Getting ready for Halloween

Eden wants to be a vampire for Halloween this year. She says she does "not want to be a modern vampire, I want to be a classic vampire". Ok. A classic vampire it is. She would like a cape, black on the outside and red on the inside. She wants a short, fluffy dress. She liked last year's dress but the long dress part got in the way while trick or treating. She wants lots of ruffles and pace because classic vampires have "that old timey look" .


 Sooooooo here is our plan:

 Cape:

 I searched in the pattern box and found this pattern. We are going to make a short version of Cape B, black satin on the outside, red satin on the inside, as requested.

Dress:

I used this pattern as my base. I love this pattern! It is so pretty- I want  version 2 on the left for me! I want it in black and white check, with ruffles - just like the drawing! 

I tissue fit it on Eden and it seemed to fit well.  It was a tad bit big but not too bad. (I grabbed this pattern image off of a google search- scanning in my pattern would require effort that I don't have)  The size I used was a 10T chest  30.  Eden is a 26 so I figured I could take it in in the back and on the sides if it was way too big.

I made my muslin from a pink fabric that Eden picked out a couple of months back. I get tired of sewing on real muslin sometimes...it's so...blah.  Plus, if the test works, Eden can actually wear it. Making muslins are essential but sometimes I get frustrated at spending so much time on a non-wearable item. 

Here is the wearable test muslin!

It looks nothing like the pattern does it?  :)  I changed it all around. I made the pattern just like it is designed at first, though I ignored  the front darts (because Eden is...let's just say it- darts are for curves and my little darlin' doesn't have any yet ) and  it was soooooooooo big.  I removed the neck facing and then added tucks down the front center to take in the fabric. That took the front in 4 inches. The dress was very low cut so I added a neckline  about 2 inches wide. That brought the neck up to a much more comfortable level. Eden wants puffy sleeves so I just made the sleeves wider when I cut them out and gathered the new extra material at the top of the sleeve. I added elastic inside a casing at the bottom edge of the sleeve. That helps increase the puffiness.

 The back is pretty much exactly like the pattern. I took in about 4 inches on the back seam too.   I used an invisible zipper. Regular old double fold hem at the bottom.

I think she likes her new dress. 

I wish I had some of the socks she had as a baby- the white ones with super ruffles on the cuff. That would be adorable . She needs some saddle shoes too!

On the one for halloween , we will just be using the top of the dress. Eden likes the dress  but for her costume, she wants a wider twirly skirt  with a ruffled crinoline underneath. I did try to cut this dress with more skirt but it seemed to just fold up at the sides of the dress- it wasn't twirly. So I moved the side seams back in to about their original position. There will be no yoke-collar-neckline-raising thing on the halloween version.  I will cut the neckline much higher and just use creating a facing. I will also take out 4 inches form the front of the pattern, and 4 inches from the back. Though we both like the tucks, she doesn't think her costume needs them. 

She would like the dress to be red. I am pushing for a red and white crinoline  and white tights and black shiny shoes. I think that would be so cute!  Vampire teeth and  white make-up  and we are done! :)

The skirt will be a circle skirt using the circle skirt pattern from this book:

I love this book! I have made tons of skirts from this book and they turn out perfect every time. 

Off to sew!

Halloweeen!

Ahhh. Long time no blog, I know. I would love to sit down regularly and update this thing. I am envious of the time and discipline of bloggers who update every day. I follow a couple of blogs that post daily and I love to read them. My goal is once a month. So far I am not hitting that goal :) but I am getting there!
I have SO BUSY! I have lots of new students and they are fantastic! Also, I have suddenly been hit with many new clients who have naked windows for me to cover. And then there was halloween.
I love halloween!!!!! I love pumpkins and halloween decorating. I love everything about halloween- especially getting to wear a costume. And since I now have my own darling mini-me who shares my love of dressing up- I have two costumes to make each year.
This year, Eden decided she wanted to be a princess. Ok. We can do that. But I would not allow her to cheat and go the disney route. We had to make it unique. Also, Eden wanted us to match. I found a costume pattern that came in a child size as well as an adult size. We decided to do as princess and queen going to a masquerade ball. My plan was for us to both have matching dresses, her in pink & white and mine in black & red and masquerade masks.

We decided to do Eden's in Pink & White. Here she is!

To save a bit of money I used Wright lace hem tape for the edges of the sleeves- it was three yards for about $2 . I gathered it using my handy dandy ruffler foot. I also used the Wide lace hem tape for the trim all along the edge, where the pink meets the white. It turned out to be MUCH less expensive that buying pre-gathered lace trim.

Doesn't she look like a pretty frosted cupcake?

Sleeve detail:

I ordered the mask on Etsy from Lyssane. You can visit her beautiful shop here:

The mask was perfect!! Absolutely exquisite! I loved the attention to detail- there were little sparkles inside the flowers and all of the ribbon pieces were neatly tucked inside. The mask was even lined on the inside with super soft felt so it was super comfy for Eden to wear. The mask made the outfit!! If you need a mask- don't go anywhere else! It was perfect!





My dress was completed at the very last minute. I had planned on more time but woops! Ran out! I used a different method (pivoting the pieces ) to alter the bodice and I wish I had stuck with my normal method ( painstakingly cutting them apart and piecing ). After making up two muslin test versions, I still wish I had had time to alter it once more. I changed the front to a lace up detail, instead of the bows on the pattern. I also added in a piece at the top of the bodice so that it was not so low. ( I was asked to read to Eden's class for Halloween and I really felt that the dress was just a bit too revealing for 2nd graders.) Also, to read for her class I needed to be a story book character. So at the very last second, I changed my costume into the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland. I appliques hearts onto the front of the dress. I ended up not needing a mask. I drew hearts on my face and my lipstick was heart shaped.

(You can see my husband and Eden in the reflection in the glass door :) )

Here I am after I read to Eden's class.

My Mini-Me & Me

I used a satin edge stitch for my sleeves as I was not going for the 'frosted cupcake' look of Eden's dress.

Happy Halloween!