Making a Girl’s Superhero Dress

My little girl doesn’t really like getting dressed up in long play dresses. I’ve bought her several princess outfits and we have been given lots of flouncy Disney princess dresses. She just refuses to wear them. So this is how I ended up making a girl’s superhero dress as a unique alternative. 

*This post has been updated – it was first published in August 2018

Making a Girl’s Superhero Dress

Elizabeth’s nursery announced that they were having a ‘Princesses and Superheroes Day’. But Elizabeth won’t wear flouncy princess dresses! What was I to do?!

She will wear dresses, but she doesn’t like them to be long or voluminous. Most Disney Princess dresses are made with acres of taffeta and tulle. She just refuses to be dressed in those. 

So in the end I decided she would have to go as a superhero. And I decided I would make her a normal everyday dress with a super hero twist.  I chose Wonder Woman, as I love the colours of her outfit and think she is a really strong female character.

Making The Dress

I used Simplicity pattern 1379 with a few slight modifications. The size 3 of the pattern can be made out of less than a metre of fabric.

Luckily I had 2 fat quarters of a plain red 100% cotton for the bodice, and 2 fat quarters of the blue stars material for the skirt. I sourced an embroidered patch of the wonder woman logo from eBay, and bought some gold satin bias binding/trim from my local haberdashery shop. – though it is available here.

Although the logo patch was of the iron on type, I did also topstitch it into place to give it more strength. The gold bias trim was topstitched into place around the waistline.

I self drafted a cape just wider than shoulder width, and gathered this slightly into a top binding. Then, I attached sew on velcro to both the dress and the cape so that it detaches easily with a single pull. This is much safer when dealing with a toddler.

Lastly, I made a matching headband/tiara to complete the outfit. This was measured to the size of Elizabeth’s head and also fastened using velcro. The strap of red cotton was made from scraps left over from the bodice. I attached bias trim using wonder web and then topstitched this into place. Unfortunately, I did find out that the bias trim melted if the iron was too hot! And finally, I sourced an embroidered star patch from eBay to add the finishing touch.

The finished product

I was delighted with the result, and Elizabeth was fooled into wearing this costume as it fits just like a lot of her other dresses.

She loved the dress. and she wowed them all at nursery. Not least because most of the girls went as princesses rather than superheroes.

She won’t wear the tiara headband though. Shame.

I Have Made More Superhero Costumes

Love superhero costumes for girls? See this brilliant up cycled thrifted Spiderman Outfit from Marybeth At BabySavers.

And see how you can modify this pattern to make other superhero or halloween outfits. I made another Batgirl Dress , but this time used matching buttonholes and buttons rather than velcro on the cape. As Elizabeth was 2 when I made the Wonder Woman dress, I was really wary of buttonholes. But having done plenty since I think it would give a much better finish. The buttons were placed on the dress and the button holes in the cape. 

See my post on how to make a brilliant superhero mask to go with your outfit.

I’d love to see any costumes that you have made. Do comment in the section below, or on my social media pages.

Enjoyed this story on how I ended up making a girl’s superhero dress? Why not read about how I got on with using satin and tuile in A New Sewing Challenge?

See my other little girl dress pattern reviews

• A little girl dress with pockets
• An easy little girl summer dress
• The Geranium dress pattern

Or if you are a total beginner – find out here How to Make a Simple Skirt

Thank you for reading! And please do pin this post for later