Making Dresses – Fabric, Patterns and Sewing

Not having much experience in making clothes except a few odd alterations here and there my determined head chose for me that I must learn a new skill. In the film Ponyo all she ever wears is a little red dress with puff sleeves and pair of white bloomers so in theory that is not too much to sew together. Because I am fairly new to this I decided to scour the internet for dress and bloomer pattern templates until I could find some that suited her best.

Fabric

During lockdown I had ordered a few fabric samples from Fabric Land as it was closed due to lockdown restrictions. I got a few different reds and whites to choose from and ended up with a plain cotton/polyester red meter of fabric and instead of just plain white I got white cotton with embroidered flowers on; I thought that the embroidery would add a little interesting detail and adds something interesting to my new interpretation of Ponyo's character.

Bloomers

Bloomers are comprised of two pieces of fabric which are relatively easy to sew together. I followed this video below using a similar but different pattern by Martha Stewart which was designed for a baby.

Dress

The same as making the bloomers I have found an appropriate dress pattern that would work for Ponyo however the smallest size is for a 12 month old baby so for this pattern to work I must scale it down. Ponyo when assembled will stand around 53.1cm tall and so this is around the size of an average 1 month old child however due to the fact she is a scaled down five year old she is more rotund around the middle than a 1 month old. Once I have the armature put together and wrapped in foam I will be able to take my own measurements and adjust the pattern accordingly.

The dress pattern includes the sleeves of the dress however in the film Ponyo is seen wearing a dress with a collar, this can be rectified however as I can simply measure her neck and cut out a similar shape as to the one below.