Ice Princess Inspired Dress

Hey Guys!

I’m sure I’m not the only one excited about Frozen 2 coming out this Friday! So much sew (pun intended) that you’re sewing for it. If you’ve followed me long enough, you know that usually when I do character sews, I like to – and by “like to” I mean I obsess over – making sure the outfit comes close to the actual character’s outfit in every little detail; including pattern and fabric colors and textures used. However, last week I received these gorgeous glitter fabrics from the Diamond Dust collection from Windham fabrics (shipping to stores Feb 2020) to make future samples – and even though they are not cosplay specific, they were just too perfect for an ice princess inspired dress that I couldn’t deny my need to sew up something Frozen inspired.

In my research of the perfect pattern, I found myself explaining to The Spirited One the difference between Cosplay sews and “Inspired By” sews – and this text message she sent me while I was at work, proves that I may be regretting the fact that I did that very soon. hahaha!! She’s all over inspired outfits at the moment. I was already half way done with the outfit I was making for Frozen 2’s opening night, …but how does one ignore this request? It is a super cute dress, it is her first inspired by request, and even though our scheduled last trip to Disneyland was only two days away…I decided to humor her. I shamelessly love the fact that she trusts me to help her express her authentic self. (I say this now, but ask me again when she’s a teenager lol)

Considering I only had a day and a half to work on it, I think it came pretty close right?

For this dress, I used the darker blue color way (51394-27).

Also, how perfect were these shoes for this outfit??! Found them downtown LA.

Now let’s talk about the details of the dress and modifications I made to the pattern:

Pattern Used: The Tea Party Dress by Tadah Patterns. I’m sure you’ve seen this pattern featured a lot throughout my blog. It’s my tried and true pattern of choice, and with good reason – because of the different neckline, sleeve and skirt options there are over 190 different possible combinations you could make. It works for me especially when I don’t have the luxury of time since I’ve made it so often, it’s one of my easiest and quickest sews.

Pattern Modifications:

• I added sleeves to the original pattern using the Sleeve Add On specific for this pattern but modified the sleeve length to a 3/4 sleeve per Abigial’s request.

• Because I love a beautiful clean finish, I also modified to use an invisible zipper as the back closure. The pattern doesn’t not come with a tutorial for this, but I did one a couple years ago! You can find my HOW TO INSTALL AN INVISIBLE ZIPPER INTO A LINED GARMENT HERE – It’s really a super simple process, and fun fact, I did use the Tea Party Dress pattern for the tutorial.

• I used the circle skirt option for this dress because Abigail loves a big twirl, and in addition to a fabric skirt, I add 3 layers of tulle overlay per her pictured request. I cut the FABRIC circle skirts as instructed by the pattern BUT I cut the tulle skirts differently using the same pattern, – instead of cutting on one folded edge, I cut the tulle skirts on two folded edges. I did this for 3 reasons: 1. I didn’t want side seams on the tulle skirts. 2. Have you ever worked with tulle? It’s like a wild animal of fabrics, it’s so hard to tame, and it was just easier to cut the tulle circle skirts this way.

• 3. The skirt is gathered at the waist anyways so the “extra” allocated seam allowance that would have been taken away when sewing up the side seams were just gathered into the skirt. What I like about tulle is that you don’t have to finish the edges.

• Added satin ribbon to the bodice. All I really did was topstitch the ribbon to the bodice stopping at both side seams. That way she could tie the bow in back while also cinching her waist for a more fitted look.

Luckily I had some scraps left over from the caplet I made for her flower girl dress a couple months ago, and used that to create the fur stole. I really just used a rectangular piece of fabric and shaped it to have some curved edges, sewed it up and pinned it at the ends.

Sidenote: I forgot how hard it is to take pictures at Disneyland! Granted it is a crowded place, but nobody cares that you’re trying to take pictures – lol – they just walk right in front of you!

Even though, it was super crowded, we did have a wonderful time – Disney is so magical during Christmas time, and we’ll miss living in California because we’re big Disney fans. But it’ll definitely make coming back for vacation visits all the more sweeter.

Well, that’s it for today’s post guys! I’m off to vacuum all the glitter from EVERYWHERE and finish the first dress I started (one from the new movie) – so stay tuned for that one! Talk to you soon! xoxo