Hello! This is Sarah again, and I am back today to share my tutorial for making a princess Sofia Dress. My daughter decided on Princess Sofia for her third birthday party and specifically asked for a "pink Sofia dress". So after a bit of googling to figure out what a Sofia dress was all about, I set out looking for the perfect Sofia pattern. This is what we ended up with:
No, it is not pink, but she's three and still iffy on her colors...
The first hurdle was finding a pattern that would work for the Sofia dress. I loved the look of the bodice of her dress and that was the driver for the pattern I picked. I ended up using the FooFoo Threads Tasha dress because I thought the fitted bodice and sleeves were very close to the inspiration dress and were just adorable, plus it looked like it would be easy to embellish. I also loved that the bodice was shirred in the back; I figured she would get a lot more use out of it with a little room to stretch!
I used a 100% cotton print for the dress; I wanted something that I could wash and that would last through multiple wears. And it has! This is an everyday wear item in our house (she wore it to the movies the day I took these pictures.) I chose a purple tonal dot print to mimic the pearl embellishments on the inspiration dress. The underskirt was made out of white broadcloth, chosen because it was lightweight and I did not want to add a lot of bulk and weight to the dress. I picked up ribbon, braid and pearls at the local fabric store to finish out my supplies.
A lot of the dress was made exactly according the tutorial for the pattern, so I will just be summarizing the changes I made to the dress to make it a Sofia. The bodice and sleeve portions were cut according to the directions in the pattern, but I cut a second front bodice piece to act as a lining. Prior to sewing anything, I laid out my design for the braided embellishment on one bodice piece. Once I had the braid where I wanted it, I put a dab of quick dry glue on my finger and ran my finger under the braid to quickly tack it down.
Then I sewed the braid in place using the cording foot on my machine.
Next I marked my vertical lines for the pearl trim using a disappearing ink marker and ruler. I spaced them evenly from the center of the braided trim.
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You can barely see it, but there are lines there! |
Using the cording foot and a zigzag stitch, I sewed the pearls to the front of the bodice using the marked lines for reference.
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Leave a bit of room at the top to allow for the seam allowance. |
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Finished front bodice. |
Once the pearls and braid were attached, I sewed the two front bodice pieces together at the neckline using a 1/2" seam allowance (because the original pattern called for a 1/2" folded edge as the top finish). From there, I finished the bodice as directed by the tutorial, treating the bodice as one piece.
A huge part of getting the "Sofia" look is the scalloped skirt. I looked at the measurements listed for the underskirt and overskirt in the tutorial, but ended up just measuring how long I wanted the dress to be and cutting my fabric to that length. For the overskirt, I used the entire width of the fabric (to make it very full) and cut two 15" pieces. For the underskirt, I also used the entire width of the fabric and cut two 16" pieces. Mine was a size 4 for reference.
I divided and cut each overskirt piece into three equal pieces.
Once I had the six rectangles cut, I used a large plate (yep, it's time to get technical!) to trace out a curve on one.
I ended up not liking the shape, because it was too round, so I curved the sides up more sharply to look more oblong.
When I was done, I stacked the cut one on top of the other five and used it as a template to cut the rest.
Note: I had originally tried to do the front and back as only two pieces, but when I finished off the edges and added the trim, it got a weird bubble (for lack of a better word) in the corners. So I cut them into six pieces and it turned out much closer to what I had in mind.
Once all of my curved pieces were cut, I finished off the straight edges with a serger.
Then I applied single fold bias tape to finish off the curved portions.
I did this because it is a good way to maintain the curve and get a really nice finish. You could fold it over and iron it, but I have a hard time keeping my curves from getting wonky that way.
After the edges of all of the pieces are finished, I sewed the six pieces together along the straight edges.
Once the pieces were joined, I again used my cording foot and a zigzag stitch to attach pearl trim to the edges of the scalloped portion.
The last step to for getting the "Sofia" look was to place the emblems. I used my silhouette machine software to make a loose translation of the Sofia emblem. Then I cut the emblems out of iron on transfer material and applied them to my skirt.
I use Jet-Opaque II dark heat transfer paper to make mine. (I buy it on amazon.com)
Please beware, not all iron on transfer material is equal. While making t-shirts for our last Disney trip, I ran out of my Jet-Opaque and bought a different brand from my local craft store. After the first wash, it turned yellow and the design started to flake off. So, if you are new to a brand, I would encourage you to do a test run on scrap fabric and make sure it performs well!
You could also use fabric, felt, iron-on vinyl or other materials to make your emblems. And, if you don't have a silhouette machine, no worries, I am including the template for the emblem I made for you to trace and cut out.
Once you have the overskirt complete, you are almost done! For the underskirt, I simply sewed the two pieces together, made a narrow hem along the bottom and sewed purple ribbon along the bottom.
Then, I completed the dress by sewing the skirt to the bodice and shirring as directed by the tutorial.
Note: For the original dress I made, I used pearl trim attached to bias that I found at a local fabric store. It is a bit pricey and hard to find (Hancock's does carry it for $1.99 per yard) so I revised my method slightly for this tutorial. But, it is an option if you are not comfortable applying the bead trim or do not have a cording foot. (You can use a zipper foot to apply it.)
I hope you enjoy making your Sofia inspired dress as much as I did! I'll see you soon!
Sarah