2015 Cinderella Ball Gown Endeavor

Thank you all for the suggestions/help! I've been looking into the dress through articles and studying photos as best as I can. This afternoon, I decided to give pattern drafting a go and see if I could get a good pattern for the bodice. It's not done yet. Definitely only a rough draft. I'm going to go once more over the tape form with Sharpie, then cut out all the pieces, retrace them on paper, then tweak from there as necessary. Once I have what I think is a good starting point, I'm going to go out and get some muslin at the fabric store and make a test copy. If the homemade bodice pattern doesn't work out, I'll probably just buy one. Looking at the picture again, I realized how sketchy/ugly the lines are. Drawing on oneself is the hardest thing ever.
photo2.jpg
 
You may have accumulated all the info you need for the skirt, but I came across another great article today:
http://www.themainstreetmouse.com/2...-sandy-powell-brings-her-magic-to-cinderella/

While the dress looks like it has layers upon layers of fabric, it’s actually all an illusion to create the movement Powell wanted. “There’s a crinoline cage, which gives (the dress) the silhouette. Over the top of that, there’s a couple of petticoats, with lots and lots of frills on the bottom that you get to see when she dances and when she jumps and there are frills on the inside of the crinoline as well. The layers over the top, there’s only about five or six layers of very, very fine fabrics. The very top layer is a silk, it’s called silk crepeline, which is a little bit heavier than a chiffon…the layers underneath that are a polyester fabric…that’s really, really light. It’s like smoke really, it just wafts,” said Powell. “I used different colors of that like a green and a blue and a lavender and a lilac and a silvery color. The base layer was a really cheap fabric of an iridescent pale white color that we sort of put a bit of blue through and that’s the one that the light bounces off of.”
 
I'm watching this thread and your progress, as I want to tackle this gown too. I narrowed it down to the same patterns you mentioned earlier in the thread -- are you using any of them or you decided to draft everything yourself?
 
Twananas said:
In this video you can see the bottom side quite well when she walks down the steps :)
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Hmm. I can't see the video. Is it just me? :/

I got my samples from Dharma of silk gauze and silk chiffon. The samples were very cheap (50 cents each for a 4" square). I've decided to go with the gauze, not just because it's the cheapest, but also because it looks perfect. Sheer, floaty, and the weave is very smooth. The chiffon was a bit more opaque, still floaty, but I wasn't as fond of the weave. It's also more expensive, and being on a restricted budget, I feel like it's better to go with the gauze. I plan on choosing a pattern for the skirt soon so I'll know how much fabric to order, and then I'll probably order the dye at the same time. I've finished mocking up the first draft of the bodice pattern, traced it onto paper, and cut out half of it on basic cotton fabric. It looks pretty good to me so far. I have to cut out the other side, finish pinning it together, and stitch it up. If it fits well, I'll go ahead with the pattern. Still going to need boning, the fashion fabric, and something heavier for an inner lining. I'm not going to wear a corset with the dress, as I plan on moving around in it a lot and in SoCal, which means immense heat, as it'll be the middle of August. No thanks. I'd like to breathe. So I'm going to heavily bone the bodice of the dress instead.
 
I think I forgot to add the link. Let me find it again (can't find it right away)! OOPS! ;)

I got a few detailed shots for you, none from the bottom as it was completely on the floor. But they might help a bit anyway. As it was turning around it wasn't easy ;)

I saw the film yesterday and wow, beautiful! Amazing work of art and so Disney! :)

I guess the 24 layers of tulle are the ones at the bottom of the petticoat, not the entire dress because Sandy said that was 'just' 12 layers.
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Twananas said:
I think I forgot to add the link. Let me find it again (can't find it right away)! OOPS! ;)

I got a few detailed shots for you, none from the bottom as it was completely on the floor. But they might help a bit anyway. As it was turning around it wasn't easy ;)

I saw the film yesterday and wow, beautiful! Amazing work of art and so Disney! :)

I guess the 24 layers of tulle are the ones at the bottom of the petticoat, not the entire dress because Sandy said that was 'just' 12 layers.
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These are immensely helpful! Thank you! You are amazing. Do you mind if I ask? Could you tell how the bodice was fastened? My best guess is hook-and-eye down the length of the back, and I think I might be able to see the shape of one of the hooks at the bottom of the bodice in the third picture, but I can't completely tell. That's probably how I'll do mine. And also, could you tell if the bodice was attached to the skirt or not? Again, my guess is probably not, but it's so hard to tell.

Progress update: I have the other side of the test bodice cut out and pinned to the rest. I'm going to stitch it up this afternoon and see how it looks. I might take a few pictures. It looks so far like it might come out alright, but I had a few problems when I drafted by bunny suit pattern that I'd like to avoid this time around, so we'll see. Also, after doing a little bit of math (using calculators of course, because I can't do math to save my life), I believe I've figured out the measurements needed at least for the bottom hoop of my hoop skirt. Ella's gown had a circumference of 11.6 meters, which lead to some amount of feet I can't remember, which then ultimately translated to (assuming I -- I mean the calculator -- did the math right): 145" diameter, 72.57" radius, and a 456" circumference. In the end, I discovered that my skirt will be about 12' wide, going across the center. Which means that I could lay down in a straight line twice through the middle of the skirt and still not touch both sides. Doesn't help that I'm a shortie. Yay for huge princess skirts! And now I'm looking forward to rhinestone-ing, as I believe I still have a bunch of little AB rhinestones stashed away somewhere from when I made my end-game Babydoll costume.
 
What I think indeed is that it's hook and eye. You see them indeed. You can see that the back centre panels are not as tight. So I think there are double layers on the bodice, and these just cover the lace up if that makes sense?

I don't know about the bodice being attached to the skirt. But as far as I have seen on youtube video about wearing crinoline dresses usually it doesn't (Glinda's bubble dress in Wicked does, for quick change reasons)

You can also see a golden pin, attaching the middle of the arm ruffle. It's hard to tell what it is (a safety pin?!) but you can see something golden.

Here another picture with a little bit of wear detail. I guess that's from closing the dress many times :)

IMG_3532.jpgIMG_3540.jpg
 
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u2ecila said:
I can't wait to see the finished project! I'd love to make this gown too.
Cheers,
Alice
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Thank you :) I hope to live up to the expectations.
Stitched together the bodice draft this afternoon. Like I suspected there might be, there are some errors I'll need to fix. Whether or not I'll tweak the pattern and leave it at that or sew another draft, I haven't decided yet. Regardless, here's the first draft. I'll have to raise the neckline and make the back panels wider. I may also have to widen the side panels as well, but not as much as the back. I'm thinking I may make the skirt as she did in this costume, using circle skirts. Not sure yet. Most patterns I've seen have their skirts in parts or different panels, which I don't want.
cinderella bodice.jpg
 
I think only the top layer fabric is actually gathered. You don't see any of the iridescent fabric in the pleats coming up. So maybe the rest is all circle skirts? Otherwise it would by very bulky as well.
 
photo1-8.jpg
2nd draft of the bodice pattern complete. I think this may be my last one. I'm quite satisfied with it for the moment. On another note, I began drafting my skirt pattern and have found myself a tad disappointed. I'd been hoping to achieve a 456" circumference for my skirt, but alas, nothing even close to that will fit onto a 55" fabric width. My total circumference will end up being around 386" instead. Hopefully this won't take down the fullness too much. And the length. I'll be ordering the fabric soon, once I figure out how much I'm going to need.

This is slightly off topic, but does anyone know what kind of fabric this is (the one used for the sleeves, the trim on the bodice, and the as an overlay for just about everything)? I've convinced my mom to make the Hairy Dogfather -- I mean, Fairy Godmother's costume, as she'll be accompanying me to D23 and wants to dress up. We've been studying the dress and have mostly figured out what patterns we're going to use and such, but I can't, for the life of me, figure out what this fabric is and what it's called.
Fairy Godmother bodice detail.jpg
 
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Here is a lace mesh fabric I found that might work for the fairy god mother.

- - - Updated - - -

I think the large circumference is for the ruffle petticoat- if you have the structure in place, what you have already will be uber poofy. Top is looking great!
 
It looks like the lace u2ecila posted without the sequins and at least 2 layers of fabric under it for the rest of the costume. It was a bit hard to get a picture of, as many people were walking past, but here you go with some details. Sorry didn't take the sleeves separate. One of the pictures I took just to show how the collar was attached (hook & eye) if you zoom in.

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Sometimes the awesomeness of you guys amazes me. Thank you all so much for the reference pictures! Thank you mightymom247 for finding a picture of the petticoat for me! You're a lifesaver, I swear.

For progress updating, there's not much to report, I'm afraid. I did calculate how much material I'm going to need for the upper layers of the skirt. It's probably going to end up between 35 and 49 yards, depending on how many layers I end up doing. I might've found some options for that shiny underlayer, but I haven't decided between them yet. I, fortunately, won't need quite as much, since there's only one layer of that. For the glass slippers, I'm probably going to end up doing either one of three things: 1. Take a pair of old dance heels I have and cover them in rhinestones. It won't look like the glass slipper in the movie, but it'll at least be sparkly. 2. Wearing just the dance heels as they are (a nude color) and try not to show off my feet too much. Or 3. Paint the heels a silvery metallic color, similar to the shoes Lily wore in the movie before they CGI'd in the glass pair.
 
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