Dueling Rapunzels

Once again, 

my princesses have chosen

to dress up as the same character 

for Halloween.

Do you remember when they both

wanted to be Alice in Wonderland?

You can see more pictures

of those costumes HERE.

But this year,

they both wanted to be Rapunzel.

Now, you will notice, 

in the above photo, 

that neither girl is wearing 

an enormous blond wig.

Well, India made one for herself.

It was beautiful!

But it wouldn't stay on her head.

So, she is holding it on in these pictures.

Oh, and I finally took these photos

yesterday, after both girls had

worn their costumes several times.

Yeah, bad photos.

I have to say,

these costumes frustrated me!

I made each girl's costume differently,

based on their preferences.

India, with her love of corsets,

got a boned and very structured

bodice for her top.

I used McCalls 4107 and added sleeves and a front panel,

as well as lace, to make her top.

I had to re-cut the bodice because the original was much too low.

India's daddy would have put her up in Rapunzel's tower

before letting her out of the house

in the original low cut bodice!

We found every single fabric

for these costumes in the Red Tag

area in Joann's Fabrics. 

And they were all 50% off the Red Tag

price when we bought them.

Nothing was over $3.00 a yard.

The fabric for India's skirt and upper sleeves

was a polyester crepe.

I really struggled with the colors and fabrics

for these costumes, because I wanted

them to really look like Rapunzel's in 

the "Tangled" movie.

That wasn't going to happen for us,

so the bargain bin worked fine!

I was rather obsessive

about the sleeves.

I liked how they were close-fitted

and appeared to be knit.

So I found this nylon tricot knit

for $1.00 a yard and it worked perfectly!
I drafted the sleeves to fit 

the armscyes and then then cut the lower

sleeve to India's specifications.

 

I used a gorgeous polyester and metallic

tapestry brocade for India's bodice.

This is actually the back side 

as it showed more of the purple

and pink colors and was less glitzy.

This is an awful picture,

but India painted on the skirt designs

with paint pens. 

I tried to machine embroider the designs

on the skirt, but it didn't work out.

But I think her designs were lovely.

I used Butterick 5421 for the skirt, 

but I cut the skirt larger,

so I could add pleats, and 

added a waistband.

I was not thrilled with how badly

the crepe wrinkled, 

but then, I had to remind myself 

that these were costumes 

and my girl was happy with the result.

For Ahnalin's costume,

I used Simplicity 2065

But, as usual, I made alterations.

First of all, I cut a size 4 around

and a size 7 in length.

The pattern called for organza for

the lower sleeve, and the overskirt.

Well, as above, I preferred the look of

the knit sleeve, so I used the tricot.

And Ahnalin absolutely refused

to allow anything "itchy" in her costume,

so there was no organza or tulle

allowed anywhere near her.

And, she reminded me, 

that the "Real Rapunzel" didn't have

a poufy skirt!

She had a "swingy skirt". 

We found this great embroidered border

lace yardage in the clearance section for $2.00

a yard, and it was relatively soft.

So we nabbed the last 2 yards they had.

This is actually pretty different from the
"Real Rapunzel" dress, but she liked 

the sequins and it saved me some

time, so we went with it!

And besides that, it twirled well.

I loved the pale lilac sparkle satin

I used for the underskirt.

It had a tiny bit of lycra in it so it 

draped very nicely. 

$2.00 a yard was nice too!

The lace was something that I have had in 

my stash since high school!

I think I have actually used the last of it now,

but it was perfect!

Did I mention that I am crazy about these sleeves?

Aw yes, the Classic Ahnalin pose!

Aw....food dye in Halloween candy!

Thankfully she is not affected by blue!

Most of her candy was thrown out

due to her issues with corn syrup 

and red food dye. 

But she was livin' it up with the blue!

Oh, and a note about the lack of

a long blond wig......

she refused.

She said a wig would make the costume

"too obvious". 

Heehee!!!

I wish this wasn't fuzzy, 

because my dueling Rapunzels were

so cute together.