She won’t Let it Go!

We saw Frozen at Thanksgiving, and like the rest of the free world, we were completely enthralled. Gracie received the CD for Christmas, and 5 months later, she still listens to it to go to sleep at least 4 nights a week. The DVD showed up in her Easter basket and we’ve since re-watched the movie approximately 321 times. It’s safe to say that we here in the Barrick house are Frozen fans.

It was no surprise that Grace requested a Frozen theme for her 5th birthday, but her party isn’t for a couple more weeks. In the meantime, I wanted to give her something Frozen related on her actual birthday. She loves to dress up, so I thought I would try to put together an Elsa dress for my sweet girl.

I wanted it to look less like the versions in the stores and more like Elsa’s actual dress from the movie. This was my inspiration picture that I took to Jo-Ann’s.

I bought this Simplicity pattern and fiddled with it a bit. I made the skirt less full and added a slit and a small train. I used the version that had the sleeves, but I just made them longer and not as puffy.

I chose 4 different fabrics. I used the costume satin for the skirt and the bodice, and the bodice is also overlaid with the sequined tulle. The chiffon was for the yoke and sleeves, and the glittery organza was for Elsa’s cape.

It was a little slow going at first because all of these fabrics are slippery and hard to work with. I’m used to being able to turn my iron all the way up and really press my hems before I sew them, but I couldn’t do that this time around. Also, I was making a lot of it up as I went. So I had to do, undo, and re-do a few times (all while trying to keep it hidden from Grace so it would be a surprise!) This was the bodice before I added the skirt and sleeves.

A couple days later I had it pretty much pieced together and almost done.

I was up late the night before her birthday adding in the zipper and working on the cape (which was her favorite part!) It was all worth it to see her face when she opened it and put it on! She immediately launched into a precious, off-key version of “Let it Go”. I finally got better pictures of her in it today. I took her outside and turned on her music and she went to town singing along and dancing around!

This girl. She makes doing stuff like this SO. MUCH. FUN. I don’t even care that the cape is leaving a trail of glitter throughout the entire house. :)

Happy Birthday to my little Elsa!

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