Inspired By Brave: Princess Merida Costume Tutorial

There was such a great response to my Princess Merida Costume the other day, I've put together a bit of a how-to for making it.  Today I'm sharing how to make the dress and it's movie-style details.

To get the most authentic look, I used a bluish-green velour and golden yellow satin fabrics.  I drafted my own dress pattern, but you could use a basic long-sleeved A-line dress pattern as a "base" and just re-draft the neckline to have a "V" cut out, plus lengthen the hem to reach the ankles.  Making a matching facing for the inside of the collar is important since this will hold the shape (and the satin neck ruffle).  I did a zipper back closure so it would be easy to get on & off my 3 yr old, but snaps or buttons would work too.

To get the dress started I stitched zipper onto back pieces and attached the back & front dress pieces at the shoulders.  Then I basted stabilizer to the wrong side of each of the facing pieces & stitched together the front and back portions of facing at shoulders (Pic 1).  With the right sides facing, I matched up the facing and top of neckline of the dress at shoulder seams and "V" and stitched along the collar edges and clipped around the curves (Pic 2).

To create the golden ruffle behind the neckline, I cut pieces of satin that were 6 inches high and twice the width of the collar of the dress (one piece for the front, one for each of the back sides).  I stitched the short sides of the three satin collar pieces together with the front piece in the middle (Pic 3).

Then folded the new long collar length-wise, with the right sides of the fabric facing inward and stitched along the raw edge (Pic 4).  After turning the "tube" right side out, I basted along the newly made seam (Pic 5) and then pulled the threads to create the ruffle and pinned it onto the facing. (so the top of the ruffle was peeking out along the top of the dress about an inch and the seams of the ruffle and dress shoulders lined up) (Pic 6).

I stitched the bottom portion of the ruffle to the facing on the inside and then topstitched the satin to the top of the dress.  I hand sewed some lacing along the "V" of the front using brown embroidery floss.

After cutting the sleeves,  I cut out a 3 inch high section out of the middle each sleeve and cut a 4 inch high strip from the satin that was twice as wide as portion I cut out.  I then cut three elbow strap pieces that were 3 inches wide by 3.5 inches long.  This will make the segmented elbow portion.

To make the straps I folded them width wise with the right side inward, sewed down the side and turned right side out (Pic 7).  I spaced them evenly along the lower edge of the top sleeve piece and sewed in place, then did the same with the top of the bottom sleeve.  (Pic 8)

After basting the width sides of the satin piece, I gathered it to fit the along the velour edges and sewed one side to the bottom of the top sleeve, the other to the upper portion of the lower sleeve (Pic 9).  I also hemmed the bottom of the sleeve at this point (Pic 10).

I pinned some golden home decor cording to the top of each sleeve (Pic 11) and then stitched together.  My trick for getting my stitching really close to the cord edge was to remove my presser foot and sew very slowly (Pic 12).  Next I pinned each sleeve to the shoulders of the dress, with the right sides facing and stitched together (Pic 13).  I then clipped around the raw edge to add ease (Pic 14).

The last steps were to sew up the sides from the edge of the sleeve and down the sides of the dress and turn right side out.

Now a wee lass is ready to take aim at the "cuteness" target this Halloween;)

To get the full Brave effect, you can find my tutorials for making the quiver belt and the Merida wig HERE!

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