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13 Days of Halloween: The Princesses

These princess dresses are on the casual side & are great for every day wear. They would be perfect to wear for a full day at the theme parks or for the school Halloween festivities. Where we live near Chicago, the kids change into their customers for the party at the end of the school day. That means they need to be able to change in & out of their costume independently. And my kids are always so hot & sweaty so layers of tulle are “too itchy!” 

All these dresses were made with the Zoe pattern with a few add ons. Zoe became a favorite in our house for the pockets! But the simple version of this pattern is perfect for a basic dress. 

For the Ariel dress, I used the low scoop back and added a sweetheart neckline, which I drew it out by hand. I used a decorative stitch to attach the sweetheart to the top of the bodice. This left the sweetheart hem unfinished but the light curling on the knit fabric is not noticeable.

Tiana also used the low scoop back & a sweetheart neckline. This one has two layers of skirt, the light green a circle skirt & the petals were hand drawn. I basted the petals on top of the circle skirt before attaching it to the bodice. I didn’t account for how much the petals would roll up on the sides. I would make the petals wider if I made it again. 

For the flower on Tiana’s dress, I used scraps that were about three inches in width. It turned out rather big on this size 5 dress so I’d probably go for 2-2.5 inches next time. I was using the tiniest of scraps here & didn’t have a continuous strip, so each color has maybe 5-6 different pieces. I placed them slightly overlapping & then stitched a gather stitch down the length. I pulled the gathers and then just arranged them in a circle and hand stitched to the bodice.

For Sleeping Beauty, I used the collar from the Molly pattern. I used a decorative stitching for the lines on the front of her bodice. I did use interfacing on the inside of this layer but it caused it to wrinkle up a bit. I didn’t interface the stitching on the Rapunzel dress and it sewed up just fine so I would skip the interfacing next time. 

For Cinderella, I used the flutter sleeves from Aria. The white fluff on the side skirts – I think they are called the bustle?? I used the same idea as the sleeve flutters and cut them straight on one end, gently curved on the other. I doubled the fabric but next time I’d probably keep it a single layer as it adds a bit of weight to the dress. 

The skirt is 2 layers of gathered tulle over a solid blue circle skirt. 

Rapunzel was perfect to use the princess seams of the pattern. For the sleeves, I modified from a dress my daughter already has. But the sleeves from the Maise dress pattern look pretty similar. I added the strips of color by cutting the sleeve pattern and three strips at 1.5 inches in width. I didn’t adjust the sleeve any and figured it would just increase the puffiness of the sleeve. The tulle is layered over the circle skirt. 

For Snow White I used the Molly collar and created a puff sleeves. I added the yellow strip down the center of the bodice. I didn’t really account for any seam allowances. The dress is so generous in negative ease that the extra inch in the center didn’t change the fit any. 

All of these dresses were sewn in a size five which is a little bit large on my daughter right now. Since the fabric is so stretchy, I’m sure the dresses will last at least another year, maybe two! Also Snow white is 3/4 circle skirt because apparently the size five circle skirt needs a yard & a half of fabric instead of just one. I’ll have to keep that in mind as my daughter official moves into a size five!

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