For some reason, Disney has made a minimal amount of dresses for this pint-sized princess in training whom they advertised for a year before she hit Diysney Jr.
You cant get the dresses.
ANY.WHERE.
Maybe 2/3 and under but that is it.
Of course that is the ONE dress my girls want.
Probably because its the only one they don't have....
One day as I'm walking with Layla on our farm road I decided to have a potty training heart to heart.
Before Christmas she was all about it and about to potty train after just turning two.
Then she did a 180 and hated the very notion of using a potty.
Im tired of diapers so I've been trying to keep an open dialogue *with a toddler..* about the issue.
This day as she sits in the stroller she tells me
"ok yeah I'll start peeing in the potty"
I ask, whats it take for a poop?
(our successful poop fairy program that worked so well with Ella carried no sway with this one)
She answered without pause as though she had been waiting til she had the leverage she knew she needed:
"A Sofia dress"
Done.
I will take you (out of town because we have no good shopping here) today if you poop in the potty.
walk was over, she went right in and fulfilled her first promise.
That night after a day of swimming and pizza eating carried through with the second.
Since it was too late to go out of town and having had a stockpile of presents the poop fairy was supposed to leave, I decided to try and buy one on Disney.
Of course not. Sold the heck out.
Etsy.
Crazy dollars or ugly.
Neither my preference!
So make one was my next thought.
I was prepared to make one from whatever patterns I had if it werent' for the pesky petal skirt (though I'm pretty sure deep within my pinterest vault I do have some kind of petal skirt pattern)
but that stupid design on the petals made me afraid.
Im many things.
Artist is not one.
I googled and googled and finally came across a pattern!
The blogger Joy2Sew was taking testers for it and it was a few days old so I didn't know if she still was. I emailed her at like 3 am like a crazy person and woke up to a pattern in my inbox!
Yay!
i was ready to sew.
But no.
I had to special order the fabric because our Joanns doesn't carry much apparently in purples.
A week later I was able to start.
Except that we were going out of town for a few days.
Poor patient Layla.
Even though I reneged on my end, she held up her side of the deal and is now potty trained.
I have spent the last two weeks staying up until three am sometimes 4 to get this done.
Unfortunately the pattern size was 4/5 and while I usually buy up a size for the girls when buying Disney's costumes, this one was far too long and gappy.
And so Layla has to wait again. Poor dear.
Lucky for Ella, she fits in it nicely.
And so Ella gets a Sofia the First dress before Layla.
Problem is.
Ella apparently is a costume purist making sure
EVERY.SINGLE.DETAIL
of this gown matches up with Sofia's.
Finally it is "done"
"done" because I still *according to the master costume manager* have to add a few details.
I need purple cording on the waist under the "loopy" and I have to pearl the edges of the petal skirt. This I planned on anyway, but my fingers will not move at all hardly so that will wait.
HRH also wants single pearls sewn all over the skirt like Sophia and I have to finish the bodice detailing - more pearls. ugh. that also was planned but I need sleep.
I did get the waist puffs pearled and per request added pearl to the neckline...
Mothers.
Don't learn to sew.
Sew...without further adieu....
Its a double layered white skirt with ribbon trim (apparently too dark of a ribbon trim as Sofia has a light purple...per HRH)
I LOVED working with the bridal satin. The extra cost is far worth the ease of use. It sewed up beautifully.
The pearls are hand sewn.
The dress Bodice and petals are all a bridal satin as is the white skirt.
The back of the dress is a stretchy sport knit with no closures. This is how Disney makes its costumes and what my girls prefer.
Id say about 30 hours of work went into this dress, but some of that was learning curve as well.
Hopefully Laylas goes by at least 30 percent quicker.
And with this crazy involved gown leads to my announcement.
I will be doing Costume Commissions for Halloween.
- I am taking a VERY limited number because Im but one person :) .
- The exact number is not determined yet. That will be based on the amount of work each costume will take me.
Most likely Ill just announce one day that I'm closed for Halloween commissions or have one spot left. Nothing set in stone.
- I don't just do princesses, send me your ideas for what your kids are looking for and we will figure it out. I'm actually planning on a Popeye costume for a friends baby.
- There will be price point options. I will work with you to get you the costume you want. Cost includes not just supplies but my time. I take a lot of time to create these things, away from my family just like any other job. However I keep my prices reasonable because I know things are rough everywhere! We can work together with various options to get you the costume you want on the price you can afford.
Obviously if you make a princess gown out of bridal satin as I did here, your cost will be more than if you choose a lesser satin *like the store bought and Disney dresses are made of* or a different fabric altogether.
Remember hand made costumes last better than store bought. So they can be resold or passed along. Also the better the fabric the sturdier the finished piece.
-Choices of trim will also affect cost
- Once price is agreed upon a 50 percent non refundable deposit (as with all my customs) is required to hold your spot. This protects me from buying a bunch of supplies and someone backing out. My etsy customers pay full price up front by comparison.
For the first two Halloween commissions I receive these people will get a 10 percent discount off of their total.
As always this is to raise funds for our Haitian adoption :)
Check out Joy's post about the project here and my and another testers results!
