The Return of the Ren Faire
- wingedmermaid
- May 10
- 4 min read
Updated: May 12
May means the return of the AGIG Ren Faire, a virtual event created by @fromauntheidi on Instagram. Last year was so much fun! All weekend long, I was checking the #agigrenfaire hashtag and marveling over everyone's creativity. Some people took different articles of clothing and created unique ren faire looks, some people used their favorite medieval or fantasy outfits, and some people sewed their own costumes!
Last year, I decided to sew my own costume and ended up with a medieval-looking fantasy gown, modeled by my sewing helper, Lizzie. I wasn't as good at sewing back then, and I remember each step taking so long to do. But over the course of the year, I continued to practice sewing and this year, I was feeling more confident than ever.
Let's Get Sewing... Again!
This year, I wanted to make something that was more like what you see at a typical ren faire. I'm not skilled enough to make an actual corset top -- especially with real grommets -- so I looked around to see if there was anything similar that I'd like.
While I was looking at different ren faire dresses, I stumbled upon one of the costumes featured in Walt Disney World's Festival of Fantasy parade -- the "Floral Maidens" that lead the Tangled unit in the parade. I absolutely LOVE how colorful and over-the-top these costumes are, and I especially love how unique the woven ribbon top is.
I decided to try making a similar top for my ren fair costume. Unfortunately, ribbons are pretty slippery and keeping the ribbons woven tightly together was much trickier than I had anticipated.
I kept thinking that the Tangled costume reminded me of something... but what? Then it hit me! With the ribbon bodice, white puffy sleeves, and tons of lace and ruffles, the parade dress reminded me of the Lady Lovely Locks dresses!
I didn't actually grow up with Lady Lovely Locks -- I think it was a little too before my time -- but I do remember seeing images of the dolls and artwork later and thinking how pretty they were! (And then recently, I watched one of the episodes of the cartoon... I'm not sure what I think about it lol...)
I decided to try again with the ribbon bodice idea, but this time matching the Lady Lovely Locks style of weaving. This proved to be much easier, but still a little tricky. I had to use several small strips of blue tape to hold the ribbons in place while I carefully tacked each section down with thread. Once I was happy with the placement, I sewed around the perimeter of the bodice center and tried to secure the ribbons in place.
The rest of the bodice took some trial and error. I basically used the same pattern as the top for the pink gingham sundress I made for Barbie, but with some minor tweaks. I was originally going to use plain brown fabric for the sides and back of the bodice, but when I came across some brown and dark brown diamond pattern fabric, I thought it would look good with the crisscrossed ribbons.
I had to pause on continuing to sew the bodice for a bit because I couldn't find any 1/4" brown bias tape. Joann's was basically out of all bias tape by then, and Hobby Lobby only had 1/2". Luckily, I found a place online that had exactly what I needed -- for this and for a future project. In the meantime, I made the Felicity hats, Lizzie phone case, and started working on Just Like You #7. I also started making a few mockups to figure out what color I wanted the skirt to be. I settled on yellow, and I think it was partially because in the back of my mind, I was thinking about Stitching the Standard, by Edmund Blair Leighton, one of my favorite artists.
Now I just needed a top. By this point, I was running out of time and faced with other life things that needed to take priority. I decided to buy a top and opted for Josefina's camisa. Unfortunately, I didn't factor in enough shipping time, so I decided to go with option two, Felicity's shift. It doesn't give the exact look I was going for, but it's not bad at all!
As a final touch, I added some charms and a fake glass bottle. The final result is a little hodgepodge, but I like it a lot! It's whimsical AF and Valletta wears it well!
I'm really happy with how the dress turned out! I definitely feel like my sewing has improved since last year!
Happy AGIG Ren Faire weekend!
But Wait, There's More!
Josefina's camisa (and her skirt, which I'll talk more about in a later post) arrived, and once it was clean and dried, I could finally put it on Valletta and complete her ren faire look! The camisa really makes the outfit! And honestly, even for such a "simple" piece, it's so well made, I think it probably took me less time to completely clean it than it would have for me to sew something just like it from scratch.
Maybe I'll use it in my design for next year, too! 😁
