If you’ve been around these parts for Halloween….you will know that this girlie likes to be a pretty unique costume every year. We’ve done Audrey, The Birds’ Woman, My Fair Lady and Jane from Tarzan are all back in the archives somewhere. And this year, she decided she wanted to be Ella from the new Cinderella movie….but not the gown dress…she wanted the peasant dress girl dress. So, we found some pictures and a similar pattern and went to town this week making the dress. This is the original dress she wanted to create, but with the white hair band she wears in another flower picking scene.
And here’s what we came up with…
I love the way it turned out. And she did too…she’s been spinning in it all afternoon.
I used this pattern as a starting point for the bodice and then added the pleating in the middle. The fabric was a cotton underlay with a taffeta overlay that I really loved. I handstitched the lace to the top mostly because I forgot to sandwich it in between when I was doing that middle piece. 😉
The rest of the dress was a gathered skirt with the same overlay and an invisible zipper to close up the back.
The apron is made from a rose colored linen that I found and loved, and I did add a few decorative stitches on the apron to mimic the hand-embroidery from the original costume.
I am hoping people can tell who she is because she is so excited about it! Did you make costumes this year or buy them?
~Elizabeth
The turned out gorgeous! I DIY’d parts of costumes this year and Goodwill covered the rest. haha
Love her creative spirit!!! What a lovely trait to choose such different costumes. It looks lovely!
Gorgeous!!!
I made them. It all started when five-year-old Nicole wanted to be Jigglypuff. Well, the commercial Jigglypuff costume was $36. Waay too expensive. But I looked at it and said those famous last words, “I can make that!” And three-year-old Alex wanted to be Squirtle, which we couldn’t find, but it was more of the same, right? We tried to convince eight-year-old Grace to be Pikachu, because then Daddy could borrow a cosplay Poketrainer costume and it could be a theme, but she wouldn’t do it. (And then she complained that the other two got jammies and she *didn’t*.) So I made them some Alex and Anna Winter PJs, shoe covers from the Simplicity toddler Wizard of Oz pattern, the shell from the Simplicity toddler pumpkin costume pattern, and a out-of-print McCall’s hat pattern. The kids loved the results and at the church Halloween Trunk or Treat, a little boy dressed as a pokemon trainer had to “catch” them because he always wanted a wild Squirtle and wanted a pretty pink Jigglypuff as well.
So… Grace wanted to be a creepy, possessed, broken doll. Obviously, not something you can get off the rack. I dug into the stash, and found a 90s Daisy Kingdom pinafore dress pattern and made her that and some pantaloons from the recently out-of-print McCall’s ruffles and lace pattern. And a huuuge bow for her hair and then, when she insisted, a voodoo doll on a chain for her pet. (Her crinoline from last year still fit, luckily. IIRC, it was from a vintage 80s Butterick pattern.) So this year, we had a creepy doll, which was to be had for the price of a yellow 12″ zipper, and two pokemon, for about $11 each. (And four patterns and some ingenuity from me)
I think you nailed it! It is beautiful. our costumes are all handmade. This year I only made one. The others were year’s past. My girl wanted to be Elsa from frozen. I am super happy with it! So is she!
My story is a bit like Laura D’s, though the costume my almost-16-year-old wanted cost even more. I plunged in and made him a fancy coat. It was a learning experience, and a bit overwhelming. So I’m glad the others wanted to wear things we already had on hand!
Beautiful!! And your girl looks so much like you:)
Isn’t it the best when they love and you love it!
One fancy coat would be enough for me too!!! For sure!
Thank you…my husband calls her mini me 😉
Wowza were you on costume duty this year!!!! That’s amazing that you did all that. And I am all for family costumes too, but sometimes they have minds of their own ‘) Love the idea of the doll costume!
Thanks Kristin!
She’s a keeper and I do love that she likes to be her own self!
I think you had the smartest plan of all!!!