Sunday, August 28, 2011

Rapunzel dress details & cost

 {what I did during my summer vacation}

in case anyone is interested in sewing a Rapunzel dress (like the ones from my daughter's princess Rapunzel birthday party) following this free pattern I wanted to share my notes as I made a few changes & included more details (than the free tutorial gives) which are mentioned below.

first of all, this dress fits my daughter who is 4 years old.

I used a 1/2 inch seam allowance throughout.

front bodice ~ I used 1.5 inches of pink ribbon for the 10 ribbon loops. I did not seal the ribbon edges as they are hidden & enclosed, I felt that step could be skipped, saving time.

back bodice ~ I used 1.5 inches of velcro for each of the closures.

underskirt ~ I used 22 inches of purple fabric & 19 inches of 3/4 inch elastic.

overskirt ~ I used the fabric selvage to selvage & cut it 23 inches long. for the selvage edges I ironed down 1 inch, then used 5/8 inch Peel n Stick fabric fuse (permanent adhesive for hems) down almost all of the length of the 23 inch overskirt. the Peel n Stick was ironed down & makes a nice & very easy no sew hem. for gathering the top of the underskirt I used the zigzag over cording method. for the bottom hem I folded over 1/2 inch, then 1/2 inch & topstitched.

sleeves ~ for gathering the sleeves at the top I used the zigzag over cording method. at the bottom of the sleeves I folded over 1/2 inch, then 1/2 inch, topstitched around leaving an opening for the casing. I used 9 inches of 1/4 inch elastic per sleeve.

amount of fabrics used:
lavandar, a flat crepe-back satin solid (polyester): 1 yard
purple, a heathered suiting (polyester): 29 inches

amount of trims used:
white eyelet trim: 47 inches
pink cord: 42 inches
shiny pink ribbon: 84 inches
velcro: 6 inches






as I was sewing these dresses I became curious to know how much it cost to make each dress. you know as a sewist, not everything you sew is money saving, but sometimes you can sew for less...

these prices are pretty close, I know I made a few teeny tiny mistakes, but this gives me a good idea of how much each dress cost to make.


(see chart below) the total came to about $13 per dress !  what a deal !  I bought everything at JoAnn Fabrics, the fabrics were on clearance, I used a 50% off coupon on the eyelet trim & 40% off coupons on the remaining items. I must add that I did not count the thread nor the trim on the bottom of the underskirt (I got that free), & thanks to a blogger the sewing pattern & tutorial were FREE :)

I did a little research to see what princess dresses cost to buy:
$11-$15 here
$20 here
$40 here

interesting, huh ?

I think I will try to keep track of how much money it costs me to sew a garment in the future...

have you ever kept track of how much it cost you to sew a garment ?  please share...



Length Material Unit Price Full Price Discounted price
42” Pink Cord $.79/yd $0.92 $0.55
84” Pink ribbon $.11/ft $0.77 $0.46
47” Eyelet trim $2.99/yd $3.91 $1.96
8” Velcro $3.49/30” $0.93 $0.56
40” Fabric fuse $4.49/20ft $0.75 $0.45
18” 1/4" Elastic $.49/yd $0.25 $0.15
19” 3/4” Elastic $.99/yd $0.52 $0.31
1yd Lavender fabric $14/yd $14.00 $5.25
29” Purple fabric $12/yd $9.67 $3.33


TOTAL: $31.72 $13.02