Cinderella Running Outfit

Hi all!
OMG I am so excited about this project! Now, before anything else, I have to tell you that I copied this idea from a wonderful running blog Run Karla Run, she ran the Disney marathon and her outfit was just perfect for what I had in mind! This is the original outfit:

Isn't it the cutest?? Thank you Karla, I hope you don't mind I copied your costume *crosses fingers*

The costume is based on the pink dress in Disney's Cinderella. I just love this idea!

Now, back to the actual project. Remember the Race for Life I ran last year? Well, earlier this year when I was all healthy and hopeful and in shape (before injuring my knee with all that exercise and having lots of time for sewing), I registered to a lot of running events, including the Race for Life again. The difference this year: I'll be running 10K! I've never ran 10K in my life... with all the physio etc I am totally out of shape and I only have  a month to recover. But then I calculated that even walking I should be able to do it in under 90 mins so anything below that is a bonus really. So, in exactly 1 month's time I will be running 10K! As the Race for Life is for breast cancer, it's a pink race. Only women can enter and the pinker your outfit the better. The ads for the race clearly show the 5K runners in funny outfits and the 10K runners in serious running kit. Not really my style, where is the fun in wearing normal clothes? ;) So when I saw this outfit I just had to make it!

I tried to get as close as posssible to Karla's outfit, but I'm not quite sure if I succeeded. I ran into a few problems along the way...

I used the same sparkly fabric for the skirt. As was short, I only needed one meter so that was great. I made it way too big as first so I had to take it in quite significantly. I added a layer of white lining underneath with extra large hems to add a bit of volume to the skirt. The waist is elasticated by adding elastic between the lining and the outer fabric. As per the original, I added a wide light pink ribbon all along the edge.

The bows were a bit tricky, I was running out of ribbon! So they're a bit smaller, but I've added some dark pink ribbon behind the original bows to make it stand out more.

The top came from Primark so that was very cheap. They were out of the pink pink but this shade works as well I think. I sewed the straps together in the back, creating a mono strap. I used an old tshirt stuffed with wadding for the collar that I hand sewed onto the neckline. I then added more of the light pink ribbon across the front and attached this with a few stitches to keep it in place. The big bow was also hand stitched on. The trickiest part was to get the horizontal ribbon to stay put as it doesn't stretch. Velcro to the rescue! The back end of the middle ribbon can be attached with velcro, making it easy to put the top on and the run in it. One tiny detail is still missing though...

I found this necklace on ebay for about £1.40 incl shipping. I had more than enough time to wait for it to arrive so no rush there. It's heavier than it looks but completely perfect to finish the look :)

Unfortunately, I can't show you the final look yet. I tried to photograph this costume so many times but it's never perfect, so I will just show you at the run. Much easier that way! I just hope I can strike as cute a pose as Karla did in her picture above :)

All in all I am quite excited about running this race in this outfit. I just love it! This events raises money for Cancer Research, so if any of you would like to support this cause, please click on THIS LINK below to make a donation. So far I have raised the staggering amount of £10! Not quite what I had hoped for but then I really need to share this link more. I will definitely share more pics once I have them from the race itself. I made the bf promise me to come along and take pics and cheer me on. Let's hope this outfit will keep me going for 10K!

UPDATE 27 JULY 2014:
I did it! Check out more here, and here is a piccie of the finished outfit :)