Little Mermaid Gown Cosplay Progress: Part 2 - Design

Little Mermaid Gown Cosplay Progress: Part 2 - Design

While gathering ideas about the gown, I realized that this cosplay is going to to be a rather large endeavor. Luckily for me, I don't a specific event that I am intending to use it for so I don't have a deadline.

Pattern Selection

 For the base of the dress, I am plan on using the Simplicity 1728 pattern.

I have decided to use a combination of A and B in order to best match the Ariel's Park Gown. I will be using A's larger puff sleeves and then adding B's lower sleeves in a sheer fabric. I will document any additional changes along the way as I make the gown.

Material Selection

I am going to use the following image of Ariel's Park Gown to plan out my fabric selection. I haven't purchased any of the fabric, so my actual selection might change during the construction phase. 

From my reference pictures, I have gathered that the bodice and arm puffs are the same materials. The rest of the arms are a sheer material of the same color. For the skirt, it is broken up into three layers. The bottom layer is a sequin/glitter blue aqua fabric. The middle layer is fairly sheer and allows most of the sparkle to shine through. The middle layer is very close in color to the bottom layer. The top layer is a slightly darker aqua fabric which is also sheer. 

I haven't purchased any of the fabric, but I will document which fabric I use in the rest of my tutorials.

I checked out the back of the pattern in order to get the predicted quantity of each fabric.

Because of the differece in my fabric choices vs those of the pattern, I am going to need different quantities for the fabrics. I will list the actually used amount in the documentation of construction. 

Seashell Brooch

I decided to make the seashell brooch instead of buying it as well. I plan on making it out of InstaMorph, polymer clay or resin.

And that is my initial design. I am moving in the next week, so I will be holding off on starting the project until I have completed the move.