The Cold Never Bothered Me Dress-McCall's 7000 Elsa Dress

Well it was bound to happen wasn't it? A sewing machine plus a Frozen obsesses little miss was eventually going to result in an Elsa dress. Now I'm actually a big Frozen fan myself. I've loved Disney since I was a kid and Idina Menzel for around a decade. The copy of the Frozen soundtrack and BluRay belong to me. My Valentine's gift from Mr. R was tickets to go see the movie. But let me tell you, after hearing the soundtrack on repeat for the last 2 months, even I've had enough. 

I didn't actually even plan on making this dress. I'm still not quite sure how I managed to get played by a five year old. A couple weeks back we were near JoAnns and decided to pop in to check out their spring clearance sale. When we walked through the door there was a small Frozen display full of cape-worthy fabric. "I need an Elsa dress so I can be Elsa" TLM said. Next thing I know we are leaving the store with pattern, fabric, and notions. We even had three princess crowns. I'm still not sure what happened. 

Now, there are a lot of fancy a Elsa fabrics out there but I opted against them. I wanted a dress-up outfit that would be comfortable to wear. Sequins and tulle can get so scratchy and hot. I decided on using some Country Classic cotton. I've used it before and though it shrinks up a bit during prewashing, I like how it feels. The 100% cotton means it's comfy for the warm weather we've been having. It did need some bling so I stitched some rhinestone buttons onto the bodice before I attached the lining. 

P

Technically I think I used the Anna variation in the dress. Again, I was thinking comfort. A floor length dress isn't practical for playing at the park and a cape was bound to get in the way. I also left the sleeves off.  We've been having a really hot couple of weeks. I used the neck facings as a guide to draft facings to finish off the arm holes. 

I'm not actually very happy with hiw this turned our. I was being rushed by TLM so there's some sloppiness especially at the curbed bodice. I do like how nice the inside is finished. There are no unfinished seams. Everything is either French Seamed or encased in the bodice lining. She loves it though, do that's all that really matters. This was made to be a fun, play dress. 

The one thing I love is the zipper. I'm terrible at visualizing things so sometimes I end up blindly following so directions without really knowing where they are heading. That was the case here. The zipper insertion seemed weird but I went for it and ended up with this lovely covered zipper. Love how it turned out!

This dress is worn basically any time it's cleaned. My apprehensions aside, we can call that a success. Next week I should have something different...menswear!  Stay tuned.