My two year-old daughter, Beth wanted a Fairy Princess dress. 

To save time, I started with a long-sleeved, cotton knit shirt that just happened to match the lavender tulle I’d purchased for a tu-tu. After some experimentation, I decided to attach the four inch wide strips of layered tulle directly to the shirt at her waistline.

The tulle is in three colors, plain lavender, glittery lavender, and glittery apple green. I cut each color to a different length. The plain lavender was cut to 14 inches. The glittery lavender was cut to 12 inches and the glittery lime tulle was cut to 10 inches. First I placed the tulle on my worktable in layers and hand-basted them together, then gathered them to fullness and length. The tulle was zig-zag stitched directly to the shirt, the raw edges trimmed to reduce bulk. I sewed 1 1/2″ wide purple and lime satin ribbon over the raw edge covering my stitches and sewed the top edge of the ribbon down. Then, I trimmed out the satin waistband with a green silk ribbon with purple flowers and tiny seed pearls. I trimmed the neckline in the same floral ribbon.

The wings are pink tights stretched over coat hanger wire and decorated with silver glitter swirls. The wings’ ties kept rumpling the line of the bodice, so I attached the wings to the back of the dress using a casing of the 1 1/2″ lavender and lime satin ribbon.

The floral crown is a simple silk floral garland wrapped into a circlet and secured with floral wire and 1/4″ double faced lavender satin ribbon. 

The only problem with this costume is that the wings get in the way of car seat straps. Other than that, my daughter finds it comfortable and easy to play in.

 

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