Gone with the Wind Dresses

I love to read. I think I get my love for reading from my mom. We read together every day when I was little, and then when I was a teenager, we'd read the same books and would chat about them. There really is something magical about diving into a story and being transported to another place and time.

My friend Sarah at Songbird Sweets also loves to read and hosted a collaborative cookie project to celebrate cookies, books, and National Library Week. Eleven other cookie decorators contributed to this project...you can view it by clicking here. I have also included a list of participants and their books at the bottom of this post.

After much thought, I selected one of my all-time favorite books (and movies for that matter), Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. I can still remember the summer I first read Gone with the Wind and falling in love with Scarlett and Rhett. Afterall, before there was Tris, Bella, Hermoine, or Katniss...there was Scarlett. And, in my opinion, I think she blows them all out of the water as the greatest female character of all time.

For this cookie project, I decided to recreate 11 of Scarlett's famous dresses. For any of you GWTW buffs out there, you'll notice I took a little creative license with the dresses. I simply did not have time to hand-cut each cookie or exactly replicate the design of the gown. In order to save a little time, I used my dress cookie cutter (full skirt) from www.coppergifts.com #1635, and got to work adapting the dress designs to fit on the cookie. 

Cue the orchestra...

Here are my favorite 11 dresses that Scarlett O'Hara wore in the movie.

While researching the various dresses for this project, I learned quite a bit about the author Margaret Mitchell, leading lady Vivian Leigh, and costume designer Walter Plunkett. Each brilliant in their own way.

I could never pick a favorite dress, but this green and white picnic dress is definitely one of my top choices. Many of Scarlett's dress colors were picked to bring out the color of Vivian's beautiful blue eyes. 

Scarlett's blue gown from the portrait. At the time this movie was made, there was not an Oscar category for costume design. But, I think these dresses are some of the most famous of all theater costumes.

This pink strolling dress was one of my favorite cookies to decorate. I think I just really enjoyed adding those little pink bows at the bottom. 

Scarlett wears this green day dress when she returns to Tara after marrying Rhett. He promises her that they will restore Tara.

The green curtain dress...also one of my favorites. Broke and out of options, Scarlett tears down her mother's curtains and makes this dress to go to the jail to ask Rhett for money. Classic dress, classic moment.

This is one of the dresses that Scarlett wears while she is working at the Lumber Mill. 

The image on the left is one of Walter Plunkett's sketches for Scarlett's Shanty Town dress. This dress was actually corduroy! I don't know why that surprised me, but it did. The black details are hand-sewn braiding.

I wonder what it would have been like to play Scarlett, getting to wear these beautiful costumes. Even this 'every day' dress from the movie is stunning!

Scarlett wore this dress when she gives Ashley an embrace that sets the gossip mill running wild.

Scarlett's Red Party Dress, worn to Ashley's birthday party later that evening. It was originally going to be green velvet, but then Walter Pluntkett changed the color to red to emphasize the scandal of her appearance at the party. She is stunning and so is the dress. 

I packed up these cookies and gave them and a little donation to our town library. The librarians raved and made me happy that I took the time to tell them that I appreciate their hard work. They do such an amazing job...and they are so friendly! So, Happy Library Week to you...make sure you give your librarian a hug today!

Here are the rest of the participants...I hope enjoy traveling around to the different blogs to learn about each project!

Have a sweet day,

Anne