This is the outfit I wanted to recreate.
This is the finished dress and earrings.
In 2021, I had recently started working at the University of Minnesota HSL Makerspace. I felt really inspired by all of the new tools I was learning and wanted to make a really cool Halloween costume because I love Halloween. I decided to replicate a dress from the retired Disney Channel show Wizards of Waverly Place. One of the characters, Harper, was known for her curious homemade outfits-- one of which was a dress made of markers. I thought this would be a fun and recognizable outfit for those who also grew up watching that show.Â
This video shows my process for making this dress. I made a 3D model of a marker cap that I was able to sew onto the fabric and also remove from the markers. It was very important to me that I could take these markers off the dress and still use them. I also used white t-shirts for the fabric. Living on campus, I had limited access to resources, so I did not have fabric that was the color and material I needed. So, I dyed the shirts and cut them up to make my dress. After a lot of measuring, planning, and 313 markers, I was able to make something pretty close to the original design. I was even able to make a pair of earrings out of marker caps, just like Harper had.