Part of your World

November 2011.  Katie aged 4.
'I know what I want for Christmas.'
'Do you?  That's nice.  And what do you want for Christmas?'
'I want a green tail and a purple bra'
'I'm not really sure that's age appropriate'
'But I want to be Ariel!'
'How about the pink dress she wears?'

This conversation went on for several weeks.  We eventually got Katie persuaded that she would have Ariel's pink dress.  For those of you not familiar with 'The Little Mermaid'

this is what I was aiming towards.  While searching for inspiration I kept coming across this cartoon

on this website.  It made me chuckle every time I saw it.  I had very similar feelings about the dress myself.  I don't know if you've noticed yet but I don't do pink.  Unfortunately the nieces love it.  I keep trying to train them but to no avail.

Anyhoo, back to Ariel.  I used good old Simplicity 2817 for the bodice.  Raised the neckline an inch or so and narrowed it down a bit so it wasn't hanging off Katie too much.  For the sleeves I  used the long, puffed sleeve pattern from the witch pattern (Simplicity 2569) with some white applique bits on them.  I'd learnt my lesson trying to adapt the Rapunzel sleeves!  They're much better than that attempt.  The skirt wasn't too problematical either.  I just gathered up a layer of white crepe backed satin with a couple of layers of tulle on top.  The top layer of white is slightly stiffer (it wasn't supposed to be but this is what happens when you order fabric off the internet without asking for samples first) with dots on.  Not strictly accurate, but it got lots of positive comments.  And who doesn't love spotty fabric?  The top pink layer I made the same way as the puffy bits on Cinderella's skirt but bigger.  I just cut a semi circle of pink satin, hemmed the straight edge and gathered around the curved edge to attach at the waist.  I think I just cut the biggest semi circle I could out of the width of fabric.  When I made Cinderella's dress I couldn't believe how easy it was to make those puffy bits (apart from the fact I was making them in organza of course).  I'd looked at the dress before and couldn't get my head around how it would work at all.  You live and learn.

So, the completed Ariel dress.

Ah yes, Santa also brought Katie an Ariel wig for Christmas that year.  Just when you thought Katie's hairstyles couldn't get any better.

February 2012.  Coming up to Katie's 5th birthday.
'I know what I want for my birthday.'
'Do you?  That's nice.  And what do you want for your birthday?'
'I want a green tail and a purple bra!'

To be continued...