So this is my gorgeous niece, well step niece (is there such a thing?) if we are going to be pedantic. She models for me at least a couple of times a month and you are likely to see her on a regular basis on this site.
Princess Anna dress
When I first started making the Elsa dresses she was putting on the ‘I’m too old to dress up as a princess’ act (seriously no-one is ever too old). However, as soon as an opportunity arose to dress up as Anna, she was only too keen to volunteer. I had made this outfit for a friend to hire to dress up as Anna at her little girl’s Frozen party. I happened to have the costume in the car when I payed a visit one day. Kyla wasn’t in the best of moods, so we did a quick hair makeover, put on the costume and instant smiles.
Frozen Princess Anna dress back
The bustier is made from sturdy cotton (although I wish now I had done it in a velvet) with boning to give shape. I used the trusty Brother Innovis to embroider the pattern on the front. The skirt was a prized find in a op shop. An old pair of curtains that were hiding behind some old duvet covers – I nearly squealed when I saw them – I knew they would make the ‘perfect’ Anna skirt. – Yes you can call me Maria haha I was humming ‘a few of my favourite things’ whilst I was sewing 😉
Earlier in the week I read a story about a boy in England who turned up to his book week parade dressed at Christian Grey (complete with a handful of cable ties bahaha, 10 points to that mother if you ask me). Apparently the school was so horrified that they sent him home in disgrace, ‘apparently’ his costume reflected badly on ‘the school’s high standards of student behaviour, welfare and safeguarding’. Well I just wonder what they would have made of my King Joffrey (cross bow wielding, prostitute/baby murdering, tyranical, most hated TV character of all time) costume. Makes tying up a woman and making her say ‘yes Sir’ a little tame doesn’t it.
King Joffrey costume
In saying that we put the picture up on Reddit (I wanted to show off my awesome costume as much as possible) and were absolutely crucified for it. Mind you – not for the personality that he was portraying but the fact that he was holding a plastic dagger in the photograph. We had over a million views and had a mixed bag of responses from ‘WOW AWESOME’ through to ‘how could the school let him take a weapon in’? (answer: because we live in Australia and children are more likey to be hurt from a dive bombing magpie than a plastic Power Rangers dagger – common sense people).
King Joffrey crown
Well I can tell you that King Joffrey was well received at last years book week parade, ok so I don’t think many parents/teachers knew who he was – and let’s be honest he had no idea who he was portraying(he is 6 of course I don’t let him watch the show). Yes, the point is to be a book character that they know but he just thought he was ‘random prince from random fairytale’. He certainly enjoyed the fuss and applause that he received for the costume. I’m so glad I made it, he looked fantastic – he actually has similar features to Jack Gleeson (the actor who plays Joffrey) and that just added to the effect. It really gave my sewing skills a work out and the hubby did magnificantly carving the leather crown.
Oh and there was one more really, really, REALLY cool thing that happened 😉
there was a mother of 6 boys who loved to sew elaborate and ridiculously OTT costumes, that only 1 of her darling children would allow her to put on …(and stand still long enough to take the photographs). One (probably sunny day when I should have been outside hanging out my mounds of laundry) in Facebookland this Mummy came across an advertisement for a remake of the classic tale of Cinderella
…..the dress caught her eye first, that beautiful blue gown and …..WAIT …… OMG isn’t that Robb Stark from GOT !!! Like! Come! On! how gorgeous does he look in that green coat……and I knew someone else that would look just as gorgeous …..
And so one morning she told a slight mis-truth, to her husband and told him she had to go to the grocery store and bolted out the door with handfuls of cash to buy piles of green velvet and blue chiffon. She knew that the above mentioned son would only be too happy (ok maybe a few chocolate frogs …..and $5 notes were also involved) to oblige, adorning himself in the guise of Prince Charming.
Despite having a 3 year old boy whose sapphire blue eyes, golden ringlets and ruby red lips, could outshine most girls, alas the mother was female offspring challenged. She really needed to find a young maiden, who could wear the ballgown (and not destroy it within the first 5 minutes, such as would be its fate if the 3 year old got his hands on it). So she scouted the school yard for the perfect little girl to be her Cinderella. At once her eye landed on a little lady with beautiful fair hair like silk, piercing blue eyes and a beautiful smile befitting of any princess.
The girl’s poor mother was coerced into giving her consent to her daughter being exploited in far away countries, using her family’s storybook like property to shoot the photographs (and if that wasn’t enough provided several bottles of beer once the photoshoot was complete).
The outfits turned out amazing, the photographs were beautiful and Prince Charming and Cinderella lived happily ever after (well it’s been 3 days since the photographs and so far so good).
For my Prince Charming outfit I used a variety of patterns to create the look. The jacket was a slightly altered McCalls pattern. I used a dark green cotton velvet and used my Brother innovis to embroider the vine pattern. Two rows of gold buttons completed the look. The waistcoat was made from Peek-a-boo’s Little Gentleman’s vest using silk duipon and again gold buttons were added. The pants were also from Peek-a-boo. I used the skinny jeans pattern and made them out of a beige drill. My very clever hubby made me a leather pocket tab with a Cinderella design carved out of leather. I found a free cravat tutorial here
to make the boot covers I just traced around his gumboots and used a pleather which was glued/sewn in place.
For Cinderella’s ballgown I used a base of Foofoo Threads ballerina dress which I then basically draped blue chiffon around and hand sewed to the bodice to create the bust sash. I used a stiff tulle as the under skirt so that it would give it extra flair – the photos also show the dress worn with a crinoline.
This post was originally seen on http://maeandk.com/craftingcon-the-design-the-stitch-and-the-wardrobe-once/ and I thank Craftingcon for giving me a perfectly good excuse to make some fantastic costumes for no other reason other than I wanted to. Until next time……
The custom made costumes are available to purchase in my Etsy shop found at the following link
