Mirabel
When I first saw Encanto, although I struggled to keep up with the plot and the characters, I saw Mirabel (the protagonist) as a kindred spirit. Not only did she have curly hair and round glasses that did not get changed during some sort of makeover scene like so many movies before it, but she is crafty!
Her skirt is a thing of beauty, and as soon as I laid eyes on it, a welcome challenge. It was an opportunity to mix all of the yarn-based mediums in my arsenal, namely crochet, felting and appliqués and embroidery.
This project lasted many months, and is my second longest to date (topped only by Anna's ballgown).
I started by making her blouse. I designed the piece myself and even published a pattern complete with colourwork charts adapted to multiple sizes.
I began with a yoke-down t-shirt, and then added the butterfly frills on top. The blouse is made entirely of cotton to make it more breathable as it is in close contact with my skin.
The embroidery for the blouse was relatively quick (certainly in comparison to the skirt later on). I used a combination of satin stitches, running stitches and appliqués.
For bigger pieces, I drew them out on baking parchment, pinned it to the blouse and sewed through it - removing the parchment at the end.
To make the butterfly on her shoulder, I used a technique similar to making a pom-pom using a comb.
It is worth mentioning that for all of the embroidery on this project, I only bought 2 balls of wool. The rest came entirely from my own yarn stash.
I made this skirt using the Princess Circle Skirt pattern I had already perfected with my Ariel Kiss The Girl cosplay. The skirt has an elastic waistband with reinforced support from a ribbon around the waist
To try to mimic the dip-dyed look, I used 3 colours of yarn worked in horizontal sections, with a 4th colour for the frills at the bottom.
Although making the skirt took about 78 hours, the embroidery would be far, far longer.
Using tacking stitches, I sectioned the skirt into 16 equal parts, like on the diagram in the References chapter, and worked section by section. I then made 16 tassels and attached them.
I began this work in September 2021 and completed it in March 2022 (though I did take breaks and work on other projects over this period).
I bought a pair of cross-strap sandals on Shein to use as a base. Unfortunately, I could not find any espadrilles in my size.
I used crochet for the larger or more prominent designs which I glued on with fabric glue. For the other designs, I added them with fabric markers.
For the earrings, I took 2 industrial pom-poms attached by a piece of lopi yarn, and needle felted blue yarn on top of them. To make the bottom one appear thicker, I simply layered on more felt.
I then glued them to some clip-on earring bases.
I felt it would be shame to cosplay a character with glasses and not have those glasses be prescription. I learned of Zenni.com through the SheProp community and ordered some custom green glasses that match Mirabel and allow me to see where I'm going!
Patterns:
Blouse
Yarns used:
Ice Yarns Natural Cotton
