One of my favorite movies growing up was The 'Burbs, the 1989 horror comedy starring Tom Hanks, Carrie Fisher, and Corey Feldman, among others. One of the characters in the movie is a teenage boy named Ricky, played by Feldman, and he has a girlfriend, played by Heather Haase, identified in the credits only as "Ricky's girlfriend." When I was rewatching the movie a few years back, I took note of Haase's outfits and thought that it might be fun to recreate one for a costume. I chose her outfit from the movie's finale. Below is a screenshot of Haase's look followed by my own costume.
I have written this tutorial around the process I used for making my costume. However, depending on the articles of clothing you use, you may not need some of these steps or may need to make additional modifications. If you buy the appropriate pieces, you may be able to get away with only having to make the belt thingy that I think might be part of her top.
I bought all of the clothes for this costume from Forever 21. I've linked to the ones that I could, although unfortunately most are no longer available.
Materials:
*80s bow earrings from last week's post
*Neon green tube top
*Pink miniskirt or minidress
*Biker shorts (optional)
*3" wide black elastic
*1/2" to 1" wide black ribbon
*Fabric shears or rotary cutter
*Sewing machine or needle and thread
*Pins or safety pins
*Pink ribbon
Making the Belt
*Take a section of elastic and wrap it around your waist so that it sits snugly. Trim to that length, leaving a little extra elastic to sew the ends together.
*Place ends together and sew using a sewing machine or needle and thread.
*Cut off two lengths of ribbon that are long enough to go from your waist, over your shoulder, and down your back to your waist.
*Slide the elastic band you created around your waist and pin the ribbons to the band to create straps. Make sure that the straps sit tightly enough that they will not slip down your shoulders.
*Sew the straps to the band using a sewing machine or needle and thread.
Making the Top
The top as it was originally. The straps were way too large for me. Otherwise I might not have cut them off.
*To make the top, all I had to do was cut the straps off of the neon green top that I had. If you buy a green tube top, you won't even need to do this step.
Shorts to Wear Under Miniskirt or Minidress
The biker shorts went from this ...
to this
While I appreciate the aesthetic of a miniskirt, I very much like to keep my underwear hidden, and miniskirts are not always great on this front. To alleviate this, I decided to take some biker shorts, which are tight fitting and should not really show under the skirt, and crop them so that they fit under the skirt without showing.
Directions:
*I began by removing the waistband from my shorts so that it would not show under the miniskirt. However, since you'll be wearing a belt over your waist, it probably won't make a difference for the look whether you remove the waistband or not. If you do remove the waistband, hem the raw edge.
*Put on the shorts and skirt and mark on the shorts where the bottom of the skirt falls. Cut off the leg pieces below the markings.
*Hem the raw edges.
Putting the Costume Together
Directions
*Put on the shorts (if desired), miniskirt or minidress, and top.
*Pull the belt over your waist. Depending on the length of your top and skirt, you may need to sew or pin the belt to the top or skirt to keep it from riding up. This may be less of an issue if you opt for a minidress.
*Add earrings.
*Put hair in a high side ponytail and secure with a hair elastic. Tie a pink ribbon around the hair elastic.
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