At Calico Laine we have customers coming to visit us with so many different projects in mind, and my personal favourite kind to help out with is costume-making! A lot of our customers come to us in search of Dressmaking Fabrics to make fancy dress costumes for their children and for parties, but there is a hobby called 'cosplay' that I have mentioned a few times before on our Calico Laine blog, where the most dedicated costume makers come together to show their enthusiasm for movies, television shows, video games, comics and more by dressing up as their favourite characters and heroes.
As a cosplayer myself, I love to visit all kinds of conventions across the world and a big part of my costume collection is based on Disney characters. Last week I talked about my cosplay of my favourite Disney character, Belle, and this week I thought I'd share a little bit of information about another popular princess that I have dressed up as - Ariel, from the movie The Little Mermaid.
[caption id="attachment_11528" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Photography credit to Beth Dooner.[/caption]
I actually chose to make the outfit that Ariel wears when transformed into a human, desperately trying to win Prince Eric's love. I started by making an ankle-length circle skirt out of our turquoise Bi-Stretch, which is a budget-friendly Fabric that doesn't skimp out on quality despite its low price. It is one of my favourite fabrics to work with, and it is available in practically every shade I could ever need.
I made my shirt out of our pale blue Cotton Jersey, which worked really well for gathering when it came creating to the poofy sleeves. Because it is a stretchy fabric, it pulls over my head with no need for any fastenings, making this an easy, comfortable costume to wear.
The corset that I made is created from our navy Microfibre, with a Cotton layer underneath for the boning channels and then another layer of Microfibre for lining. I used our matching Bias Binding to finish the edges, and our eyelets and polyester cord in the back to cinch me in. To easily get in and out of this costume piece, I included a Nylon Open End Zip in the side, so I do not have to be laced into the corset every single time I want to wear this costume.
The final piece I made was my hair bow - it is created from our Klona Cotton with a layer of heavy duty Sew-In Interfacing to hold its shape. It slips into my wig with one of the hair combs that we sell in both of our stores.
My costume was made without any commercial sewing patterns, but we stock plenty by Vogue, Butterick and McCalls that could help you achieve a similar result if you are not confident enough to sew without a pattern. If you have created any of your own costumes, why not take a photo and upload it to our Facebook page?
Photography credit to Beth Dooner.[/caption]
I actually chose to make the outfit that Ariel wears when transformed into a human, desperately trying to win Prince Eric's love. I started by making an ankle-length circle skirt out of our turquoise Bi-Stretch, which is a budget-friendly Fabric that doesn't skimp out on quality despite its low price. It is one of my favourite fabrics to work with, and it is available in practically every shade I could ever need.
I made my shirt out of our pale blue Cotton Jersey, which worked really well for gathering when it came creating to the poofy sleeves. Because it is a stretchy fabric, it pulls over my head with no need for any fastenings, making this an easy, comfortable costume to wear.
The corset that I made is created from our navy Microfibre, with a Cotton layer underneath for the boning channels and then another layer of Microfibre for lining. I used our matching Bias Binding to finish the edges, and our eyelets and polyester cord in the back to cinch me in. To easily get in and out of this costume piece, I included a Nylon Open End Zip in the side, so I do not have to be laced into the corset every single time I want to wear this costume.
The final piece I made was my hair bow - it is created from our Klona Cotton with a layer of heavy duty Sew-In Interfacing to hold its shape. It slips into my wig with one of the hair combs that we sell in both of our stores.
My costume was made without any commercial sewing patterns, but we stock plenty by Vogue, Butterick and McCalls that could help you achieve a similar result if you are not confident enough to sew without a pattern. If you have created any of your own costumes, why not take a photo and upload it to our Facebook page?