Coolest Homemade Child's Queen of Hearts Gown

I made this Homemade Child’s Queen of Hearts Gown for my baby sister. She wanted a “poofy” gown with “TONS OF SPARKLES.” A typical description from an eight year old girl.

When I was her age, I had a store bought Queen of Hearts costume that I wore until I couldn’t get the zipper up anymore. It really made me want to give her something she wouldn’t EVER want to outgrow for Halloween.

This was a venture of love. I recently moved 2600 miles away from her, and couldn’t get accurate measurements for myself, so when she came to visit this summer, I made a duct-tape duplicate of her so that I could make her costume for the form, since I figured it would be a detailed gown that I didn’t want to risk being too small! She hated making the duplicate, but it SAVED MY LIFE with this project!

I drafted the pattern from the dress form, and made the entire gown out of velvet. I lined the entire dress in a yellow cotton that I had WAY too many yards of and made little “pillows” for big side bustles, to give her that regal look. The three-quarter length sleeves open up to look like hearts, too. I like QUIRKY.

The hearts are appliqued down the front of the dress, and the front of the bodice is hand-stitched trim. The standing collar is made with SUPER STRONG iron-on interfacing, which seemed like really heavy felt to me. I put piping in the edges of the collar and on the details on the sleeves. I happened to have pearl beads in my box of tricks, so those made it on the sleeves as well. The belt is velvet with red piping, and the “buckle” is a wood cut shape that you’d find in a craft store for $.50 which I painted gold and embellished with red rhinestones. I suggest a glue like e600 for longevity. Hot glue would definitely work, though.

I also made her crown out of polymer clay (it bakes in the oven, and has solved a great deal of these sorts of situations). It was painted, and embellished with resin gemstones. I also drilled tiny holes along the bottom of the crown to use to stitch the crown to the wig. I got a cheap “Little Orphan Annie” wig and styled it with hairspray and lots of bobby pins. When the wig was set, I stitched the crown onto the top center of the wig.

I also made her a fur-trimmed capelet/robe, which basically has a circular shape. The hand-stitching took a great deal of time. I stitched up a quick bag with the scraps of velvet and an applique test heart. I then boxed it up and sent it back EAST!

My sister did NOT want to take it off, and it was a smash hit with everyone. Not quite as good as trick-or-treating together but I’ve never endured a “Halloween Countdown” quite like THIS one before.