Cinderella Gown- Skirt

This post will be about the skirt and the waist and sleeve poofs.

For the skirt I didn’t have enough fabric handy to make a full petticoat like I wanted too so I made do with making an underskirt out of a rather stiff sheet like white fabric.

I used a rectangle which was 4 yards long and 42 inches wide, the width depends on how long you want the skirt to be.

After cutting out the rectangle one of the long edges was gathered down to 25 inches (my waist measurement).

Gathering it down this much took five runs through the sewing machine, I would have done it by hand but due to how thick and stiff the fabric was I was afraid that my thread would simply break the second I pulled on it, so machine gathering it was.
I don’t have a gathering foot so I controlled the gathers by pushing the fabric under the regular foot as I sewed.

I did the same thing to create the blue overskirt for the gown, 4 yards long 42 inches wide, gathered down to 25 inches.

Here is how it looks after sewing the bodice to the skirt (please excuse the messiness).
I hand sewed the bodice to the skirt because the fabric layers had gotten too thick for my sewing machine to handle.

The last thing to do was make the waist and sleeve poofs.

I found some lighter blue fabric scraps that I used, for the waist I cut out 2 rectangles and gather three of the edges.

Then I pinned them onto the dress while it was on my sewing form

I hand sewed these on using a whip stitch, I also tacked them down to the skirt towards the bottom of each poof so they would stay in the proper place.

I used the same fabric for the sleeves, to create the sturdy ‘poof’ needed I filled each sleeve with 2 layers of tulle that was gathered on each end.

I cut out two long strips of the light blue fabric, about 2″ x 7″ I believe.
Each edge got gathered.

The tulle was inserted into the little pocket created by the gathers in the blue fabric.

This then got hand sewed onto the straps of the bodice.

Then the Cinderella dress was finished!
When I have the time and fabric I intend to sew a floor length petticoat to give the dress the ‘ballgown’ silhouette.

(the shoes are silver glitter glued onto black pumps then sealed)

Cinderella Gown- Bodice

A couple weekends ago I had the misfortune of a head cold, so being unable to focus on school I decided to sew something, only I had no idea what.  Rummaging through my multiple fabric tubs I came across this lovely light blue knit/chiffon type fabric that I hadn’t used yet in fear of cutting into it and completely messing up and not being able to use the fabric.

Now I had my fabric but what to make with it? Well the obvious answer to that is something Disney. Cinderella’s blue ballgown to be exact.

I sewed the entire dress from scratch in one and a half days, working almost non-stop.

The first thing I did was create a pattern for the bodice

 

After draping some scrap fabrics over my dress form I cut out my pieces out of paper and added seam allowance.

A cut out a mockup bodice from more scrap fabric to test out the fit and to make any needed adjustments to the pattern.

The bodice fit like a glove and I moved on to putting together the lining pieces.

I used plaid flannel because A. it is incredibly soft, and B. funky linings make any garment 10x better.

After sewing the lining together I created boning channels with twill ribbon sewed onto each seam in the lining.

Before sewing the ribbon on I pressed each seam either open or to one side to reduce bulk. For boning I didn’t want to wait and order proper boning so I used two heavy duty zip ties in each channel, they work surprisingly well.

Next the bodice was again cut out, this time in the blue fashion fabric.

 I sewed together all the pieces and was left with a plaid bodice with boning and a blue one without.
To sew them together I simply attached them right sides together and sewed all the way around, leaving the bottom open to insert the boning.

(I did go back through and press all the seams open)

My next post will be all about making the skirt along with the waist and sleeve poofs!

Girl with Scarf in Watercolor

I love to paint in all sorts of media but I must say, watercolor is my absolute favorite.

This is a speed painting video of the second piece in my Girls in Watercolor series, I’m not sure how many there will end up being… I guess just as many that are needed.

Find it for sale at my Etsy store Wildflowers & Paint