For a fancy-dress holiday or a theatrical performance based on Russian folk tales, a birch costume is useful. Even a novice craftswoman can make such a costume without much difficulty.
A bright, beautiful and original costume of a birch tree can be made from scrap materials, while maintaining the recognizability of the image and giving it characteristic Slavic motives.
Tunic suit
The simplest birch costume is sewn on the basis of a tunic. A semblance of a long shirt is sewn from white cotton or silk fabric, after which black stripes-strokes depicting birch bark are applied to it. You can draw strokes with acrylic paints - after they have dried and fixed by ironing with a warm iron, the suit can be washed without fear of smearing the stripes. If acrylic paints are not at hand, then ordinary gouache will do, but you must remember that this type of paints does not withstand washing.
A headdress that complements the costume is made using a wide green ribbon to which long branches of artificial plants are sewn or fastened with paper clips. Also, a cardboard blank, painted with paints and decorated with branches and imitation of birch earrings, can serve as a basis for the leaves.
Long skirt suit
You can make a birch costume on the basis of a long white skirt and a green blouse. A straight, close-fitting skirt made of white material symbolizes the trunk of a birch tree, giving the figure a slenderness. Narrow stripes are applied along the entire length of the skirt with a black marker or fabric dyes.
The green blouse plays the role of the crown of the tree. The collar of the blouse can be decorated with homemade jewelry carved from birch bark: beads, necklaces, pendants. The headdress is made in the form of a green pointed cap, sewn from several wedges. The edges of the cap are decorated with imitation birch earrings or a fringe made of suede stripes with beads at the ends.
The costume is complemented by a transparent polyethylene cape with glued green velvet leaves and suede stripes imitating branches. Due to the transparency of the cape, its pattern is clearly visible from all sides and gives the costume the greatest effect.
Suit based on a sundress
A bright, smart suit is made of shiny green satin. To do this, they sew a simple-cut Russian sarafan: either on a yoke, or simply a cloth stitched along the side seams on the straps. A decorative ribbon with a pattern with Slavic motifs is sewn into the center, top and hem of the sundress. If it is difficult to find such a tape, then you can replace it with a fabric insert in the middle of a white sundress with black stripes. A white blouse or shirt lined with black stripes is worn under a sundress.
The headdress is made in the form of a wreath with leaves: the base is made of wire or durable cardboard, artificial plants are woven or leaves cut from green velvet paper are glued. Instead of a wreath, you can make a tall kokoshnik decorated with leaves and earrings. A green or white silk scarf completes the image of a birch.
