I asked my favorite princess what she wanted to be for Halloween 2008 and, after explaining to her that she was Cinderella last year, she decided she wanted to be Snow White, who was coincidentally the latest Disney Princess doll that her parents had bought for her. I again used the licensed Simplicity Disney pattern for the general shape but did my own thing for the sleeves and lining.

I had massive time constraints when constructing this costume so I wasn't able to do some of the finer details such as the collar and cape. I also wanted to make an apple purse for Rachel to use as a candy bag again a la her Cinderella purse, but I just barely finished the dress in time! I still want to make the purse though, but I'll probably give it to her for Christmas instead. :)

[Skip to finished costume.]

I used pale yellow "charmeuse" from Joanns for the skirt, dark blue twill for the bodice, and lighter blue and red satin for the sleeves. In fact, everything but the yellow fabric was from The Stash(TM) - I love using up leftover materials from previous projects! :D For the sleeves, the royal blue strips are from scraps of my first Homecoming dress and are self lined. The red fabric that poofs out in between them was leftover from Beth's Valentine shirt. The sleeves are finished with antique gold satin from my LOTR-Inspired Gold Dress, and the bodice and lining were cut from remnants of my Funeral Gown mantle. I flat-lined the bodice with silk organza, a technique I used on the bodices for my Steampunk-Inspired line and now I'm sold! The gold cording, also from my Funeral Gown, was hand-stitched to the bodice before attaching the lining. The dress opens in back with a long zipper for easy access, and I fully lined the costume - the bodice and sleeves are lined in satin and the skirt is lined in matching yellow taffeta, since the poly charmeuse didn't have a lot of body and needed a little weight to it. As usual, all seams are finished and fully encased.

Pictures #1-2 show the sleeve mockup while Picture #3 shows the sleeve pattern that I developed. Picture #4 has a handy guide for reference: 01) Fitted sleeve - lining; 02) Gathered undersleeve - red; 03) Sleeve strips - blue; 04) Sleeve band - gold.

           

Left to Right: sleeve test front, side; sleeve pattern; guide
[up]   [finished costume]

Since Baby Rachel had so much fun using her Cinderella purse as her candy bag, I decided to make another purse from leftover fabric and trim. I was inspired by this picture that I found of the licensed Snow White child costume with an apple purse. What a cute idea! I free-handed the apple shape on heavy interfacing and used this as my pattern for the body of the purse and also to stiffen the outer fabric. The purse is lined, and the handles were bought pre-made from Joanns and attach with brown ribbon. I ran out of time to make the purse for Halloween but I have plans to finish it in time for Christmas. :)

   

Left to Right: pattern and hardware
[up]   [finished costume]

I was home for a short break from school and I'd planned to finish Rachel's costume during that long weekend, but with other family obligations, I didn't quite finish in time before I had to return to school. So, my mom kindly completed last little bits of the costume (zipper, hem, stitching down the lining by hand, etc.) since I was unable to. Thus, I don't have any finished shots of the dress by itself because I left before it was completed, and really not many in progress shots since everything was done in about two days! But, here are a few pictures of the dress on Rachel (a live mannequin, lol) and I'll be sure to get some pictures of her all dolled up on Halloween.

   

Left to Right: front, smile!
[up]

To see the reference images used to make this costume,
check out my Snow White Princess Costume Research.