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!

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 ;)