How darling is my daughter in her DIY Lady Galadriel costume??? She has been so excited to be the “blonde elf girl”. I wouldn’t be surprised if she reads Lord of the Rings someday. And my husband, his heart is melting. Last year she was an adorable Ewok, and now Lady Galadriel. I’m pretty sure his nerd heart grew 3 sizes. And what does our 3 year old know about Lord of the Rings? Well she knows some of the characters. Gollum might be her favorite. (She loves singing Juicy Fish) And she hears her brothers talk about it while they play their Lord of the Rings Chess game. And sometimes she even pretends she can play too. But even with her limited Lord of the Rings knowledge she is so excited to be Lady Galadriel! And I love when we can make books and reading more exciting! (Click here for more tips to encourage reading!)
This costume was pretty simple to make. I was able to make most of it after she went to bed one night. She was getting a little impatient that I made a Gollum and Frodo costume first.
DIY Lady Galadriel Costume Tutorial
Supplies Needed:
- White material
- White Lace material
- Sewing machine
- Trim for the waist
- Silver craft wire
- Thread
- Zipper
First I measured the length I wanted for my dress. I chose not have mine drag and drape like Lady Galadriel because I didn’t want to worry about my daughter walking through the dirt. I grabbed a shirt of hers and tucked in her sleeves. I used her shirt as a pattern for her dress. I cut 1 Front piece in my white material and in my lace. I then folded this material in half to trace my back pieces. Leave an extra inch on your center back to add a zipper. Cut two pieces of your white material AND your white lace. My lace had beautiful edging. I positioned my pieces so the hem and the sleeve cuffs would have this decorative border. Bonus, I didn’t have to hem them.
Sew your back pieces together up the back seam. Make sure you lay your lace over your white pieces. Leave room for your zipper. I used a a 7” zipper so I left 7 inches from the top of my dress.
Next attach your front and back pieces at the shoulders and sides. Again making sure to lay your lace pieces over your white pieces.
I cut two bell sleeves on a fold, with the cuff of my sleeve on the edge to get that beautiful trim for my cuff. Measure her arms. I made my sleeves longer than her hands. Sew the sleeves together, with right sides together. Attach them to your dress. Repeat for your other sleeve.
Add your zipper reading the packaging directions or you can check out this tutorial. (She is the Queen of Halloween Costumes!) I then just turned over the neck line of both the material and lace and stitched.
I had her try on her dress to figure out where to sew her waist trim. I picked up this gorgeous trim in LA one time. I knew I would use it for something special. Isn’t it gorgeous? After she took off her dress I hand sew it one. I just had to hem my white material because of the beautiful edging of the lace. This particular lace required me to cut off part of the material. But it hardly took anytime.
DIY Galadriel Crown
There were some pretty hard core ways to make an Elfen Crown online. But I decided to keep it simple. I used craft wire I had on hand. (Back from when I use to sell Stampin’ Up) I googled a picture of Lady Galadriel to get a better idea of her headpiece.
I started with a large piece of wire and I started twisting it in the middle to make a “V” or a tear drop. The main thing is to make sure you mirror your design. So as I made loops or twists, I made sure to do that to the other side.
I repeated that first step with another piece and then attached it to my first piece. Feel free to add more wire. Sometimes I found it best to take little pieces to anchor pieces together. You can see it’s not perfect but it looks great. Now your Elfen Crown will be bendable. But when my daughter bent it, I would just bend it back.
To get her adorable Elf Ears I found this super helpful You Tube Video. You can totally buy Elf Ear. But I doubted I could find some that would fit a 3 year old. This young you tube girl is really darling.
There you have her costume! I also added some mini extenstions (you may recongized them from here). Total perks for having a hair stylist mom. They didn’t quite blend like they normally do because her hair is STILL kinda pink from her Mermaid Pictures back in June! Lady Galadriel has her front pieces pinned back in a half up/half down style. Make sure to separate a large section to show of your ears. She has a long piece of hair hanging down, curled, in front of her ear. And the rest of her hair is also curled.
I can’t get over how cute she looks!!! And when we were walking to the park my heart was seriously melting. Can’t wait to take our family pictures this weekend! Family Costume themes are my favorite. I am so glad my kids love doing themes as much as I do. I know I might cry when they decided not to someday. In the meanwhile I will gush as how adorable my daughter looks.
Thanks so much for reading!!! Be sure to follow along on Facebook and Instagram for more family fun ideas!!! What is your favorite part of this costume? Tell us in the comments below…
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