Princess Sophia costume tutorial

I would like to start off by saying, I am not a pro when it comes to making tutu dresses. BUT..... I have to say I am pretty proud of this one :) My 2 year old daughter wants to be Princess Sophia from Disney Jr's Sophia the First for Halloween. So I decided I would make it myself. The best part is, it cost me less than $20 to get all the pieces I needed!
So here is the list of supplies that you will need...

For the costume
* 6" Lavender crochet tutu top
* 3 - 25 yd. Lilac tulle spools
* 2 purple gem buttons
* Set of 6 pearl mardi gras beads
* 2 sheets white felt
* tiara

Crafting supplies
* Scissors
* Pencil
* Tacky spray
* Hot glue gun
* Measuring tape
* White sewing thread

Let's get started!

So I actually didn't take pictures of putting the tutu dress together. You can find tutorials on that if needed on youtube.

Basically, I cut the tulle into 32" strips. When i tied the tulle to the crochet top, I used 2 strips together to make the dress nice and poofy! For the shoulder straps, I measuered and cut 4 pieces of tulle at 20". Once again I doubled up for each strap to make it thicker. I put the dress on my daughter and placed one end of the tulle through a top hole (front to back) in the top that was right next to her shoulder. I pulled it through by a couple inches, enough the tie to the other end when I was done. Then I took the long end and placed it over her shoulder and stuck it through a top hole right behind her armpit. Pull the tulle tight enough that it will keep the dress in place, but with a tiny bit of slack that you can still get it on and off. Then bring it back over the shoulder and from the front, stick the second end through the hole next to the first end. Tie them together on the inside of the dress and tuck the ends up into the sleeve so you can't see them.

I hope that made sense! I wish I had taken pictures, but I didn't decide until I was done making the basic dress that I was going to do this tutorial.

Now you will want to take a strand of those pearl mardi gras beads.

Take the scissors, and cut anywhere on the strand to make one long piece. Fold it in half to find the middle. You are going to find the center of the front of the dress, and place the beads in that spot.

I put one end through a hole, and pulled it back out through the one next to it.

Next you will turn the dress so the backside is facing you. Find the center of the dress again and stick the beads through 2 holes to pull to the inside.
Take the hot glue gun, and glue the 2 end beads together. I twisted them first just to make it easier.

Now you will need to use another necklace. We are going to cut 2 pieces of the beads to add to the top. I cut mine 6 1/2" so they would reach from top to bottom, and I would be able to angle them towards the middle.

Take the white thread, and cut 6 strands that are about 10" long. Just has to be long enough to tie knots to hold the beads to the top. I used 3 strands for each section of beads. I tied them to the beads first, placing each string at the top, bottom, and middle of the beads.

Doing this allows you to tie the beads to the top and bottom of the top, and use the middle to get that angled look I was talking about earlier.

So next I tied each strand to the top of the crochet top about an inch away from the shoulder straps.

Then you will tie them directly underneath at the bottom so they are a straight line. Pull the middle strings towards the center of the top. I just did it tight enough to where I couldn't pull them over anymore. Tie them in place. The picture below shows the left side tied.

Now you are done sewing on beads!

Here is what we have so far!

Let's make some appliques! This is where the felt comes in. I used a sparkly white felt that I bought for another project I never made, so at least I found a use for it :)

I took pictures of how I made it, but once I was finished I made a template in case someone wanted an easier way to do it. I need to find out how to upload the PDF so it's printable!

Keep in mind that I drew that by hand, so it's not perfect! I used a small bowl to draw out the whole design so it's not perfectly even, but came out good enough in the end.

In this picture you can see the stencil that I used. Afterwards I had to draw a tip to add to the "petals". I wrote out instructions on how to cut and trace the design onto the felt on the picture above. I made 4 designs so I could place them on the front, back, and each side. Then I cut along the outside edges of each design.

Then I cut out each triangle piece. I made sure to keep each piece where it belonged, so they all matched.

You will want to use a box, or paper bags down for this next step. And probably open up the windows, or do this step outside because the tacky spray smells very strong. Make sure you spray the BACKSIDE of the felt with the pencil markings. I sprayed each piece as I went so they wouldn't dry on me and I would end up using way more spray. REMEMBER to make sure the tulle on the dress is laid out nicely and not bunched up so it looks nice and pretty when you are all done!

This causes your fingers to be a sticky disaster. I wish I had tips on how to prevent that from happening, but I don't. If you know any, please do let me know!

Congratulations!!!! The dress is done!!! Now let's accessorize.

I found the tiara next to the check out stands at Joann's for $1! Awesome deal! I actually found the tiara, purple buttons, and mardi gra beads there and spent about $6 with a 25% off coupon. Here are the buttons I found to make the amulet.

I decided to make my own amulet because I was trying to work on a budget and the price of the ones sold in stores are just a little much. So again, I used a strand of beads, and just one of these buttons to make an amulet. I sized the necklace so it was just long enough that I could take it on and off around my daughters head. I twisted the beads to hold the place and hot glued them together. you will have a lot of extra beads left over, so I cut them so it was just long enough to circle around the button. Once again I didn't get the step by step pictures of this process, but I can show you my after pictures so you can see what I did.

I first cut the beads around the button to the perfect size, then glued them together. Then I circled the glue around the button and placed it on the pearls. I let it dry for a minute then flipped it over and coated it with glue so it wouldn't fall off.