Belle Costume

My eldest chose to be Belle for Halloween this year, her favorite Disney Princess.  I decided to create her dress without a pattern/make my own pattern.  She wears a size 4t to give you a better idea of size.

Underskirt

I decided to make an under skirt rather than sew the tulle I directly to the dress so that I wouldn't have to worry about the weight pulling the dress down.  The only thing I regret is making the underskirt yellow.  I was so set in making everything match that I didn't think that it could be white.  Under Belle's skirt is actually white and if I had made it white it would have been easier to use with other dresses.

Need:

-waistband: 30" long & 2" wide

-skirt: 4 pieces of trapezoid 10" top, 15" bottom, height 21"

-elastic: 1/4" or 1/2" wide, 19" long
-tulle: top layer 6" wide, 80" long
        second layer 8" wide, 100" long
        third layer 8" wide, 100" long

Waistband and skirt piece.

Waist band with short edges sewn together.

Two of the skirt pieces sewn together.

Four skirt pieces sewn together.

Last edge of skirt sewn together.

Both long edges of waistband pinned to skirt, leaving gap for elastic.

Elastic inside waistband.

Finished skirt without tulle.

One piece of gathered tulle.

Skirt after tulle was sewn around.  Hemmed then finished.

Dress Top

Three pieces of lining: center and sides sewn together. Regular fabric is the same way.

Same as above but folded.

Lining and outside fabric sewn along neck edge then folded right side out.  Arm holes hemmed.

Shoulder Cover

Regular fabric and sheer fabric placed together, 30" long.  Not sure of width, would guess at least 10".

Lining and fabric sewn like a pillow case, then flipped right side out.

Fold center and sewn together.

Edges folded and sewn down.  Edges were then sewn to zipper edges of top. Center was tacked down on center of shirt.

Dress Skirt

Seven pieces in trapezoid shape for both regular fabric and sheer fabric: top 5", bottom 12", height 35"(ended up at least 4" too long)

Piece shown in regular fabric.

Pieces shown of top sheer layer.

Close up of sheer fabric over regular fabric.  Makes it a little shinier and adds sparkles.

Sewing pieces together. Leaving outside edges not sewn

Pinning top to skirt.  I don't have pictures but I then sewed from the bottom of the skirt up leaving space for a zipper.  Then a zipper was added.

I then folded the skirt, instead of gathering, and sewed that down on along the inside seam.

Doing that created the ruffling. 

Part of the skirt gathered.

Finished gathering.

Finished Dress

I sewed a long strip of the regular fabric then tacked it onto the dress skirt leaving slack between to make curves for the sash on the middle of the skirt.

Again not a complete guide, but it gives you a general idea.