Handmade Halloween Part 1

I know the blog has been overrun by baked goods, but I just wanted to let you all know that I am still sewing. These past couple of days have been full of sparkles, boas and a whole lot of lime green fabric. Yep, I've been making a Tinkerbell dress for Katie and Bill's little girl, Emme (she's almost 3). When I first started making the dress I decided it would be a good idea to buy a pattern. I found a Simplicity one that had a few different fairy options but when I opened the pattern and started working on it, I realized that whoever designed the pattern was just downright crazy. It was way too complicated, way too much work and had you doing a lot of unnecessary things. So I drew up my own pattern, crossed my fingers that it would fit, and went to back to work. About half way through the project I was talking to Emme and she wanted nothing to do with being a fairy for Halloween. "I don't want to be a tooth fairy," she said. Luckily when she came over to try the dress on Wednesday she was really excited. All she could talk about was how she was going to be Tinkerbell and wear her pretty dress to school. Crisis averted :)

A little pixie dust goes a long way...

All of the fabric was purchased at JoAnn Fabrics. As I mentioned above,

the pattern was Simplicty 2259,  but I think it was kind of a waste of money.

Of course you would never know until you opened it. I drafted the bodice using

an old pattern that I had sewn for her before, making sure it was still the right size.

(Dr. Burnham, you'd be so proud!) Then I used the idea of the petals and the tulle 

skirt and combined them together with the new bodice. The waistband just ties in the

back, and the wings velcro on. No straps necessary. 

It wouldn't be any fun without the wand.

I thought about making a wand several times, and then after realizing that it was

probably going to be the coolest part of the outfit for her, I did. I found a dowel

and wrapped some curling ribbon around it. I glued long strands of ribbon to the

top and then covered it with the same feather boa puff that's on her shoes.

The one thing I didn't dare try to make, her wings.

They were a really good deal at JoAnn's and they matched perfectly. Somehow Stephen

spotted them out of the corner of his eye. Thank goodness. I know I'm crafty/the

pattern actually came with instructions, but really, who has the time or the patience?

Check out those pretty little shoes!

It's amazing what some lime green spray paint, glitter and feathers can do!

And the parade begins!!!

She couldn't stop checking herself out in the windows. So cute :)

Next up: Will's Peter Pan costume...

... it should be up in a day or two!