I made this outfit back in 2003 and wore it to the Taos Recycled Fashion Show. A couple months later I wore it to the Santa Fe Recycled Fashion Show where I won first prize!
After posting this on Craftster I got requests for a pattern. Since I made it up as I went along this is more of a guide rather than a true tutorial.
The outfit took me about a month and a half to make. My hands would cramp if I crocheted too long so I had to take several days off during that time.
First find yourself a bunch of phone wire.
Take a seam ripper and cut open the outer casing. You’ll want to keep the wire continuous (it’s a pain to join on more wire so I kept it to a minimum) so wind the separate pieces onto bits of wood. Cut a chunk of casing, pull out the wires, separate and wind them and then go back to cutting more casing.
Double crochet the whole thing with an I hook. It’s hard to start so you’ll do a lot of tugging at first. The wire will bend and mold into the shape you’re making.
The skirt was made in four panels. Sew them together with more wire then crochet a brown border on top and bottom.
Sew a zipper between one of the brown and blue/green panels. Extend the top border a bit to make a flap for the bottom hole. There’s no need to make a buttonhole-you can just push the button through two stitches since the wire will bend. In my geekiness I insisted on the whole thing being 100% recycled-the button, zipper and thread are recycled as well.
You can make yours longer. I started running out of wire so I made the skirt shorter so I’d have enough for the top. I wouldn’t suggest too much longer though. Even though my skirt was short it was still heavy.
For the top started each cup at the bottom. Chain across until it looks like it would cover your breast. Crochet a few more rows. To make the cups “poof” out add a couple of stitches a row near the middle. You’ll see the cup starting to form and can add more stitches in the middle area as needed. When it’s poofed up enough stop adding extra stitches and crochet as normal. Decrease on the ends to make a rounded shape. Crocheted a row of brown on the outside to round out the cups.
For the straps make a chain that looks like the right length. Double crochet until you have the desired thickness. Sew the straps on with wire. For the closure wire on a button and make a wire loop on the other side.
Here’s a pic that shows the neck and back straps.
Since the wire is heavy it stretches. I had to dart the neck and back straps which was a pain. When I wore the outfit at the Taos show (the pics with my hair down) the skirt stretched from the weight and rode lower than I had intended. I threaded wire thru the top row of the skirt to tighten it up. It stretched out again at the Santa Fe show (pics with my wild hair) but didn’t ride as low.
Here’s a full pic of the outfit. My hair was full of cell phone parts. Phones are full of good materials-little screws, number pads and casing bits. I braided my hair around wire and then bent them into shape. Then I dangled some of the cell phone bits from the hair loops. I made rings from the tinier parts.
