Rachel Kerns 1/30/17 Rachel Kerns 1/30/17

The Elsa Dress - Part Three

The Train, the Sleeves, and the Top

I didn't bother with the McCall sleeves - they had a straight finish around the wrist and I'd all ready pattered the pointed sleeve when I made my Brave dress. I busted out the Butterick pattern and had perfectly shaped chiffon sleeves cut in no time.

For the train and the top, however, I didn't pattern at all. I'm sure ever single sewing teacher I've ever had is cringing, but I simply pinned the chiffon directly to my bodice and chalked out the shape I liked best. I wanted to see how the chiffon would fall and it ended up being faster to cut without a pattern. On a whim I used left over square ofchiffon and cut an ellipse in the center, laying it over my dress form to check size and shape of the neckline, which ended up looking just the way I wanted it. It all worked out far better than I'd anticipated, but I wouldn't recommend this fast and loose approach as a general rule - I'm fairly sure I got dead lucky in not messing up the shapes.

The train ended up being three separate pieces - two sides and the main back. I sewed them together, but left the top and the sleeves flat until they could be embellished. There were all ready going to be obvious seams where the train sections met and the sleeves to the bodice, but I wanted as few visible seams as possible. To avoid fraying or a very noticeable hem, I singed the hem of the train, the sleeves, and the neckline Ideally, this can be done with a hot knife for an even singe, but because I don't have one of my own, I used a lighter for the continuous heat. You do need to do this in a well ventilated area - the synthetic fabric will give off some fumes as it melts and brain cells are important.

References and the template projection (including a bungled snowflake tracing)

I did need a pattern for the ice details. I laid the train out on newsprint and traced the shape of the full piece before posting the tracing on my wall and busting out the old overhead projector. My projector is literally the sort we used in school - it actually came from a school that planned to get rid of it. Its lenses aren't great for projecting small details (anything under about 12"x12" gets fuzzy), but it was the perfect size for my train detail.

Projecting the template plus a look at the top on the dress form

I traced out snowflakes and the main ice pattern from print outs with an extra fine point sharpie onto projector sheets and then focused the projection to fit into my train tracing. I used a couple of different snowflake templates I found in research. The snowflakes themselves came from Angela Clayton's Costumery and Creations blog (https://doxiequeen1.wordpress.com/2014/02/02/the-making-of-elsa-frozen-part-four/) and the main ice pattern came from DeviantArt user NostalchicksCosplay (http://nostalchickscosplay.deviantart.com/art/Elsa-Cape-Design-421658247). Both of these makers have some spectacular work and I am massively grateful to them for sharing their templates. The details on the sleeves were too small for the projector and I drafted them myself from screenshots.

Once I had the templates matched up and traced out onto the newsprint, I laid everything out on the floor - newsprint on the bottom, a layer of wax paper to keep the glue from sticking, and the train on top, weighted down to prevent shifting. The translucence of the chiffon made it really easy to add the embellishment - it could be applied directly to the chiffon.

I was fairly certain I was going to need the liquid E6000 and loose glitter I'd picked up, but I tested a pre-made glitter glue I had found at Micheal's just in case, which would have saved a tremendous amount of time. While the glitter glue bonded to the chiffon, when dry, it didn't read from more than a foot away, so I returned to the E6000 plan.

The liquid E6000 comes in a spray bottle. This gives you very little control over the flow, so I poured mine into a resealable glass jar and used a paintbrush to apply it. I painted the glue onto the chiffon, spread the loose glitter over it, and allowed it to dry overnight before shaking it out and collecting the glitter that hadn't adhered.

This was a very slow process primarily because I had greatly underestimated how much glitter I would need for the entire train. I had only purchased three bottles - two in white and one in blue. I didn't end up using the blue, but I blasted through the white in only a couple of passes. When I returned to the neighborhood hobby store, I purchased their two remaining bottles of extra fine white loose glitter and had to order more for a total of six full bottles used on the train, the sleeves, and the top detailing with a bottle and a half of liquid E6000. The whole train, the sleeves, and the top ended up taking nearly a month to embellish - most of that time was spent waiting on the additional glitter to arrive.

The top, sleeves, and train all had to be hand sewn to the bodice. The texture on the bodice was more flexible than some of the options I'd come across in research, but not flexible enough for my sewing machine. In hindsight, I should have attached the train to the top and sleeves and left it all separate from the bodice, but I chose to put it all together as one piece. I foolishly didn't realize that this would make the bodice nearly impossible to get into without assistance, though I am very happy with the overall look.

Next Time: The Shoes, the Wig, and Other Details

Rachel Kerns 1/17/17 Rachel Kerns 1/17/17

The Elsa Dress - Part Two

The Skirt

This was the easy bit - straight forward sewing with decently cooperative fabrics.

I didn’t cut a mock-up. I rarely do for personal projects, since I left school - unless I’m working on something particularly tricky or I’ve drafted the pattern fully from scratch, I don’t find it worth the money or the fabric. I keep waiting for this strategy to come back to bite me, but so far, I’ve not had any trouble.

I used the skirt pattern from the McCall M7000 and cut the pieces in both the sateen and the glitter organza.

I overlaid them and sewed, leaving a slit to the knee in the right side seam that wasn’t mentioned in the pattern. Because the pattern called for the skirt to attached to the bodice, I left the top unfinished for a good long while with every intention to piece the two together at the end. Ultimately, the bodice was just stiff enough that it would have been unnecessarily difficult to try and get it on with the skirt attached and I had to devise my own waistband fishing. I decided on an elastic waist band with a snap. I finished with a basic rolled hem and have since gone back and cleaned up the seams with my overlock.

The Bodice

Gussets on the muslin base and the finished hem

Like the skirt, I used the McCall pattern for the bodice base and cut it in muslin. I’m sure I went wrong somewhere, though I’m still not 100% sure where, because it ended up being surprisingly large. To fix this, I removed a whole panel from the back and added in two gussets in scrap fabric to either side of the zipper so I could zip the bodice closed when I had the thing on.

It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t the most beautifully tailored creation, but it didn’t matter, since the whole thing was going to be covered in foamies. I finished off the bottom hem with scrap skirt fabric, since there was a chance it might be seen and based both the top portion and bottom with a teal fabric paint, in case any of the muslin base might peek out from under the foamies. It turned out that the teal fabric paint was actually a glow in the dark paint and I startled myself on more than one occasion walking past the darkened living room to see the bodice glowing eerily on the dress form. I left the top hem unfinshed so that I would have something for the chiffon top to attach to and I left the zipper long, with the thought that I would attach the skirt.

Then it was time for foamies.

I cut a lot, I mean a lot of foamies. I even enlisted the help of my family to cut foamies, I needed so many. I had cut several different shape options - a mid-size rectangle, a longer, thin rectangle, a square, and a tiny rectangle - which we used as templates. We ultimately cut two full teal 12”x18” sheets of foam and one sheet of white. I can’t even being to estimate how many we finally cut, but I was very happy with the effect.

I was fairly confident that regular E6000, despite its longer tacking time, was going to be the most flexible, toughest, and yield the cleanest finish just from experience and research, but I ran a couple of tests just to be sure. Sewing the foamies left obvious nicks in the foam and hot glue was not only too stiff, but not tough enough to hold up over time.

Initially, I left the bodice on my dress form to try and hold the shape of the bodice, but the tacking time of the E6000 made the process of affixing foamies torturously slow, as each piece needed to be held onto the bodice by hand until the glue tacked up. I was a little concerned about how the the bodice shape would turn out if I laid it flat, but I decided to risk it for sake of efficiency and my own sanity. That’s when the bodice came off the dress form and I was able to speed the process up by allowing the foamies to lay flat with a weight while I kept gluing.

The E6000 was fortunately flexible enough that the flat foamie application didn’t matter - once the bodice was totally covered and back on the dress form, the foamies laid beautifully. They did look rather unfinished and flat on their own, however and that’s where the Gel Medium came in.

I had originally purchased it to experiment as an ice detail option for the shoes, but the Gel Medium gave a nice icy-looking finish, so I used it for the bodice too. I mixed in a little extra fine glitter to add a little bit of shimmer and applied the gel medium with pallet knife. In total, I put down three thin coats (an 8 oz jar and a half in total, including both the bodice and the shoe detail). Ultimately, it wasn't as flexible as I would have preferred, but it was still light and I was super happy with the overall look of the texture.

Next Time: The Train, Sleeves, and The Top

Bodice with Gel Medium. The Gel Medium takes a few days to cure completely. Here, you can see the white patches where it's still setting up.

Rachel Kerns 1/9/17 Rachel Kerns 1/9/17

The Elsa Dress - Part One

I wasn’t going to make Elsa’s Snow Queen dress.

When I found the pattern, I going to make Anna’s Mountain Dress, with the cute little muff and cloak combination. I hadn’t been able to make a solid costume for myself in two years - the previous two Halloweens had found me in the midst of graduate program things with neither the time nor the energy for making anything that wasn’t going to be submitted for marks. Cloaks and muffs sounded like just the things I needed, but after researching the character design for Anna more thoroughly, I came to the conclusion that given the time, budget, and the sheer number of pieces required to properly create the Mountain look, that Anna’s dress would be a Bad Idea.

That’s when I looked at the Elsa research and, while outrageously sparkly, the Snow Queen look didn’t actually seem so bad. Bodice, skirt, train, shoes, and a truckload of glitter that I knew I would regret, but perfectly achievable.

Patterning

McCall's M7000; My pattern was on sale due to the outdated item number.

The McCall M7000 pattern turned out to be considerably less useful than I’d hoped. I tend to prefer historical-inspired and drafted patterns rather than character-specific patterns - I find that I can get more accurate silhouettes if I Frankenstein the historical shapes with my own draped and drafted patterns. Character patterns, particularly if they’re unlicensed, tend to simplify silhouettes to decrease the difficulty and avoid lawsuits with the companies that own the characters’ likeness, but I’d gotten this one on sale at Jo-Anns for two dollars, so I figured I give it a shot.

The McCall pattern is designed to make the whole garment as a single piece and cuts the train length to the hem of the skirt. I had all ready decided it would be best to keep the top and the bottom separate, since I wanted my bodice to be textured and that I wanted the train to actually hit the floor, so I did what I always do and Frankensteined, using the skirt and the princess seamed bodice from the McCall pattern, the sleeves off of a generic “medieval fantasy dress” from the Butterick pattern B4377, and draping.

In general, I rarely cut out store bought patterns - the theatre hoarder in me that just knows I’ll need a different size for something, someday demands I keep them completely intact just in case. Instead, I trace the appropriate size of the pattern onto newsprint (ideally I would use pattern paper, but I have large pads of newsprint left from undergrad drawing classes that need to be used up). The Elsa pattern was no exception - I traced and cut out what I needed off both the McCall and the Butterick patterns and held off on patterns for the chiffon top and the train until I had the fabric in hand.

Fabric and Other Materials

Left to right: Chiffon, remnant (possibly a rayon sateen? I lost the tag, so I'm not one hundred percent on it's exact content), and glittery nylon organza

Before shopping, I hit up my old friend Google. Google revealed quite a collection of other creators’ Snow Queen dresses. Skirts appeared to universally be purchased sequined fabric. Trains were either generally sparkly or were hand rhinestoned in the icicle pattern from the film. The bodice options included hand beading, purchasing sequined fabric, using foamy cutouts, and layering fabric rectangles using calk adhesive.

I knew I wanted my Snow Queen dress to be as light and as accurate as possible. I also knew I wanted my bodice to be at least a little bit flexible and I knew I wanted it to be if only a little practical for moving through crowds, so I ended up modifying ideas from the research. The bodice would be foamies, the train would have the icicle pattern, but I'd use glitter rather than rhinestones, and the skirt purchased fabric.

Adhesives and texture options. From left to right: Original E6000, Spray-On Liquid E6000, glitter glue, teal Tulip fabric paint, and Golden Acrylic Gel Medium (High Solid Gel; Gloss Finish)

For the skirt, I couldn’t find quite the color and sparkle I was looking for, so I ended up combining a glittery nylon organza (two yards) from Jo-Ann’s with a remnant I picked up from Britex (roughly a yard and a half).

The train and blouse fabric I picked up at Jo-Ann Fabrics - a poly chiffon. I decided to shorten the train by several feet, just so I could move around a room without being stepped on or catching on furniture, so I ultimately purchased four yards. I knew I wanted to glitter (rather than rhinestone) the pattern onto it, but I wasn’t sure what would work best, so I picked up some options - glitter glue and regular, fine glitter in white with liquid E6000.

The bodice I decided to base in muslin - no one was going to see it anyway and I could put the money into other things. For the bodice’s texture, I picked up five sheets of foam, three in teal and two in white, a tube of regular E6000, and Golden Acrylic Gel Medium.

Bodice Materials. Craft foam, glitter, and gel medium

For the shoes, I knew I wasn’t up to tackling shoes from scratch, particularly heels. Instead, I found a blue pair of discounted pair of Christian Sirano pumps from Payless ($10, on sale) with the pointed toe box of Elsa’s ice shoes. I had some vague notions of experimenting with the Gel Medium, though nothing concrete.

It was, all said and done, enough to get started.

Next Time: The Skirt and the Bodice