Dressing up for Halloween

Ivory was a cute little pumpkin for Halloween. She loved her costume, except for the fact that she had to wear a hat!


Emily was Cinderella this year. We're just entering the princess stage, and as a friend pointed out, Cinderella is a good role model. When people treat her harshly, she is gentle and kind in return. She has a servant's heart.


I found the idea for this costume here. My mother-in-law made the dress for our niece when she was a flower girl at our wedding. I made the accessories; the choker, headband, fingerless gloves, and the pretty, but pointless, poofs on the side of the dress. Emily thought the poofs should have been pockets - probably for storing extra candy!

A sneak peek...

at my most recent project! More pictures coming soon without my lovely, but wiggly, models.

"Go, go Broncos!"

My sister-in-law made an adorable BSU cheerleader costume for her 9 month old, so with my mother-in-law's help, we borrowed the idea to make one for Emily. This is an absolutely perfect costume for Emily because:

1. We are loyal Boise State fans! Emily thinks it's fun to say "Go, go!" during the football games and lately she's added a little "Woo, hoo!" When she first got into it she would say "Broncos!" But, she's not into that anymore. Toddlers!

2. It could be worn more than just one day of the year. We've been able to have Emily wear to several parties, which was great fun until....

She ripped the logo off. Yes.

Back to the making of the dress. My mother-in-law had a pattern we used for the top of the dress, but we had to guess on the pleats for the bottom of the dress. I haven't ever sewn a dress with a lined top, so that was a great experience for me. I'm beginning to understand more about reading sewing patterns, which really helps.

The pleats, though.... They were very difficult to do. The next time I try pleats I hope to make them much bigger, which should require less sewing.

I hope to post better pictures sometime, but I need to put a new logo on the dress. It's hard to get a clear picture of Emily because she rarely stops moving.

Emily's dress

A month or so ago, I decided it was time for me to sew a dress for Emily. My mom gave me some fabric to use, so I only needed to find an accent color to go with it. It seemed like it should be a simple task.

The problem...I know very little about reading patterns. I've pieced two quilts on the sewing machine, so you would think I should now how to read a pattern; however, I find that words like selvage and bias cause my heart rate to rapidly increase.

My mom helped me place the pattern on the material, and she brought a fun tool called a bias tape maker to make the trim for Emily's dress. The pieces were cut out and I thought to myself, "I should be fine from here." I had carefully studied the pattern. It was time to dive in. I sewed and sewed on her simple little dress, sometimes ripping out seams because I accidentally put a wrong side and a right side together (which is wrong because usually the right sides are together). After a few late nights sewing, I finished it.

When I tried Emily's little dress and bloomers on her I found out it wasn't so little. It was huge! I ended up taking about four inches off the top of her bloomers and adding a pleat (or a tuck, I'm not sure) to the front and back of her dress. This setback added at least one week to my project time. I didn't feel like working on it after it didn't come out perfectly the first time. The hat was the only thing that fit Emily instantly, but it's snug enough that she doesn't really care for it. "No, no!"



I have to say I'm pleased with the finished product. I'm hoping Emily will be able to wear it next summer too. The good thing about adding pleats to make it smaller is that I should be able to rip them out if I want to make it bigger.



The moral of my sewing story...try something new, even if it scares you. You'll be relieved when it's done!