Mirabel Madrigal | 2024

Mirabel Madrigal | Encanto

Made for : Sandbox Fandom Fest 2024

Background : At last years Auckland Armageddon Expo (2023), I suggested to my friend Aleena that she should make a Mirabel costume and before I had finished speaking the sentence, I realized how silly this was because she is literally Isabella and I’m Mirabel. So naturally, I made Mirabel for myself!

Things used :

Blouse : I started with McCall’s M8180 to use as the base. For the fabric I chose a white linen.

The reason I chose McCall’s M8180 as the base for the blouse is because it was a loose fitting top with a wide collar. The alterations I made to it were eliminating the center front closure and instead cutting the front piece on a center fold, adding a scalloped edge to the sleeves and collar, and widening the neck hole. I was surprised that I didn’t have to put a closure in the back but because of how much I had widened the neck hole, I was able to pull the shirt over my head.

To decorate the blouse, I drew on all the designs matching Mirabel’s as close as possible and hand embroided it all using different colored yarns. Originally I was going to digitize the black embroidery of the butterfly on the collar and the flowers on the sleeves but then I decided to instead buy appliqués that were reminiscent of the designs and sew them on instead.

I finished the hem of the sleeves and collar using a black bias tape. I also added black pom poms along the collar because I thought it looked cool.

Skirt : I drafted a full circle skirt and split it in to three tiers. For each of the three tiers I used fabrics in a graduating shade of teal. lightest at the top and darkest at the bottom. I made a bias tape from the centered colored fabric and top stitched it along the bottom and top seams of the center tier. Then I spent about a month decorating it all with hand embroidery the same way I did the blouse. Some of the thicker lines are actually ribbon sewn in place. As of right now, it’s not quite finished but I am working on it.

Along the hem of the skirt, I sewed a satin teal bias tape to the front while also sewing blue tassel trim to the back at the same time. I had to dye the tassel trim myself which I used a Rit dye for. Next I even spread out a bunch of magenta tassels and hand sewed them to the hem of the skirt.

On the inside of the skirt, I lined it with a blue cotton fabric (which was made in to a simple circle skirt). The lining layer was hemmed with blue eyelet lace that I had also dyed myself using the same Rit dye as the tassel trim. This layer is currently hand tacked in to the waistband so I can easily remove it and finish the embroidery on the skirt.

Accessories : The wig and glasses were purchased off of Ali Express.
Shoes – I purchased a hemp rope white canvas shoe base off of Ali Express. First I colored the white canvas magenta using alcohol markers. I then embroidered the designs on the toes of the shoe using yarn.

Earrings – I made these using two different sized blue pom poms. I put a wire through the larger one and then used a jump ring to attach it to an earring hook(?I don’t actually know the name for it). I then glued the smaller pom pom to the hook using contact cement.

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