Pocahontas Couture; Indian Princess Costume DIY Part Two
Pocahontas-couture, part 2 of the Indian Princess costume DIY.
In Part 1 we created the costume pattern; today you sew it, start to finish.
Start here: Indian Princess Costume Part 1
Today, we’ll cut and sew the dress for our little Pocahontas princess.
Cutting the Pocahontas Dress
These are the supplies you need for the dress:
- Polyester suede in your color choice, 60″ wide and the length you wish the costume to be, plus 1/4 yard.
- Any trim you want to use. We used a wide turquoise rick-rack. Each dress uses about 3 yards of trim.
- Rib knit for the neckline (24″ x 2″); or cut neck facings out of the suede.
- Matching color threads and fabric chalk.
- Beads, feathers or sequins. (Make a headband with the turquoise stretch you use around the neckline. Place beads on the end. Tie it around the head and tuck feathers into it.)
This is how to lay out the fabric and the pattern for cutting
After cutting out the fabric with the pattern, you will make these marks on the fabric:
Sewing the Pocahontas Dress
The next step is sewing the Pocahontas dress Front and Back to the Yokes.
Lay the pieces, right side up, on the table. Place the Yokes at the top end of the Dress Front and Dress Back. The white chalk stripe between the dots on the yokes is where the top of the dress will meet the yoke. Use your fingers to feel the edge of the dress tops, and pin the top at the white chalk mark.
You will not sew on the chalk line, but 3/8″ below it, catching the yoke and dress parts together, sewing from armhole to armhole.
This suede fabric does not need edge finishing, so you don’t have to worry about the edges of the armhole openings.
Adding Trim to the Pocahontas Costume
It’s easiest to add the trim at this point, before the whole dress is sewn together.
Use the chalk marks as your guides and sew on the trim.
Sewing the Pocahontas Dress Together
It’s time to sew the Front Dress to the Back Dress.
Lay the Back Dress right side up on the table, then place the Front Dress on top of it, with the right side to the inside. Pin along the shoulders, matching the necklines and the trim. Sew a 3/8″ seam along the shoulder edge, stopping where the trim meets. This leaves about 3″ of shoulder seam unsewn, which will become fringe.
Match the sides of the Dresses together, lining up the underarm openings with the trim on the bottom of the dress. Sew a 3/8″ seam from the underarm to the rick rack. Leave the seam below the trim unsewn, as this also will be fringe.
How to Cut the Fringe
Turn the dress right side out.
You’ll have about 3″ between the rick rack at the yoke and the bottom of the yoke; and the rick rack at the bottom of the dress to the hem edge. (You won’t need to hem this dress, as this fabric is self finished.)
If you think you need it, draw chalk lines onto the fabric about 3/8″ apart, from the bottom edges of the yokes and hems, to just below the rick rack. Cut these marks.
I didn’t mark my fringes, and I didn’t get them all straight.
But when a Pocahontas is running through the “forest,” who can see whether a fringe is straight or not??
To dress up the Costume even more, add beadwork or sequins or lacing. Your imagination is your limit.
My niece slid a bead up every other fringe on her costume, and that was a very elegant look.
I like bling, so I sewed sequins onto the rickrack on my grand daughter’s dresses.
Sewing the Neck of the Pocahontas Costume Dress
Now we just have one last finishing touch. The neckline.
You can make a self facing from the suede fabric, but I wanted a little more turquoise on the dresses, so I used turquoise rib-knit. This is a super simple way to finish any knit garments, and makes it so easy to pull over the head without zippers or buttons.
The best finish happens when your rib-knit collar is about one inch shorter than the neckline of the garment (do not use seams in your neckline measurement). Be sure you have a couple of match points, so the collar stretches evenly. I use the center back and center front as my match points. The seam of the collar goes center back, then I match up the center of the rib-knit collar with the center point of the dress front. Stretch the rib-knit between these match points and pin. Sew a 3/8″ seam. Leave the edges raw, or if you wish, sew with the serger.
Flip the collar up, and the rib-knit nicely molds around the neck opening.
Yay! You did it! The Pocahontas Costume dress is done.
For my grand daughters’ occasion, I sewed little purses to hang from a waist belt, and made moccasins and headbands.
Have fun sewing your little Princess a Pocahontas dress!
More Sewing Tutorials on the blog:
The Madeline Dress My Way: Sewing for G’Littles
Pattern Binder DIY to Organize Sewing Patterns
How to Make a Bow-Edge Fleece Baby Blanket
How To Make A Peter Rabbit Outfit For Mr. McGregor’s Garden Baby Shower
