Princess top

So the race was almost a year ago, so I suppose I should finish posting about the outfit. HA!!! I have a new goal of posting once a week and a huge backlog of projects to talk about, so here we go.

Rapunzel actually wears a corset style bodice with puffed ribbon trimmed sleeves over a sheer lace trimmed undershirt that buttons up the back. Here is how I got that look:

I started with an oversize purple tech shirt that I cut apart to make a smaller fitted shirt for me.

I stitched rows of pink ribbon to the purple sleeve, cutting it down to a shape that would still have some puff, but not be annoying to run in.

I added princess seams in the front and back of the shirt, and adding a lace up panel in the front. I just used a small eyelet stitch in my machine to make the lacing holes and backed the middle with a slightly darker fabric, like in Rapunzel's original dress.

Using the same pink cording I used for the lacing, I added double corded trim around the edge of the bodice neckline, the bottom edge, the join of the sleeve, and around the back where the division of the bodice and undershirt would be.  I filled in the back top with the same slightly darker fabric I used for the lace up section in the front, again so it would look like it was a separate undershirt.

I added soft cotton lace around the bottom and neckline of the undershirt bodice section, and added some pink covered buttons on the back to continue the illusion of a separate undershirt that Rapunzel wears.

And here is where I should have stopped, but of course I couldn't leave well enough alone. Rapunzel's corset top has a slight vine pattern on it like the middle skirt panel. I started drawing this in, but the paint dried much too dark and ended up looking not so great. It sorta looks like someone took a sharpie to the top, rather than the subtle background pattern than I wanted. Ah well.

Here I am on race day, pre-race (with disposable sleeves for when I got warmed up), in progress, and at the end with the real Rapunzel. You can see Pascal rode along on my shoulder and I had a frying pan necklace to complete the look.

I have done a villain disney race as well, where I dressed as the queen of hearts. Posts on that to come, as well as a fairy outfit for my next race and several bellydance costumes.

Princess Butt

For my running princess skirt, I started with the brocade underskirt.  I borrowed a costume from a friend's child and looked at lots of images online and put together a sketch of the pattern on the fabric.  Then I drew it onto the fabric with fabric paint pens.  It worked pretty good.

Sketch and center panel

I took the drawing I did before of the edge embroidery and digitized it and ran it through my embroidery machine.  The trial stitch below looked pretty good, so I did the edges of all the panels.  Lining up the different pieces wasn't as hard as I thought, because the bits of the design do not touch.  Approximate line-ups worked here.

Trial Run

I knew I would want a pocket to put my iphone, tissues, hotel key, etc, so I added a waistband to the top and put in a pocket and an invisible zipper.

Finished Skirt, front

Pascal shows off the pocket
(He will not ride in here for the race, he just hopped in for demonstration purposes.)

Finally, I attached the skirt to a pair of white running shorts.  The shorts I didn't make because I don't have enough confidence in my seam finishing to know they would be chafe free for 13.1 miles.  I did add some white lace to the bottom (ending before it got to the chub rub chafing zone) so it looks like Rapunzel's petticoat peaking out the bottom.

Peek-a-boo!

 
So there is the skirt.   Onward and upward to the top!

The making of a princess

One week from today, I will be traveling to Florida to run in the Princess Half Marathon at DisneyWorld. Two friends will be running with me. They are both accomplished runners.

I am not a runner. In fact, I suck at running. But I have been training since December and will probably make it to the finish line.

The one thing I am excited about for this race is the costume. Yes, I said costume. For a half marathon. Shut up.

I will be dressing as Rapunzel, because I like that she hits everyone with a frying pan and is sassy. My running companions will be Jasmine and Sleeping Beauty. They are both erring on the side of sanity and mostly just running in the colors of their princesses with some princess bling. I, however, am recreating in as fine a detail as possible and practical, the outfit from the movie.

A reference image


I will not be making it in a brocade, but in tech fabrics because I still have to run in this sucker. I found some perfect tech fabric for the skirt, but had trouble finding fabric for the top. I ended up buying several extra large lavender tech shirts, which I will cut up and reconstruct into the bodice.

I also bought a small frying pan necklace off etsy. Cause it was awesome

My supplies:



I bought a pattern off of etsy and crocheted a version of Pascal, also known as "Frog", who will ride along on my head or my shoulder.

Pascal



I have the skirt and top roughly cut out. Now I am working on the embroidery and brocade pattern for the skirt. The brocade pattern I will be painting onto the underskirt by hand with fabric paint. The embroidery I will do on my machine.

I found lots of reference images and borrowed a Rapunzel costume from a four year old I know to get the patterns right. I made the sketch below of some of the embroidery pieces and hopefully will digitize and start stitching it out tonight. I did another sketch (not pictured) of the brocade pattern and will be painting that as the machine stitches.




I may suck at the running part, but I am gonna look damn fine as I fail. :-)

Someday

Someday I will document the finishing of the costume below, as well as the kick ass belly dance costumes I have made since then. But not today. Today is for documenting my current project, a Running Princess outfit. New post on that to follow.

Whirlwind of Shimmys

I have been sewing like a madwoman, trying to complete a belly dance costume by the show date of March 26th.

I will write more details on the costume after the show, but in the meantime, here are a few in progress shots....

The bra, complete. It looks better on me. My dress form has a tragically small chest, a deficiency I do not suffer from. :-)


The belt, in progress


The skirt is the same black velvet as the bra, with heavy scatter beading at the bottom phasing into light beading at the top. I actually finished one version, but then realized that I cut the skirt so the velvet nap was not in the "pretty" direction. So after 40+ hours of work on it, I decided to chuck it and start over. I am keeping the old pieces intact in case I run out of time, but have recut and started beading a new skirt. Which is insane, because no one would ever notice the "mistake" if I didn't point it out, but it was bugging me so there it is.

Speaking of which...back to beading!!! :-)

Stop and sew the roses

I am no stranger to making fabric flowers. I have made them to put in my hair (back when I had enough hair to do this) and also to put on vintage style hats like this one (my very favorite hat that I have ever made)


But this is the first time I have made hip flowers! :-) I am recreating the flowers from the necklace in black velvet to put on the belt of my belly dance costume. And here is the result.

These are pretty much the same kind of flowers I used to make for my hair, only on a bigger scale. I liked them for my hair because they had were light-weight, had dimension, and didn't get all wilty and floppy when I sweat through them.

Here is how you go about doing it
(Diet Coke in picture above is optional, but highly recommended).

First, draw a flower and cut out a petal pattern. Then cut out a billion flower petals (or however many you need) in something that has some shape. I used stiffened felt here because I had it on hand, but you can also use denim or canvas or heavy interfacing. I have even used those funky foamie sheets in the past. The color doesn't matter because you will be covering them.


Grab some sort of wire stuff. I used 22 gauge beading wire, but have used pipe cleaners and floral wire in the past. Basically you want something stiff enough to hold its shape, but not so stiff that it isn't a bit malleable. Sew the wire stuff around the edges of the petal.


Cut a piece of your fabric slighly bigger than your petal. Since my velvet is stretchy, I didn't need a piece much bigger than the petal; you might need a bit more leeway if your fabric has no stretch or cut it on the bias. Run a gathering stitch around the edge of the fabric. Before you pop the fabric on the petal, bend the petal into the approximate shape you want. You can make some adjusting later, but if you cover it while it is flat, it won't be as smooth later on.


Once all your petals are all covered and pretty, cut a circle of fabric/felt/interfacing that is smaller than your finished flower. You can then attach all the flowers at the center point. Be careful to keep your stitches near the center so they won't show around the edges of whatever center pretty you put on your flower. Depending on what look you want, you can sew partway up your petals, but make sure your stitches can't be seen in the front. This is the underside of my flower after all the petals were stitched onto the center circle.


Adjust the bendyness of your petals until it is all purty. Then attach a button or a sparkle or another fancy of your choice in the center to cover the stitches there.

Voila!!


EXPERT TIP:
The more cats you manage to pile on your lap while you are working, the better your flowers will turn out. :-D

A belly tale

Once upon a time, way back in June 2010, there was a girl who was in a show with a bunch of other girls. She made a bunch of make-up bags for the other girls with their names on them, because it made her happy to do so.


And she made a big bag, a make-up bag, and a cookie kit for the teacher, because that is how she rolls.




And they all lived happily ever after, shimmying into the sunset.

The end.

The Plan, it changes

So I had a plan for my belly dance costume. The shape of it was kinda vintage 40s inspired, a bra and belt set with a long trumpet skirt.

Here is a VERY rough sketch of what I was thinking (I can't draw for crap)



Black velvet with silver accents; the plan for the bra/belt decoration was a very cool geometric art deco design. I even started making some of the beaded appliques for the belt portion.

And then I visited my parents and my mother was going through her jewelry and I saw this necklace...



I had to steal...er....borrow it from her. And am now basing the costume on it. It is hard to see in the photo, but it has gorgeous mother of pearl stones. Still keeping the shape of the old plan, but the decoration is all changing to a more organic flower based design. And I have this pinkish shimmery fabric in the stash that I have had for 10+ years that goes perfectly with the mother of pearl that I think I will use as the base of the belt and then use the black velvet for the flowers on top of that. The skirt and the bra will still be black velvet.

I am building the flowers and gathering supplies. I will post a bit later on how I am doing the flowers, after I actually finish one and make sure it is actually going to work!

I am also beading the entire skirt with heavier scatter beading at the bottom with it transitioning to less beading at the top. There will probably be about 30 hours or so of beading in the skirt alone, based on what I have done so far. My lunch hours are being well spent these days!

I'm Not Dead Yet.

Yes readers, I am still alive. If there are any of you left to read this! I took a long unannounced break from blogging, but not from sewing. I plan on posting some updates on what I worked on during my six-month hiatus as well as my current project.

Currently, I am working on a belly dance costume for an upcoming show in March. It consists of a long trumpet skirt, a belt, and a bra, all based in black stretch velvet and all heavily decorated. I haven't settled on the final design for the bra and belt yet, but based on the beading I have done so far on the skirt, it will be about 20+ hours worth of beading for the skirt alone. My lunch hours will be very full for the foreseeable future. :-)

Until I get pictures of the belly costume, here is a picture of the last project I spoke about before disappearing, the belly dance show cover-up/caftan.




I ended up going with a plain blue linen blend and embroidered peacock embellishments on panels with sparkle organza and silver trim. In some places I cutout the feathers and left them hole-y, in others I did some reverse applique and added beads. Turned out ok and it worked fine for the show last June, although I am already wanting something else....

Collar Trim with close-up views





Sleeve trim




Hem Trim with close-up view

That's a whole lot of look?

Making a cover-up for in between belly dancing shows. Planning on using this pattern from Decades of Style.



I am really struggling with the fabric choice though. It is for belly dance purposes, so I definitely don't want something too plain. But I am only 5 foot nothing and with too bold a fabric, that would definitely be too much look for my short round body.

These are some fabrics I am considering, conveniently on sale at Gorgeous Fabrics....

1.2.
3.4.
5.6.
7.8.
9.10.
11.12.
13.14.

Any favorites? Or other recommendations? Or would all of these overwhelm me and I should just go with a solid of some sort?

Ack! And Shimmy!

ETA: Hmmm. The more I look, the more the subtlety of 13 and 14 appeal. Hmmmm. But then again, subtle not exactly the belly dancing way. :-D

More ETA: Now I may also be considering a pattern like the one below....