Ariel Dress Tutorial

Now that Halloween is over with, maybe I can get this post finished. A week or so ago I posted a teaser pic of Munchkin in her Ariel Costume, and promised a tutorial, so here it is.

I started with an extra large pink t-shirt and half of a twin sized (I think) sheet.

 The t-shirt got pinned and sewn together in the front and back (this t-shirt had a logo on it which meant I didn't get to choose where to sew to take the body of the dress in some.)

(She is wearing pink long-sleeves under the t-shirt).

 I didn't really take pictures of the skirt-making process, but essentially, I just added a piece of elastic in  the center (long-wise) of a piece of sheet, so that an equal amount hangs on the inside and outside...I did this both to make the skirt a little fuller and to help with the sheer aspect. I actually also sewed a tube into the middle of the skirt that you could stuff with Wal-Mart bags or something to give the skirt even more fullness.

Here, you can see that the skirt is actually separate from the top. I chose to make it this way so we could change things up some if we wanted to, and she could wear the skirt with something else.

I also put elastic in the sleeves...I was in a hurry, so I cheated a bit. I just cut a slit in the sleeve hem and threaded elastic through, then cut another slit (because of the seam) and sewed the ends together. So, if you turn the sleeve inside out, you can see part of the elastic, but I am not worried about that for a costume. If this was for daily wear, I would have done the elastic properly just for comfort.

To ruffle the front of the t-shirt, I just accordian-folded the fabric in the middle until it was the right length and put a few stitches to hold it in place, which allowed the edges to drape down nicely like Ariel's dress does.

Here she is after we sprayed her hair with red hairspray. This was after the party, so the hairspray is already wearing off.

And a beautiful Ariel pose for the camera!

And there you have it!  I'm sorry I didn't take more step-by-step pictures. Unfortunately, with a 2-month old, I was interrupted often and forgot that I hadn't already taken pictures of the step I was on. Let me know if anything is unclear, and I will do my best to clear it up. Thanks for stopping by!

Check out my link party page to see where I am linking.

DIY: Star Wars Baby Wicket Ewok Costume

Buying a costume for a baby can be very frustrating...you have to consider many things:

1. Will they keep it on?
2. Will it irritate their skin?
3. Will it fit in their carseat safely?
4. Will it be warm enough or cool enough for the weather?
5. Does it look adorable?
6. Can I afford to spend $$$?

Making this one myself, from things we already owned and he had already worn answered most of the above questions for me. Scroll down for the "tutorial."

I hesitate to call this a tutorial because, well, there isn't much to it, and I didn't take step-by-step pictures, but here it is anyway! First, I found brown pants and long-sleeved onesie...I had to turn the pants inside out because the feet had monkeys on them (hubby complained you could see the pants tag, but I was carrying him anyway, so it wouldn't show...otherwise it could be cut out). The onesie actually had a picture on it also, but it was (mostly) covered by the hood (you can see just a smidge of it in the pic above--again, if I had been worried about this, I could have used a safety pin or double-sided tape to keep the hood taped down). Then I found another onesie in red that would fit comfortably as a hood and turned it inside out so the picture on it wouldn't show and put it over his head, making sure the sleeves were tucked in. The tag is printed on that onesie, so it does show, but didn't bother me...I later realized that if I had put the tag under his chin, it probably wouldn't have shown at all. I also originally had planned to sew (or pin) on some fuzzy ears, but that didn't happen either. After all, he is 2 months old...he was clean, dry, warm enough, not too warm, and completely adorable...what more can you ask...?

Check out my Link Parties page for a list of all the parties I link to each week.