fashion

DIY Disneybounding Ariel Tank Top (Kids)

| Heather

“When’s it my turn?
Wouldn’t I love, love to explore that shore up above?
Out of the sea
Wish I could be
Part of that world”

Ok, if you were a little girl in the 90’s, you too probably belted out these lyrics as you pretended you were a mermaid with flowing red hair and a crush on a handsome prince. Well, not much has changed since then, little girls still dream about being Ariel. She’s my niece’s favorite Disney princess, and it isn’t hard for me to imagine why. Her Disneybounding look is next!

I had trouble thinking through how I would do Ariel without needing sea shells, or something that wasn’t very appropriate for a 5 year old, but luckily I found some inspiration… somewhere… Here’s my sketch…

 

Ariel Disneybounding Sketch 

 
Materials:

  • Purple Tank Top
  • Sea green fabric – I found a fun sequined fabric at Joann’s that the little girl inside fantasizing about being Ariel couldn’t resist. 🙂
  • Coordinating Thread

    Ariel Disnebounding Materials

DIY:

  1. I decided the overdress would be at the empire waistline. Measure the width and length from the empire waistline to the bottom of the tank top. Add a few inches to the width so you can gather. Cut out two rectangles.
  2. Right sides together, stitch together the side seams. 
  3. Run at least two lines of a gathering stitch along the top of the overdress. Gather to fit to the tank top.
  4. Pin overdress to the tank top along the empire waistline (right sides together) so the dress is basically “flipped up”. Ariel in progress
  5. Zigzag stitch all the way around around, press dress down.
  6. To create some slight gathering at the neckline, I hand-stitched about two inches down and gathered it (securing inside the tank top).Ariel Detail Shot

OMG, talk about ADORARABLE!! Who wouldn’t want to be a mermaid princess, really? 

 –h

Advertisement

Disneybounding Merida T-Shirt DIY

| Heather

Ok, you may be wondering, what is Disneybounding? Here’s the concept in a nutshell…

Disneybounding: Creating a fashion look based on a Disney character by drawing from colors, or iconic design elements from that character’s clothing. Disneybounding isn’t simply making a costume, but instead creating a look you could wear on a normal day and hint at a favorite character. You know, bring a little Disney magic to your every day. 😉

Merida from Brave is up next in our little series. My mom chose her because she loves Merida’s color palette. Confession, I haven’t see Brave yet, but luckily Google images came to my rescue and gave me plenty of inspiration! This is an easy project, with VERY little sewing.

Materials:

  • Green t-shirt
  • Suede or faux leather cording
  • Small grommets or eyelets
  • Faux leather or brown trim
  • Coordinating ThreadMerida Disneybounding Materials

How-To:

  1. Here’s the design I sketched up, you can see how simple it is when you start with a t-shirt.
    Merida Disneybounding Sketch
  2. Measure, mark and apply grommets following the directions on the package.Merida Disneybounding Top
  3. Cut the cording to the desired length.
  4. Measure/cut cording. Lace up your top. Tie knots at the end of the cording.
    Merida Detail Shot
  5. Measure/cut trim.  Sew side seams together, pin and sew on trim.Merida Detail Shot 2

    Disneybounding Merida Finished

Seriously, 5 steps and you too can Disneybound Merida. How’s that for quick, easy, fun! The countdown to Disneyland is on!

–h

Tutu Tuesday: Part I Tulle Circle Skirt

| Heather

Confession: With the new baby at home, I’ve become a Dutch Bros junkie. Seriously, it’s getting bad. Last Tuesday, I drove up and everyone was wearing a tutu and a tiara. I’ll admit I was just a little jealous!! So I told the girl getting my coffee that I loved her look, and she replied…We’ve established it as Tutu Tuesday.

Um, every girl needs a Tutu Tuesday, don’t you think? So here’s a DIY Tulle Skirt for you…

Tulle Circle Skirt

I found a ton of great tutorials on Pinterest, check-out my Crafty Ideas board for several good ones. If you run into questions during my tutorial, those might fill in any gaps. 🙂

Materials:

  • 6 yards (at least) of Tulle – I used green because I was Disneybounding Mike Wazowski for Halloween.
  • Appx 1 yard of matching Lining Fabric
  • Elastic the size of your waist plus 1 inch – You want this to fit snugly, but not too tight (we don’t want a tulle skirt muffin top, yikes!)

IMG_4075

How-to:
1. Determine the length of your skirt. Measure from your waist down to where you want the skirt to end. I went down to my knee.

2. Determine your waist radius. Measure around your waist, divide that by 3.14, then divide that by 2. That gives you your waist radius.

3. You are basically going to cut out a number of tulle “doughnuts” out of squares of tulle. So add the waist radius to the skirt length and multiply by 2. That will be the length you cut your fabric. You also want the width of the tulle to be at least equal to that same measurement. So cut several of these pieces. I would do at least 4. Do the same for your lining fabric (just 1).

Here’s what we are going for:

FAbric

4. Now fold each piece in half lengthwise. You should have a square piece of fabric with 2 folded sides.

Fabric2

5. Now take your waist measurement and skirt length to create your pattern.

Skirt pattern

Tip: Create a pattern out of tissue paper or wrapping paper. You’ll thank me for this step because tulle can be challenging to work with.

If you think about it, here are the tulle doughnuts you are cutting out so make sure your folds are the right places…

Skirt graphic

6. Pin your pattern to your first piece of tulle, and cut out. Repeat 4+ times and 1 time for your lining fabric.

7. Hem your lining fabric.

8. Take your tulle and lining circles and layer them on top of each other. Pin and baste around the waist line.

9. Take the ends of your elastic and overlap ½” and sew together (remember this is an important stitch that will have pressure one it).

10. Pin your skirt to the elastic. Zig-zag stitch around. Done!

Tulle Circle Skirt

Again, this was for a Halloween costume, I’m excited to make one in black or red for the holidays.

Happy Tutu Tuesday!! Also, anyone also in the mood for a doughnut or some coffee now?

–h

P.S. Part II continues here…