Good morning! I’ve been dawdling on this second Frozen dress (see the first one here), but this weekend, I finally completed it. I’m sad to report that it wasn’t a stunning success. I used the same pattern pieces as the first one, and this time, I cut into the fabrics specified by K — all cheap stuff from JoAnn’s. One of the things I did differently was to add rhinestones to the bodice like so:
That’s me, pulling away the plastic film after ironing on the sparkles, happy to see that I didn’t screw it up. It was actually super easy, and I got multiple packs of iron-on rhinestones, so I’m ready to bling up a multitude of future outfits.
K grudgingly put it on (grudgingly! a Frozen costume!) for the photos and immediately took it off afterwards. She likes the muslin version better and I do wish I’d made this second version entirely out of knit fabric. FYI, she decided to write poems while I snapped away with my camera. One was about sharks, and the other one had something to do with living in another world…
If nothing else, the fit is perfect. And the cape train is pretty impressive too.
Oh well. You win some, you lose some.
I’ve noticed that Frozen fever has been simmering down, which could also be why she wasn’t as excited about the dress. Her new thing is something called Ever After High, and I’m not sure how I feel about this. She’s been reading the books, and though I worried that it might be a bit advanced for her, I was reading the Sweet Valley High series in the 3rd grade, so I figure it should be okay.
I’m still struggling with the cape portion and realized that the zipper should start where the cape begins, so the tutorial will have to wait, but this seems a rather all-encompassing princess/dress-up dress so I hope to be able to put together something in the near future. Even if K doesn’t love it, this was good practice to flex my pattern drafting muscles, so I’m back to the drawing board!
Hello Sanae,
I feel you are so familiar after spending the whole weekend reading your blog. I just adore you. It might sound weird, but you are that person who I want to be when I grow up — except I’ve already grown up… I started sewing very recently. My skills are not there yet, but I’m so totally addicted. You make such beautiful clothes with great patterns and color coordination. I truly enjoy my daily dosage of your blog.
All the best,
Jing
So kind, Jing! Thank you so much for the lovely comment — it makes me so happy! I can’t agree with you more that sewing is totally addictive 🙂
I think it looks fabulous. I’m working in a prep class at the moment (ie children aged 5-6, in their first year of school) and there are several kids in the class who sing frozen songs ALL DAY, EVERY DAY. So even if K is moving on to more sophisticated things, plenty of littlies I know would swoon over this dress! Including my own.
Oh, I imagine Frozen in chorus is powerful and adorable (at least the first few times). K is moving into all sorts of interesting directions beyond her taste in books (she’s rediscovered legos, she loves to write poetry, etc.) and it’s fun to see the different facets develop! Thanks, Marisa!
For a girl not too crazy about the dress she looks stunning in it! Especiallly the first pic! Absolutely love her poem-writing-rebellion and the pen between her toes. She really is something. I also started reading books I was a bit too young for when I was in elementary school, because I had read all the kid´s books in our library 😉 Your frozen post was very soothing to read as I am still sick and we are having a heat wave…wish I had a frozen dress!
Bummer that you’re still under the weather, Ute! I’m thinking of you and sending you lots of get-well wishes! Drink lots of iced tea and wishing you a speedy recovery. 🙂
Ah ha! Frozen frenzy is finally simmering down. Or cooling off, might be more appropriate given the title? I am glad to hear it. Over here, we just watched Frozen at the public library on Friday. So second time for my almost eight daughter, but the first time for my 3 1/2 year old daughter. It was kind of cute how much they liked it. My older girl covered her sisters eyes during the scary bits. Love the costume. I just learned how to do the loose fish tail braid this weekend too. So if you end up with extra costumes in size seven year old girl, keep me in mind. We are still Frozen mad here.
Ha, cooling off is a better description 🙂 if I had sewn the dress a touch better, I would send it to you in a heartbeat, Max! The cape portion is still wonky and honestly, I just wasn’t that into making it, which might be yet another reason K wasn’t as thrilled with it either. K has been begging me to make fishtail braids, but her hair is still a little too short to hold the shape, so we’ll have to wait on them. By the time her hair is long enough, Frozen may be a distant memory…;-)
what! she’s not impressed? sheesh. I’m shocked that my kids haven’t demanded Frozen dresses yet. They are obsessed and sing the songs ALL DAY LONG. At loud volume. Even though I banned the music from even being played in here for days and days now. I can’t take it anymore!
Knowing your kids, they’d want legos or star wars coolness stenciled onto their Frozen dresses if they ever ask for them, Tara! I had to ben Let It Go for a while too, mostly because once it lodged into my head, it never left. “The cold never bothered me anywayyyyyyyy……”
Funny timing . . . my youngest decided to enact an entire Frozen scene yesterday and of course needed the *perfect* Frozen costume to go with it. I do not have your talent nor energy, and so pointed her to the dress up box and encouraged her to find something she could live with in there. While she grudgingly found something that would suffice, she would have swooned over K’s costume! Great job, Sanae! I wonder if ironing on rhinestones was a first for you . . . doesn’t seem like part of your usual sewing routine:)
Isn’t it amazing how Frozen has turned into such a phenomenon? And it’s global!! And yes, it was my first time with iron-on rhinestones and I was highly suspicious that it would work. We’ll see if it holds up at all in the wash…thanks, Lucinda!!
Now I am going to mention that you should also design wedding dresses–you are very talented at so many things!!!