Mermaid Ariel: Progress

Mermaid ArielI decided to make my own original version of mermaid Ariel for Momocon’s night at the Aquarium. I literally wanted to look like a disco ball, without the ball part. I got to fulfill my inner little girl and buy terrible sparkly sequin-y fabrics. I actually bought a lot more than in my finished version because I ran out of time, and it might’ve been too tacky anyway.

The top is a pre-made strapless bra that I covered with sparkly glitter ribbon. I sewed it on by hand. I also started to add rhinestones but realized it was sparkly enough, so I just left what I did.
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Queen Rapunzel: Progress

Queen Rapunzel For Katsucon 2016 I made Queen Rapunzel, based on the Lele Draw Cosplay fanart (image).

Some construction notes:

The base fabric is a paisley suiting fabric I found at Joann’s, honestly not exactly sure what it is. The gold is metallic dupioni, which I really liked working with and I think is much nicer than lamé. I also used some various satin fabrics I had lying around for accents. The cape is silk dupioni.

I found some clear teardrop-ish shaped gems and painted them gold, then e-6000’ed them onto the dress. We all had a ton of bling, so I added extra Swarovski crystals here and there. The swirly designs on the front panels are applique that I made and satin stitched.
The design overall is pretty straightforward. The coolest part is that I used pre-made hook and eye tape with a separate panel in the middle. This was a neat alternative to a zipper or actual lacing.

Anna from Frozen Fever: Progress

anna-frozen-fever-doll I made Anna’s Frozen Fever dress around May of 2015. At the time the short wasn’t out on video yet (I think, unless I was dumb and missed it). There were very terrible reference pics. I ended up doing a mish mash of movie screenshots and the various dolls. I noticed in the actual short (vs. the marketing photos) her dress, especially her vest, was extremely glittery and blingy. So I aimed to be as glittery and blingy as I could!
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Anna from Frozen Winter Dress: Commission

Anna Frozen Winter OutfitThis is a commission I did for Anna’s winter outfit from Disney’s Frozen.

The Skirt and cape are made from flannel, cape is lined with a maroon brocade. The cape fur collar snaps on for comfort. The undershirt is a very nice cotton shirting fabric. The bodice is cotton sateen with satin handmade binding and polyester lining. It has plastic boning, except for the opening in the back which has steel boning. The cap and gloves are flannel. I used an embroidery machine for all of the designs, some I made with software and some I bought for time saving purposes. I topstitched all of the designs onto the cape, this was probably the most time consuming part! I really loved making this costume and hope to do more in the future!
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Ariel Original Ballgown: Progress

ariel-sarah

Ariel is my favorite of the Disney princesses, so I’m not sure why its taken me so long to make her! I fell in love with her new turquoise/teal sparkly dress, so I decided to use that as a jumping off point. At some point I made the decision that I wanted to be poofy and crazy, so style-wise I crossed her new dress with Sarah’s ballgown from the Labyrinth.

For fabric, I allowed myself to buy stuff I would never use normally, like glitter costume satin and shiny organza. I can be kind of a fabric snob, but I wanted this dress to be silly and boisterous. For the color, I chose blue radiance from the casa line for the tulle and organza and a matching glitter satin (some generic brand from Joann’s.) I also found a gorgeous mint green peachskin fabric for the sleeves and binding (not sure if its peachskin, since it was in the cheap costume fabric section, but its so pretty!)
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Cinderella Costume: Progress

Cinderella CostumeI made a Cinderella costume for a Children’s Hospital of Atlanta volunteer visit, and plan to wear it to future events (both for volunteering and conventions). Cinderella’s dress looks daunting because of all the material involved, but its really pretty easy.

What really helped was having a great pattern. I forgot to take but a few progress shots because this was one of those crazy whirlwind projects of mine! For the most part I followed this Simplicity pattern I got in a $1 sale. The skirt (separate with a hidden zipper and a hook closure) is pretty much the same as the pattern. I used a tiny rolled hem to finish it. For the bodice I just used the main part without the pattern’s sleeves. I did shorten it a couple inches I think. It is also self-lined with plastic boning. The white sleeves are cotton tubes stuffed with Polyfil with gathered satin casing that I machine sewed onto the bodice on one side, and hand sewed underneath. I added hooks to keep the bodice connected to the skirt. The white side poof things are just semi circles with pleats. The blue fabric is a discontinued powder blue Casa satin, and the white is a bridal satin from the remnants pile. Despite how big the dress looks, I think I only used around 5 yards of the main fabric.

Underneath I have a hoop skirt for structure. I used this tutorial, except without all the math. Its not very clean since I made the measurements up, but does the trick! I also made a chiffon petticoat to go over it. I will make a thicker tulle petticoat in the future.

The wig is a Dark Ash Blonde Jeannie from Arda Wigs. I just didn’t attach the long poytail, and used the short existing one to pin up into a bun. I cut the bangs and left them long on the sides to pin over the hairline. The headband is a strip of blue satin lined with pearls and glued to a headband, with buttons glued on the end. The necklace is just a strip of velvet ribbon with snaps sewed on. My shoes are tacky glitter plastic jelly shoes I found on clearance, but the kids loved them. ;)