Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Princess Merida Costume: Inspired By The Movie Brave


It's October my friends and that means it's costume season!!  I've been saving this creation to share for Halloween.  Now that it's coming up fast, it's time to do a bit of a reveal: my Little Merida Costume.  Disney's latest princess movie, Brave, inspired the complete ensemble. And here is my little Princess Merida in all her Scottish-style, archer glory:
We saw the movie 3 times over the summer and fell in love with this independent Highland princess. Her feisty and determined personality is much like my own daughter's (heaven help me when she's a teenager like Merida!).  As we walked out of the theater the first time around, my designing wheels started turning on how to make a dress-up outfit for her to pretend in.

I modified a basic dress pattern to have the right length and shape, plus added a back zipper for easy dressing. I found the perfect blue-green velour and golden satin fabrics to get the color and textures right.  Some braided, pleather trim made the hip slung belt.
I wanted it to have the right details like the one in the film, such as the layered, suspended sleeves:
And the lace-up v-neckline with ruffled collar behind it:
A big part of the look is the full, wild red hair and, as many of you know, my daughter is a barely-past-bald toddler.  Needless to say, we needed a full-on wig to make her a fiery haired maiden. I wasn't about to go buy one, so after some searching online, I picked up some tips and made my own:
 Add in a $6 plastic archery set and she's ready to aim her bow:
My daughter was so excited when she first saw what she calls her "Mer" dress, but her first question was where could she put her arrows, so I made a quiver out of brown fleece to fit on the snap-on belt:
And as if the gown, quiver and hair wasn't enough, my little lady requested that I make her eyes blue too.  Well, I can only do so much kid, but thanks to the wonders of photo editing, I am able to make her wish come true in the photos.  There's no way I'm getting a 3yr old colored contacts, feisty girl or not!
My wee lass is looking forward to trick or treating in character and having a new princess outfit for playtime too.   And I love seeing our new favorite princess frolicking around the house.

I did take pictures of how I created the outfit and made the wig, but since those tutorials would take a bit of time to put together I'd want to make sure that would be of interest so I can make some time to do detailed write-ups.  So if you'd like to see those, just let me know below and I'll try to share my tips on how to get Brave on your own;)

UPDATE: My dress how-to can be found HERE and a full tutorial for making the yarn wig and quiver belt can be found HERE.

Sharing this with my FAVE LINK PARTIES too-
Click HERE to check them out!

58 comments:

  1. oooh, this costume is great! I love handmade costumes :)))
    In Croatia, we don't celebrate Halloween; we have Carnival season in february when we dress up, too. Over the years, I have made a lot of handmade costumes for my kids, you are welcome to check them out on my blog (so far I posted only 5).
    and, again, i loooove it!
    Ana

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    1. Thanks Ana. I'll definitely check those out - I hear Carnival is a lot f fun too!

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  2. This is absolutely adorable! Great work Mama!!! :) She looks like she loves it too. :) And we agree here, great movie!

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    1. She does Kristy - she's already worn it loads of times. Glad to hear it's a favorite movie over at your place too.

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  3. How creative! I haven't seen Brave yet, but I want to!

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    1. Thanks Jenna - it's definitely worth seeing. It's got a different vibe than the other princess movies so our whole family loved it (even my husband!).

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  4. Too too cute!!! would love to make it for my gr-daughter!

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  5. O-my-God O-my-God... she is the cutest little girl I have ever seen. The orange 'hair' and her big blue eyes make her look all the more adorable.

    Loads of love,
    Tanya
    http://tanyaanurag.blogspot.in/

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Tanya. The hair is hilarious in person when she's walking around!

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  6. Oh my GOODNESS!!! That is soooo CUTE!!!

    Thanks so much for sharing this at The DIY Dreamer... From Dream To Reality!

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  7. could you send me the directions on how you made this? my daughter wants to be Merida for Halloween.
    Thanks
    alysa

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    Replies
    1. I can't send directions, but I will try to do a post sharing how I put it together soon.

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  8. This is so cute! The wig kills me. I bet she's going to get a lot of compliments (and candy!) this Halloween! Stephanie

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    1. That's what she hoping Stephanie! The wig definitely creates smile and keeps her head warm too.

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  9. So cute! And here I went and bought my daughter one and then she changed her mind and wants to be a pirate :) well if she changes her mind again, I can come back here and get inspired.

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    1. Don't you love when they do that? My son was just the same this year. But this costume is great for dress-up too, so stay tuned for a little how-to:)

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  10. OMG so cute!! I think it turned out so great!!

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  11. Your daughter is adorable! And the dress and the hair are amazing!

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  12. My daughter is going to be Merida as well for halloween. Her costume is still in progress. . .I feel like I need to step it up because your already done. Your Merida costume is adorable!

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    1. Thanks Betsy and don't feel bad - I'm still scrambling to finish two costumes for my boys!

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  13. But how accurate is she with that arrow?

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  14. How cute! I have a princess costume in my shop right now.

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  15. WHat an adorable costume! I loved this movie :) I just linked up to your fabulous party. Thanks for hosting!!

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  16. How sweet! She looks so happy and cute! You did a good job, Momma!

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  17. This is fabulous, and your model is just adorable.

    Have a lovely weekend!

    Mal @ The Chic Geek

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  18. Oh my goodness! This is amazing. Amazing! I was thinking about making this for my daughter, but couldn't get around the hair problem. And you were like, "what hair problem?" It's so so good. I hope you'll consider sharing it at my costume/dressup linky party this week.
    Anna
    http://lassothemoon.typepad.com/lasso_the_moon/2012/10/dress-up-days-share-your-costume-posts.html

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    1. Anna - it definitely took some time to figure that out...I have plenty of "fails" on trying to make it curly. Thanks for making me feel like an all star on it though!!

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  19. amazing costume! So fun. Looking forward to the tutorial.
    http://bloomsnbugs.blogspot.com/

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  20. This is SO adorable. My 4 year old is obsessed with Merida now & I showed this to her. She approves! Great job :)

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    1. Melissa that is the true test - if it's kid approved I know I've gotten it right, so thank you!!

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  21. Thanks for linking up to last week's Tuesday Confessional link party. You've been featured and Pinned so head over and grab a brag button!

    http://www.craftyconfessions.com/2012/10/tuesday-confessional-halloween-features.html
    http://pinterest.com/craftyconfessor/tuesday-confessional-features/

    ~Macy

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  22. "sew" cute, love this creative costume. Thank you for sharing at the Thursday Favorite Things blog hop. Sorry It's taken me a while to get here and say thank you xo

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    1. Thanks Katherine - I always love sharing at your party:)

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  23. This is absolutely adorable! I haven't seen the movie yet but it looks good. Thanks for sharing at the Pomp Party! Hope to see you back next week!

    Also in case you are interested, I am hosting a costume contest. Winner gets over $150 in prizes. Would love for you to enter! Link opens Oct 13. See link below for details...

    www.createcraftlove.com/2012/09/handmade-halloween-costume-contest.html

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  24. I love this! Can you make me a adult sized version? :-D Thanks for sharing on Tout It Tuesday! Hope to see you tomorrow.

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  25. Fantastic costume and your feisty lass is too cute! Thank you for sharing this at my Make it Pretty Monday party at The Dedicated House. Hope to see your prettiness again next Monday. Toodles, Kathryn @TheDedicatedHouse

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  26. Sweetest archer ever. I love the wig. It reminds me of a Raggedy Ann wig I wore for several Halloweens until it fell apart.

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  27. Wow this is absolutely adorable! I still haven't seen the movie and need to get on that. I'm featuring this on my blog tomorrow!

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  28. Love the wig. It's wonderful. Looks so cute on her!

    Thank you for linking it up at the HALLOWEEN LINKY PARTY at http://www.finecraftguild.com/halloween-linky-party/, which will stay open till Halloween. Meanwhile a new 'general craft / DIY / home decorating' party will open later today.

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  29. WHAT A GORGEOUS DOLL BABY!! She's just so cute! The blue eyes are so sweet, but I bet she has some BEAUTIES on her own! You did a fabulous job on the costume. She will enjoy that for ages!
    Thanks so much for sharing!
    Doni

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  30. So freaking fabulous! You did an amazing job! Pinning and featuring tonight! Thanks so much for sharing at Mom On Timeout! Hope to see you back tonight!

    -Trish

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  31. Absolutely GORGEOUSLY, amazing! You did a great job! I LOVE it! Thanks for sharing at For the Kids Friday's at Sun Scholars. I'm featuring you this week, and I would LOVE for you to add a link to this on our Homemade Halloween Costume Blog Parade!

    http://sunscholars.blogspot.com/2012/09/2012-homemade-costume-parade.html

    I am sure hoping you share the how-to. If you do, please be sure to link that up at a future For the Kids Friday party so I can share it!!

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  32. Fabulous job, thanks so much for sharing on craft schooling Sunday!

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  33. CUTE costume! We haven't seen the movie yet, but I've seen plenty of advertising and I think you did a great job! Thanks for sharing over at my place. xo Jami

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  34. Cheryl, that is AWESOME!! Love the detailed sleeves and neckline - and that you whipped up a quiver for the arrows too!! I'd love to know how you did the wig too!


    Thanks for linking to a Round Tuit!
    Hope you have a fabulous week!
    Jill @ Creating my way to Success
    http://www.jembellish.blogspot.com/

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  35. my daughter wants me to sew her a Merida dress for dress-up, thanks for the inspiration :)

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  36. Hi Cheryl,
    I love her costume. She looks adorable. Thank you so much for sharing with Wednesdays Adorned From Above Link Party last week. This weeks Link Party is opened at
    http://www.adornedfromabove.com/2012/10/almond-sugar-body-scrub-and-wednesdays.html
    from Wednesday until Sunday.
    Hope to see you there.
    Debi Bolocofsky
    Adorned From Above
    www.adornedfromabove.com

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  37. Any news on a tutorial for the dress?

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    1. Both the dress & wig tutorials were posted last week, they can be found here:
      http://www.sewcando.com/2012/10/inspired-by-brave-princess-merida.html
      http://www.sewcando.com/2012/10/brave-style-merida-wig-accessory-how-to.html

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  38. Holy crap this is cute! I am featuring it on my blog today! Still writing it, but it will be up soon! www.girllovesglam.com

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