Belle's Blouse and Bloomers

Ahh, it's been awhile since I've posted! I figured it was about time I posted the next step in making Belle's dress.  As you can see from the picture above I am actually already finished with my take on Belle's blue dress. I can't wait to show you all some more pictures!  The one above is just a teaser.  I have to finish catching you up on the progress first.

I am combining both the blouse and the bloomers into this post.  For the blouse I basically just used a pattern.  I don't trust my own pattern-making skills with blouses, hehe.  They are a bit harder than skirts.  Pictured below is the pattern I used.  I didn't buy it specifically for this project.  I'm sure there is a pattern that would be better for Belle, but I didn't want to buy a new pattern.  I've had this pattern for years and it worked out perfectly, I just needed to make a few adjustments.

The only adjustments I made was taking a few inches out so it was not as baggy around the waist and on the sleeves.  I also created a drawstring for the neckline instead of using elastic for the neckline. I'm sorry I don't have a picture of the blouse. But you can kinda see how the blouse turned out in the picture above.

After making the blouse I used the same fabric to make the bloomers.  I was a little unsure of how to make the bloomers.  My plan was to paint the flourish pattern on the bloomers just like I did with the pockets.  Painting a flourish design is a lot harder than painting stripes.  I decided I needed some sort of stamp so I could make each flourish uniform.

Using styrofoam I cut out the little leaf shaped pieces and glued them to a piece of poster board. In other words, I simply created my own stamp.  Then I was able to paint my homemade stamp and stamp it onto the fabric.  It worked perfectly.

For making the bloomers I also used a pattern.  I used simplicity pattern 3677 (it's a pattern for a pirate costume).    I made just one simple adjustment;  instead of elastic at the end of the bloomers I made cuffs like belle has in the movie.

Now all that's left is the vest.  The vest was the trickiest part which is why the next post will be devoted to more detailed information about how I made mine.  

I'm so excited, and kinda sad, to see this project finally come to an end.  

Belle's Pocket Tutorial

I have to say, the pockets turned out so much better than I expected and they were so easy!  As soon as I finished the pockets and added them to the skirt and apron the costume looked so much like Belle!  It made me so happy!

What can I say,  I'm really proud of the pockets.  Not just because they turned out great, but because I pretty much made them from scratch. No pattern and I even painted the stripes onto the fabric by hand!

I could not find any fabric when I went shopping that matched Belle's pockets. Luckily the pattern on Belle's pockets was simple strips so  I decided to paint the stripes onto the fabric myself. 

I used acrylic paints because that was the only paint we had in the colors I needed.  I cut out four rectangular pieces of cream fabric. The pocket that has red stripes is smaller than the one with blue stripes.  

This was a new experience for me, painting the pattern on the fabric instead of buying fabric that already has the pattern. I turned up my music and started painting away.

After I finished painting the stripes on the pockets I sewed the pocket pieces together.  I'm sorry I don't have many pictures of the progress. 

Basically I looked at the picture of Belle's pocket and did my best to re-create it. I cut an opening in the pocket big enough for my hand to fit inside (I only cut one opening on one side of each of the pockets, not both sides) and then created binding from the red fabric I plan on using for the vest.  I  sewed the binding on over the raw edges.

Lastly I sewed the pockets onto a thin strap, just like I did for the apron.  As you can see the pockets are not separate, they are both attached to the same waist strap.

There you go!  The pockets are done!  I absolutely love them!  I am going to be making myself more of these amazing pockets for my other historical costumes!

Making Belle's Skirt and Apron

Finally I have found the time to continue working on Belles blue dress from Beauty and the Beast. The skirt and the apron are probably the easiest parts to make out of the whole costume so I thought I would combine them in the same post.  

Since I have made so many skirts and aprons in the past I didn't need to use a pattern.  I simply cut out my fabric and started sewing.

I absolutely love how my skirt turned out!  I love the fabric I chose so much!  The only thing I would change about the skirt is I used a little to much fabric.  It is a very full  and puffy skirt with all the gathers I made.  But other than that, the skirt turned out wonderful.

In the picture below you can see how I made a button enclosure for the waistband.  I was only planning on using one button for the waistband  but my waistband ended up being longer than I wanted it to be (which seems to happen to me every time I make a skirt).  To fix this problem, I added an extra button and overlaped the waistband until it fit me perfectly.  I actually love how the skirt looks with the two buttons.

When I hemmed the skirt I made sure that it was only a few inches shorter than the underskirt. I tried on the skirt with the underskirt and I love how the stripped pattern of the underskirt can still be seen. When you pull up the underskirt it really starts to look like Belles outfit and I know it will look even better after I make the bloomers for underneath.

Now onto making the apron.  I really don't have much to say about making the apron.  If you have a pattern for making an apron, that's great, but if you don't aprons are super easy to make without one.

I cut out a big rectangle of the fabric and hemmed the sides and the bottom.  Then I simply gathered it and sewed it onto the waistband/strap.  Make the apron strap extra long so you can tie it in the back.

And that is all I have for now.  This costume is finally starting to take shape!  I'm so excited!

Making Belle's Underskirt

I'm sorry that it has been awhile since I last posted. I was really trying to post more but things always happen that I have no control over. That's life though.  So much has been going on in my life and to be honest I just needed a break.  But I'm finally feeling like life is back to normal again and I'm once again falling back into routine; which means all my free time is spent with my sewing machine :)

First things first.  I decided that the first thing to make for Belle's dress is the underskirt.  I love making skirts because in my opinion making a skirt is a lot easier than making a blouse. I'm saving the harder pieces of her outfit for last.

To start I found the perfect fabric at the local craft store (Joanns).

I almost didn't have enough fabric so I had to be a bit creative in how I cut the fabric.  I made the skirt with three tiers and with an elastic waist band.

Belle has a coordinating fabric underneath the underskirt that you can see when she tucks her skirt up.  I added my coordinating fabric to the last tier of the underskirt and then hand-sewed it onto the back of the skirt.

After I finished the skirt I really didn't like the bulky elastic waist band.  I decided to add one more tier to the skirt and gathered the second tier to that tier.  I still used elastic for the waist band.  As you can see in the picture below the waist band isn't as bulky anymore. Problem solved!

Now that the underskirt it done I can't wait to make the skirt.  Slowly but surely this costume is coming together ;)

My Summer Project

When I first heard about the live action Beauty and the Beast I could not contain my excitement.  I grew up on the animation, it was one of my favorite movies, and now they were making a live action of this beloved movie.  When it came out I planned an outing with my friends on opening day to finally see the long anticipated movie.

I loved it so much!  Of course, just like most movies, there were a few parts I didn't care to much about but this post isn't a review so I won't go into details.  One aspect of the movie I absolutely loved was all the costumes.  I felt like it was a feast for my eyes taking in all the amazing costumes.

Each summer I usually pick a sewing project to work on so this summer I decided to make one of Belle's dresses.  But which one should I make? I could never do her yellow dress. Yellow just isn't my color and I'm still not sure if I like her yellow dress from the new movie.  It just doesn't feel like the old dress, it feels to modern.  But her blue dress on the other hand.  I fell in love with it the first time I saw it.

This outfit is amazing! I love all the separate pieces that make this outfit. The apron, the pockets... I even plan on making the bloomers Belle wears under her skirt.

Last week I picked out fabric for the dress.  It took a while to find all the right fabric but after much searching I was able to find just the right pattern for each part of the dress.

I can't wait to make this costume!  This will officially be my second cosplay (technically my third if you count the Hiccup cosplay I made for my brother) and my first Disney cosplay! As I work on this dress I will be taking pictures of the process and I plan on posting a tutorial just like I did for my Astrid Cosplay.

I'll say it one more time, I'm very excited about this project!  I can't wait to start ;)

My Sewing Adventures - Pattern Drafting

  

Sewing has been one of my favorite pastimes for a long time .  Not just sewing, but sewing costumes.  I've come to a point where I am so familiar with a patterns that I find myself wanting to make my own patterns.  A dear friend of mine who knows the skill of pattern drafting let me borrow a few of the books that really helped her learn the skill.  I would highly recommend Designing Dress Patterns by Helen Nicol Tanous.  I found to my surprise that this book wasn't overly complicated, and  It really helped me understand all the tricks and techniques involved in pattern drafting.

The first step of my endeavor into pattern drafting was to create what is called the basic block.  The book Designing Dress Patterns gives you the measurements to make a basic block in size 14.  

I cut out, on a sheet of poster board, the basic block for both the front and back bodice, and the sleeve.  My basic block is pictured below.

Using the basic blocks I learned how to swing darts, how to "Slash and Spread" for adding gathers,  how to add the extra length for buttons, how to draft a pattern for the facing, and so much more. If any of those terms are unfamiliar with you I basically learned how to take the basic blocks that you see above and add to them to create whatever style I desire.

For my first official project I decided to draft my own prairie blouse pattern. Spring is here and the spring living history camp, Rock-N-Water, that my family works at is going to be starting soon. I've been busy sewing aprons and skirts for the upcoming season at Rock-N-Water.

As  I began the process of creating my pattern I found that pattern drafting is not as easy as I first thought.  I drafted pattern piece after pattern piece.  Using scrap fabric I would test out my pattern only to find that it didn't look at all like I had envisioned.  But after making all the changes that were necessary I finally drafted a pattern that worked.  

I created a blouse with slightly off the shoulder sleeves, a yoke with gathers, bishop sleeves, and with lace to fancy it up a bit. Below is my finished blouse.

Since my blouse turned out to be such a success I decided to make my sister one as well.  I made a few adjustments to hers.  She wanted a peter pan color and sleeves that only came just slightly past her elbow.  The finished blouse I made for her is pictured below.

Lastly, my mom loved my blouse pattern so much she asked me to make her one too.  As you can see, in the picture below, I made quite a few changes for her blouse.  I made the yoke a little bit wider and a little bit longer.  It was her idea to use contrasting fabrics and I think that was a great idea.  The contrasting fabrics really look nice on this blouse.  

I am very happy with my pattern.  I'm so glad I can say that it was a success. I am amazed at how I  was able to create three different looks by using the same pattern. 

Though pattern drafting was a lot harder than I initially thought, it is not impossible and this was only the first step, of many, to having a better understanding of pattern drafting.  

My Second Cosplay ~ Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon

I can't believe this year is coming to an end already!  This has been a great year for me. One of my dreams has been to make a cosplay. I not only made one cosplay this year, but two.  I made my Astrid cosplay from 'How to Train Your Dragon 2' over the summer months and these past few weeks I have put together a Hiccup cosplay for my brother.  I plan on eventually making him a cosplay for Hiccup from the second movie but I needed a simple cosplay that I could quickly put together.  So here we have Hiccup from the first movie. 

Step one was getting all the materials for the cosplay.  I really didn't want to spend a lot of money on this cosplay so I tried to use what I had instead of buying fur and fabric.  I did have to buy the green fabric for Hiccup's tunic.  I used fur scraps that my sister didn't have a use for to make Hiccup's vest.  

For the tunic I used McCalls pattern 3658.  It's an out-of-print pattern that we happen to have because my mom found it at the thrift store a few years ago.  I modified the tunic by adding the eyelets and leather lacing to the neckline and the 'rip' Hiccup has at the bottom of his tunic.  I also added quite a bit of length to the tunic because my brother is tall (he's taller than me!). The belt is just a long strip of brown fabric that I found in our scrap pile.  It's simply tied in the back and the knot is covered by the vest.

The vest was the hard part.  Sometimes the cheap way is also the hard way.  We did not have enough of one fur for the vest, so I took all the fur scraps we had and cut them into pieces and sewed all the pieces together.  Since it's fur I had to sew it all by hand!  Not what you would call a piece of cake.  Because of this the vest does not look identical to the vest Hiccup has.  It's unique.  I think it has a more authentic look, since I used mostly real fur scraps.

My mom found some dark green sweatpants at the thrift store.  I had to basically turn them into leggings.  I had my brother put them on and I figured out how much excess to cut off.  Hiccup has a few stitches on his pants so I cut a few holes in the pants and weaved in the same leather lacing I used for the tunic. 

I was at a loss as for what to do about the boots because I was using the only boots we had that would work for my Astrid cosplay.  My mom found a pair of slippers at the thrift store that to my surprise fit perfectly for Hiccup.  the only thing I added to them was some extra fur on top to make them a little higher.

That is pretty much it for the costume part of the cosplay.  Since I have an ax for my Astrid cosplay my mom thought it be neat if we had a prop for Hiccup.  I agreed but I was in the middle of sewing Hiccup's tunic and wasn't really feeling like I wanted to take on more work.  To my surprise my Mom and my brother made Hiccup's shield from the movie (I am so lucky to have a Mom who loves to create stuff just as much as I do and is always helping me with my projects).

They made the shield out of foam sandwiched in between two pieces of cardboard.  My mom did an amazing job of painting the shield and adding the metal edges (which is actually just poster board cut and painted with silver spray paint).

There you go.  That is how I made Hiccup's outfit for my brother. My brother makes a pretty good Hiccup, if a I do say so myself. He is kinda in that awkward teenage stage still so he fits Hiccup perfectly.  The only problem is his hair is not quite long enough for Hiccup but at least it's the right color.

Since we still had a lot of snow outside, which is not going to be melting any time soon,  we both put on our cosplays and took snow pictures.  Below are a few of my favorites.

 

Astrid's Fur Hood

My cosplay is starting to take shape and I'm really excited...and sad because I've been having so much fun making it but it's almost done.  All I have left to do is make the boot covers and wrist warmers.  Oh, and I need to make Astrid's ax.  I was at Home Depot today and I picked up a wooden dowel for under five dollars. I already had a little too much fun swinging it around and pretending is was already Astrid's ax. I didn't break anything but I may have annoyed my siblings a tad bit.

Anyway, I have tackled what I thought was going to be the hardest part of Astrid's outfit - her cape/hood.  First, I used one of those rings that scarves are hung on and painted it like metal.  A big thanks to my awesome friend who just happened to have a scarf ring for me!    

After examining Astrid's outfit I saw that she doesn't just have a hood but she has a short cape underneath the hood.  My sister has a lot of leftover fur from her projects and she let me use some of her dark brown fur.  It worked great and cost me nothing.  From some paper that was lying around I made myself a pattern.

I don't know how I would have been able to make this cosplay without a manikin dress form. It is so nice to be able to see how my costume is forming without actually having to put it on myself.

I used hot glue and leather strips to attach the cape and hood to the ring.  When I had sewed the lining onto the cape I left an opening so I could stick the leather strips into the seam and then secured it with hot glue.

           

The hood was the part I've been dreading.  I only had a limited amount of fur, so I didn't want to mess up. I used the Simplicity cape pattern that I had as a base and changed it to make it work for what I wanted.  I played around with scrap fabric until I had a design that I was happy with before cutting up my expensive fur.

After I used the pattern to make the fur hood, I folded the raw edges over and secured them with hot glue.  Hot glue works for pretty much everything - it's the best! I didn't give the hood an outside lining because the fur already had a nice leather backing and I really liked the look.

And yeah, if you haven't noticed yet, the craft room is the messiest room in our house.  We can clean the room but it only stays clean for a few days until my sister and I make it messy again.  I'm just glad we have a craft room.

I made the hood detachable by sewing snaps onto the leather strips instead of hot gluing it. That way it can be taken off of the ring. The skulls are attached by the wires I embedded into them when I molded them.  I plan on using Velcro to securely attach the shoulder pads to the brown cape.

Oh, and I ordered a blonde wig for my cosplay.  I spent more on it than I had initially planned.  I just really don't want a wig that obviously looks fake. I can't wait until it gets here and I can try my hand at styling it.

By the way,  you may have noticed that my blog design has changed.  I lost my background and for some strange reason I could not access the website where my original background came from. I'm not sure if I'll go back to my old background or keep the background I have up now.  To be honest, the background I have now is starting to grow on me.