She wanted to be Rapunzel, from Disney's Tangled for Halloween. If you haven't watched Tangled, you should!
Did I happen to mention that my little princess, who wanted to dress as Rapunzel, is fifteen years old? And she wanted to look like Rapunzel, not a trampy version. (You have NO idea how much that pleases me!)
They don't seem to make nice costumes for anyone over ten years old, and even then they are pretty crappy quality -or super-expensive. So I decided that I would try to make one for her.
The only experience I have making a dress is when I made my own Sally Ragdoll costume two Halloweens ago. I didn't know what I was doing then either. After looking at pictures online, I picked up what I thought was the best fabrics and embellishments for the job. This costume cost more than Sally did, I think it totalled about $33, which is still a bit expensive to me, but better quality (and length!) than the store bought ones.
I looked online for tutorials from others who have made a Rapunzel dress. I took elements from several different places and did my own thing. That is why I am not crediting any specific source for any sort of tutorial. I didn't follow any!
So, here is the dress mostly finished. I made the top a double layer since the fabric I chose was quite thin. She wore it to an event at this stage of completion. She was helping out at her old elementary school for an activity/family night the school was hosting and the theme was fairy tales. I made one sleeve a smidge too small and it tore up the seam. Twice. I just re-made it the first time, the second time I made it a little bit bigger and it held. The dress itself is done here, it just needs some painted embellishing on the skirt done now.
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| We still need detail on the front panel. |
I think the most difficult part of the whole dress was getting all of those eyelets installed. I smashed my poor thumb in the process.
This is what I was going for:
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| (if I did it right, the picture itself links to the Disney site I found it on) |
I agonized over how I was going to post the finished dress. I feel that if my kids are going to have their photo on the internet, THEY should be the ones to put it there. So, using my fabulous photo manipulation skills, I pasted Rapunzel's face over my daughter's. Not bad, if I do say so myself!! (hahahahahahahahahahaha!) I even made her a Pascal (Rapunzel's chameleon sidekick) to go with her costume. You see him at the top of this post, and on the top of her head here.
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| She is even posing like the picture above. :) |
At one point in the movie, Rapunzel braids her hair up and puts flower in it, so that is what we did with our Rapunzel.
She has already worn this dress three times, two of those times, it was totally finished. I would say it is a success.
Thanks for looking!
:)
