My daughter loves Katy Perry. Worships her. Listens to her exclusively. It because of this degree of undying love that I decided to make her costume. And it would be GLORIOUS. Katy Perry's cupcake tower dress is, in my opinion, one of her coolest costumes. So... I made an attempt at replicating it for a four year old.

Step 1: Gathering Up Yo' Stuff

A lot of things went into the making of this costume, so as a fair warning, this costume is not for the prudent budgeter... or one on a time constraint. There are ways to reduce costs, though, particularly if you have the items on hand.

For the skirt:

4 foam rings, available at craft stores. Two each in large size and a smaller size.
White fabric for covering the rings (I used two large white cotton T-shirts found at the dollar store)
Ribbon, in pink and purple. Wired ribbon works really well for this project. Lots of it. However much you think is enough, double it. (I used about 10-15 yards of purple satin ribbon, and maybe 80 yards of pink ribbon and tulle)
Thread for stitching
Cupcake liners (Because the rings had different depths, I used both regular sized and miniature liners)
One box of plastic christmas ornaments
One box of ping pong balls
Tool for cutting ornaments and ping pong balls (Dremel with cutting wheel, a sharp serrated knife or saw. Patience. A face mask.)
One tub of Model Magic Air Dry Clay
One really *big* bottle of Tacky Glue
Mixing stick, or a really sturdy and strong spoon
Piping bag and decorating tips (Can also use a Ziploc bag with the corner cut off)
Decorations for the cupcakes (Paint, glitter, sparkly bits to glue on)
Very strong glue, such as E6000
Elastic bands to create 'suspenders' if needed

For the top:
I have a seamstress friend who made my daughter's top for me, as I lack a sewing machine, but this can easily be made at home with or without a machine.

White fabric (This top was made out of Lycra, so as to provide a bit of stretch and give. The quantity needed will vary depending on the measurements.)
Sequins and sparkles in bright, rainbow colors
Pink fabric to ruffle for the trim

The top can also be made on the fly, with a white tank top, some fabric glue, and the pink ruffle and sequins, if you lack a sewing machine and/or do not wish to hand stitch.

Additional items:

Katy Perry wig, available through any costume provider
Maybe a toy microphone to bedazzle and glitter

Step 2: Let's Bake Some Cupfakes!

The cupcakes, or cupfakes as I came to call them, is probably the most fun part of this project. Before you begin, lay out the liners on the rings to test out the spacing and to see how many you will need in each size. Take the numbers and divide in half, and that is how many ping pong balls or ornaments you will need to cut.

Start by going outside with your cutting tools and your boxes of ornaments and ping pong balls, because this is going to be messy, and very likely smell extraordinarily bad.

Using the cutting wheel attachment attachment on your Dremel (if using) cut off the plastic tops to the ornaments, then cut the entire ornament in half to create two hemispheres. Then proceed to cut the ping pong balls in half as well. (Please note: Dust and other debris are flying through the air. Please take care to protect your eyes and nose.)

After that finished, take them inside and give them all a good paint job. I did 1/3 brown (chocolate), 1/3 pink (strawberry), and 1/3 white (vanilla). Once dry, glue them into the cupcake liners.

Your next step is mixing the "frosting" and then piping it onto the tops of the cupfakes. I followed this tutorial on YouTube for the mixing of the frosting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K2hi34WyCs

The steps are the same, but as I wanted to do a variety of frosting colors (and did not feel up to mixing half a dozen different batches) I opted to make just a plain, uncolored batch and paint it after it hardened.

If you are topping the cupfakes with anything (gems, berries, etc) before it fully hardens is a good time to add those on.

Step 3: Decoratin' Yo' Cupfakes!

The cupfakes will take 12-24 hours to cure, so once they are hardened its time to color them up and make them Katy Perry-rific.

Select the colors you plan to use. You can use any bright, bubbly, happy fun color you wish. Now is a good time to get crazy with your bad self. Proceed to paint the "frosting" using whatever colors you wish. Go wild.

You can also go back in and add glitter to the frosting as well, if you'd like. I opted to just paint another layer on top, and before it had dried, went crazy shaking glitter on top of the wet paint (taking care to match the glitter color to the paint color as much as possible.)

I would also recommend performing this part anywhere you don't mind glitter ending up. We all know that glitter has a way of making its presence known for years.

You can also go back in and add some "sauce" or something to the tops of the frosting. I did this just by taking my bottles of paint and pouring some along the base of the gem hearts so it ran down.

Allow to dry and add on any other decorations you wish.

Step 4: Four Rings to Rule Them All (Or: Assembling the Skirt Base)

Now that the fun part is over, now its the "fun" part. Assembling the skirt base.

You can do it the easier way, or you can do it the way I did it. I will provide instructions for both methods.

Both methods start off the same: Glue the rings together, in pairs. In other words, glue the two large rings together, and then glue the two small rings together. I would suggest using E6000 or something similar for this part. It dried quickly, and it dries strong.

The next step is to cut the white fabric to fit around the forms. Fortunately, cotton T-shirts are very forgiving and very inclined to be stretched and pulled into position. An easy way to do this is to place the rings inside the shirt, stretching the bottom of the shirt around the larger group of rings, and then cutting off the top of the shirt. This creates a ring of fabric with which to pull around and sew in place. Do it again for the smaller set of rings.

After this point, there are two methods to continue assembling the skirt base, that I will address in two separate steps.

Step 5: Assembling the Skirt Base: Method 1

Now that you have your fabric cut to shape, it is time to begin adding on the ribbons and sewing it all together. This method works better for those of you that have a sewing machine. Handsewing is also possible, though method 2 might work better for that.

Take your larger ring, with the fabric stretched around it. Mark the area that will have the ribbons on it, then pull the fabric back off.

Go ahead and begin sewing the ribbons on the fabric, making sure to pleat the ribbon so you can fluff it up. The skirt has one band of purple ribbon at the bottom, then pink the rest of the way up.

I put one row of purple satin ribbon, then 1-2 rows of purple tulle. Then I continued with one row of the pink ribbon, then a few more rows of pink tulle, then another row of the pink ribbon. The tulle was added in for extra volume, in addition to being cheaper per yard than the regular ribbon. The spools of tulle are much wider than the ribbon, so in order to get them about the same size, fold it in half, length wise, and begin sewing.

Once the ribbons are in place, you can sew the white fabric into place. Stretch it over the rings, and then simply whip stitch the seam along the interior. It doesnt matter what it looks like, nobody will see it.

Taking the smaller rings, stretch the fabric over the pair, and mark along the edge of the inner ring. This is for the waist band.

Go ahead and sew the pink ribbon along the waist, to create the pink waist band. I added in and sewed on two extra tails of fabric to tie into a bow at the back, but this isn't necessary. Then, whip stitch the fabric into place, creating a sealed, finished piece.

To attach the two rings together, simply whip stitch again along the inner circle of the larger pair, joining it to the outer circle of the smaller pair. You should end up with something looking like this.

Step 6: Assembling the Skirt Base: Method 2

Method 2 for the skirt base is different than Method 1, and is probably better suited to hand sewing. Keep in mind, though, that sewing this by hand (as I did) will take quite some time, so don't get frustrated if it feels like it's slow going.

To start off, take the rings, stretch the fabric for each pair over them, and whip stitch into place. It doesn't matter if it looks bad, it will not be seen by anyone.

Starting with the bottom tier, begin sewing the ribbon and tulle into place, making sure to pleat as you go so you can fluff it up. The skirt has one band of purple ribbon at the bottom, then pink the rest of the way up.

I put one row of purple satin ribbon, then 1-2 rows of purple tulle. Then I continued with one row of the pink ribbon, then a few more rows of pink tulle, then another row of the pink ribbon. The tulle was added in for extra volume, in addition to being cheaper per yard than the regular ribbon. The spools of tulle are much wider than the ribbon, so in order to get them about the same size, fold it in half, length wise, and begin sewing.

Then, move onto the top tier of the skirt. Sew on the waist band (a doubled-up whip stitch works fine). Feel free to add on extra tails of ribbon to create ties. These can be used to add a bow onto the back of the skirt. This step isn't necessary though.

Once all the ribbon has been added on, whip stitch the two tiers together along the inside. It should look something like this by the end.

Step 7: FINISH HER!! (Skirt, That Is)

Now that the skirt base is finally almost done, using whichever method you chose, it is time to put the finishing touches on it.

Even though the skirt has been made with the lightest materials possible, it can still be heavy. Particularly if the wearer's waist is much smaller than the innermost circle of the skirt.

To counteract this, you can sew two elastic bands to the skirt to act as suspenders and hold the skirt up without causing undue frustration on the wearer's part. The suspenders are made to go underneath the top, and will be invisible to the naked eye.

To do this, simply cut the elastic and sew one end of each onto the inside of the skirt, along the top. After fitting it on the wearer to test the elastic to see how much stretch will be created when worn, mark the location for sewing and then sew the other ends into place.

Once this has been completed, all that is left is to fluff out the ribbon, glue the cupcakes into place with E6000 (or similar), and wait for it to dry.

Congratulations, you have a cupfake tower skirt!

Step 8: Bling Bling: Top Assembly

The top for this costume can be made in two different ways. You can make the entire thing from scratch, or you can use some pre-assembled components to speed up the process.

From scratch, begin by sewing together a tank top. Patterns can be found online or in craft store, so find one you like and run with it. Sew on the ruffled collar and attach the sequins and rhinestones. The sparklies can be attached either by sewing them on or using glue, so you can use whichever method you would prefer.

If you would rather save some time, you can use a store bought tank top, and add on the extra bits and bobs the same way. Sewing on the ruffle, and attaching the sparkly bits.

Again, a sewing machine would probably work out best for this but sewing by hand is also feasible, if time consuming.

Step 9: Show Off Your Creation!

The final step is the easiest of them all... Deck out your minion in her sparkly attire and hit the streets!

Step 1 - Put on skirt.
Step 2 - Put on top and wig.
Step 3 - ?
Step 4 - PROFIT

(I strongly suggest some leggings or tights underneath the skirt. If your child is anything like mine, by the end of the evening she will be dying to climb out of her costume and sit down before you even make it home.)