Tris wanted a Hallowe’en dress.
She already had a costume, mind you. We’ve gotten into the habit of getting them some fancy storebought costume dresses for their birthday. This year was “winter fairy princesses”… velvet, long sleeves, hoop skirt. Tiny wings that Velcro on the back.
But, sometime in September, she got it into her head that she needed a Hallowe’en dress, and with some bargaining we settled on this Kwik Sew pattern (a hand me down from a friend of my mom’s—thank you Evelyn!), and a purple and black plaid that I think I originally wanted to make pants out of. Or maybe that was a different fabric. It’s a little hazy (which I guess is inevitable given the size of my stash but I always feel like I remember every single piece of it… until suddenly I don’t). In particular, she wanted view B, and my cautions that our fabrics would be a little different didn’t quite seem to sink in.
And black lace sleeves. I didn’t get much for construction pics. I used the size 4, roughly, but tried to add length to the sleeves and skirt. The amount of the plaid fabric was very limited, so the skirt is probably a little less full than intended. I’m glad I added the sash ties as otherwise the bodice would be really wide and blocky. I sewed the sleeves with some massive seam allowances to narrow them down, also.
The bodice is lined with black broadcloth, the same fabric I made the ties from. Except I really only used the lining to finish the neckline, which is that unusual standing slit shape, and then the other seams are serged and exposed. I could’ve done a little better with the lapped zipper, but also it’s been an eternity since I did any kind of zipper so I’m just happy I (mostly) remembered how.
The skirt was pretty limp on its own. I’ve been meaning to cannibalize the hoops from their costume dresses to make a nicer hoop that could be worn with multiple dresses, but haven’t gotten there yet. So I grabbed my old, and sadly compressed, fluffy ruffly petticoat, tightened up the waistband elastic, and it’s the perfect length for a five year old. Well, maybe a smidge long.
To really sell the witch look I added a scrap of the purple fabric to the teeny witch hat I made for my Hallowe’en outfit a decade or so ago, and the real miracle here is that I could actually find the little hat. Tris would probably have preferred a full size witch hat, but considering how little time I’ve had to sew this fall, and the dress itself was finished at 10:30 at night the day before Hallowe’en (despite being started in September) that was not going to happen.
I do think it turned out pretty cute, though, and she wore it all day at school (since I wouldn’t let them wear their hooped dresses to school.)
Other than that I’ve been making them leggings. Tris is apparently all leg, so the storebought ones aren’t really cutting it, at least not for keeping ankles warm. These were all made with my old standby, Jalie 2920, with a substantial amount of extra length added.
While making leggings is a bit underwhelming in terms of creativity, they remain pretty much the only thing it’s faster to sew than to shop for, and getting to choose nice beefy fabrics (the black are some kind of heavy cotton interlock and the blue are a super-stretchy French terry) and knowing they’ll reach the twins’ ankles is more than worth it.
I’m ready to make something for ME, however.
Tanit-Isis Sews 