DIY Princess Peach Dress - With Pattern - Cosplay

Hello everyone. Today I'm excited to be sharing with you this video detailing how I made my princess peach dress. I was at the theater recently and saw the new trailer for the Super Mario Bros movie and realized it comes out very soon. And I had this sudden compulsion to make a princess peach dress. So that is what I am doing. Now for this dress, I will be using my good or evil dress pattern which is available in my Etsy shop. And in my previous video I show you how I make the good and evil dresses. But today I will be repurposing the pattern and making my princess peach dress. Now this dress may be a bit more inspired than a perfect cosplay or recreation. But I'm still excited to share the process with you. And I've picked up my fabric. My lace was delivered this morning and I've gotten a few odds and ends from the Euroshop. So let's get into it. For materials, I will be using some stash items and some newly purchased items. I have about five meters of this pink brocade which really isn't enough. But I'm going to do my best to use every single inch. I also will be using 60 centimeters of this light pink cotton for the lining. And I will be using seven meters of this embroidered eyelet border which is about six and a half centimeters wide. Fourteen meters of this light pink tulle lace which is about nine centimeters wide. Fifteen meters of this light pink lace which is about one and a half centimeters wide. And fifteen meters of this vintage bright pink band which is about one centimeter wide. I will also be using a pink zipper that is 60 centimeters long, matching thread, and some leftover wriggling boning about three meters worth. And from the Euroshop, I picked up some odds and ends to help make the accessories for Peach. I found these little frames for the brooch, gemstone stickers in blue and red and gold for the crown and brooch, and I found this hair clip crown that I'm going to use as a base for my crown. I will also be using some gold paint and glue. For the pattern for this dress, I'm going to be using my good or evil dress pattern. In my previous video, you can see me printing and assembling the pattern. The pattern is a PDF which you can download from my Etsy shop and print on your home computer. Print the correct paper size A4 or US letter at 100% scale. After printing, you can simply trim the margins of the pages and tape them together to form the pattern. Then you can cut the pattern to your size. I will be using the pattern size 38 since I have a 38 inch bust. And as always, I recommend making a mock-up before using the pattern. Now I still have my pattern from the last time I used it and I've also saved my mock-ups. So I know everything will fit and work just fine for me. So what I'm going to do is reuse this pattern for Peach and I'm going to get straight into cutting my pattern pieces out for my fabric. Again, if you'd like to see me assembling the pattern, printing it out, and trying on the mock-up, definitely check out my previous video for the good or evil dresses. Now my local fabric shop only had five meters of this fabric which really isn't enough. I'm going to first arrange all of my pattern pieces before cutting. I want to be as economical as possible because I need to fit two large rectangles for the hip bustles in addition to the dress pieces. I drew this out as a sort of plan for how I thought I'd lay out my pattern pieces, but this is how they actually sort of looked once I was ready to cut. And luckily my fabric had a wide width of about 140 centimeters or 55 inches. So I was able to get most of my pattern pieces to fit. I just had to cut some of my lining pieces from my light pink cotton. First I opened up my fabric to its full width. I'm going to cut all of my pattern pieces with the selvage edges running along the top and bottom. I will cut my skirt front piece on the fold and just above my skirt front I'm going to squeeze in my bodice side front, bodice middle front, and bodice side back pieces. I might have to place my bodice middle back with the wrong side down to make it fit. Just to the side will be my bodice front. When I cut out my bodice front pattern piece I will cut two of them, one for the outer layer and the other I will use for lining. On the other side of the fabric where there are two cut edges I will place my skirt back piece. I will place it with the wrong side down that way the more straight edge of the skirt is against the cut edges of the fabric. Above my skirt back there is room long enough for my hip bustle pieces. It is also just barely tall enough. My sleeve, sleeve band, and bodice back and middle back pieces I will squeeze into the gap between the skirt front and skirt back. In the remaining fabric I'm going to cut my bodice back piece again for the lining. Now everything is cut from my pink brocade. Next I'm going to cut my remaining bodice pieces again from the cotton so that I have a complete lining. I will cut my bodice middle front, bodice side front, bodice middle back, and bodice side back from the pink cotton. The reason I want my bodice front and bodice back lining pieces from the brocade is because the neckline of my lining will match the outer layer. So if by chance you were to glimpse the lining it would match. And when cutting my hip bustle pieces I shape the ends by rounding them. So basically it's a long rectangle with curved ends and I will have two. One bustle piece for the left hip and one bustle piece for the right hip. And now I have everything cut out. I have my skirt front cut on the fold, two skirt back pieces, two hip bustle pieces, about 35 centimeters tall in the middle and 120 centimeters long with curved ends, two bodice fronts, four bodice backs, two sleeves and two sleeve bands, four bodice middle fronts, two in brocade for the outer layer and two in cotton for the lining, four bodice side fronts, two in brocade and two in cotton, four bodice side backs, two in brocade and two in cotton, and four bodice middle backs, two in brocade and two in cotton. So now we can start sewing. First thing to do is sew the sides of the bodice pieces together using 1.5 centimeters of seam allowance. I will sew the bodice front to the bodice middle front, the bodice middle front to the bodice side front, and I will match right sides together and stitch with 1.5 centimeters of seam allowance, taking care as I sew around the curved edges. I will also sew all of my bodice back pieces together. The bodice back to the bodice middle back, the bodice middle back to the bodice side back, and I will repeat these steps for the lining. Here you can see my bodice front outside layer and my bodice front lining, as well as my two bodice back pieces for the outside layer and my two bodice back pieces for the lining. Next, I will match the bodice front to the bodice back along the side edges, pinning them right sides together and then stitching again with 1.5 centimeters of seam allowance. Now all the side seams for my bodice have been sewn together. Next, I trim the seam allowance with my pinking shears and I do this for both my bodice outer layer and the lining. After trimming all of the seam allowance with my pinking shears, I then press the seam allowance open with an iron. At this point, I like to add my wriggling boning to my bodice lining and any trim to the outer layer. I find it easier to sew while the bodice can be opened and laid flat. So I trim my wriggling boning to size, making sure it's not too long and doesn't venture into the seam allowance of where I will later be sewing my sleeves and skirt. I also melt the ends with a lighter so that it isn't too pokey, but this is very dangerous and I don't really recommend it. It's just how I do it so that's why I'm showing you. You may prefer to simply trim your wriggling with scissors or file it down or you could seal the ends with glue or bias tape. You may also prefer a different boning method altogether or to simply skip the boning, which is a possibility. Once my boning is cut, I then switch to a zipper foot and stitch my boning into the seams of my bodice lining, stitching down either side of the boning to secure it in place. After I've added boning to all of my seams, I then stitch some trim onto the front seams of my bodice outer layer. I decided I wanted to layer the trim, a border on either side of the seam and the little vintage band on top, and here you can see my bodice outer layer and my bodice lining. Next, I match the bodice front to the bodice back at the shoulder seams with right sides together. I pin and then stitch. I finish the raw edge by trimming with pinking shears and pressing the seam open. Now we can make the sleeves for our bodice. First, I will add two gathering lines of stitches to each sleeve. The first gathering line of stitches will be along the sleeve's head. I have marked and chalked where the gray stars are indicated on the pattern and I will mark and sew between these two gray stars. The second line of gathering stitches will be along the sleeve's bottom edge. I set my machine to a straight stitch on the longest length and sew along the bottom edge and the sleeve head. After adding my gathering line of stitches, I will then gather down the bottom edge of my sleeve so it is the same length as my sleeve band. Then, I will pin my sleeve band to the bottom edge of my sleeve with the right side of the sleeve band facing the wrong side of my sleeve. Then, I will stitch, joining the sleeve band to my sleeve, stitching over top the gathers. Next, I will fold my sleeve band over the seam allowance two times. The first time is to hide the seam raw edge of the sleeve band and the second time is to position it over top the gathers. I will pin this folded edge just over top the gathers, hiding the seam. After pinning, I will stitch it in place, stitching carefully and closely to the folded edge to secure it and creating a tidy and finished edge for my puff sleeve. I will repeat these steps for my second sleeve. And I also took a quick moment to top stitch some trim on the sleeve band of my sleeve. I did two rows of the bordered lace and then a little bit of the bright pink band on top so that it was layered and matched the bodice. And here's what it looks like. Next, I folded my sleeve in half and matched the side edges to one another with right sides touching and then I stitched them together, trimmed the seam allowance and finished the seam allowance with a zigzag stitch. And with that, my sleeves are ready and we can attach them to the bodice. To attach the sleeves to the bodice, I will first match the side seam of the bodice to the side seam of the sleeve. The bodice's side seam is where the bodice side front has been joined to the bodice side back. Match this seam to the sleeve side seam with right sides together and pin it in place. Now, starting from this point, I work my way up either side of the sleeve, pinning the sleeve smooth into the armhole of the bodice. I want the sleeve to be smooth and flush against the armhole bodice and I pin it in place. When I reach the last side seam to the bodice, where the bodice middle front is joined to the front and the bodice middle back is joined to the back, that is where I will start gathering down my sleeve head so it'll fit into the remainder of the armhole. I will pull the loose threads of the gathering line of stitches all along the sleeve head so that it'll gather down and fit into the remaining upper shoulder portion of my armhole. I will massage the gather so that the placement looks even and tidy and then pin the gathered down sleeve head into the armhole of the bodice. Here you can see how the lower half of my armhole has the sleeve fitted smooth into it and the upper half has the sleeve head gathered down to fit. Once the sleeve has been fit into the armhole and pinned in place, I then take it to the machine to stitch it. I also like to finish this seam with a zigzag stitch and I repeat these steps for my other sleeve on the other side of my bodice. With the sleeves added to the bodice, I am now going to work on my hip bustle pieces. Again, my hip bustles are essentially two long rectangles, about 120 centimeters long and 35 centimeters tall, with the ends cut off to be rounded. There is no real science to them, I sort of just made this shape up since I thought it would be easy enough to add to the pattern while still creating the princess peach look. I am going to finish the long edges with some bias tape that I already had on hand. I will stitch the bias tape to the wrong side, fold it over the raw edge, and top stitch it down for a tidy finished edge. This bias tape is something I already had on hand and it matches well enough and will be covered by the trim later. I did think about adding a small rolled hem to the long edge, but ultimately decided a bias tape finish would be the easiest. I also quickly finished the top edge, the straight edge, with a zigzag stitch. After finishing these edges, I decided to add some stacked rows of trim to the longer curved edges. Now I know princess peach has got money, I mean she is a princess and she has supposedly two castles, so I want it to be very generous with my trim and lace. I decided to start by adding a row of tulle lace just over top the bias tape finished edge, using my small scissors to make gathers by hand. Then over top the tulle lace, I added a row of eyelet trim, easing it so that it fit the curved edges. Afterwards, I added two rows of border lace with a final stacked layer of bright pink band over top. All of this was top stitched along the curved edge of my hip bustle pieces. And here is what the two hip bustle pieces look like with the trim added. Next, I'm going to get my skirt ready for my dress. First, I will sew the sides of my skirt back to my skirt front, matching the right sides together and stitching. I then finish these seams with a zigzag stitch. I don't sew the center back seam of my skirt just yet. Next, I open my skirt up and lay it flat on the floor. I take a moment and use chalk and pins to measure and mark where the bodice front will sit on the skirt. I want to take a little extra care and time here to make sure the hip bustles will sit evenly on the skirt. I want all of my trim to be symmetrical and matched up, especially the trim on my bodice to the trim on my hip bustle pieces. Next, all along the waist edge of my skirt, I match and pin the top straight edge of my hip bustle pieces. Now, I really just estimated the length of my hip bustles. It was a little more art than science, so the few extra centimeters of length I just gather by hand and ease to fit the waistline of my skirt. Once I am satisfied with the placement of my hip bustles on top of my skirt, I will then baste the hip bustles to the waist edge of my skirt, securing them in place on top of the skirt. After basting these two pieces together, I will return and sew a gathering line of stitches all along the waistline of my skirt. That way, I can gather it down to fit the bodice. Now, I can match my bodice waist edge to my skirt waist edge. Again, I want to take extra care here to make sure my trim is matched up. So, I decide to first pin and then baste the center front of my bodice to the center front of my skirt. That way, I can ensure everything is sitting right, that the center fronts are smooth, and that the trim is matched up. After basting the center front together, I then pull my gathering line of stitches to gather down the waist edge of my skirt so that it fits the waist edge of my bodice. I then match these two waist edges together with right sides touching and pin. Next, I stitch my skirt to my bodice and then I finish this raw edge with a zigzag stitch. I also press the seam allowance up towards the bodice and top stitch it down. And then, I return to add two rows of border trim and a top layer of pink band to finish the waist seam and trim it. Everything is looking good, so now I will add the lining to my bodice. With right sides together, I will match my lining to my bodice outer layer all along the neckline edge. I pin the neckline edges together and then stitch. Next, I trim the seam allowance with my pinking shears and then understitch the lining. Now that the lining is added to my bodice, I can now move on to adding the back closure. First, I match the center back edges of my dress together with right sides touching and pin. I take care to match the seams as I pin. After I pin the center back edges together, I measure and mark the ending point of my zipper. Now, I will stitch down the center back of my dress. Starting at my neckline, stitching down to the zipper's end, I will use a basting stitch. From the zipper's end point all the way down to the bottom edge of my skirt, I will stitch with a regular length stitch. Next, I press the center back seam open with an iron and then pin my zipper in place. After pinning in place, I take it to the machine to stitch my zipper in place. Of course, you may prefer to baste it first. Then, I pick out the basting stitches in the center back seam of my dress to reveal the zipper and there is my center back seam finished with a zipper added. Of course, you may prefer a different method. Next, I move on to adding a very simple and small rolled hem to the bottom edge of my dress and then finishing that bottom edge again with multiple rows of stacked lace and trim to show off Princess Peach's fanciness. Now, this time I'm going to do two rows of that tulle lace trim all along the bottom and I have measured and marked with chalk the appropriate placement of where I want my trim to be all along the bottom edge of my dress and I will go around the entire bottom edge of my dress again using my tiny scissors to manually create the gathers of the tulle lace and after I do two rows of the tulle lace stacked on top of one another, I will top it off with the eyelet trim. Finally, I will add one row of the border lace and finish it off with the bright pink band. And finally, I decorate the neckline of my dress with the last bits of my lace. I give it two rows of the border and top it off with the bright pink band so that it matches the rest of my dress. And now to finish the dress, I will simply hand stitch the lining to the seam allowance of my bodice. I just fold the lining edges inward a little bit and hand sew it to the seam allowance along the waist edge, arm holes, and the center back edge of my bodice. I take care when sewing near the zipper I don't want to stitch too closely to the zipper teeth but it creates a very tidy and neat finished look to the inside of your dress so I think it's really worth your time. And now all that's left to do is make the accessories for Princess Peach. I'm just going to use some of these little things I picked up from the Euroshop to create my brooch, my crown, and my earrings. I'm just going to add some little jewel stickers to this crown, paint the crown, and finalize it with a bit of blue. Same thing for the brooch, just adding the stickers and glue. And of course the earrings, I'm just going to super glue a little gemstone to an earring so that I have all of my accessories ready for Princess Peach and I have a complete and finished look. When wearing Princess Peach, I made sure to wear a petticoat and a pannier, that way I had lots of extra volume to my hip muscle to create that Princess Peach shape. But with that my dress is finished and let's see how she looks when worn. And thank you so much for watching this video. If you like this video and would like to see other fun DIY videos, then definitely like and subscribe. Thank you! Bye!