Belle's burgundy ballgown - Beauty and the Beast

Yes, it's another Belle ballgown and yes, I'm not tired of making them XDXD

Soooo I've been meaning to make this ballgown for quite some time now, but between a project and another I never really had the chance, until my friend suggested we wear "winter" princesses on one day at the upcoming Venetian Carnival and well, what best chance to make this dress than this one!
(True horror story 1: actually, we were supposed to match, both of us making the Winter Princesses outfits from WDW's Christmas parade back 3 or 4 years ago. I've seen yellow velvet for years at the indian market, but once I went to buy it it was sold out. Haha. So yes, this was actually a second choice XD It's not the only horror story related to this dress, btw XD)

I did like the movie version, but I'm mostly in love with the Parks' one, so my inspiration was that of the face characters starring in a Christmas special, I chose a burgundy velvet, and then gave it a bit of twist using embroidered and spangles lightweight indian cotton doubled with yellow cotton for the gold inserts
the skirt is an half circle in velvet + a quarter circle in gold, it's supported by a 5-hoops-cage and a tiered heavy cotton petticoat
The bodice fits awkwardly on the mannequin because it's supposed to be worn over an underbust corset, sorry about that xD it's a standard princess cut without boning, and it's closed with a concealed zipper in the back to reflect the style of the Parks The sleeves' ruffles are made with three tiers of crystal organza + 1 tier of embroidered cotton, all cut in full circle
True horror story 2: as you might know, velvet pieces needs to be cut all in the same direction to have the same colour all over (this is why the skirt looks marbled, bias and velvet make for funny colour renderings xD). I bought enough fabric for everything in Rome, went back home some 800Km away, cut the skirt, opened the remaining fabric and TERROR. A full metre of it was discolored. PANIC. I called the shope and they were willing to keep the metre aside for me, but they couldn't ship it. DOUBLE PANIC. I've tailored the bodice down to the millimeter to use as less fabric as possible, and in the end I manged to fit all the pieces in the scarce 60cm left xD Only one sleeve was cut on a different side, and i totally see the different colour because I'm focused on it, I only hope it's not as noticeable from the outside XD
All decorations and accessories (velvet roses, necklace and the tinsel hairpin not shown in the picture) were handmade by me, too
I'm making the matching cape, but pictures of that will come at a later time XD

Costume design&making by me XD
Photo&very poor editing by me XD


WIP and other pictures on Facebook and Instagram

 This work is not stock and is protected by creative commons - ask permission before using (chances are high that I'll say yes xD)!!