate diaper changes) which is really the only downside to baby clothes - it's tricky to put in. The major upside is that all the pieces are small and easy to cut. Also there's no really long straight sewing lines which I have a bit of a problem with still.
I sent these bee overalls to Australia as a gift to my new second cousin. They were well received by her mum (I even got a charming thank you note -- in the mail!). I really enjoy giving away my creations.

Kitchen Curtains

I knew I wanted to make kitchen curtains but just wasn't sure what fabric to use. I found a remnant of dress fabric and fell in love. These three panel curtains were the product.
I'd give this project a C. I think the bottom hem is convex and hangs poorly (and might be either too long or too short). I also think the rod pocket is too narrow. Also three curtains is insufficient for this series of windows. Live and learn!

Cushion

The fabric I got for my kitchen curtains was a remnant so I got the whole remnant. After making three curtains I had a piece of scrap left over, so decided to make a pillow. I already had a pillow form, the foldover ribbon trim, and some vintage buttons.

If I had to do it again I'd use interfacing as stretch fabric is a nightmare (for a beginner) and not wholly appropriate to a couch throw pillow. I'd do a lot of things differently to be honest. I'd give this pillow a C. However I recommend everyone try to make a pillow (easiest without trim or buttonholes) because it's a fun way to spruce up your living room.