Anyone else than me who likes to sew costumes?! My daughters love to dress up and this year for Halloween my 5 year old said she wanted a Princess Twilight Sparkle dress. Twilight Sparkle is a character from My Little Pony. This is what she looks like! Lots of purple and pink in other words.
I decided to use my sewing pattern Olivia. I wanted to use shiny fabrics and decided to use stretch satin, and tulle for the skirt. The stretch satin I got was beautiful but not at all very stretchy which made Olivia a great choice, since that dress has enough ease (3 cm, 1 3/16")
I also think it's so gorgeous with the buttons in the back bodice (by the way, you can sew Olivia without buttons, see here).
My daughter's chest width is 58 cm so I chose to sew size 116. According to the size chart, the chest width of the finished dress is 61 cm, so then I would have 3 cm ease, perfect when the fabric just has a little bit of stretch.
The skirt has one layer of stretch satin (lining), and two layers of soft tulle (pink and purple). I cut the lining and purple to the same length, but hemmed the lining 2 cm so it became the shortest layer. For the pink tulle layer I added a few cm so that it would be longer. I love the effect of different lengths for each layer.
On the front bodice I sewed an applique, that star is the "cutie mark" of Twilight Sparkle. I used stretch satin for the pink star, with a little white jersey behind, and five little iron-on stars. This was only the second time in my life that I sewed an applique so I'm not quite happy with the result. But it's always challenging to get out of one's comfort zone and practice new techniques.
I sewed the applique with a zig zag stitch (stitch length 0,5 and width 1,5-2,5). I try to see the applique with my daughters eyes, makes me like it more :)
To sew a skirt with several layers I recommend that you first sew each layer's side seams (step 22 in the description for Olivia). Then lay out the bottom layer with its right side up, and place the next layer on top of it, right side up. Continue with all layers.
Pin them together in the waist seam and baste together with a straight stitch, about 0,5 cm from the edge.
Later when you're sewing all skirt layers together with the bodice it will be much easier if you've prepared them and sewn them together first.
So make sure to check out my pattern, the Olivia dress (and tunic).
