Go From Movie Inspiration to Reality

Have you ever watched a movie and thought, wow, I want that dress or outfit? Have you thought that it is too hard to figure out how to make your inspiration outfit? I’m gonna show you the steps to take your inspiration into reality and make your own!

When my daughter first watched Spirit Untamed; she declared she wanted Lucky’s dress from the end of the movie, the one Lucky wears to the festival, as her birthday dress.

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step 1 – analyze the inspiration

Get a picture of your outfit that you want to recreate, and study it’s lines and features. What features stand out to you, what drew you to the outfit in the first place? List out everything you have observed and mark the ones you want to preserve.

In my case, Lucky, the main girl, gets dressed up for a festival in her late mother’s dress that her aunt takes in to have it fit. The dress is a pretty purple with a high low hem with tall ruffles. It features a fitted bodice with a ‘V’ shaped flounce that goes around the front and back. There is a sash that goes with the outfit, but we’re omitting that here. The fabric is drapey/flowy because it bounces as she walks.

step 2 – find pattern to match inspiration

Next you want to search patterns you already have that will give you the silhouette you are going for. Remember you can mash different patterns together to help you out. Of course, if you still don’t have the right pattern, you can do a search with some keywords. Sites like PatternReview.com can give you reviews on what to expect from a pattern.

The fitted bodice in this case normally wouldn’t have been an issue, but I didn’t have to worry about zippers getting caught on the back flounce.

I had just finished making Lilli a Love Notions Girls Tempo Sundress (you can see that one here). This dress had a slightly fitted bodice and a shirring panel in the back, which meant no zippers! Perfect! I could sew the ruffles straight on to the shirring panel.

The Tempo skirt on the other hand, didn’t quite match with what we wanted. The skirt looked like some form of a circle skirt (probably half circle) and the Little Lizard King Manhattan fit the bill.

step 3 – determine modifications

Do you need to modify the patterns you have picked out to better match the looks? Or add something more to finish off the outfit? This is the time to think about all the modifications (not just size and fit) but also ones that might change the lines of the patterns or embellishments that you will want to add.

The waist and flare on the skirt pattern worked well with the look, however, I had to modify the hem to be a high-low hem. While the pattern already has a high-low hem feature, I needed a more drastic one.

First, I had to determine the height of the skirt based on where I wanted the skirt to reach on Lilli then subtracted 6″ for the hem ruffle. I came up with 6″ looking at the proportions of dress to girl – the ruffle started just above her knee and dropped below the knee. I measured that amount on my daughter to get 6″. Now, because I used two different heights for the front and back, I had to adjust the side seams to match up. The front hem looked like an upside down U.

And of course, the bodice had a flounce – I estimated that to be 3.5″ in height and to determine the length, I walked a measuring tape along where the flounce would go – then multiplied by 1.5 to give it some gather.

Size modifications: Had to shortened straps by 2″ and the bodice by 5/8″ based on Lilli’s height.

step 4 – fabric

Last but not least we need to pick out our fabric, which is just as important as the pattern. How does the inspiration garment flow? Is it intended for formal wear or casual? You can change the look of a garment simply by using different fabric. If for example you were making a pant suit – one made with a heavier weight wool would look very different from a pant suit made with rayon or crepe. Do you want to make the outfit look exactly like the movie, or does the shape of the outfit matter more? Oh and don’t forget trims if you need them!

For Lilli, she started off wanting the dress to look exactly like the inspiration. So as we were looking for a deep magenta/purple on Seweird Fabrics – Lilli saw this Riley Blake rainbow fabric and changed her mind. She wanted her dress to be rainbow instead. We decided on what color the bodice would be and what direction the rainbow would lay on the skirt. I ended up using all 3 yards of this gorgeous fabric!

As I was finishing the dress, I remembered a rainbow flower trim Lilli had begged me to get years ago from the fabric store. I hadn’t found a use for it, until now! This dress was perfect for the trim, and it was just what I needed to emphasis the high-low hem.

I know my daughter loves her new birthday dress!! And I hope I have helped you the next time you are looking to recreate an inspiration outfit whether it is from a movie or Pintrest!

Let’s talk in the comments – which movie outfit would you like to recreate?

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