Winter Belle

Having already made the Gold and Blue dresses from Beauty and the Beast for Rae, I was so happy to be able to work on another Belle inspired gown, this time the pink dress from the snowy scenes in the film. I kept the same textured feel as the other dresses that I have made for her, and continued with the 18th Century silhouette to keep the looks consistent to one another.

I did slightly regret using so much fabric in the skirts that I struggled to get it through my sewing machine, but I'm so happy with the volume I managed to achieve. I also decided that after putting in the eyelets for the front lacing, I wasn't happy with the metal look so one by one wrapped each of them in thread to blend them into the dress so that it wouldn't distract from the feature at the front.

Another way that I made life hard for myself was by choosing to gather my own trim instead of looking for pre-gathered pink trims. I wanted something that would be simple and elegant and match with the satin ribbon lacing at the front, so I ended up gathering over 10 metres of wide satin ribbon and carefully attaching it to the skirt and sleeves.

For the cloak, I decided not to line it to stop it becoming too bulky at the neck, and to use an enclosed seam to hide the raw edges. The velvet took very nicely to the seam and the shape and has a beautiful drape and swish when being worn. The fur was sewn on by hand because I wasn't happy with the backing it came with, so I unpicked it and attached it slowly.

I'm so pleased with the end result, and the amount of work that went into this dress, which was worn to a children's event at a nursing home and I'm told was very popular with the kids!