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Simplicity #1215 - Anna's Coronation dress and the PLEATED skirt!

11/21/2014

29 Comments

 
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As promised, today I will show my work on Anna's pleated skirt.
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This was my inspiration. Most versions of this costume don't have actual working box pleats and for a good reason. It is LOTS of work to sew and even more work to figure out the pattern.

My hat goes off several times in a row for the person who made a fabulous pleated version of this dress for Costume Con in Toronto this year.  If anyone knows, please write in and tell me her name so I can give her proper credit.
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Because these flaring pleats need support, I designed the pattern to fit over a standard smooth waisted bridal petticoat.
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The skirt is made up of 10 identical pleats. There are 3 main pattern pieces, the outer panel, the narrow central stripe of the outer panel that gets the design pieces put on it and the recessed box pleat piece.  You can see by this photo that I sewed some stiff interfacing behind each of the outer panel pieces.  The darker center piece is sewn on with a zig zap appliqué stitch on either side. Then all the cut out pieces are ironed on.

One of the big reasons I decided to make the skirts and bodices separate in this pattern was to be able to use the same pattern pieces over and over for all ten pleats. If the skirt was sewn to the bodice with that point at the center front, I would have had to make completely separate pattern pieces for all three parts the front and side front pleats to correspond to the slope of the bodice front waist seam. This would be so confusing AND require much more pattern tissue.  Then there might not have been enough room for the big, wonderful snowflake cape in the pattern envelope.
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This is the pattern piece for the inner box pleat.  It flares out at the same angle as the outer panel.
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This is how I got the exact design for all those motifs. The pattern is repeated five times, getting progressively larger from waist to hem. So, I traced the best illustration I could find first.
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After I determined the length of the skirt, I could then use my proportional scale to help. I only drew out the design once and used my copy machine to get the five different sizes of motif repeats.
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Using my preferred method, permanent fusible webbing, I traced all the motifs, ten times over, organizing them by color.
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I devised a labeling system to prevent mixing up the pieces. So many of them look so similar.
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To properly space the pieces, I like to use the pattern folded in half as a guide, rather than mark on the fabric.
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The white/iridescent dots are made with a small bottle of squeeze paint.
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It works best to press the pleats in all the box pleat pieces before sewing them. The skirt becomes very heavy and unwieldily as the sections get sewn together.
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I finished all the seams with a wavy rotary cutter, instead of serging, to keep unnecessary bulk out.
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You can see how the white looking squeeze paint dries into nice glowy iridescent dots.
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One last thing.  Inside the hem at the inner corner off all ten box pleat pieces, I sewed a metal washer to help the pleats stay pleated, so 20 weights in all.

Box pleats, or actually any kind of pleat do not really work being flared out like this. But, of course, anything is possible in animation!!!!! Which makes life interesting/difficult for costume makers.

Pleats really should be cut straight and hang straight. Even the pleats on a kilt are stitched down in the upper section that is shaped over the hips. They don't open until they reach the point where they become perfectly straight.

This is why I had to build these pleats over that conically shaped petticoat and put weights in the hem. This skirt looks beautiful in motion, but even with the weights, it will need help from time to time to make the pleats lie flat after they've open up.

So, this is all I have to say about Frozen for a while. Rumors have it there is a sequel in the works ... ahhhhhhh!!!!
29 Comments
Material Excess
11/21/2014 02:46:33 pm

Yes! I bought the pattern because of the flared box pleats! No way could I do that on my own!

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SunGold
11/22/2014 12:39:23 am

This is remarkable! The level of manipulation, imagination, and detail in this dresstume is unbelievable. You've inspired a whole new level of sewing [angst] in me.

What paint are you using?

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Andrea
11/22/2014 02:50:56 am

I didn't use any paint. I used paper backed fusible webbing. Read some of the other blogs on this subject. I show how to use this stuff in many of them.

And, Thanks.

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SunGold
11/24/2014 09:57:19 am

Sorry, I saw the sentence about white squeeze paint for the dots and expanded that to all the designs. I'll def check out the other blog posts. I love your work.

Amanda link
11/24/2014 02:03:34 pm

Oh wow, when I saw the pattern had come out I was SO excited to see it had box pleats!

I was the Anna at Costume Con! Thank you so much for the shoutout - you're right in that the pleats are SUCH A PAIN but I am totally going to steal your weight idea to see if that helps mine stay down!
I have photos of Anna from costume con, thanks to Solartempest Photography, here if anyone is interested. http://elementalsight.tumblr.com/post/97422192640/i-dont-know-if-im-elated-or-gassy-but-im

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Michaela de Bruce link
11/24/2014 04:59:43 pm

Oh wow, I had just found you on tumblr, and was about to post here :) so happy you found Andrea's blog.
Also reading your con report made me tear up a little. I am a *long* time historic costume person but had to shift to more mainstream conventions as a means of actually participating in person (in New Zealand, we do have a number of fan run events though :)) Anyway, I haven't followed CC for a while but I used to wait for the reports on [h-cost]. Sigh. CC and D*C.

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Mackenzie
1/3/2015 04:18:42 am

Hi,

Beautiful! I love the dress! I was curious, how did you figure out how much fabric to get for each skirt panel? Thanks!

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Andrea
1/6/2015 01:14:14 am

Hard to explain briefly. Basically after all my pattern pieces are done, I always do a preliminary layout for 45" wide fabric and 60" wide fabric. Then I know how much to buy. Now if you are asking how I figured out how large to make each panel, if you look about midway in this blog, you can see how I measured around the bottom of the petticoat I planned to use. I then divided that measurement by 10 and the waist measurement by 10 to get the shape for each outer panel. I then had to determine how much of a fold back I wanted for each inner pleated piece so I could make those pieces. I checked everything by pinned and folding the paper patterns. Not too much tricky fitting for a skirt like this.
Let me know if I can answer this is any other way.
Andrea

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Alyssa
1/6/2015 11:03:33 am

I find myself looking at this post often, because I want an Anna Dress so bad and yours is perfect! they sell for so much nowadays! i wish i was a sewing genius like you so maybe i could make one for myself, this seems just to difficult.

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Mackenzie
1/9/2015 01:52:43 am

Thank you for yor answer! Another question, where did you get your petticoat?

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Jade
2/16/2015 08:38:01 pm

Love 😍 this dress and am currently in the middle of making it... Though I did hit my head against a wall a few times when I realised I cut the wrong colour fabric for the outer box pleat panel (Grrr)... How long did it take to iron on the appliques? Is it something that can be done after the skirt had been assembled?

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Andrea
2/16/2015 10:49:30 pm

Hi Jade,
The appliqués take a long time, probably 4 - 5 hours. I didn't keep track. I just listened to an audio book to keep my sanity. Please iron them all on BEFORE sewing. It will be very difficult to do after. The skirt becomes very heavy and the seams get in the way.
Andrea

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Jade
2/17/2015 11:28:34 am

Thanks for that :) I had a feeling it would take a while... That's my job for tonight! Can't wait to see the final product!!

Erin
3/22/2015 07:52:48 am

How difficult would you say your pattern is? I would love to make this, but have never sewed clothing before. Is this too ambitious for a first project (I have sewed other things, I started sewing about 5 years ago).

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Ashley
6/10/2015 01:25:21 am

That looks absolutely gorgeous! I want to make one for myself so badly lol How much would you say you spent in materials?

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Jessica
7/19/2015 02:44:41 pm

I'm working on this dress right now - with coupons, it was still around at least $60 worth of fabric, interfacing, and boning.

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Jean
7/27/2015 01:08:56 pm

How do I get a coppy of the patern?

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Cordelia's Creations
7/29/2015 04:42:22 pm

Is there a pattern you recommend for the petticoat? If not where can i get something suitable to go with Annas dress? (Suggested petticoat types on ebay for example..)

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Danielle Priestner
3/19/2016 03:27:30 pm

This is amazing, how did you do the pattern on the dress, is that sewn on or painted?
thats the biggest thing putting me off making this dress

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Sarah
4/11/2016 03:40:51 pm

How could I alter this to fit over a larger skirt? I want mine to go over a 3 or 4 hoop skirt. Would I just add more panels?

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PatchworkPirate link
7/14/2016 07:41:27 am

I used this pattern for the box pleated skirt. I made a dalek ballgown, and you weren't kidding - that skirt was a pain! I'm so thankful that you have designed a pattern to make it easier. I couldn't imagine how much time it'd take to do all of the little designs on the skirt as well. Kudos to you! This pattern was so helpful!

Pictures of the dress:

http://patchworkpirate.com/costumes/television/dalek-dress/

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Nicole
6/11/2017 03:13:19 am

Thank you for creating this pattern. I saw it and bought it straight away! Then based my hubby's 50th around me getting to wear it lol. It took me 30 hours. I had my mum help me to iron the box pleats straight (much easier with 2 to hold fabric). I spent around $300 on fabric etc. the colour matching side of things meant I had to get expensive satin. I found it difficult to follow how much of each colour listed on the back - it talks about light green but that was actually the champagne colour (had to go buy more fabric as the light green was nowhere near the right colour). I am an OK sewer, costumes mostly. I found it a bit confusing but managed. Only had to unpick twice, and zip in bodice ended up upside down lol. Loved the dress, I'm thinking of trying the darker one next time.....bring on the patterns!

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Tamara
6/25/2017 07:47:37 am

Where can you buy the material from?

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Tracy
5/22/2018 03:07:35 pm

OMG! We are going to Mickey’s Halloween Party and I need this dress! Would you be willing to make one? Obviously I would pay!!!

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Lex
5/31/2018 01:51:19 pm

I made this dress as well but when I went to make the waist band I had to take a few of the pleats off because the dress was so much bigger than the waist band with all of the panels on. I love the peticoat idea for underneath though. I'd been thinking about that idea today, as I put my test version of this dress up on my etsy site and it hangs straight down, rather than standing out. It does move rather well, regardless, and it has the weights in there. There's 16 weights instead of 20 because of my having to take the other panels off. The panels with the appliques were touching each other at the top so it wasn't that I had gaps. Wondering what in the world I did wrong that resulted in my having to take off the panels! It's sized for a 38" waist. Loved making it but I want to try it again, now that my sewing skills have vastly improved!

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Sloane
10/17/2019 07:28:31 am

Hi!

I'm using this pattern for a detailed Anna cosplay, and I'm running into an issue with the bodice that I was hoping you could help with. No matter what I do, the sleeves rip off. I've hand sewn it. I've machine sewn it. I've done four separate lines to reinforce the sleeves. I even safety pinned them after a while. I'm thinking the sleeves are too short, but I just can't figure it out. Do you have any ideas or suggestions?

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Charlotte link
7/18/2020 08:26:54 am

Hi there,
I love this!! I was wondering if you could please give a link to where you got the dress pattern?
Thanks

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laurelei swinehart
11/26/2020 08:52:46 pm

I love this dress. You did an amazing job! What fabrics did you use for it?

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Sherrie
9/26/2022 07:10:23 am

Hello there...just beautiful! I was wondering if you sell your work? I've been looking for an Anna dress for my daughter. Please let me know. Thank you, Sherrie.

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    From Andrea 

    I am a commercial pattern maker who is now "sewing over 50"!
    I love to sew and hope to encourage others to come back to sewing.
    The water is fine!!

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