A custom Disney Sleeping Beauty Rose (peasent Aurora) costume

For my sister's 20th birthday, she wanted a Disney costume party.  I knew who I wanted to be from the beginning, my favorite Disney character, Aurora from Sleeping Beauty.  My costume was easy to decide on, the Rose forest dress, but harder to find the exact pattern I was looking for.  I knew I wanted a black corset,  a nice flowing skirt, and a three-quarters sleeve collared shirt.  It couldn't be THAT hard to find right?

The Corset

There are a lot of corset patterns out there. I bought Simplicity 2966 Corset pattern over the other patterns because I was intrigued by the paper corset option.  I think someday I'll make one out of reused department store bags, newspaper, origami paper, or something.  I read the instructions and it looks very delicate so I may try additional techniques to make it sturdier. I've sewn corset like costumes before, but this was the first one I've made with boning.  That was 'fun' to work with but I kept at it and its totally worth it!

The Skirt & Blouse
I bought several different skirt and blouse patterns but ended up using Simplicity's Threads Collection 2758. Its very versatile pattern as it includes 2 different skirts lengths with different styles and 2 different shirts sleeve lengths with different collars.

I was originally drawn to this pattern because of the front pleats in the skirt, the sleeve gathers at the shoulder, and the full collar.  Those features were very similar to my inspiration photo from the movie.  When it got time to sew I started to change my mind. 

The skirt front pleats made sense when comparing it to the movie photo, but I didn't think they would look good on me so I chose the simple full skirt. I left off any embellishments like belt loops or pockets and just used the skirt and waistband pieces.

For the blouse I had wanted to use the full collar in a white to match the photo, but in real life I think it would be odd.  Who would wear a white collar on a tan blouse?  So I used the shorter collar in the same material as the rest of the blouse.  I used the shorter of the sleeves which ended above the elbow. I didn't include the sleeve ruffle but I added a snap on top to gather the sleeve tighter and make that elegant shape as shown in the inspiration photo. To close the blouse I used snaps instead of buttons because it left a nice finished edge.

The Accessories
Accessories always push a costume over the top.  For my Rose costume I found a darkly stained basket and filled it with 8 bunches of different colored fake berries.  I also found a pretty, somewhat lifelike, fake bird on an alligator clip that I could clip to my shoulder or my fingernail to make it seem like it was resting on my finger. 

The Hair & Make Up
I finished off the costume with a simple fabric black headband in curled hair. I then applied much more vibrant make up then I usually do.  I followed the movie's instructions in one of the songs "...lips as red as the red red rose..."  then added extra pink blush on my cheeks to seem more animated.

Like what you see?
Check out the matching Prince Philip costume how-to.  You can use this information to create your own costume or contact us to find out how to custom order your own Creative Tradition costume.