Dapper Day Chip & Dale – Rescue Rangers

Made for: Supposedly Dapper Day Spring 2020 (debuted Spring Dapper Day 2021 due to…circumstances)

Background: We wanted to do a duo for our Dapper Day trip and Chase picked Chip & Dale.

Journal Entries: Read more at my Dapper Day

Patterns Used:
Butterick B6094 (skirt), Butterick B6363 (hat), and Simplicity 8645 (top)

Top:
So for Dale’s Hawaiian style shirt, I decided I wanted to do a vintage top – I had a vintage 50s top pattern that I planned to use. Then I got cold feet and didn’t want to cut into the real vintage pattern. So I went to the store and picked out a Simplicity reprint, 8645 – it’s not the same vintage one, but it’s close. View D was a halter top with a large collar which I thought would be a cute way to interpret a man’s button up style shirt.

I wanted a less cartoon-y version of the shirt pattern, and closer to an actual floral print – so I drew up the design in photoshop and had it printed on spoonflower cotton. I was pretty happy with the way it turned out.

Once I finished the skirt (below), I started on to the top. Let me tell you that Simplicity top pattern was a nightmare. I spent 3 hours one night trying to understand how one piece was supposed to connect to the other, rereading the instructions over and over again. My husband reread the instructions over and over. I facetimed my mom and had her read them. None of us could understand it. Finally I just guessed and I dunno if it’s right or not but it looked ok so OH WELL. And there was one pattern piece that never came up? And one mid-build step that was for some reason up in the front “basic information” section of the instructions instead of in the View D instructions. It was one of the most frustrating patterns I’ve ever used, especially considering it should be so simple!!

But I did get it put together finally, and not much to say about construction (other than it being a nightmare), since I didn’t alter any shapes or anything.

I left the top mostly finished for nearly a year – since we weren’t going to dapper day anytime soon! Finally in March 2021 I got it out, hemmed the bottom of the top and finally put a closure in the back. The pattern called for a button up back, which I decided I didn’t want to do from the start and instead sized it for a zipper back and no overlay. Well halfway through the project I started thinking “wouldn’t acorn buttons be cute…” but didn’t have enough width in the top for the panels to lay on top of each other for buttons. I had a small panel where I could have made an extension, but instead of making a decision last year, I put it away. When I got it back out in March this year, I just put the zipper in and stopped overthinking it.

Skirt:
But I started with the skirt first, which was the easier part. I used Butterick B6094, which is the same dress pattern I used for my Bespin Leia disneybound last year. It was an easy pattern and I loved how it looked, so I decided to use it again, just editing to make it a skirt.

I used a matte yellow satin for the main part of the skirt, and some leftover red lining material for the lining. For the built-in ruffles on the lining, I bought a ton of yellow and red tulle. On my Bespin Leia dress last year, I’d used lining material which had worked really well for ruffles. The tulle didn’t work quite as well to give the skirt enough “oomph” – so I added ALL the tulle I had and also made another ruffle out of the lining material and layered them. I love the effect of the plain yellow skirt with the colourful petticoat underneath.

I made a waistband out of the yellow satin with a hook and eye closure.

Accessories: I wanted a hat! I used butterick B6363 linked above and got started on it in summer 2020… but realized I needed stronger buckram and put away til I could get some. I didn’t get it back out til early 2021, when I finally got stronger buckram and went to get everything out again… and couldn’t find 2 of the pattern pieces. UGH! I had to reorder the pattern… and while I was waiting on the new pattern to arrive, guess what I found? LOL. They’d fallen behind my book shelf.

So I made the hat out of the leftover satin from the skirt, buckram, millinery wire and some bias tape on the inside. Also sewed a comb in to keep it from flying off. Was overall decently happy with it.

I also ended up making an acorn purse at the last minute. It’s all leftover materials from other projects. The burlap at the top is leftover from Boushh, covered in a layer of gold netting I bought and didn’t use for Poe Dameron Leia. The striped fabric someone gave me. Didn’t use a pattern, just slapped it together. It’s not perfect but I needed somewhere for my phone, extra masks, tissues and such at dapper day, since I didn’t put pockets in the skirt.

And finally I bought the belt and shoes. Added a little gold acorn Chase 3d printed for me to the center of the bow on the belt. And both of us had 3d printed ears that Chase painted and covered in fur. Chase’s are held to his hat with magnets, mine are velcroed to a headband so I can take them off if I need to, without taking the hat off.

I also originally styled a wig for this look, but after trying it on, I scraped it and instead wore my hair in a bun. It looked much better.

Chip:
Most of Chip’s outfit was bought – the hat, the shirt, shorts, shoes and shorts. The only part we made were the ears (3d printed, painted and held to Chase’s hat with magnets), and the jacket.

For the jacket I used a Green Pepper pattern – I believe it was the Chinook wind jacket pattern. I simplified it a lot and actually only used the pattern pieces for the lining layer – I just cut them twice to use for both outer layer and lining layer. Chase didn’t want a closure so that simplified things as well. Bought the ribbed knit for the cuffs/waistband on amazon, and had to dye the waistband to match the cuffs a bit better. Sewed them on to the outer layer then finished off the inside by hand. I cut a piece of faux fur for the collar and just attached it with snaps, so if he felt like he needed to take the fur off at the parks, he could without having to take the whole jacket off.

Unfortunately the shoes he bought for the outfit ended up not playing nice with his back problems, so he had to wear some that he knew would be comfortable. Whenever we do white backdrop shots we’ll include the actual shoes.

History: After a year of delays, they’re finally finished and we finally got to wear them at Dapper Day! YAY!

                       

Visit my FAQ | Contact Me
Please note that none of these costumes are for sale! This is my personal portfolio. Thanks!