Making Princess Jasmine's Costume

When I was in my late teens, costumes were my most common sewing projects. I made various historical garments from different time periods, some of which were even made from original patterns from the time period. Most of them were rather elaborate and made from exciting fabrics with rich trims. As my time and budget for purely creative sewing has diminished drastically over the years, my sewing has become focused on making clothes that are useful and cost effective. It would be a conservative guess to say that I haven't made a costume for myself in over ten years. 

That all changed at the end of last year when I came up with the idea of having a costume party for my birthday. I think I was inspired by finding a sari length in my fabric stash and imagining what fun things I could make from it. After watching Aladdin a few times and falling in love with Princess Jasmine's costumes, I chose to recreate her purple dress. It features the iconic, huge harem pants and a little jacket top but is modest and interesting.

I decided to make the outfit in three parts; the pants, the jacket and the bodice with train attached.

I had a large piece of hot pink polycotton in my fabric collection, as well as a very full pink skirt made for a costume that I wore in my late teens. I bought some gold and blue trim and some gold fabric for the jacket. I also bought some pink tulle to use with the pants to help the purple sari fabric blend in with all the hot pink.

I used the bodice pattern from Simplicity 1803 to start drafting Princess Jasmine's bodice. I lengthened and dropped the waistline and added the V shape seen in the images above. I also moved the structural seam lines of the bodice to bring them to a point in the front. I then drafted a fitted peplum to attach to the bottom of the bodice as the belt. The initial drafting and fitting took a bit of work to get the fit just right... nice and firm, but not too tight! I then cut out the bodice from my fabric and started sewing. The long train skirt was attached into the lining of the bodice.

The little jacket I drafted off another pattern, though I can't remember which one now! It must have been a simple bodice with a princess line seam. This also took a couple tried to get the right shape and fit. Looking back, I think I would have made the jacket another inch or so longer as it still didn't quite fit right. This is where I used my beautiful gold fabric and blue trim. I love the way the neckline is shaped and the little golden sleeves.

The full harem pants were drafted from a simple ladies long pant pattern with a gathered waist. I used this pattern to make the lining of the pants and then gathered very large semi-circles of the sari fabric over the top to create the puffed pants from the movie. My pants probably aren't quite as big and puffy as Princess Jasmine's, as I was limited by the width of the sari. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with them. They are comfortable with elastic in the back section of the waistband and so much fun to wear!!

Below are some photos of the costume in full. I'm very pleased with the combined effect and very much enjoyed taking another trip into the world of costume making!