Introduction: Powerpuff Girls Costumes

About: I'm a UI/UX Designer living Portland and I love to sew in my spare time. I really enjoy making my own clothing and I recently have started getting more into cosplay!

Since the Powerpuff Girls are very stylized, we decided to do our own take on their outfits and create dresses that were more flattering for us!

We used a pattern for the dresses bodice (New Look 6589 Style D) since I had it already. I did have the alter the pattern slightly to fit each of the bodices properly. Once the bodice was constructed and lined, I measured the length of the bottom of it to draft each of the waistbands. 

I drafted the waistbands by creating a trapezoid shape with the top being the measurement of the bodice. Then I took the measurement from the bottom of the bodice to the natural waist to figure out how far the second line down should be. Then, I drew the second line (centered under the top line) and connected the edges with diagonal lines. After that, I used my hip curve to true the pattern. I did this for the both the front and back waistband pieces (the back piece is actually two pieces since we left a seam in the back for the invisible zipper). The waistband was also lined so I cut out additional pieces after drafting it.

The skirts are made up of 2 circle skirts (4 half circle pieces). We drafted them by taking our waist measurements and figuring out the radius of the inner circle and then using a string to mark the circle. Then we decided the length, added the radius to the length and then marked it again the same way around the waist circle. We used our normal waist measurement instead of halving it so we could gather the circle skirts at the waistband. The lining for the skirt is only 1 circle skirt made out of anti-static lining fabric with all seams serged as well as the hem. We sewed the four pieces together for each skirt (and then serged the seams), gathered it using a basting stitch the sewing machine, then we pinned it to the lining skirt and sewed the gathers in place before attaching it to the waistband.

Once the dress was mostly put together, I put in the invisible zippers in the back (only attached to the outer fabric, not the lining). After the zipper was attached, I sewed the rest of the back seam together using my machine. Then I hand sewed the lining down so the inside of the dress had a nice clean finish and added a hook and eye clasp at the top the of the zipper. I also hand sew where the bottom of the zipper meets the opening in the fabric so it can't twist around. After that, I serged the hem of the skirt and then folded and ironed the hem in place before top stitching.

Also, my shoes didn't have straps so I made some using stretchy faux leather! I just made a loop and then put it around my foot and shoe. The bow for my Blossom costume was one that I had made a couple years ago. For instructions, check out my bow tutorial!

Bubbles and Buttercup are my friends Ariann and Holli! Photos were taken by Tom Good!

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