Elsa Dress

My daughters been asking for Elsa and Ana costumes ever dance she saw Disney's 'Frozen'.  I was feeling extra ambitious this weekend and decided to take on Elsa's ice queen dress.

I started by finding a pattern that had a similar style to the look I wanted. I found McCalls' pattern #5499. Option B with out the belt seemed to fit with the metal picture of what I wanted. 

Dress fabrics were on sale so I got 40% off of both of these fabrics. I really loved the the light color fabric because it had a bit of a texture on the front and wasn't as slippery as a regular satin, therefore making it much easier to sew with. Plus it kinda reminded me of the way ice looks. The sheer material with the sparkles would create the shawl behind the dress.

I layer out the pattern pieces making it a 7/8 (even though my daughter is only wearing a 5) giving her plenty of room to grow and still use the dress. I did make sure I cut it much shorter than the given pattern length. Tripping over dress hems in dress up shoes is not fun!

To create a more authentic Elsa look I made the sleeves white. 

Here are a few of the cut out pieces laid together. It is already starting to look good!

I cut sleeves long and then measured them to the length of her arm. Then I cut them at an angle.

After 6+ princess dresses I have learned that having this inside bodice part is essential to having a good looking dress up dress. The trick to keep it from popping up and flipping out while the kiddos are getting dresses is to use a little fabric fuser to adhere them down.

One other change I made to the pattern. I added velcro for quick kid friendly dress up. (The pattern called for a lace up back.)

Next, I had to figure out how to get sparkly "cape" on. Had I thought ahead I could've put it in between the two panels and had is sewn right in, but I was past that. So for a dress up costume a bit of a heat activated fuser on each of the sides would do the trick. (My grandma used to call it stitch-witch and it is a bit magical if I do say so!)

This a picture of it before the final surging of the sleeves and bottom hem. 

Here is a picture of the back. The cape/shawl dips down so it is easy to step in and out of. The only places it adheres to the costume is in the front. I cut it into 4 panels and then sewed them together. This gives in the look of a flaring out without begin too long and causing her to trip or to drag behind her.

Another tip. I have learned that when sewing dress up clothes a Surger is a must! I put 90% of this together with a surger. This keeps the satiny fabric from unraveling and it cuts the work in half.

Final product compared with the 'real' Elsa. 

I would say this was a success. The pattern was very simple and the whole thing only took a few hours over the course of 2 days. 

Have you made a princess costume? I'd love to see some other homemade princess dresses. 

Doc McStuffins Costume

Since my daughter received a Doc McStuffins  doctor to kit for Christmas she has been asking for a "doc costume". Here is the adventure that was "making the doc costume".

I started out with an old halloween costume of my husband that I thought would be easer to modify

than starting from scratch with material and a pattern.

I took of 1/2 the length of each sleeve, about 5 inches off the bottom and a 4 inch section of the back. 

I re-hemmed everything and it fit pretty good.

Next challenge, covering up the adult words on the costume. Not swear words, but adult humor using to create a Dr. Name that would not be so appropriate for a child.

As you can see by the picture on the left, the iron on idea didn't work so well….







After some brainstorming I decided to use 'patches' to cover up the wording and then put on a new Doc name tag. But while doing so i ended up accidentally swing the sleeve shut, so had to rip it out and resew it.

After some frustration I fixed it all and was on to the next thing. Iron on transfer decals.

Notice that these images are printed incorrectly.
They should look like a mirror image when printed
 so when they are ironed on they look correct. 

I love the Avery Inkjet printable transfer paper! Its a budget saver. A few clip art pictures from the internet, print, and iron on.




Remember to flip the image before you print! (Thankfully I realized this ahead of time.)

These images are ironed on upside down so if you don't flip the image before you print it you will end up reprinting the images a second time.

Here is the final image. My daughter was thrilled. Even though it was a bit of a challenge and took about 2 hours longer that I intended… I'm glad I did it.

My little Merida

My daughter LOVES to play dress up. I tried buying the cheap dress up costumes ( 1/2 price after Halloween) but after 6 months they were starting to fall apart. 

I can't get myself to spend the insane $$$ they want for the good quality ones. So I am left with one option. Make them myself. 

Thankfully I had a grandmother and mother who both sewed so I was taught well from a young age. 

Although I made her five costumes for Christmas, she has still been asking for more characters.

Hence, the arrival of Merida. 

 

I used a McCall's pattern but made some simple alterations to the sleeve and a little less gather in the skirt to make it the Merida style. 

I surged this seems so they would be stronger and I did not use the zipper in the back, instead I used a simple Velcro tab for easy on and off during dress up play.

Some cute gold lace, Celtic looking ribbon for the bottom, and fancy gold button for a "medallion" completed the look. 

* All of the supplies were purchased at JoAnn fabrics.

What kind of things do you make for your kids instead of buying?