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| First photoshoot with Belle - El Paso, 2006 |
Introduction
It’s easy to think back fondly on a costume you made years
ago, wore many times, and have since parted with. You don’t remember the issues
you had sewing the darn thing as much as you remember the fun you had wearing
it.
Belle’s blue village dress is one such costume for me. This
was the second costume I ever sewed, created in June 2006 and debuted at A-Kon
2007. I wore her for a few outdoor photoshoots and for many “casual cosplay”
events with TMCC (a local costume club that is no longer active). Belle was a
great costume for cosplay ice skating and restaurant trips, even though I rarely
wore her to conventions. There were a few things I know I could have made
better (the collar on the blouse, for example) but I never had the presence of
mind to remake the dress.
After having a child, Belle was one of the many costumes in
my closet that no longer fit. A visitor to my Facebook page expressed interest
and purchased the costume. I assumed I
was done cosplaying Belle for a while, since she never seemed to be a good fit
for conventions and I rarely do cosplay outings anymore.
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| Cosplay on Ice with TMCC |
But then I discovered Princesses with a Purpose and auditioned
for Cinderella and Belle – and got the roles. I already had my Cinderella dress
ready to go, created expressly for volunteer work. But none of my Belle
costumes fit anymore. The group had a Belle ballgown, but I wanted to make my
own (especially since I’ve never been a fan of putting Belle in yellow; I
prefer her dress in gold).
I decided to start with Belle’s blue village dress, as I had
many years earlier, before moving on to the ballgown. I was determined to make
this dress “right” this time. Armed with a few new tools – a professional
dressform and a serger – but much less free time, I started my construction of
this provincial dress.
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| Photo courtesy of SkyPirate |
Lessons Learned from
Last Time
Right off the bat, there are a few things that I knew were a
little off on my original Belle.
First off, the collar on the white blouse. I had no idea how
to make that, so I made a loose chemise and fudged the collar entirely. Looking back at old progress photos, I
gathered the neckline and sewed a strip of cotton fabric around the opening, putting
in a few hand stitches to make it look right. It looked great when I first made
it, but it didn’t hold up as well after being washed. I could never iron it and
it became a wrinkly thing that I struggled to get over my head (as I had made
the opening just a bit too small).
After doing some research, I learned that the collar on
Belle’s blouse is called a shawl collar. Knowing the name of the demon is
necessary to control it – or at least to do the research and learn how to sew
it. I looked closely at photos from the
Disney parks and noticed that the white blouse looks like it buttons up the
front, which would solve the problem of pulling it over the head.
Second, the shoulder straps. I didn’t know that “straight”
shoulder straps needed to be made from curved pieces. These were literally just strips of fabric.
They never sat properly and often fell off my shoulders when I was wearing the
dress.
Looking back at photos, I can’t believe how wrinkled and
ill-fitted the bodice was. I knew very little about tailoring and fitting, and
I sort of jimmy-rigged the bodice from another pattern. It never fit perfectly,
but the apron usually cinched up the waist to fit well enough.
Speaking of the apron, I cut it slightly wrong (crooked at
the bottom) and figured I’d fix the length when I hemmed it. Except that I made it out of thin white
cotton, and you could see the wonky diagonal hemline through the fabric.
Finally, putting wide elastic in the sleeve cuffs seemed
like a good idea at the time, but my arms usually started to hurt after a few
hours because the sleeve cuffs were a bit too tight.
These were all issues that I planned to fix in the new iteration of the dress. Considering how many times I've worn Cinderella, I have a feeling that Belle is also going to get a lot of wear. I need to make this dress sturdy and durable (not to mention washable!)
These were all issues that I planned to fix in the new iteration of the dress. Considering how many times I've worn Cinderella, I have a feeling that Belle is also going to get a lot of wear. I need to make this dress sturdy and durable (not to mention washable!)
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| Belle at A-Kon 2007 with the Divine Rose Keyblade from Kingdom Hearts |
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