Steven Universe Dress

A good friend of mine loves Steven Universe, so I made her this dress as a birthday gift. I think this is a really lovely dress, and would make an awesome cosplay or Halloween costume!

I also made her a full set of cat finger puppets, so she can turn her fingers into cats just like Steven!

I've written the instructions here, but don't have photos for every step, so watch the video for all the steps!
What you'll need:

• Red t-shirt
• Red tulle
• Gold fabric
• Fabric interfacing
• Stretchy blue fabric
• A button or gem
• Sewing supplies such as thread in co-coordinating colours, pins and needles, scissors and a sewing machine.

Start by measuring how long you want your shirt to be, and where you want your skirt to start.. Also mark out where you want your cut-out to be, though this is an optional step.

Plan where you want to place your star, and mark it with a tailor's pen or tacking stitches.

Cut off the bottom of the shirt at the point you marked, leaving room for your seam allowance, and also cut out the cut-out area. Make sure to leave seam-allowance, or your cut-out will be bigger than expected.

Cut out the shape you just cut from the t-shirt on a piece of the tulle, making sure to add the same seam allowance you left on the original cut-out area.

Pin the tulle to the cut-out area, with the right sides together. It may look like the curves are going in opposite directions, but after sewing it, it'll lie flat.

Sew along the curve using your sewing machine. I put some thin paper under the fabric while I was sewing it as the fabric was very soft, and this helped to keep it lying flat.

Next, tack the seam allowance back under the t-shirt fabric, so that it is hidden by the t-shirt, and then sew it down.

Carefully unpick the tacking when you're done.

Cut out a star shape from your fabric interfacing, and iron it onto your gold fabric.

After ironing on the star, trim down the edges of the gold fabric, and then tack the edges down underneath the interfacing, so there are no raw edges showing.

Tack the star onto your shirt and then sew it down.

Measure the size of the bottom of the shirt by lying it flat and then doubling the measurement.

You will need to provide the doubled measurement by 6.28.

Fold you skirt fabric in half, then in half again.

From the corner where there are no openings, measure the previous measurement (after you've divided it by 6.28). Subtract a seam allowance (I used 1.5cm) from this and mark the distance measured from the corner at every point, creating a semi-circle shape.

Decide how long you want your skirt to be, and measure this distance from the semi-circle you've made, adding about 2cm for a hem. Mark this distance all the way around to create a semi-circle, just like you did before.

Cut along the two semi-circles you have drawn to create your skirt. You should now have a big donut shaped piece of fabric.

If my description of how to make this skirt is confusing, this tutorial is super helpful.

Pin the small inner circle of the skirt to the bottom of the t-shirt with the right sides facing.

Sew the top and skirt together using a sewing machine, and trim off the remaining threads.

Fold back the seam allowance towards the skirt side, and tack it down, then sew it down using your sewing machine, and trim off the remaining threads.

Mark a hem of about 2cm around the bottom of the skirt, and then fold in the hem along this line and tack it into place, then sew it down and remove the tacking.

The final step of the dress is to sew your gem or button into the cut-out area!

To make your cat finger puppets, trace your finger onto some felt, leaving a small space all the way around your finger, then cut out two of these shapes.

Sew black beads for eyes and a small tongue or mouth onto one of these two pieces.

Cut out two tiny triangles for ears and glue them onto the front piece, with their points facing downwards.

Place the back piece on the front piece with their right sides together, and then stitch them together.

Finally, turn your finger puppet right-side out, and trim down the ears if necessary. Make 10 of these for a full set of cat fingers!