Anna – Frozen 2 | 2021

Anna | Frozen 2

Made for : Whangarei Christmas Parade 2021

Background : My friend, Anna, is obsessed with Frozen. She had made herself an Els costume that year and asked if I’d make the Anna to match, and you know how much I love a matching costume (Even if I still haven’t seen the movie.)

Things used :

Dress : First, I made the decision to make the black over dress and mustard shirt one piece. I started by constructing the shirt piece from a mustard linen, using Butterick B6483 as a base pattern. I eliminated the front closure by cutting the two diagonal pieces as one whole front. Next was the back which I kept the back closure in. I then used a wide ribbon with a diamond pattern which I added to the center front and collar. I had to be super careful about lining up the diamond shapes on the collar and center front shirt.

After the shirt was made, I moved on to the dress. My friend (Anna), gave me some blacks monks cloth to use as originally she was going to make this costume herself and that’s what she had brought to make it from. The fabric was great if only because it was free, but it was too itchy for my liking. I would’ve chosen something different had I not been gifted it.

I used Butterick B6556 as the base pattern for the dress. I made the bodice part first, eliminating the triangular dip in the center front and cut it straight instead.

Next, I made the sleeves. Unfortunately, I can’t remember what pattern I used but it would have most likely been a Butterick one because I find same pattern company patterns, you can usually swap out pattern pieces and they’ll fit with others in the same brand. Before they were completely sewn up, I added another diamond ribbon, the same as the undershirt but in a darker colourway, to the cuffs, and some decorative ribbon and bronze beads to the outer arm. I then sewed them up and added them to the black part of the dress bodice.

I then added the decorative pieces to the bodice, such as gold bias tape to the neckline and some cut up floral, gold trim and a couple of buttons to form the flower piece in the center. Then the bodice got tacked to the undershirt at the center back and waist and sewn/overlocked at the sleeves.

I can’t remember exactly how I did the skirt, I think I used a pattern with panels as a base. I scalloped the bottom of each seam where the two panels met and left one side completely open.

Before attaching the skirt to the bodice, I added the same gold bias used before to the entire raw edge of the hem. I remember it taking forever to hand sew it in place. I also used the same gold trim and buttons from the bodice to create the flower details along the bottom edge of the skirt as well.

Finally the skirt got sewn to the bodice and I added a decorative red and gold button to the collar.

Cape : I used Simplicity 8771 as the base and a purple upholstery velvet with a nice drape with a pink bemsilk lining for the fabric.

For the most part, I didn’t alter the pattern too much apart from adding the same mandarin collar as the dress/shirt, rounding the bottom edge of the front panels and adding in arm holes. It wasn’t until after I’d finished the cape that I realized the arm holes are meant to be cut in to the front panels and not the side seams.

I added lots of decorative embroidery to the velvet using one of the fancy stitches on my regular sewing machine before added the lining. I finished the raw edges with black bias tape and added some black ribbon flowers for decoration along the bottom.

I used the same Butterick pattern from the shirt to cut the mandarin collar from some left over scrap fabric from my Morticia Addams costume. I then added the gold chain and decorative buttons to the neck. I only wish I’d added a way to open and close the chain because as it is, it had to slide over my head.

Other bits : The belt was borrowed from Anna.

The wig was something I had used for my Allie Hamilton costume.

The tights are something I’ve had on had for a remake for a Leeloo Dallas costume that I’ve had for years at this point.

The boots were part of my every day wardrobe

I’d love to remake this costume one day with more accurate boots, a less itchy black fabric and correcting a few of the other mistakes I made as well. Plus I have an embroidery machine so I could make all those little details incredibly accurate too.

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