Rapunzel, Rapunzel...Let Down Your Hair! A Costume Tutorial...

Up until now, I really haven't done costumes. I just never thought I would enjoy them, because after all - why put all of that time into creating something when they are only going to wear it once on Halloween???

But then I started shopping for a nice Rapunzel dress for my daughter for this Halloween and saw the prices, and I started thinking about how my kids dress up ALL - THE - TIME, and it dawned on me. These costumes aren't worn just once, they are worn over and over again - on an almost daily basis. In fact, they are worn WAY more frequently then almost any clothes I make for them.

But let's put all of that aside, and just look at my daughter's face...ummm...yeah, it is worth it.

This is probably the one thing I have made her that she didn't moan and complain over every fitting! Lol. So without further ado, I give you...



I can honestly say, this is a bit more difficult than I was initially intending. That Rapunzel sure has a lot of detail on her dress! But I am so happy with how it came out.

I had never worked with silky/satiny like fabric before, and even had to use charmeuse to get the two different purple colors for some of it. Luckily I had coupons, so altogether the fabrics & trim probably cost me about $20-$25. You can definitely go way cheaper with the materials though! You don't need trim, as you can use puff paint for the tulle decorative trim on the skirt! And you also don't need charmeuse - you can use the costume satin fabric that the stores sell, and easily substitute pink for purple if there are no variations of the color purple. But high priced fabric, trim, and all - I am really happy with how it came out. It looks like one of Disney's high quality princess dresses that you see for sale for around $100...which makes it worth it!



And with how much my daughter's wear their princess dress costumes, I am glad I put the extra time and effort into creating such a quality product!



For you free tutorial to make your own Rapunzel Dress, click HERE.

Naturally, after all of that hard work the first thing my daughter asks is...

'Where's Pascal?'



For Pascal, I used Martha Stewart's Pipe Cleaner Creatures tutorial found HERE.



I didn't do a tutorial for the Rapunzel braid, as I felt the blog world was already saturated with those...



But I basically did my own variation based on tutorials I found, and then hot glued flowers to the yarn to imitate the scene in the movie. You can find Rapunzel hair braiding tutorials by simply Google searching 'kids Rapunzel hair tutorial'.

I wanted to stay as true to the original dress as possible, but in the end decided to leave some items out for comfort or my own sanity. The tulle neckline and sleeves were omitted because I felt they would be itchy unless I fully lined the dress.. And I also changed the sleeves, figuring I could just have Chloe wear a long sleeve pink shirt underneath the dress on Halloween night. Lastly, I added the trim around the neckline, this was just to cover up a wonky edge stitch I had done!



Altogether, I am really pleased with how it turned out - and I think you will be too! Lord knows Chloe is :).

Next costume on the to-do list...Tinkerbell! After all, can't make one for Chloe and not make one for Madeline. Ha, ha - guess I know what I will be sewing up this weekend. Also, stay tuned for tomorrow where I will be guest posting over at The Train to Crazy and her fabulous Handmade Dress Up Series! Anyone have fabric scraps they are looking to use?? :)

Thanks so much for stopping by and until next time...

Happy Sewing!