Baby Benaiah - 5 Days Old...

Our baby boy is here!

Baby Benaiah David was born September 23rd at 10:35pm weighing 7lbs, 10oz.  We could not be more blessed!  We are praising God and thanking Him for such a sweet blessing!

Making an "Elsa" Frozen Inspired Play Dress DIY

How to make a princess dress, inspired by the character of Elsa from the movie "Frozen":

This was a random picture right after the dress was done (my little girl couldn't WAIT to try it on!).  I'll try to post some better pictures of the finished dress soon!

First of all I did buy a pattern on www.Etsy.com that was for generic "princess dress", which I thought was darling!  Even though I've been sewing for a long time I still found the directions daunting, just not having the time or energy (8 months pregnant!).  So I made use of the pattern, as you'll see in the pictures, but I changed some major things to make my project easier to do so that I could make 3 dresses for all 3 of my girls. 

Here is how I decided to do it:

One of the most helpful things the pattern I bought told me was to switch the tension and length of the stitch on my machine to match whatever material I was working with, especially the stretch fabric so get familiar FIRST with what tension setting works best for each fabric you choose - otherwise you'll rip your hair out when you sew an entire piece and have to use the seem ripper to re-do what you just did!

   

I used a white fabric I happened to have (don't you HATE it when bloggers say that?) - but I honestly DID have it!  It is a two-way stretch velour fabric, kind of shiny - looks "winter-like) but is not too thick.  I made the top bodice and sleeves out of this material.  I think it is important to note that it IS STRETCHY and that helped to make the EASE of this project possible... otherwise you'll end up with buttons or zippers to deal with!  I CUT THIS PIECE ON THE FOLD and then cut ANOTHER on the fold - so you end up with TWO, a front and a back.   

Next, I cut out the sleeve piece ON THE FOLD, and then another, you know, so you'll end up with TWO sleeves.  

For this next fabric, I had chosen some sequenced mesh fabric, probably not the most durable but neither is the fabric the dress-up dresses are made from in the stores!  This will be the part of the dress that is in the front with a "sweat-heart" looking cut (a faux bodice, basically, that goes over the real bodice).  CUT ONE ON FOLD.

Next, I measured for how long and wide I wanted the capes to be.  This varied depending on how tall my girls were.  For my 6yo it ended up being 24" x 30".  I chose this fabric because it was so sparkle and glitter-y that I knew my girls would love it.  I was warned to chose more durable fabric but part of what I liked was how the light-ness of this fabric (I think it's a tulle!) made the cape really "float" rather than sag.  It's up to you.  I've already had to repair my "wild" 4yo's cape twice, but the other two have been fine (the other girls are less daring!).  

The skirt I also had to sort of guess for, depending on the size of the child.  For my 4yo I made the waist 38" across (I measured 19" on the fold/with two layers of fabric) and the skirt was 27" long.  To get the best idea I did not cut out the skirt 'til I had made the bodice and tried that on my daughter and measured from an inch above the bodice down to her feet (giving extra length for hems and elastic casing).  I want to say/think that I measured her waist and then just more than doubled it so the skirt would fluff out just a little (I know Elsa's dress is a little tighter in the skirt but my little girls don't realize that and LOVE the flow of the skirts, as it allows them to run, jump and play better, which is one reason NOT to make the cape too long either, depending on your child's activity levels).

Next, I pinned the sparkle bodice to the white front bodice.  

This part was tricky but do-able.  I folded the top under just a tiny bit and managed to pin it in place.  

So you end up with it being all pinned up like this (above).  Then I sewed.  

Next, I hemmed the edge of the cape sides and bottom.

I hope this part makes sense:  I folded the cape in half and pinned it upside-down onto the BACK bodice piece so it will be centered.  

You can do this far more simply than I did but I did this little FOLD to help the cape drape around the front a bit more than it would just sewing it flat... most kids will NOT care but it was fun for me.  

Finally, I was ready to pin the front and back bodice pieces together, make sure that the cape was OUT OF THE WAY of the sewing path and sewed them together on the sides and top.  The next thing to do is the sleeves but my pictures don't show the sleeve yet - I found it easiest to do the SLEEVES NEXT.

For the skirt part I pinned the sides together and sewed them along the sides, right sides together or basically, you're doing this as an "inside-out" skirt as you sew them together.

Maybe some of you will find my way of doing this very odd but I just did what worked and was fastest for me.  If you want to do the method where you make the elastic casing then push the elastic through with a safety pin - go for it.  This was easier to me!  

First I put elastic around my little girl's waist and made it so it was just about the same length as her waist.  The idea is that it is not "tight" but just pulls the dress to her same size but EXPANDS to larger than her size so she can SLIP ON the dress.  

Then I anchored the elastic just about an inch below the top of the skirt and folded the top down over it to form a casing, being very careful (this is the draw-back) NOT to sew ON the elastic - try to push the elastic up and make the casing large enough that you have a bit of room on the lower end to sew it without hitting the elastic under it.  As I sewed I gently pulled the elastic through and it would bunch up behind where I'd already sewn.  

When I got back to the start I "anchored" it very well - see all the zig-zags and criss-crosses? 

Remember, it's easier if you have the SLEEVES done before this step.  So AFTER you sew on the sleeves:

Pin the bodice to the skirt as shown - right sides together/facing each other.  You'll see the "inside-out" of both pieces.  

Sleeves:  Here's how it looks once you pin it but I took more pictures to show how I put it together to pin it: 

I matched the bodice seem with the sleeve seem

Lastly, I hemmed the bottom of the skirt after trying it on for length with my girls and then I did a mini-hem, just rolled down the top neckline of the bodice a tiny bit and sewed that for a nicer look (the material doesn't fray so I didn't have to do it but it did look nicer).  Then also did the same on the edge of the sleeves.  And... done!  The first one was tricky, I was figuring it all out, took several hours.  By my 3rd dress it was all together in 1/2 hour!  The cost of material for 3 little dresses (for ages 2, 4, 6) was about $23 (PLUS the white material I had on-hand).  You could certainly buy less for just one child's dress!