Ponyo is my favorite Studio Ghibli film, so I was incredibly inspired and excited to create a costume inspired by the character's and story! The dress is an extremely simple baby-doll dress that is basically a very large rectangle with curves cut out for the sleeve seams. The sleeves are large rectangle shapes as well, with a gathered elastic cuff. After the sleeves were attached to the dress body, the neckline opening was gathered and stitched to the off-the-shoulder collar band. Then, the collar band was sewn to an embellished mesh halter collar with invisible snap closure on the side. The dress is paired with a very full short petticoat to achieve the puff style at the bottom.

All of the fabrics of the dress were sublimated and feature a detailed design along the bottom of the hem and an orange to red gradient on the sleeves and skirt. I added rhinestones along the hem design and to the halter collar and lace detailing. The main highlight of this costume is the intricate rhinestone work that I created along the collar band at the top of the dress. I started by designing the motif in Illustrator and created a key for myself based on the size and shape of each of the different style and color of rhinestone. Then I made a stencil template for my design, and use heat-transfer tape to create rhinestone appliques of my design. I made 20 individual appliques, which ensured that each of the repeated motifs would be identical and would make sure that the spacing was even and perfect all across the band.