Winter 2014 DW Fashion Design Challenge: Entry #13: Newbie, Fluttershy

Entrant Category:
Newbie

Voting for the 2014 Winter FDC...

Starts On February 20th, 2015.

Voting Ends on March 13th, 2015.

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For the “animated character” FDC challenge, I decided that Isla’s blond and pink hair would look perfect with an outfit inspired by Fluttershy from “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.” However, I found Fluttershy’s Equestria Girls outfit uninspiring, and turned to Jane Bennet from “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries” for style influence. While not an animated character, Jane shares many traits with Fluttershy and her retro-inspired style was perfect for the outfit I had in mind.

For my design I wanted to create something with Fluttershy’s color palette of yellow, pink, and blue, along the lines of the outfits found in Jane Bennet’s lookbook, to make an ensemble that would be sophisticated yet work well for a casual outing such as walking the dog or going out for coffee. I settled on a yellow polka-dot sundress with a circle skirt and Peter Pan collar as the base of the outfit, and drew on various aspects of Fluttershy’s character to create the accessories. Since Fluttershy’s pet is her rabbit Angel, I modeled her shoes after those sold by Le Bunny Bleu, with the little rabbit face silhouettes on the toes. I also added a hat, sunglasses, scarf, and pin to help the outfit switch from formal to casual.

I started with the dress. I made it from a light yellow polka-dotted cotton, and made the bodice by altering the Liberty Lane tank pattern. Since I didn’t have a lot of fabric to work with, I drafted the skirt pattern to create a modified circle skirt. I also drafted the collar of the dress by modifying an online tutorial. This was my first time ever drafting patterns, so it was quite an informative (and sometimes stressful) experience. I added belt loops to the waistline of the dress and made a bow belt with a strip of pink patent leather.

The cotton fabric I used for the dress was very thin, so I added a slip to go under the dress. I drew heavily from the Melody Valerie Couture “Celandine” slip in terms of design, but since I couldn’t find a good pattern for it I made my own slip pattern by heavily modifying a Liberty Jane pattern. I made the slip from champagne colored charmeuse, which was light and silky enough to feel and look luxurious without adding bulk. I thought the lace at the top of the Melody Valerie slip looked perfect with the aesthetic I was going for, so I added some along with a few strips of brocade in a coordinating shade of champagne.

As always for me, the shoes were the hardest part. My goal was to create the simple classic Le Bunny Bleu ballet flats, but for some reason I had such a difficult time getting the shoes to fit just right. I made them from the same pink patent leather as the belt and some batik-print pink cotton, and added the trademark Le Bunny Bleu gold rabbit face and ring from a piece of gold faux leather. The gold leather was very hard to cut properly at such a small scale, but after several failed attempts I finally made a suitable pair.

In contrast, the rest of the accessories were easy to put together. For the sunglasses, I picked up a pair of Springfield glasses and painted them yellow to match the dress. I made the scarf from a piece of crinkle fabric in the exact shade of blue of the butterflies on Fluttershy’s cutie mark. I blocked the pillbox hat from cream felt, and then added a bow in pink and blue to match. To make the cutie mark pin, I drew out the three butterfly symbol and went over the outline in hot glue. When it dried, I painted it pink and blue and attached a pin to the back so Isla could wear it on her collar.

Of course, Fluttershy also needed a pet, so I made a puppy from a big pompom, three Czech glass beads, and some scraps of felt. I made the leash by tying embroidery thread in a friendship bracelet. The Starbucks cup was the only thing I didn’t make; I purchased it as a tree ornament and removed the cord and metal hanging loop.

A look at Isla’s day as Fluttershy: