They also have an 'adult' version of these dresses, best not to get them mixed up! Apparently you used to be able to get lots of other Disney patterns that have since gone out of print but I have noticed that they've started printing more (eg. Tinkerbell, Tangled) recently. Other pattern companies do similar patterns, made up in colours to look like Disney princesses but with different design details. I wanted my little princesses to look exactly right (or as close as I could get), so Simplicity it was.
Charlotte decided she would be Cinderella and Katie wanted to be Snow White. If I'd had the choice (like my opinion matters!) that's what I'd have gone for too. Charlotte's fair with straight(ish) hair, and Katie's got brown (very) curly hair. I ordered fabric. Crepe backed satin for most of the dresses, some kind of dark blue crepe(?) for Katie's cloak and bodice, and organza for Charlotte's sleeves and puffy bits (I have no idea what to call them!). This was back in the days when I took notice of fabric allowances on the backs of patterns. I ended up with loads of left over fabric. I think for Charlotte's I had twice as much as I actually needed. Ah well, you live and learn. Left over fabric will be making an appearance in later projects. See if you can spot it. It's a game for the whole family to play!
I'm not sure how much I changed the pattern in size. I know I kept reading in reviews (I know, sewing pattern reviews, who knew!) that the pattern was quite low cut, so I'm fairly certain I raised the front and inch or so. I know I have in all the other projects I've used this bodice pattern and I've lost count of the number of times I've used it now. With the point at the front, it works for most princesses. One change I did make was to press the seam allowances of the sleeve in towards the bodice, rather than out as stated in the instructions. I just thought it was a bit odd when you'd be able to see them through the sleeves.
I can't really remember much about constructing these dresses. I know it took me a few weeks, but that was just because I was only learning and I was petrified of making mistakes. With all that spare fabric I don't know why! I thought the red on Snow White's sleeves was going to be really hard, but actually it was easy. Bondaweb to the rescue. The points at the front of the dresses aren't that good. It's mainly because although the pattern told me too I didn't trim as much seam allowance as I should. I've since learnt that you can snip right to the sewing line and the whole dress won't fall to pieces. The only major problem I can remember was the organza. How I hated it. I vowed I would never use the stuff again. You just had to look at it and it frayed all over the place. I had to cut it with ordinary dressmaking shears because my pinking shears just ate it up. I kept pulling threads in it when sewing it on the machine, but I think that was probably to do with the machine settings. I was a nightmare. It was probably the first bit of the project where I threatened to throw it out of the window. It's a threat I now make on a regular basis.
When the dresses were almost complete I had to change the length of the skirts. I had to cut a good foot off the length to get them about right. Again with these oddly shaped children.
I also covered hairbands to match the dresses and added the padded 'bow' on Snow White's. I'm sure there's an easier way of covering a hairband, but it always seems to involve me sticking loads of pins in it and then trying to manoeuvre around them (you've seen nothing like me trying to spell manoeuvre!). I also put some velcro on some black ribbon to make Cinderella's choker.
And here are my first proper princess dresses.
We couldn't find any pictures of Katie in hers, so we just have the lovely Charlotte modelling both. I know after Christmas the cloak was quite controversial. Cinderella wanted one too!
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