Cinderella Costume

"A dream is a wish your heart makes when you're fast asleep. In dreams you will lose your heartaches. Whatever you wish for, you keep. Have faith in your dreams, and someday, your rainbow will come smiling through. No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true." - Cinderella

I'm not sure what it is about her but above all the other Disney princesses, Cinderella is a favorite with every little girl I know. Even before they saw the movie, our girls were enchanted. And her dress isn't even pink, ya know?

Wanting to get a head start on costumes this year, I thrifted a table cloth that was the perfect shade of baby blue with silver threads running through and of course didn't get started until last week! Eek! I didn't have a pattern, so just used a tank top to make one for the bodice. The skirt is all one piece, gathered in the front with several pleats. The skirt was made extra full with about 6 yards of tulle netting - it was hand-gathered and stretched across the entire living room and into the kitchen! So the weight is probably similar to how heavy a dress would weighed back in the times when there were princes and princesses.

With the weight of the tulle and the fabric, I had to hand crank the needle to sew together the bodice and skirt so rather than add more weight with the hip pads, I hot glued a pearl bead strand to give the illusion without the added bulk. Then we found a bunch of flowers in the craft stash and decided to add those too!

To ensure the dress can easily transform from Halloween costume to everyday dress-up play without falling apart (we've bought the Disney costumes and they are so cheaply made!), I used french seams on the bodice and Hong Seams where the arms connect to the shoulders. In retrospect, adding a lining would have eliminated the need for the Hong Kong seams and made the dress even fancier.

Of course, she loves it and I expect will be wearing the dress on a daily basis. Don't forget to check back tomorrow, I'll have a DIY up to turn some plain mary janes into a pair fit for a princess.