Belle of the Ball 18" Doll Dress

Bonjour! With the new "Beauty and the Beast" movie in theaters, what little girl wouldn't want her doll to dress like Belle? This dress is based on the older, animated version of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" and was made from pattern Simplicity 1581. (I found this pattern of the new version that includes a doll dress at Hobby Lobby and it was on sale for 99 cents.It's currently back-ordered on the Simplicity website.)

As with most doll clothes patterns, it was a little short on instructions, but everything worked out fine in the end. I omitted the ribbon trim at the bottom because it looked bulky and Belle didn't have any on her dress;) I didn't love hand sewing the covered buttons to the drape on the skirt, but I'm impatient. I think they look cute though. I was going to do ribbon roses, but this fabric is more of a gold yellow and I couldn't find anything to match. Everything was made from scraps in my overflowing bins, but the main dress fabric is a washable satin and the matching lace is washable as well. There are some shoulder straps on the pattern you can't see in this photo because of the lace. There is also darling slip underneath that's hard to see, but really easy to make. If the little girl in your life needs a Belle dress for her favorite doll, please be my guest!