The Special Request Rapunzel Dress

When I told a friend of mine that I had started a blog, she insisted that I put my daughter's last Halloween costume out to share.  (Thanks, Danielle! great idea...)
The story here is, of course, my daughter's infinite love of anything Disney, with emphasis on Rapunzel.  We had found some of the Deluxe Disney Princess dresses at the outlet a few years ago, so she's more than a little spoiled when it comes to her costumes.  She saw the Rapunzel dress at the Disney store, but said it wasn't as pretty as her other dresses.
*sigh*
I guess I'm making a costume.
In retrospect, I am so glad I made this for her, as it turned out fabulous. It was a lot of work, but as it was both a Halloween costume and a birthday present, I think I got off easy.

We had the fog machine running and the decorations
out. I love the way this picture turned out.

I started with the Simplicity Rapunzel pattern, but we couldn't seem to find just the right fabric. We ended up with a heavy purple satin for the vest, but added sparkle fabric paint, applied with a stencil and a sponge brush, in order to give the vest fabric a pattern. We actually have a full top under the vest, which required doubling the bodice pattern sections, and we added an extra sheer underskirt, also with sparkle fabric paint, this time in white.  I believe every possible hem in this dress has trim, either ribbon or lace. And the wig is actually a combination of three wigs, where I cut the weave on two of them and braided them into the main wig. Adding flowers and yellow glow lights (yes, her hair glowed, just like the movie) finished off the outfit.
I have to say, I had so much fun with this dress. Depending on the popularity or Rapunzel dresses this coming Halloween, I may make a few to sell.
Two more pictures to finish off, and then I really do have to go find those keys...



Yes, that's a glow stick falling out of the wig... this was
taken before I figured out to use the clear rubber bands
to hold them in place.

I wish I had a better picture of the dress itself. At the time, I had no idea I would
be writing a blog about my projects.  I ended up trimming the ribbon laces to shorten them,
and in this picture the dress is hanging a bit crooked. Still, it's the best picture to show the fabric
stencil on both the vest and the underskirt.