Sophie Hatter Cosplay Tutorial; Pt 3: Say Yes to the Dress

I got most everything from Amazon. 

The dress

The hat 

( I didn't get any close pictures of this,) but I hot glued three fake berried that I got at the local craft store onto the hat. 

I got my shoes a few years ago so I wasn't able to find the pair that I wore, but I also ordered them from amazon. Any plain pair of boots would work great. 

The dress arrived not long after the wig which was really great. I tried it on when it arrived and it was just barely to small for me towards the top. So I was either to adjust it or order a completely different dress. I ended up deciding to adjust it. 

I went to Pinterest to help me find ways to make it slightly bigger towards the top. I found lots of different solutions, but found one that I really liked and was excited to try. The solution I chose was a lace up back with panel inserted into the dress. I found pictures and then kind of expanded on the idea myself. 

For this I needed:

Extra fabric that was a blue as close I could get it to the fabric of the dress. I got a couple of yards at the local Walmart. 

Blue ribbon similar to the dresses color. 

Liquid stitch, I used this rather than actually sewing it partly because I was on a very close time constraint and partly because I didn't want to be able to see the stitch at all. 

Blue thread

Here's a picture of the thread I used, It was slightly darker than the fabric just because I felt it looked good, but you can choose any color.

• Step 1: The first thing I needed to do was take some measurements. I had my sister help me with this part because I needed the back of the dress measured. We measured (with the Sophie dress on,) from the bottom of the zipper to the bottom of the collar that goes around the neck. Then from one side to the other from top to bottom. This gave me an idea of how I needed to cut the fabric. I cut the fabric in a slightly rounded triangle using the measurements and checking how it was on the dress every so often. 

• Step 2: After the fabric was cut and ready to go, it was time to put it on the dress. I didn't want the liquid stitch to leak through so I put a box in the dress where I was glueing so I would also have a sturdy workplace for checking it, etc. I also glued it on the inside of the dress so that it would be less obvious if something was a little wonky. This process took only about a day which was great. I was also super surprised how well the liquid stitch worked. I wasn't worried at all that it would come off.

• Step 3: After the fabric was on the dress it was time to add the lace up part of the dress. I'm sure there are probably better ways to do this but I ended up stitching pieces of ribbon together, just big enough for the ribbon to lace through. I stitch a bunch of these individually to reinforce them. Then I sewed them onto the dress. If that makes sense.

At first I was iffy on weather or not I was going to like this, but it really grew on me. I really loved it just because it added something unique and interesting.

I tried it on and realized it needed another set in between the bottom two sets. So I actually added these the night before the con. It was fun, I stayed up really late to get it done, haha.

• Step 4: So after I finally finished the dresses back it was time to add the lace up part. The only trouble I had with this was that when putting it on I really have to loosen the laces out so that I didn't get makeup on the dress. Other than that this worked perfect!

• Step 5: Another thing I did just to be sure everything would go smoothly at comic con, was I reinforced some  of the buttons on the sleeves. Up close you could see the stitch, but I liked it. Also I was scared the buttons would fall off and I didn't want that to happen.

• Step 6: So the one thing I didn't get pictures of was the hook and eye thing I had going on around the neck. You can kind of see it in some of the pictures above, but not very well. I basically did a guesstimate of a small piece of fabric that I then sewed the hooks onto. Then I sewed the eyes onto the dress itself, so that I would have a little more room.

• Step 7: One of the last things I did was straighten out the apron, which was creased super badly. I fixed it no problem by putting it the dryer with a damp towel on a lowish setting. This fixed it after a couple of rounds through the dryer.

I even got posted on the cons social media which was super cool!

I hope you all enjoyed my Sophie Hatter cosplay tutorial! I had so much fun making this and bringing the character to life. I also have had a lot of fun writing these posts and sharing with you all!

Tell me what you think and any suggestions for future cosplays! I would love to hear y'alls thoughts!

Thanks so much and talk soon!

-Syd