Knit Rapunzel Dress

So I posted about our Halloween costumes last time, but you know me, I'm always draggin' out every detail.  I hear all the time about how some kids can't decide what they want to be for Halloween until the last minute.  I was that kid.  I didn't really care what or who I was for Halloween.  It was sort of the day before/day of sort of gig and my Mom would put our costumes together and she made it fun and exciting so whether I was going as a fairy or an ant {true story: my grandma made us these shiny, red fire ant costumes and they were awesome and we wore them to shreds} I was happy.  Plus, at the end of the night, there was candy, so what's the difference, right?

Wrong.  Well, wrong if your Lila, that is.

Sometimes I wonder how this little girl is mine.  We are so different sometimes.  :)  

She announced on the day after Halloween last year that on the next Halloween, she was going to be Rapunzel "and Ezra can be Eugene and Madelyn can be Pascal."  And that became the unwritten Halloween law for this year.  I heard almost every single day of this year how Lila was going to be Rapunzel, Ezra was going to be Eugene, and Madelyn was going to be Pascal.  

So I've known for a long time what Lila was going to be and I knew that she wansn't gonna change on me.  When Lou commits, she commits.  As I thought about how to make her dress, I knew I wanted it to become a dress up so it needed to be comfy and something she could put on all by herself.  Not a traditional Rapunzel dress per say {though if I could have found one cheap on an after Halloween sale, I would have totally gone that route.} 

Lila and I watched Tangled together and drew pictures of the dress.  I had fun prepping with her.  Call me nerdy, but I actually like Tangled.  :)  I couldn't help but notice how Rapunzel's dress just kind of moves with her.  And ya I realize she's a cartoon {don't be a sass bucket}, but I wanted to make Lila's dress like that--so it would move with her.  

And at last I saw the light.  hehe. 

Knit.  Knit knit knit.  If the dress was made of knit, Lila could put it on like it was a t-shirt.  Easy cheese.  

It wasn't really an easy thing to design the whole thing from scratch.  You're kidding yourself if you think I'm going to give you a step by step.  :)  Maybe someday if I magically get the time to make other princess knit dresses.  But hopefully this could serve as inspiration.  It's mostly just a general idea.  {However, if you're looking for a fabulous tutorial, head over here to Make It & Love It where Ashley rocks the world with her mad sewing skills}

I had to improvise because I couldn't find exact Rapunzel color knit, but I started with: 

• one yard of purple dance costume knit
• one yard of soft stretchy purple tulle
• 1/4 a yard of pink
• 1/4 sparkly pink gauzy material
• 1/4 lavender knit
• leftover lavender tulle ordered from here.
• pink ribbon

And these were the pieces:

 I think the best part of this dress is that the bottom is a circle skirt--which means it's perfect for spinning.

 

I wasn't quite sure what I was doing the whole time, but in the end, it came together and Lila was happy. 

And that's really all that matters.  :)  She was in her little Tangled Fairyland all through Halloween.  And now she insists on wearing the dress daily.  That's true love, I guess.

Don't worry, we've already had a talk about not deciding what to be for Halloween quite so early next year.  :)