How to make a Katy Perry carousel dress?

You try using this tutorial by Carly from Chic Steals http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/sexy-bustier-dress - you could pick up a cheap shirt second hand and then make carousel separately using foam sheets and toy horses painted with acrylic paint.

FOAM SHEETS why did I not think of that? Thankyou very much for the dress tutorial!

You can get away with doing as little sewing as possible in this dress. I've been mulling this one over since she first wore this but have never had a proper reason to make one myself. I've came up with how I'd do it but I've never tested it.

So, any good with a paintbrush? Because a good idea for the pattern on the fabric is to either buy or make up a plain white, tight fitting dress with the top half that is similar to her's (that'll be your base for the whole thing) & then buy some white fabric. Make a simple circle skirt (there are so many tutorials online, you don't need hardly any sewing skills) & make it short to create the roof of the carousel. Use fabric paints or acrylics to make the pattern, it wont be too hard as it is just a lot of coloured stripes going in different directions. It's that or you hunt down a fabric in the same pattern & make it all up yourself. If you can't find a dress that is like her's then get a top & a long skirt. You just need the upper half & then something tight-fitting so people don't just see your legs through the carousel.

Next is making the shape of the carousel. Obviously you need something circular or that can be made into a circle but you need it to be strong as well. Something like a cheap hulahoop would be good, you can get smaller ones for children & they would work well. Something like wire would give the shape but will bend easily & I'm not sure what else would work. The good side to hulahoops is that they are light so it wont be too heavy for the strapless top. So lets say you're using hulahoops, you'd just attach the hem of the circle skirt to the hulahoop by either glue gun or wrapping the fabric around the hoop & stitching it in place. As for the bottom one, you'll have to decide what you're using for the poles hold the top & bottom together. You could use wire, fabric, or something like wooden kebab sticks with the sharp ends cut off. Whatever you're using, cut them to size & glue gun them onto the hoops. You need these to be strong because they're whats holding the whole skirt together. If you want you could use strips of fabric or another kind of circle skirt to attach the bottom hoop to the dress, just make sure it can't be seen sagging past the bottom hoop when it is on. It doesn't matter if you can see it through the carousel because you'll be decorating it but still try make it neat.

Now for the decoration on the carousel. You want it to be durable & waterproof incase it rains (even just running from the house to the car could ruin it if you use something like card). Craft foam would be good as it is lightweight & comes in a lot of different colours. You could try use fabric or maybe even something like acetate but I'd go for foam. Cut it out, paint it, glue it together; do what you need to create the same design & glue it on. The little flags running around the top can be made from foam or fabric & attached with wire or you could trim the sharp end off one end of a toothpick, paint it white & just push it through the fabric, securing it to the top hoop with glue on the underneath & just gluing the flag on the trimmed end.

I tried to suggest a way that you can really get a lot of detail in & get it as close to perfect as possibly but would still look good if you weren't so great with whatever skills were needed for each bit. I hope I explained it well enough so you get a basic idea of how to construct it. I tried to think about how to make it really stable but, as there always will be no matter how you do this dress, things like sitting down will be an issue. Just remember the weight when you go to make it, the dress is strapless &, even if you decided to add straps, it will be uncomfortable if you add too much heavy stuff. Good luck, you should put it up on here when it is done. I would love to see how it goes.

Hope I've helped

You can get away with doing as little sewing as possible in this dress. I've been mulling this one over since she first wore this but have never had a proper reason to make one myself. I've came up with how I'd do it but I've never tested it.

So, any good with a paintbrush? Because a good idea for the pattern on the fabric is to either buy or make up a plain white, tight fitting dress with the top half that is similar to her's (that'll be your base for the whole thing) & then buy some white fabric. Make a simple circle skirt (there are so many tutorials online, you don't need hardly any sewing skills) & make it short to create the roof of the carousel. Use fabric paints or acrylics to make the pattern, it wont be too hard as it is just a lot of coloured stripes going in different directions. It's that or you hunt down a fabric in the same pattern & make it all up yourself. If you can't find a dress that is like her's then get a top & a long skirt. You just need the upper half & then something tight-fitting so people don't just see your legs through the carousel.

Next is making the shape of the carousel. Obviously you need something circular or that can be made into a circle but you need it to be strong as well. Something like a cheap hulahoop would be good, you can get smaller ones for children & they would work well. Something like wire would give the shape but will bend easily & I'm not sure what else would work. The good side to hulahoops is that they are light so it wont be too heavy for the strapless top. So lets say you're using hulahoops, you'd just attach the hem of the circle skirt to the hulahoop by either glue gun or wrapping the fabric around the hoop & stitching it in place. As for the bottom one, you'll have to decide what you're using for the poles hold the top & bottom together. You could use wire, fabric, or something like wooden kebab sticks with the sharp ends cut off. Whatever you're using, cut them to size & glue gun them onto the hoops. You need these to be strong because they're whats holding the whole skirt together. If you want you could use strips of fabric or another kind of circle skirt to attach the bottom hoop to the dress, just make sure it can't be seen sagging past the bottom hoop when it is on. It doesn't matter if you can see it through the carousel because you'll be decorating it but still try make it neat.

Now for the decoration on the carousel. You want it to be durable & waterproof incase it rains (even just running from the house to the car could ruin it if you use something like card). Craft foam would be good as it is lightweight & comes in a lot of different colours. You could try use fabric or maybe even something like acetate but I'd go for foam. Cut it out, paint it, glue it together; do what you need to create the same design & glue it on. The little flags running around the top can be made from foam or fabric & attached with wire or you could trim the sharp end off one end of a toothpick, paint it white & just push it through the fabric, securing it to the top hoop with glue on the underneath & just gluing the flag on the trimmed end.

I tried to suggest a way that you can really get a lot of detail in & get it as close to perfect as possibly but would still look good if you weren't so great with whatever skills were needed for each bit. I hope I explained it well enough so you get a basic idea of how to construct it. I tried to think about how to make it really stable but, as there always will be no matter how you do this dress, things like sitting down will be an issue. Just remember the weight when you go to make it, the dress is strapless &, even if you decided to add straps, it will be uncomfortable if you add too much heavy stuff. Good luck, you should put it up on here when it is done. I would love to see how it goes.

Hope I've helped

Here is the link to the detail tutorial of diy katy perry inspired carousel dress http://zaynahmayna.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/diy-katy-perry-inspired-carousel-dress.html?m=1