1980s Ariel Disneybound | Butterick 4563

Things used :

Before starting this project I knew there were a few changes I wanted to make right off the bat – I wanted to shorten the skirt length, I was going to fully line the dress because the pink cotton was super then and see-through and I wanted to add lace stripes to the sleeves to better mimic Ariels pink dress. With those changes in mind I jumped straight in to the project.

First I had to upsize the pattern by two sizes. This went fine until later when I realised I had forgotten to take in to consideration that my bust isn’t a standard size like the rest of me. But that’s a problem for future me.

After sizing the pattern up I began cutting out the fabric. I chose to use this pretty pink cotton that I found at the second hand store for the main part of the dress. I then decided to cut some glitter tulle for the bows and some glitter organza for the very front bodice panel.

Construction-wise it was straightforward. I followed the pattern exactly as it was written right up until the sleeves. I added decorative ribbon spaced evenly apart and then instead of gathering the top and bottom edges, I pleated them in-between the ribbons.

At some point, I realised that the bodice wasn’t going to do up because of my bust size so in order to fix it, I took out the zip and added a smaller 6inch zip that would close up to my waist. From the waist up, I converted the back in to a lace up using machine stitched eyelets and some matching pink cord.

I would definitely make this dress again though I would size the bust up accordingly this time.

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Difficulty : *
Time : 4 hours