Fairy Tale Magic - Beauty and the Beast; Snow White
Costumes and Photography: Rachael Alcon
Beauty and the Beast & Snow White
Welcome to day one of Fairy Tale Magic Week at Little Lizard King. Every day this week we will showcase a character inspired costume created with LLK sewing patterns.
Our team of sewists have tailored a full collection of ensembles reminiscent of childhood favorites. As children, we all marvel at enchanted stories and magical fairytales that transport the ordinary into extraordinary. We hope you will find a creative spark from these spectacular costumes to help make your design dreams come to life!
Each character-inspired silhouette is inspired by fairytale castles, true love, magical mirrors, and sweetly singing birds.
Belle
“There’s something sweet, and almost kind..”
Our Venice dress is a perfect pattern for capturing the beauty and the spirit of Belle. For the sake of authenticity, this ballgown features a gathered bodice with red jeweled embellishments. The stunning maxi skirt was crafted in gold satin and paired with an overlay using 7 layers of tulle.
Rachael effortlessly channelled Belle in this pale yellow gown and half-up, half-down hair. She quartered the overlay skirt and sewed a gathering stitch down half the length of the skirt at each quarter mark using a long narrow zigzag stitch to secure the gather in place. The hand-sewn fabric has an elegant drape, and red roses added at each gather point provide an extra pop of drama.
For the exquisite lace-up back, Alcon used two separate ties - “special occasion” and “everyday”, and stitched one on top of one other. The special occasion ties were left loose at the shoulders, to fabricate Beauty’s famous off-the-shoulder look.
The Camden leg warmers were a perfect base for fabricating princess gloves. They transform simple into special, with elastic loops that easily fit over a finger.
This royal gown truly looks like it leapt off the movie screen and into real life. Now Belle is ready to whirl around the ballroom and dance with her Beast before the last petal falls!
Beast
“She glanced this way; I thought I saw
And when we touched, she didn’t shudder at my paw...”
An enchantress turned a handsome prince into a terrible beast. For our noble Beast, the Madison coat was an obvious pattern choice. The animal ear pattern pieces were crafted from fuzzy faux-fur with a matching hood. Navy twill cotton was used for the coat with a strong ribbon-trim detail.
Scraps of faux-fur were worn on the hands with finger holes cut in them, and faux-fur was added on top of the shoes for a beastly effect. With a simple change from fabric to fur, Madison is readily transformed from everyday wear to a villainous ensemble. Paired with our favorite Oakland pants and a scrap of lace for an ascot, our handsome Beast was ready to treat Belle like a very special guest.
Pattern: Madison
“Remember, you’re the one who can fill the world with sunshine.”
Snow White
“With a smile and a song
life is just like a bright sunny day..”
We may not get to be a princess in real life, but we can certainly dress like one!
Snow White wears one of the most celebrated styles. To recreate this princess design, Rachael tucked magic into every element of the legendary dress, The bodice was fashioned in a gold studded velvet using the Kensington pattern. The beautiful sleeves were created using Westport’s banded puff sleeves, embellishing them with a touch of vibrant red ribbon before assembling.
Snow White´s collar was constructed with the squared collar option from the Kensington pattern with added height — simply cutting the outside edge of the pattern piece two sizes larger. Stiff interfacing was added for support and then sewn to the back of the bodice. This princess looked liked she stepped straight out of a fairytale in her hand-crafted dress.
Princess style takes innovation, skill, and a keen eye to incorporate all the things a fairytale dress requires. For true elegance, our sewist added four inches of length to the Kensington skirt, using yellow satin and 5 overlays of gold glitter tulle for a fuller look.
A red satin Lenox headband and cape pattern were the finishing touches that perfected this enchanted costume. The lining and hood were omitted, and she used a narrow-rolled hem on the delicate red chiffon. The end result truly makes Snow White the fairest of them all!
Patterns: Kensington, Westport, Lenox headband, and Cape
See our free Belle, the Best and Snow White coloring pages featuring these amazing costumes.