Making Historically Accurate Princess & The Pauper Costumes | Pt.1

Princess and the Pauper is, technically speaking, the best movie ever created. For those of us conservative homeschoolers who weren't allowed to watch Disney princess movies growing up, this was a godsend. Finally, a princess movie whose plotline did not hinge on magic. The one piece of princess pop culture that we could utilize as a tool to achieve social inclusion. And on the off chance that maybe you are a kid who grew up in a super-secular family that only allowed edgy movies, well, there was that really questionable scene where the prince ear-spied on Erika taking a bath. By the way, ear-spied is short for listened to. It's less syllables. There's one thing we homeschoolers are good at, it's knowing how many syllables are in words. Hippopotamus. Monkey. Princess and the Pauper. Now, is Princess and the Pauper historically accurate? No. But that's okay because it's a kid's movie. I know that if my nine-year-old self would have seen Princess Annalise with a pumpkin-shaped hairdo, hips wider than the Titanic, and a fake mole gracing her face, I wouldn't have been a fan. But I'm older now, as are the rest of the fans of Princess and the Pauper, and we can handle historical accuracy. Nay, we demand it. Now, my first task was making a sketch. I decided to start with Erika, the pauper. My goal was to combine elements of the movie costume with real paupers of the day, and if you're unfamiliar, the word pauper is an abbreviated form of the term poor person. Well, I don't actually know that. But it could be, especially with a Boston accent, like paw-person, paw-pauper. Or alternately, we could make the argument that Erika doesn't count at all, and the movie's actually called that because it's about the princess and her cat. Paw, as in cats have those, and purr, as in cats say that. Anyway, this is the sketch I came up with. The bulk of this dress will be made out of a king-size bedsheet that I had on hand, not because I have a king-size bed, but because I'm a hoarder. I couldn't find any chalk to trace my upper body, and I don't really like measuring tape, so I used a ribbon and some pins to mark the distance between my shoulder and hip, as well as from the top of my shoulder to my armpit, and where I want my neckline to hit, as well as the bottom point of my bodice. Then, on the fold, I cut out a rigid, angular, too-big shape of what I wanted my bodice to look like. From whence I trimmed and rounded to my heart's content, and then cut it right down the middle. By the way, if you feel ill-equipped because you're not wearing the exact sweatshirt that I am in this scene, here's how you make that. Simply take your fabric, cut it, do some things, and you'll have— give the excess to your pair, and voila! And now, out of a fabric you are not sentimentally attached to, make four copies of the bodice— three co— two co— Mmm. This is what eyes are for. Just look at this picture and make sure you have what I have. Now break up the sextuplets into quadruplets, then pair them together into sets of twins. Grab some zip ties and trace them onto your bodice in whatever shape you please. You are the master of this world. Or, of just the dress, really. I was trying to have a Bob Ross moment, but I may have accidentally caused anarchy. Stitch along those boning channels you just drew, and remember that you are actually not the master of the world. So while I was sewing, Geryon was making a ton of noises, and I thought he was just being dramatic. And then, I look behind me, and, um... I mean, have you ever seen such a predatory gaze? From someone other than Bill Clinton? Aww. Aww, you're really sweet! So yeah, the evil cat was actually pretty nice and made me feel bad for comparing him to Bill. Before inserting your zip ties, make sure that you round off all the edges so that they don't accidentally poke through and stab you and give you an accidental appendectomy, because remember, elective procedures are not allowed at this point. Then lay your bedsheet fabric over your now-boned fabric and sew all along the edges, except for one side, so that you can flip it inside out. To make the back, you're going to trace the front so that it fits together. You can do as many layers of fabric for this as you want. I did, too, if you want to do- You're not going to do this. Who am I kidding? So let me take this time to tell you about my dream last night. I had a dream that I wanted to start playing guitar, so I went to a store and I got a guitar, and then I got home and my dad was like, that's not a guitar, that's a shotgun. And I looked down, and indeed, it was a shotgun. But he said, hold on, maybe I can make it work, and he grabbed it and started playing it like a guitar. Speaking of my dad, if you're wondering, I did indeed move back to Ohio, and I am currently in my dad's house. Because we live in very unique times, and if you're from the future and you're confused as to what I'm talking about, I'm referring to the pandemic you read about in history class. You know, the one everyone is getting that starts with a C? No, not canceled. That was 2019. This is 2020. And my mother is at high risk for you-know-what, and me being around her in Florida was putting her at higher risk. So I decided to come home and be with my dad, who has already had it. Yep. Don't have it. You got it. Alright. Oh, and by the way, my dad had no idea I was coming home. I wanted it to be a complete surprise, so I enlisted the help of a few healthy friends to help me drive my home from Florida to Ohio, one of whom was a touch grumpy, but I think I understand why. What did you give up for Lent? And before we knew it, like 17 hours later, we were in Ohio, where I surprised Mr. Tours, who, by no coincidence, has the same first and last initial as Mother Teresa. Okay, so here's Leland. How did you get here? Are you surprised? Yeah. And that was that, and everyone was happy. Well, almost everyone. What's that? You're wondering why I'm hand sewing this bodice? Is it because I'm obsessed with extreme accuracy? I'm not obsessed with extreme accuracy. In fact, I'm hand sewing not for a love of accuracy, but just because I want to be outside with my chickens and duck. You might be wondering why not just bring them in the house. Well, I can do that with my chickens, but not my duck, because my duck's poop is noxious and slimy and frequent. Chicken poop is not gross. I love chicken poop. Let me rephrase. I love chicken poop, as far as poop goes. Actual sewing advice here. If you struggle with making perfectly fitted bodices, the most foolproof way to achieve this is by cutting your bodice out too big and then fitting it and pinning it to yourself over and over before sewing it in place. What's wrong, Bazelda? Are you sick? Cat got your tongue? Wait a second. Do you want some whipped cream? Oh, fella. I can see it when you're feeling low. You can't hide that from me. You're no status quo. Chicken, no. So why keep trying to be? Because I know you're sick. You're a cream addict. I wish you could see the you I see. If you're still here after that, you're a true fan. Whether to me or Princess in the Popper, I don't know. Now here I am, not passed out on the table, but measuring my arm for a sleeve. We want our sleeves to be elbow length, allowing for mobility. And wait, what's that I see through the window? Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh! It's here! Thank you. Can I just take a moment to remind you that he said thank you to me for no reason? He's out working during a pandemic and he's... Thank you. Now nothing I do or say can compete with the awe-inspiring peachiness of that man. So to set the bar low for the rest of the video, I'm just going to show you something really awful I found online. This type of shoe where it's just like a shape that sprouts up between two of your toes and that's the only thing keeping the shoes on. Can we not make this a style? Back to the video. My number one suggestion with sleeves is don't stress about it too much. Always cut them out a little bit too big. And as with everything, try it on about a million times before you sew it in place if you're not confident. Now the skirt for this look is going to be extremely simple. You'll just need two big rectangles. You don't even have to worry too much about the length for a costume like this because if it's too long, you can hem it up later. And if it's too short, you can say something like, oh, she's a popper and she has been wearing this since she was 15 and she can't afford more fabric. Oh, it's time for the really fun part. Now take a strong piece of thread and then every inch or so, weave it in and out of the top of your fabric. Then at the end, just pull like so. Don't knot it off until after you've pinned it to your bodice. Now to attach your skirt, open up your YouTube plaque. You know, I've never really been a numbers person. I don't understand them and they've kept me from a lot of things. I've always needed visuals to help me wrap my mind around numbers and I've got to say, this shiny gold plaque really helped me wrap my mind around a million of you fabulous people actually being interested in the things that I make. Honestly, what can I say except, you're welcome. I mean, thank you. Now open up your bodice and spread out the ruffles of your skirt evenly within the inside of your bodice. Then pin it and hand sew it in place. If you're using a bed sheet to make your skirt, you may not have to hem down the bottom, but if you decide to, I recommend ironing it first to make it extra crisp. Ready to watch my first attempt at an 18th century cap? Next, cut out the following pieces. Oh no! Fun fact, the term cap is actually short for Captain D's because you'll notice if you go to Captain D's, most people there have heads and caps go on your head. I think we're just going to sew along here. I don't know because I'm making it up as I go, but voiceover girl will tell you if that was correct or not. Voiceover girl here and honestly, I don't know. We can only hope that Carolina Zabrowska or someone who actually knows what they're doing has made a tutorial on this. You know, I know what historically accurate looks like, but I don't have the patience to research how to get there. Just make sure you're making this out of a cheap fabric so that you can do multiple attempts. Remember that you only have yourself to please and any mistake you make will probably end up looking like a cap falling into some era or maybe just making you look like the Pillsbury Doughboy. Either way, it's a successful costume piece. But a great 18th century characteristic to give it would be a ruffle around the edge. Now we are going to pin in ruffular fashion this strip all along the edge of our cap. Whilst I do, let's have a little chat. Many of you know I've always had a problem with young men who drive trucks or, as some would call them, country boy. But I am happy to announce that a couple nice yet not-too-nice gentlemen in Florida helped shatter that ideology. And now I am left with one prejudice. Okay, please don't hate me for- I just gotta- Amish people. And it's not for reasons you think, it's not I respect them, they're hard workers. It's I'm fine with their lack of electricity and their ideology, their- I'm even okay with when I'm going 70 miles per hour and I get stuck behind a buggy that's going 7.5 miles per hour. That's fine. I love seeing horsies. Who doesn't? That being said, Amish people stare a lot. I mean, I've never been stared at so much as when I'm in Amish country. Or Amish people are in my country. That sounded really- They stare the most. And this is coming from someone who went to a village in Africa where there were kids who had never seen a white person before. And they did not stare at me. They actually turned their heads and sobbed in fear and said, Which in Swahili means, it's a ghost. Which, I get it. Staring. Staring is fine. As long as you do one of three things. You either look away really fast and pretend you weren't staring. Or you throw one of these. Or, you smile. I love being stared at by people who smile. But Amish people, they don't smile. I'm not trying to tell you how to- how to Amish, but, believe it or not, I actually read the same bible Amish people read and there's no commandment in there that says, thou shalt not smile. So, it's really- it's just that. And admittedly, this is a fragile prejudice. It- all it takes is one Amish smile to topple the whole thing. And maybe, this is just the people in my area, maybe the Amish in, Pennsylvania or something, are a lot smilier. And I'm sorry. I don't want to be offensive. If you're watching this and you're Amish, you are bad at Amishing. You shouldn't be watching YouTube. Nevermind. Okay, so the only other prejudice is Canada. Not Canadians. Not- It's really hard to find gas stations in Canada. Okay, so I guess it's just that. Oh, and people who call the cops on other people for really dumb reasons. Honestly, I'm starting to think maybe I don't actually know the difference between prejudices and pet peeves, but, like, they both start with P and everything that starts with P pretty much means the same thing. Day is done and this is what we have. Let's make this an outlander costume. Done. And now for the floral part of her- floral part of her skirt. I'm making a simple two-rectangle elastic waistband underskirt. Now allow me to escort you into the next day and introduce you to the way that I wake up every morning now. That morning, I ironed and then sewed down a channel the width of my elastic, then joined my rectangles into one big happy tube, leaving an opening for the elastic to slither into. Speaking of slithering, did I ever tell you guys about the time I had a pet snake? I honestly can't remember if I have, but it would be awkward to tell you the same story twice, so I'm gonna not. It ended badly. Now let's hastily and haphazardly make a shift, or underdress. As with basically everything else I do, we're making it out of a bed sheet. Also, I'm pretty sure that Princess and the Pauper is the guiding force behind my narrator voice because I always loved the way that the narrator in that movie talked. You know, the same lady that played like every other voice in that movie. Oh right, instructions. When making your chemise, cut it out to be double the width it needs to be. Then make an elastic channel, not all around the circumference of the neckline, but just the front and back half. Then cut out a strip of elastic the length of a fork and use a safety pin to lovingly guide it through your channel. Sew it up the sides and voila! You have a chemise. Except a chemise should have sleeves but okay, I lied when I said this was historically accurate. Now because I'm not allowed to leave the house, obviously I can't go shopping for anything but luckily... Be quiet. I can't go to the store to get grommets but luckily I have historically always been a hoarder so I did some digging and I found the grommets that I needed. They were right behind this sour cream bowl that is actually filled with pistachio shells, upwards of 200 of them, each one with a hole drilled in it. I think my goal was like to paint them and sew them all onto a dress to look like scales or something, I don't know. I also found this, I don't know what it's for but I'm going to try to poke holes in my bodice with it or maybe piercing my chicken's ears. Just kidding, piercing a chicken's ears requires basically piercing through its whole skull. As usual, grommet holes should be a fun size candy bars width apart. Remember those shirts that said, I'm not short, I'm fun sized? Well, I used to see those and get a little self conscious like cause I'm awkwardly tall but now I've gotten older, embraced my height and I kinda want a t-shirt that says, I'm not tall, I'm boring sized. By the way, that metal device I found earlier did not work for poking holes in fabric so it really must be made just for piercing ears. Oh, by the way, one of my favorite questions to ask strangers, how do you feel about piercing baby's ears? Mine were pierced as a baby but I just sound off. Well that's janky as all get out. Now due to a requirement for volume in the hip area as well as a lack of supplies to make a bum roll, I decided to make ruffles out of some spare tool to add to the inside of each hip. Now as much as I absolutely love historical fashion, there are a few things that really drive me nuts like, for instance, the zigzag way that they laced things. Instead of crisscrossing two pieces of ribbon, they took one, tied it in a knot at the top and then zigzagged it down to the bottom or vice versa. I don't really like it but I did it. Then I made a pocket. The importance of this is I have a phone and I like having somewhere to put it. Next, another very simple project you can do to make anything look more 18th century is a fee shoe. It's basically this long piece of fabric that you just tie around your neck. Now at this point, I realized I was very unsatisfied with the shade of white of my underdress. It didn't look like it was worn by a sweaty seamstress for years on end. So, I decided to bathe my dress in some DIY human filth. It's to believe!