Halloween 2017

Happy Halloween from a Pineapple, a Garden Gnome and the Coca-Cola Polar Bear! Every Halloween, the kids choose their own costumes and this year - for the first time ever - I ended up making all three. So, I thought I'd share how each one came together.

Abby really loves pineapples (and has the pineapple backpack to prove it) so I wasn't too surprised by her choice. Oliver thought the gnome costumes we came across online were funny and that was that.  He really got into the character and was making funny faces and shifty-eyes during his school's costume parade - hilarious! I'm pretty sure Evelyn's costume was inspired by her beloved bunny costume that she wore in preschool so I made her polar bear in a similar style. I think my sister-in-law, Julie, suggested the Coca-Cola aspect and Evelyn was smitten.

Oliver is wearing a red wool felt hat based off of an old (out of print) toddler pattern, Simplicity 2527. I enlarged and lengthened the pattern and lined it in a red broadcloth. Because white, child-sized gnome beards were surprisingly hard to find, I made this one out of faux fur and a thin elastic band. His shirt is purchased and I made his pants (essentially pajama pants with a faux fly) out of a brushed cotton herringbone from JOANN. The pants are tucked into a pair of navy Kamik Stomp rain boots.

To create Abby's "Pineapple Dress" I returned to a beloved pattern, Oliver + S' Playtime Dress (previously made here), and used Robert Kaufman's 21 Wale Corduroy Citrus to make it bright and sunny. The pineapple "crown" is made out of 2 colors of green craft foam, a cropped toilet paper roll, a green satin covered headband and hot glue. I cut three sizes of leaves and hot glued them to the toilet paper roll before glueing it all to the headband. Easy-peasy! Green striped tights and gold converse complete her costume.

Evelyn's snuggly polar bear costume starts with the Cozy Winter Hood from Oliver + S Little Things To Sew in white faux fur from JOANN. The fully-lined faux fur dress is a bubble hem play on the A-line First Day Dress from MADE. After failing to find a child-sized Coca-Cola scarf for Evelyn, I made my own. Her scarf is a six inch wide strip of red fleece, fringed on both ends. I carefully traced and cut the logo out of white knit and fused it to the scarf. Red striped tights and red Kamik rain boots complete her costume.

Cutest trick or treating crew! They were such good sports about putting on their costumes again over Thanksgiving break so that the wonderful Jessica could get photos of their costumes for me (outside of parties and costume parades). Love them so much I just might do it all again next year! 😉

Photography by Jessica Peterson

First Day Dresses, aka The Cat Dresses

The First Day Dress Pattern by MADE Everyday has been on my "must sew" list for a long time. There are lots of mix n' match options included in the pattern (A-Line Dress/Top, Swing Dress/Top, Cap Sleeves/Sleeveless and with or without placket) but I knew that the mod little cap sleeve and twirly skirt would be a winning combination for my two sweet and spunky girls.



I was initially concerned, when I really started reading through the pattern, that the single button on the back wouldn't allow the dress to be tailored enough for a good fit. Without fabric to spare, I made a muslin of the top portion of the dress to make sure that I was able to customize the fit for each of my girls. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to fit the dress. I did find that the neckline seemed a teensy bit high and lowered it slightly for comfort on each of the dresses.

The top of the dress is lined so I used Lindsay Wilkes' (aka The Cottage Mama's) genius construction technique to put it together cleanly. I love her "Lessons with Lindsay" series of videos and you can register to watch them too on Baby Lock's "Sew at Home" website. The one I used for this dress is "Lessons with Lindsay: A-line Armholes."

Let's talk fabric. I made a special trip to Ikea for this find. When I saw it in person, I hesitated because the cat faces seemed like they might be too large for child-size dresses. Also, I thought the  larger pattern repeat would be difficult to line up but I think it was ultimately worth the effort. The dress is lined in a bright pink broadcloth from Jo-Ann's.

One of my favorite parts of sewing for my girls is making dresses for different holidays, not just Easter and Christmas. Before Halloween, I styled the orange and white dress with a black cardi, striped knee socks and black flats. Without the black and white, this dress is a fun and funky option for any day . . . even a "First Day."  ;)

Photography by Jessica Peterson

Fiesta/Vintagely Modern Skirt Mash-Up

If you take the darling trim ideas from Dana's wonderful Fiesta Skirt tutorial over at MADE and combine it with the elastic-free waistband of Simple Simon's Vintagely Modern Skirt, you get this fun and more-fitted little number. Following Dana's lead, I thought this would be a great Cinco De Mayo outfit, but also something that could be worn again (and again).

Of course, the best laid plans . . . Somewhere between the time that I finished the skirt and bought the tee and May 5th, the white shirt was hopelessly lost in our laundry vortex. Had I realized that it wasn't in her drawer before the morning-of, I could have rescued it but - twenty minutes before school - there was nothing to be done and no ready substitution. Oh well, a pink skirt is really a wardrobe staple for a seven-year-old girl so it will have its time to shine later.

Button/tab closure. "Look Ma! No elastic!"

The fact that she is modeling this for me and smiling is proof positive that she loves it.