So this little pixie absolutely adored her costume, and it was definitely the most labor intensive costume I've made to date. (This year's costumes are beating that record by far, though, so stay tuned!) Unfortunately I didn't take any in-progress photos or make many notes, so I'm just going to give you a general idea of how to design and make your own. I really wanted to play with the idea of a dress made out of leaves, so both the bodice and the skirt are pieced from multiple pieces that could ostensibly have come from individual leaves. I installed a zipper in the back to make it easy to slip on and off, and created a ribbon belt to make the waist adjustable. The entire thing is fully lined, including each pointy leaf on the skirt. Finally, there are clear adjustable straps to give the illusion of a strapless dress without risking the bodice slipping down.
Supplies
-green cotton fabric
-green thread
-wide green ribbon (2 1/2" or so should be fine)
-green zipper, or invisible zipper if you're comfortable installing one
-clear adjustable straps
-fairy wings
1. Grab a camisole tank top, leotard, or swimsuit that fits your pixie well. You're going to use it to rough out your pattern pieces for your bodice. Begin by measuring from the waist up to the place where the straps being on your tank/leotard/swimsuit. Next measure the width from seam to seam.
2. I knew I wanted the front of the bodice to be composed of two overlapping leaf pieces, so I used the measurements taken in step 1 to sketch out one such leaf shape, knowing that I wanted both leaves to overlap by a few inches at the bottom and separate at the top like a V-neck. (Ultimately, that V ended up being a little deep for my 6 year old, so I went back and added a little modesty panel out of a small triangle shape to bridge most of that separation. I would recommend making your bodice leaves wide enough at the top that your V-neck isn't too deep.) Cut out a couple of your leaf shapes from paper or even a muslin if you're fancy like that and lay them over your sample garment (or your model, if she'll stand still for you) to make sure you've got the shape, size, and coverage you want. Cut out 4 of these leaf shapes from your green fabric, making sure to add seam allowance all the way around. (If you've read any of my other tutorials, you'll know I've long preferred 1/4" seam allowance. Lately I've decided to give myself more grace with a 3/8" seam allowance, and I've noticed my garments are much cleaner now. Use whatever seam allowance you prefer.)
3. Take two leaves and sew them together around the curved outsides, right sides together, leaving the bottom open. Turn right side out and press, but don't top stitch. To really sell the idea that these are leaves, you're going to essentially embroider some veins on them. (I purposefully used a thread that was a lighter green than my fabric so that the veins would stick out.) Use a straight stitch with a long-ish length and make a vertical line up the center of your leaf, with some smaller lines radiating out from it at regular intervals. You can either sketch it first in chalk and stitch on top, or just freehand. Repeat with the other 2 leaf pieces. Now you've got 2 leaf pieces made of double your fabric thickness, giving them a pretty sturdy shape.
4. Lay your two leaves overlapping each other to form the front half of your bodice and pin. Top stitch on the top leaf as close to the edge as possible, all the way around the curve of the leaf, starting on the segment that is overlapping the other one. Then topstitch the bottom leaf, starting where the two meet and going all the way around the outside of the curve to the edge of the waist, again staying as close to the edge as possible. This way your top stitching looks purposeful and the garment looks more finished. (I had to add in my little modesty triangle at this point, because this is when I discovered the V was too deep. I just stitched right on top of the top stitching I had already done so it blended in and again looked purposeful.)
5. To finish the front of the bodice, attach your thick green ribbon across the bottom, leaving long enough tails on both sides that they can be wrapped around your pixie and tied in a bow in the back. Do this by laying the ribbon on top of the right side of your bodice, aligning the edge with the raw edge of the bodice. Sew them together, then open and press the seam up towards the bodice. Top stitch across the front of the bodice to hold that pressed seam in place. Finish the ends of the ribbon tails so they don't unravel.
6. Now you're going to create the back of your bodice. You want to create two rectangle pieces which will be attached in the middle by the zipper. Measure from about the armpit of your bodice down to the bottom of the attached ribbon; this is the height of each rectangle. The width of each rectangle will be half of the width of the bodice. Add seam allowances on all 4 sides and then cut out 4 of these rectangles from your green fabric.
7. Take 2 rectangles and lay them right sides together, then sew around 3 sides (the top and 2 long sides). Turn right side out and press, but don't top stitch. Repeat with the other 2 rectangles.
8. Attach the zipper in the middle of your rectangle pieces, and when you top stitch on the sides of the zipper, go ahead and extend that top stitching across the top. (Don't bother with the sides or bottom.)
9. I went ahead and embroidered veins into these pieces as well- again a vertical line up the middle of each rectangle, with smaller lines branching out at even spacing.
10. Place your bodice pieces right sides together, lining up the bottom edges. Keep the tails of your ribbon waistband tucked safely out of the way and sew up the sides, then turn out and press.
11. Now for the skirt. For simplicity's sake, I wanted the skirt to be composed of many triangles, all the exact same size, so I just had to cut out about a million of the same shape. In retrospect, they don't look very leaf-y, so maybe next time I'd do more of a curvy free-hand shape rather than triangles. Determine how many triangles (or leaves) you want to create your skirt. I made an identical front and back to the skirt, each with 5 triangles- a top layer of 3 slightly overlapping, and a bottom layer of 2 more peeking out in between the other 3. You want the height of each triangle (or curvy leaf-y shape) to be the length you want your skirt to be, and you want them wide enough so that you get enough coverage when you overlap them. Once you've determined a good size and shape, add seam allowance and then cut out twice as many from your green fabric as the number of triangles you ultimately need, because each skirt panel will be two triangles sewn together. This mean I needed 20 triangles all together, as I have 10 panels total for my skirt.
11. Take a pair of skirt panels and line them up right sides together, then sew across two sides, leaving the horizontal top piece open. Turn right side out and press. You will probably want to embroider veins on these panels as well, but I was running out of time, so I skipped that part. Repeat with every pair of panels.
12. Take the panels you need for the front of your skirt (in my case, 5 triangles) and overlap them to create the front of your skirt. Sew them together across the top. Repeat with the panels for the back of the skirt.
13. Place the front of the skirt and the back of the skirt right sides together, lining up the waist edges, and sew together at the sides. This will really only be a few inches of stitches total.
14. Lay your bodice on the table right side out, front side up. Take your skirt and lay it below the bodice the same way. Then flip the skirt up, so that the wrong side is facing out. Slide the bodice into the skirt so that the raw edges of each line up and the right sides are together. Pin and sew all the way around. Turn out and press the seam up. You can top stitch all the way around the bottom of the bodice.
15. Finally, you need to create some tiny loops of fabric to hook your clear elastic straps into. Place one at the peak of each of the front leaves, and one in the top middle of each of the back rectangles. Adjust the straps so that they fit your pixie and insert them into the loops. I had my pixie wear the straps in an X in the back to keep everything secure.
14. My pixie wore her leaf dress with green shorts underneath, and tights to keep her legs warm. She wore store bought fairy wings. Put your pixie's hair in a bun, using a bun maker or "donut" to create that distinctive shape. For some extra fun, spray on some "pixie dust" body and hair glitter.
Do you have any fairies in your house?
Much love,
The Geeks
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