Rapunzel (Tangled) DIY Sewing Tutorial

For my daughter's 3rd birthday, she was in love with Tangled so we decided to throw her a Tangled birthday party. To go with the party, I made her a Rapunzel dress for her birthday present. It is definitely the best costume I've made so far. She absolutely loved it.

I used Simplicity pattern 2065.

This pattern is perfect, but I like to keep the costumes looking similar to the original, so the light pink and purple weren't going to work. Plus, I figure those light colors will be quickly stained with how my kids play in their costumes. I went to downtown LA fabric district to get the supplies. I spent around $30 on everything. I choose a plum brocade for the underskirt and a matching lilac brocade for the bodice.

It was tricky finding a matching plum satin to use for the overskirt and sleeves. The one I used wasn't the easiest material to sew, but I made it work. It was a lighter weight than some others that I saw. This dress was fairly heavy once finished so I'm happy this fabric wasn't too heavy. I followed the pattern as directed.

I took these photos after the dress was complete, but the grommets didn't hold. I had to hand sew over the grommets to hold them in place. I haven't used grommets that often so I'm not sure if there is a better quality I could have purchased, but the ones I sewed were very strong.

I loved this light pink against the plum purple. I started with the middle ribbon and went outward. I didn't pin it that much at first and that was a mistake. It worked out better when I used a lot of pins. I remember in sewing class, my teacher really emphasized pinning. I sort of blew this off and lightly pinned on most projects. After many annoying mistakes, I've realized pinning is key. I now take the time to pin and it makes a huge difference in cleaner stitches.

I love this danty, cotton trim. I actually purchased this for $0.25 a yard in downtown LA! I attached it by hand since it needed extra attention and sleeve is delicate too.

These sleeves are beautiful and the material isn't scratchy. I think this dress could look amazing with the sheer sleeve and be a little more play friendly.

Here is the skirt liner attached to the mesh:

I was going to embroider the fabric but ended up buying iron-on pieces for the overskirt. They didn't stay on the satin material really well so a few pieces I had to stitch down. I found these at Joanne's and definitely a pricey addition. But, they looked great.

I found the trim in Joanne's $1 trim bin and got 2 packages.

The hair took a while to cut all that yarn! But it looked fantastic and was very sturdy. She loved having the yarn wig. We also had a purchased wig but she wouldn't wear it and it got "Tangled" really fast! This Rapunzel dress was definitely a hit.

Rapunzel Tangled Birthday Party

For my daughter's 3rd birthday, we threw a Rapunzel Tangled birthday party. I made her a Rapunzel dress for her birthday present and so she could wear it to the party. I will link to the tutorial once I post it.

Cake

I loved the idea of a cake tower but didn't want to put too much time into an actual cake. When I saw the donut cake idea on Disney's Spoonful website, it was the perfect fit. Aurora loved her donut cake. Some of the kids even ate the donuts! I made cupcakes for everyone in matching colors. I also included the figurines from the movie that I purchased at the Disney store.

Decorations

The party was at the park, so decorations needed to be easy and wind resistant. I found the purple and yellow striped fabric in downtown LA for $5. This made a great tablecloth. I used frying pans to hold the cooked hot dogs.

I found yellow lanterns at Party City to hang from the trees. I used the Rapunzel Kingdom Sun Banners from Paging Supermom. These are free downloads that you print, cut out and string up.

The Flynn Rider wanted dead or alive posters were a must! We put them around the trees near our tables.

Games

Get Tangled:

The Get Tangled game was a blast! I measured out even lengths of streamers so each child would have to unroll the same amount. Whoever finished wrapping their partner first won the game. We partnered the kids with one younger child (3-4) with one older child (5-7) and started with the little kids being tangled first. This way they could watch how the big kids wrapped them up. They absolutely loved this. Even when one set finished, they kept going until their partner was fully wrapped up.

Pascal Bean Bag Toss:

For the Pascal bean bag toss and the Snuggly Duckling ring toss, I used bean bag toss games. Two games came in the set and I covered both to match the theme. For the Pascal game, I used poster board and card stock to make it look like Pascal. The kids had 4 bean bag tosses to try to make it in.

Snuggly Duckling Ring Toss

For the ring toss, I covered the bean bag toss game with blue poster board to look like water. I got 5 rubber duckies and attached them. I already had rings, so we used these to try to make the rings around the duck. If I were to redo this game, I would put something under each duck to make it taller. It was really hard to get the rings to stay around the duck and they ofter bounced off. The kids had a great time trying!

Favors

As a family that loves art, I was excited about having watercolors as the favor. I bought the Rosa watercolors for $1 a set. The Crayola were $2-3 each which was a little too much for my budget and these looked just as good. I made a template in Word and designed this printout on cardstock. With glitter glue, I painted over the words "Rapunzel Paints" to add a little sparkle.

To go with the watercolors, I printed free Rapunzel downloads at the Disney website. I rolled them up and held them together with a strand of Rapunzel's hair (yellow yarn). I also found braided hair clips in many colors from the party section at Target and clipped those on. I told the kids when they arrived that they could go pick out their color and wear them if they wanted. Some of the kids opened their watercolors and started painting at the party!