Moana Costume

My little girl is now 2.5 years old and around turning 2 discovered the greatness of movies.  Before 2 she had no interest in anything television, so it took me by surprise when she expressed such a huge interest in the movie Moana by Disney.  Interest turned into obsession (you know, watching it three times a day) and I just knew what she had to be for Halloween.  I thought about buying a costume, but they had nothing in her size, so you know what comes next.  I spent a long time searching for fabric on etsy that "matched" or at least came across as the same as how the outfit looked in the movie.  I actually feel like I really lucked up with my prints.  You can see the three prints below, all purchased on etsy, all designer quilting cotton.  I bought a ball of cotton crochet thread and proceeded to make 20 tassels (my estimate of how many I would need.) 

This was the stage I was at when I made my fourth quarter Finish-A-Long list.  Fabric purchased and tassels made.  I also had purchased the necklace to make the look complete.

The top was a simple tube top that I wanted to add straps to and I knew I wanted it adjustable so she could wear it as play clothes for years to come.  In the end I used the Made for Mermaids pattern, Alyssa Top, Tunic, Dress & Maxi.  Though I changed a lot, I was able to use the basic pattern/measurements to figure out how big to make this top for my daughter.   I gathered the back with elastic that has button holes in it (what is that stuff called) and added buttons to the sides and now it is completely adjustable and will expand quite large.  I also added buttonholes to the long straps and buttons to the back and now the straps are adjustable too.  I had some trim in my stash that matched the crochet thread perfectly and I sewed it to the front of the top to mimic the detail that was in the outfit from the movie.  I was pleased as punch.

The skirt however was a different story and was just really a lot of trial and error as I didn't use any sort of pattern.  I measured my little girl's waist and how long the skirt should be.  The top layer or sand colored fabric had to do this funky wrap around effect and then the bottom "straw" layer was more of a traditional skirt.  I used the same technique as the top and had the back gathered using that same elastic with buttonholes, so this skirt expands quite a bit.  I made it longer than I would have liked to accommodate her getting taller throughout the years.

As far as all that trim goes, and I know it looks complicated, it really wasn't.  I went to Hobby Lobby in hopes of finding some sort of pre-made trim that would work and was about to leave empty handed when I walked past the floral ribbon section.  They had this crocheted flat 3" ribbon/trim that I realized I could fold and then sew to create the triangles, which is exactly what I did and it worked even better than I imagined.  I then attached all those tassels I had previously made.  The zig-zag trim on the top layer was some random crochet-like thread that came in a bundle so I just used the entire bundle and pinned and then sewed straight lines right on top of the trim.  I sewed two lines on the top and bottom to hold it in place, it isn't perfect but creates that hand made look.  For the large "flowers" I just drew a design on paper and then used a fusible webbing on the back of a Kona cotton, fused it in place and then stitched 1/4" away from the edge (I wanted fraying) to permanently hold it on.  It took a lot of manipulating and trying to figure it out, but in the end I think it turned out fantastic.

Here is the finished costume.  What do you think?  I love it and so does my daughter.  I was really happy with how close it looks to the original but without being an exact copy.

Below you can see my little model.  Since my little girl has very little hair we added a "wig" to mimic Moana's flowing locks and she wore it for the photos and then ripped that fake hair off her head.  It totally looked like a rat's nest. HAHA.

This was my first finish of my fourth quarter list, which can be found HERE.  I'm hoping to have one more finished by Christmas (those Christmas pajamas) so I better get cracking.

You guys still have plenty of time to finish stuff up before the last link up of the year opens December 31st.  I hope you will have some finishes to link up.

Merry Christmas and I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Holiday season!
Marci