We made this ice princess costume for my 10-year-old without using a pattern. Learn how with this tutorial!
Click to read also: Sew a Princess Coat
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Sewing an Elsa Inspired Ice Princess/Ice Queen Dress
What You'll Find on This Page
My youngest daughter has loved Disney’s Frozen ever since it came out when she was tiny. I love that, nearly a decade later, she still enjoys the show.
We’re living in England this fall, with very limited crafting supplies. But we do have a sewing machine! So we walked a local fabric store and bought what we could find to sew a Halloween costume inspired by Elsa’s Ice Queen dress.
How to Sew a Dress Without a Pattern
Now, Elsa’s actual dress is made out of very stretchy material. I had planned to use my fairy godmother dress technique to make this costume.
Unfortunately, we could only find non-stretchy, home dec weight fabric that was really intended for curtain making. But I am always up for hacking, so we made it work!
First, I had my daughter lie down on the fabric, and we cut a rough outline, leaving plenty of room. Because the fabric was thick and non stretchy and I am all for sensory friendly Halloween costumes, I opted for nice wide sleeves.
Next I added a zipper to the center back. My favorite hack for installing zippers is to glue them in with a washable glue stick (Elmer’s School Glue brand works fine!)
With the dresser’s zipper installed, my daughter tried the dress on, wrong side out.
We added a punch of pleats. See those pins halfway down her front in the bottom middle photo? I stitched a four inch seam along those lines. In the finished product it looks a lot like a princess seam, but it’s easier to sew!
Once I was happy with pleats, I pinned the neck using wonder clips (best sewing tool ever!)
Here you can see the finished base dress. The fabric didn’t fray, so I didn’t finish the hems on the sleeves or the bottom of the dress. Honestly, I wish I’d bought an extra half yard of fabric; I would have liked the dress longer, but we made do.
Adding a Cape Like Elsa’s
Now it was time to add on the cape! I stitched this fabric straight onto the dress, just at a couple of spots on the shoulders and again around the waistline. I left the edges of the cape fabric unfinished, too.
And there you have it! It’s not the same as the movie dress – the fabric for starters is all wrong. Fabric options changed a lot of design factors before we ever started sewing! But the color and basic idea is there, and I think she’ll be recognized as an Elsa inspired Ice Princess (or Ice Queen, if she decides to upgrade her title).
The best part about an inspired rather than a copied dress? She’s already talking about how she’ll use it as a princess costume in a play she and her siblings are working on! And she’s worn it just for fun several times already. Not to mention I had a little fun with Canva to make this post a little more magical :)
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MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
Good job with the Canva. It looks very natural.
Also, great job on the sewing project. Yes, ironing seams is helpful (from your comment on my post). It’s amazing how much you can do with just a few pleats and tucks.
I’m great at ironing seams for quilting. I think it’s my inner rebellious teenager voice that makes me skip it with clothing. But it’s definitely helpful!