MASQUERAAAADE!
I've been re-vamping the Masquerade costume (new site address: http://aneafiles.webs.com/starprincess.html ).
When I first started on this costume, I thouht layers and layers of tulle would give me the skirt I wanted. It didn't. It mostly made the skirt too heavy and tube-shaped, I wanted a light and bell-shaped skirt.
When making the underskirt for the Aminta costume, I experimented by making ruffles of semi-stiff netting, and wow what an effect! So I decided to adapt this for the Masquerade skirt. I removed some of the pink tulle layers, and added a blue netting ruffle in one of the bottom layers. What a difference! I've also fixed the hem a bit, cutting rounded "tabs" (using a CD as pattern) in the three top layers. I will eventually decorate the upper layer of tabs with silver sequences or similar. But this was definitely a major step in the right direction.
Y'all know how the colour change when taking pics with flash...? Yup, here too. The skirt isn't nearly as baby pink as it comes off here. It's more a hot pink with a greenish golden layer partly visible, creating a glittering surface with a changing colour. There's also more colour to the beads of the bodice in real life.