I used the Simplicity pattern 1233 as a basis, but I made several modifications of my own. I also had to make a larger size for my biggest Elsa, because the pattern I had only went up to an 8, and she was a 10.
For the bodice, I used the Turquoise Confetti Dot, the skirt was Turquoise Tissue Lame (only use this if you're a masochist!), and the yoke and sleeves were a light blue organza (all from JoAnn's). For the cape, I originally purchased two yards of fabric off of eBay, but when I got an additional two orders, that fabric was sold out, so I ended up getting a different fabric. They both are organza with silver snowflakes, and are super hard to work with, due to all of the glue holding the snowflakes on ...
I used the Simplicity pattern as a guide, but made a lot of adjustments. First, I made the neckline a bit more heart-shaped, and the bottom of the bodice deeper. I also cut a lot out of the skirt, as it was VERY full. The cape needed no adjustment.
I cut out the bodice and attached the lining, which was just a turquoise lining fabric. The bodice fabric was difficult to work with due to the glue (which is just annoying - make sure you clean off your needle frequently to prevent pulling, puckering, and thread breaking). I then put the yoke together and serged the seams. I then simply laid the bodice on top of the yoke and sewed it on.
See, originally, I was going to attach the cape using velcro. I actually got as far as the first dress to do this (I was making them assembly-line style), but it turned out to not be as great as I thought it would be. The idea was to make it detachable so that I could leave the back of the cape in one piece, and the girls wouldn't have to contort to get into it.
That didn't work so well, so I did end up ripping the yoke and sleeves out of the other two and then inserting the cape, prior to reattaching the yoke and sleeves. I'll go into that a bit more later.
The skirt was a NIGHTMARE. I used the tissue lame as a lining because I'd purchased the fabric before cutting the fullness down. It shredded if you so much as looked at it. Even when serged with a roll, it just shredded apart. It also puckered and pulled like crazy, even with the thinnest needle I could find. I ended up using a lot of seam stop glue.
I sewed the skirt to the bodice in the same way that I did the yoke.
I ended up with the following (see photo). To neaten it all up, I then turned the yoke and top of the skirt over and sewed it to the bodice. It's not the best technique, but it worked.
I inserted a zipper and then added trim, which I didn't get the name of, but purchased at JoAnn's. I first turned the serged top of the yoke under and sewed it down, then hand-stitched the trim to it. It was really easy to do the trim - it was very forgiving to the needle, and it went pretty quickly.
The very last thing to do was to attach the cape to the back. I didn't want to go the velcro route again, so I attached two hooks and eyes, which are pretty hard to see. I have one on each side of the zipper, and so the cape just hooks onto the back there and has a nice flow.
And here's the finished product! This is the dress I made for my friend's daughter, and was the largest dress. The bottom photo is the two larger dresses. I'll have to get my niece's (the smallest, and with a different cape fabric) back after Halloween and attach the cape properly. To get in and out of the dress is a bit of a trick, but I don't think anyone's had a problem yet.
Stay tuned - the next entry will be the Anna costume construction! ETA: You can view Anna's dress construction here.
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