in case anyone is interested in sewing a Rapunzel dress (like the ones from my daughter's princess Rapunzel birthday party) following this free pattern I wanted to share my notes as I made a few changes & included more details (than the free tutorial gives) which are mentioned below.
first of all, this dress fits my daughter who is 4 years old.
I used a 1/2 inch seam allowance throughout.
front bodice ~ I used 1.5 inches of pink ribbon for the 10 ribbon loops. I did not seal the ribbon edges as they are hidden & enclosed, I felt that step could be skipped, saving time.
back bodice ~ I used 1.5 inches of velcro for each of the closures.
underskirt ~ I used 22 inches of purple fabric & 19 inches of 3/4 inch elastic.
overskirt ~ I used the fabric selvage to selvage & cut it 23 inches long. for the selvage edges I ironed down 1 inch, then used 5/8 inch Peel n Stick fabric fuse (permanent adhesive for hems) down almost all of the length of the 23 inch overskirt. the Peel n Stick was ironed down & makes a nice & very easy no sew hem. for gathering the top of the underskirt I used the zigzag over cording method. for the bottom hem I folded over 1/2 inch, then 1/2 inch & topstitched.
sleeves ~ for gathering the sleeves at the top I used the zigzag over cording method. at the bottom of the sleeves I folded over 1/2 inch, then 1/2 inch, topstitched around leaving an opening for the casing. I used 9 inches of 1/4 inch elastic per sleeve.
amount of fabrics used:
lavandar, a flat crepe-back satin solid (polyester): 1 yard
purple, a heathered suiting (polyester): 29 inches
amount of trims used:
white eyelet trim: 47 inches
pink cord: 42 inches
shiny pink ribbon: 84 inches
velcro: 6 inches
as I was sewing these dresses I became curious to know how much it cost to make each dress. you know as a sewist, not everything you sew is money saving, but sometimes you can sew for less...
these prices are pretty close, I know I made a few teeny tiny mistakes, but this gives me a good idea of how much each dress cost to make.
(see chart below) the total came to about $13 per dress ! what a deal ! I bought everything at JoAnn Fabrics, the fabrics were on clearance, I used a 50% off coupon on the eyelet trim & 40% off coupons on the remaining items. I must add that I did not count the thread nor the trim on the bottom of the underskirt (I got that free), & thanks to a blogger the sewing pattern & tutorial were FREE :)
I did a little research to see what princess dresses cost to buy:
$11-$15 here
$20 here
$40 here
interesting, huh ?
I think I will try to keep track of how much money it costs me to sew a garment in the future...
have you ever kept track of how much it cost you to sew a garment ? please share...
| Length | Material | Unit Price | Full Price | Discounted price |
| 42” | Pink Cord | $.79/yd | $0.92 | $0.55 |
| 84” | Pink ribbon | $.11/ft | $0.77 | $0.46 |
| 47” | Eyelet trim | $2.99/yd | $3.91 | $1.96 |
| 8” | Velcro | $3.49/30” | $0.93 | $0.56 |
| 40” | Fabric fuse | $4.49/20ft | $0.75 | $0.45 |
| 18” | 1/4" Elastic | $.49/yd | $0.25 | $0.15 |
| 19” | 3/4” Elastic | $.99/yd | $0.52 | $0.31 |
| 1yd | Lavender fabric | $14/yd | $14.00 | $5.25 |
| 29” | Purple fabric | $12/yd | $9.67 | $3.33 |
| TOTAL: | $31.72 | $13.02 |