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The Snow Queen Ballet Dress
(click images to to enlarge)
Outline the story …
I chose Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Snow Queen”, a Dutch fairytale about the queen of snowflakes who spreads snow throughout the world. She is a harsh and uncaring woman who abducts a young boy after he is cursed by a demon’s mirror to only see the bad in the world. I chose to base my dress on the snow queen, but decided to create a romantic era ballet costume. I took inspiration from costumes of Marie Tagolini and Anna Pavlova, and the bodice is an altered pattern from Patterns of Fashion 1. I resized the pattern to fit my size, and altered the front piece to form a shallower V at the bottom. The skirt is a gathered rectangle skirt, with two layers. I used dark blue with ivory as on stage the blue would be less apparent, making the ivory stand out. The skirt is left plain so as to not interfere with the movement of the material.
Outline the construction…
Although I wanted the design to have basis in historical design, the construction method and fabrics were modern. The base of the bodice and skirt is a polyester crepe, and the skirt is layered in organza to provide poof and chiffon to both provide an airiness and as a reference to bodice trim, which is comprised of chiffon, and a mesh lace. The bodice is flat-lined in cotton fabric, and the unboned seams finished with a serger. The boned seams were finished with pinking shears and bias tape whipped to the lining fabric to serve as the boning casing. The bottom and top of the bodice were pinked, and then encased in bias tape. The waist seam was pinked in order to avoid extra bulk at the waist. The sleeves were finished with a turned hem. I hand-gathered the organza and chiffon down onto the crepe for the skirt, which itself was gathered to fit the bodice and then the bodice was sewn overtop. The chiffon, and lace on top were also hand-gathered. The bodice has six bones, two in the side back and two in the side front, and two at the center back to ensure that the back won’t wrinkle at the zipper. A satin bow is tacked at the center back skirt join in an effort to hide the waist seam doesn’t meet evenly.
I love the story of the Snow Queen too! Such a pretty lace at the neck.
I love the neck line of your dress and the lace you used! Also the color palette is just the right choice for the Snow Queen. The dress is really pretty and suits you well!
Love this neckline on you! And that skirt looks so flowy, it’s lovely♡
So much loveliness, craft, choice of materials! That tiny bow is just the cutest. And it’s so beautifully finished you could probably wear it inside out!