Entry #37

Intermediate

Colonial Ariel   

Design Process:

For my design I decided to go with my two favorite things: colonial ball gowns and mermaid accessories. To keep with the ball gown idea I decided to use Felicity’s Christmas Dress pattern from American Girl Playthings. When I think of mermaids I think of pearls, tulle and seashells, so while I was designing it I knew I wanted to incorporate these things. I really liked the green and gold theme of Felicity’s Riding outfit and decided that would be my color theme. The dress consists of three main parts- the petticoat, the stomacher and the gown.  I decided not to make a pinner cap as I wanted to make a head piece that would clip on to a piece of hair and hang down the side of the dress. For shoes I decided to use the shoes from American Girl’s Midnight Holly Dress, I decided to use them because the gold ribbon and bow on the shoes would help tie together and the black would blend in.  For the stomacher I knew I wanted it to look like scales like a mermaid tail. The part of the petticoat that shoes through I wanted to incorporate tulle with colors ranging from white to dark green.  The gown part I wanted it to be dark green and gold. 

In progress pictures: 

Here are all my materials; I found the gold netting, pearls, dark green fabric and gold ribbon at my local goodwill. The rest I got at Joann’s.

These are some in progress shots of pinning and cutting out the skirt and bodice.  While designing I made some modifications to the stomacher because I wanted the gown to overlap it, not to go under it. I also decided that the gold netting would be perfect for the stomacher, but I thought that it would be too flashy so I toned it down a bit with three layers of dark green tulle.  For the gown part I used the dark green fabric and gold ribbon, I gathered the decorative ribbon and trim, this was my first time pleating and sewing sleeves so I also made mock-ups of the skirt and sleeves to practice. The underskirt I wanted to represent the different layers of a green ocean so, using white, shimmery green and dark green tulle I gathered about 16 layers and sewed them onto the underskirt, this created the layers of the ocean.  I added the finishing touch by creating the hair piece and I was finished. 

Completed Outfit:

What if Ariel lived in colonial times?   Even though she turned into a human Ariel still loves to be reminded of the sea so this is a perfect dress to wear, complete with tulle, seashells and pearls!  

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