A few years back, I posted about the “perfect” Cinderella dress. I never posted finished photos, nor the process, mostly due to not taking enough photos.
A year later, I was blessed to create a second, upgraded, Cinderella dress for a customer…this time I took photos!
In order to create the bodice fabric, I glue 5 different fabrics together. As the glue drys, I pinned the the pattern piece to the form. This way, the piece was formed in the perfect shape!
“Glueing fabric” sounds bad, but I use a spray adhesive that only puts a light amount on; perfect for keeping the several fabrics together!Here’s a tip for the perfect bodice…cut the fabric on bias!The first step for creating the bertha: attaching the several pieces of fabric and then gathering the center front and back.
All that’s left is to add the butterflies! I hand-make them for the upgraded version. There you have it; the “perfect” Cinderella dress! Truth be told, this is my absolute favorite Cinderella dress I’ve ever made!
~ All Finished ~
Here’s some photos of my lovely costumer in the dress!
Thanks for looking and learning with me!
34 Comments
Ella Windsor
How many meters of boning are there in the hoop skirt?
I actually didn’t use a pattern for the hoop skirt…I just designed mine via looking at the photos of the original.
Natasha
Please make a detailed description of the cloth requirements of the dress, especially the petticoat part.
I can’t wait to see the tutorial. I’m so excited ???
Hi! I’m interested in making a dress like this one! I have one question: How do I find out how much fabric I should get when making this? I’m taller than most people and not very skinny.
Well, that’s a hard question. But fortunately, size doesn’t have too much to do with this. The the outer layers of the skirt I used about 20 yards of fabric for each layer.
For the frills, well… I actually don’t have the numbers for that. I just have a stash of Cinderella frills I’ve made and just use them as I need them. This is something you’ll have to experiment with. For my first dress, I ordered 6 bolts of tulle (40yds each). I didn’t use all of it, but it got me started. I also ordered about 10 yards of each of the other fabrics I use.
For this upgraded version I use mostly nylon chiffon. I believe I used 270 yards of nylon frills (before it’s gathered.)
Hopefully that gets you started!
Isabella
Samantha
Hello! I’m a huge fan of all your designs and you give me so much inspiration to make costumes and to not give up! I was wondering if you had a detailed version of how you made the petticoat layers? And what fabrics/colours you may had used where? I’d really like to recreate the Cinderella dress and this is the most amazing recreation I have ever seen! Love your work and can’t wait to see more of your creation!
Hi! Thank you for those kind words! I always wonder if this blog is servicing it’s purpose…thank you for answering that!
At this point, this blog post is all I’m willing to offer. But I will let you know the colors I used for the frills: Blue, Lilac, Lavender, Silver, Green, Turquoise, and Iridescent White.
Thanks again!
ellek
Hi Bella! I’m making a Cinderella dress for a school play…not nearly this huge or elaborate or beautiful! But hopefully it will echo your creation. Question: did you use any horsehair braid and/or fishing line to accentuate volume? Or just the astronomical yardage of ruffles to get the poof? I need to create volume without bulk as at least some of the dress has to fit inside a transformation peasant costume. Thanks for any advice you have to offer 🙂
That’s sounds wonderful! I used a mass amount of frills, plus used fishing line in the hems of the frills. That sounds like quite a challenge, but I’m sure you’ll be able to do it!
kur
hello ma’am! your dress is absolutely gorgeous! i am so in love with it! i don’t know if you’d still be able to get to this, but i hope you can answer a short question of mine – is this a circle skirt or a double circle? i am making my wedding dress (hopefully successfully) and i just like how lovely the skirt of this looks like and the way it twirls (my fiance loves to dance so that’s definitely going to happen) hopefully you can answer and help me lots but i understand if you don’t 🙂 😀 thank you! your customer seemed so very happy! and she looks so pretty in it too!!
Hi, Thanks for writing. The layers of this skirt are made of gores, not circles. There are 13 gores in each layer of the skirt. If you view the photo in the post where I talk about taping the pattern piece on the ground…that’s the shape of the gores!
Hope that helps!
Olivia
Hi! I’m in the process of making a Cinderella dress like this one and I was wondering how you did your hems for the layers of the outer skirt. Thank you!
Hi! I’m in the process of making a Cinderella dress similar to this one and I was wondering what kind of fiit you used for the frills of the petticoat and also if you hemmed the bottom of the frills. Thank you!
Hey! I have a bunch of questions so no worries If you can’t answer all of them but I love your dress so much I thought I might as well ask.
So first up, the bertha. Is there a layer of fabric sandwiched between the outside layer to get a watercolour effect? Or is it just one layer? And also, when you gather it, do you just ‘scrunch ‘ it and and sew it in place?
The bodice, did you line it? And when you put boning into the channels, does it bend into a point (at the back of the dress the bodice is lifted up over the skirt and crinoline). (This also applies to the chest area, is it just quite low and flat?)
The hoop skirt, did all of the channels have boning in apart from the directly vertical ones?
And how do you get the flat front but voluminous back?
For your petticoat, how many waistbands did you use? (One for the crinoline, dust ruffle bag and first layer? Then the bulk of the ruffles in another? Then the middle skirts with full length skirts and a ruffle on the bottom with another waistband. Then the top layer of skirts?)
Sorry for all thses questions but I am cinderella OBSESSED
Thanks for writing. I’l do my best to answer.
With the bertha, yes. There’s a few layers of fabric in it (I think I did a pink organza and blue gauze…though I may have done a third layer, I can’t remember!) And yes, I simply gathered it and sewed it in place.
With the bodice; yes, it’s lined. Yes, to your questions about boning (I think I know what you mean and with the extremely curved boning channels, I use spiral boning.)
With the hoop skirt; yes, all the channels have boning in it. But the vertical strips are just ribbon, so they don’t have boning.
To answer the flat front question…luck and some structural engineering! I just played around it with the boning placement until it did the correct thing!
And lastly the petticoats. There’s a waist band for the hoop skirt, then the petticoat is divided into 2 waistbands. And then finally the outer skirt has it’s own waistband.
Hope that helps! And a head up; I’m coming out with a full series about the making of this dress on YouTube. I hope to releasing it in August! Here’s my channel: http://youtube.com/c/BellaMaesDesigns
Millie
Oh my goodness thank you so much! I’m so glad you are making a youtube series, the best one I found was on the channel Traybuff and I look forward to seeing yours too. I’m about to buy fabric to make a live action cinderella dress and I’m extremely excited!
Hannah S
Hi! I’m making a wedding dress and I want the same floaty quality of the skirts you have here. Are the petticoats in the same colorful gauzy materials? or did you use just plain fabric for the petticoats and then added the colorful ruffle at the hem? If so, what material did you use for the petticoats to achieve that movement?
That’s wonderful! I used a thick organza for the base skirts of the petticoats (they need to hold up a lot of weight, so it needs to be a strong organza.) And then there’s frills attached to these base skirts. They a mixture of nylon chiffon, organza, and the silk gauze.
I’ll be coming out with a full video series about the making of this dress on Youtube (starting in October!) https://www.youtube.com/c/BellaMaesDesigns
Megan
I’m wanting to make this for my 5 year old. Do you have any advice for how to make the bodice? Also, any other advice would be greatly appreciated! I’m new at sewing clothes. Thanks!
How many meters of boning are there in the hoop skirt?
I believe it’s around 50 yards…my papers are packed away due to moving to a new studio. I’m sorry, but I believe that number is correct!
Hi my name is Candy roblea I was wondering if this can be rented out and if so how much?
Thank you for your interest. But no, this dress cannot be rented.
How much would it cost to buy the dress?how long would it take to make it?
I’m sorry, but I am no longer accepting orders for this dress.
Hi. Can you please show us what pattern you used for the hoop skirt
I actually didn’t use a pattern for the hoop skirt…I just designed mine via looking at the photos of the original.
Please make a detailed description of the cloth requirements of the dress, especially the petticoat part.
I can’t wait to see the tutorial. I’m so excited ???
I’m currently releasing a series on my YouTube about the making of the Cinderella Dress! http://www.youtube.com/c/bellamaesdesigns
Hi! I’m interested in making a dress like this one! I have one question: How do I find out how much fabric I should get when making this? I’m taller than most people and not very skinny.
Well, that’s a hard question. But fortunately, size doesn’t have too much to do with this. The the outer layers of the skirt I used about 20 yards of fabric for each layer.
For the frills, well… I actually don’t have the numbers for that. I just have a stash of Cinderella frills I’ve made and just use them as I need them. This is something you’ll have to experiment with. For my first dress, I ordered 6 bolts of tulle (40yds each). I didn’t use all of it, but it got me started. I also ordered about 10 yards of each of the other fabrics I use.
For this upgraded version I use mostly nylon chiffon. I believe I used 270 yards of nylon frills (before it’s gathered.)
Hopefully that gets you started!
Isabella
Hello! I’m a huge fan of all your designs and you give me so much inspiration to make costumes and to not give up! I was wondering if you had a detailed version of how you made the petticoat layers? And what fabrics/colours you may had used where? I’d really like to recreate the Cinderella dress and this is the most amazing recreation I have ever seen! Love your work and can’t wait to see more of your creation!
Hi! Thank you for those kind words! I always wonder if this blog is servicing it’s purpose…thank you for answering that!
At this point, this blog post is all I’m willing to offer. But I will let you know the colors I used for the frills: Blue, Lilac, Lavender, Silver, Green, Turquoise, and Iridescent White.
Thanks again!
Hi Bella! I’m making a Cinderella dress for a school play…not nearly this huge or elaborate or beautiful! But hopefully it will echo your creation. Question: did you use any horsehair braid and/or fishing line to accentuate volume? Or just the astronomical yardage of ruffles to get the poof? I need to create volume without bulk as at least some of the dress has to fit inside a transformation peasant costume. Thanks for any advice you have to offer 🙂
That’s sounds wonderful! I used a mass amount of frills, plus used fishing line in the hems of the frills. That sounds like quite a challenge, but I’m sure you’ll be able to do it!
hello ma’am! your dress is absolutely gorgeous! i am so in love with it! i don’t know if you’d still be able to get to this, but i hope you can answer a short question of mine – is this a circle skirt or a double circle? i am making my wedding dress (hopefully successfully) and i just like how lovely the skirt of this looks like and the way it twirls (my fiance loves to dance so that’s definitely going to happen) hopefully you can answer and help me lots but i understand if you don’t 🙂 😀 thank you! your customer seemed so very happy! and she looks so pretty in it too!!
Hi, Thanks for writing. The layers of this skirt are made of gores, not circles. There are 13 gores in each layer of the skirt. If you view the photo in the post where I talk about taping the pattern piece on the ground…that’s the shape of the gores!
Hope that helps!
Hi! I’m in the process of making a Cinderella dress like this one and I was wondering how you did your hems for the layers of the outer skirt. Thank you!
I just did a 1/8″ rolled hem!
Hi! I’m in the process of making a Cinderella dress similar to this one and I was wondering what kind of fiit you used for the frills of the petticoat and also if you hemmed the bottom of the frills. Thank you!
Sorry, I meant to say foot.
That’s wonderful! Yes, I hemmed the frills and I used a rolled hem foot to do it!
Hey! I have a bunch of questions so no worries If you can’t answer all of them but I love your dress so much I thought I might as well ask.
So first up, the bertha. Is there a layer of fabric sandwiched between the outside layer to get a watercolour effect? Or is it just one layer? And also, when you gather it, do you just ‘scrunch ‘ it and and sew it in place?
The bodice, did you line it? And when you put boning into the channels, does it bend into a point (at the back of the dress the bodice is lifted up over the skirt and crinoline). (This also applies to the chest area, is it just quite low and flat?)
The hoop skirt, did all of the channels have boning in apart from the directly vertical ones?
And how do you get the flat front but voluminous back?
For your petticoat, how many waistbands did you use? (One for the crinoline, dust ruffle bag and first layer? Then the bulk of the ruffles in another? Then the middle skirts with full length skirts and a ruffle on the bottom with another waistband. Then the top layer of skirts?)
Sorry for all thses questions but I am cinderella OBSESSED
Thanks for writing. I’l do my best to answer.
With the bertha, yes. There’s a few layers of fabric in it (I think I did a pink organza and blue gauze…though I may have done a third layer, I can’t remember!) And yes, I simply gathered it and sewed it in place.
With the bodice; yes, it’s lined. Yes, to your questions about boning (I think I know what you mean and with the extremely curved boning channels, I use spiral boning.)
With the hoop skirt; yes, all the channels have boning in it. But the vertical strips are just ribbon, so they don’t have boning.
To answer the flat front question…luck and some structural engineering! I just played around it with the boning placement until it did the correct thing!
And lastly the petticoats. There’s a waist band for the hoop skirt, then the petticoat is divided into 2 waistbands. And then finally the outer skirt has it’s own waistband.
Hope that helps! And a head up; I’m coming out with a full series about the making of this dress on YouTube. I hope to releasing it in August! Here’s my channel: http://youtube.com/c/BellaMaesDesigns
Oh my goodness thank you so much! I’m so glad you are making a youtube series, the best one I found was on the channel Traybuff and I look forward to seeing yours too. I’m about to buy fabric to make a live action cinderella dress and I’m extremely excited!
Hi! I’m making a wedding dress and I want the same floaty quality of the skirts you have here. Are the petticoats in the same colorful gauzy materials? or did you use just plain fabric for the petticoats and then added the colorful ruffle at the hem? If so, what material did you use for the petticoats to achieve that movement?
That’s wonderful! I used a thick organza for the base skirts of the petticoats (they need to hold up a lot of weight, so it needs to be a strong organza.) And then there’s frills attached to these base skirts. They a mixture of nylon chiffon, organza, and the silk gauze.
I’ll be coming out with a full video series about the making of this dress on Youtube (starting in October!) https://www.youtube.com/c/BellaMaesDesigns
I’m wanting to make this for my 5 year old. Do you have any advice for how to make the bodice? Also, any other advice would be greatly appreciated! I’m new at sewing clothes. Thanks!
I’ll be coming out with a full video series on my YouTube channel, starting in October. https://www.youtube.com/c/BellaMaesDesigns
Hai Bella,
Please give a detailed description of the cloth requirements, especially about petticoat.
I am so excited to see your tutorial. ?
I don’t have questions, I just wanted to say I appreciate how much you’ve put in to helping others.
Aw, thank you! I appreciate it! :). And did you know that I have a YouTube where I post weekly?
I can no longer see any photos on this website. Just informing that there might be something wrong or it’s just me