Enchanted

April 2012.  Charlotte's birthday fast approaching.  At the time her favourite obsession was Disney's 'Enchanted'.  For those not in the know, it's a 2007 mainly live-action film.  Giselle finds herself transported from Disney animated princess world into modern day New York.  Several other characters follow and chaos ensues.  It's actually quite good.  I've even been known to watch it without a child present.  Should I really admit that?  Perhaps not.  At the time Charlotte enjoyed acting scenes out, often while watching the film.  She was often heard asking for a poisoned apple.  Hopefully not in public.

Giselle spends part of the film (both animated and live-action)  in the world's biggest wedding dress.  'Big Fat Gypsy Weddings' has nothing on this number!

Look at those sleeves!  And the size of the thing!  This one was going to end up more 'inspired by' than a faithful recreation.  Charlotte did want it big enough so she didn't fit through doorways.  I pretended I didn't hear her.

For the bodice I used (yes you've guessed it) Simplicity 2817.  I've had my money's worth from that pattern.  I think I may have bought it in a sale as well.  I just made it in plain white crepe backed satin.  I changed the zip in the back to an invisible one.  Have I mentioned how much I love invisible zips?  Best. Invention. Ever.  For the sleeves I used the same pattern but I made the pattern HUGE.  I more than doubled the size.  I wanted them to be MASSIVE.  Then I sewed them up and attached them to the bodice.  Frankly, I was a little disappointed.  I dread to think how big the pattern pieces were in the original.  They're ok.  They just don't have quite the impact I was hoping for.

Then came the skirt.  I was very confused by those ruffles.  I used net for the frilly bit, but I had no idea how to make the ruffles fall properly.  I experimented with strips of net quite a lot.  But to no avail.  Searching the internet I found this site.  Which includes a link to this amazing tutorial.  It wasn't strips I wanted, it was spirals.  Lightbulb.  A hasty measure of the net I had  to see how many spirals I could get.  I have a terrible habit of buying fabric and then deciding what and how I'm going to make something.  It's generally because I've left things so late I'm ordering fabric and drawing up patterns at the same time.  Bad Auntie Sandra.  As it tuned out I didn't have enough to go all the way around the skirt.  So I thought I'd put them in the front and around the sides and make an underskirt to stick the rest out.  This plan didn't work out either.  Because the net was quite stiff the front and sides stuck out massively.  The underskirt wasn't necessary.  The dress is slightly flattened at the back, but fortunately princesses don't have eyes in the back of their heads!

I drafted the overskirt myself.  It's A-line type panels (so it fits the bodice at the waist and then flares out) with shaping at the front.  It's also set off centre.  I think I should have made the opening bigger or more to the side, but never mind.

Completed dress before decoration.  I then added sequins and gems.  

I also made a butterfly and flower.  The flower's detachable but the butterfly's sewn on.  You can see them best in the animated portion of the film.

And here we have the birthday girl.

You can just about see the butterfly on the neckline and the flower at her waist.  That's Charlotte's elegant ballerina pose by the way.

And then the other niece wanted in on the action.  This is her demure look. 

I did have loads of photos of the making of this dress and other shots of the children in it, but the computer took poorly a while ago and I lost them.  Boo!

On the whole Charlotte loved her Giselle dress.  Even if she could fit through doors.  It's one of the most worn of their dresses.  White perhaps isn't the best colour for a princess dress though.