Princess Eliza and Little Red Riding Hood

Ok, so I admit it. I had a great day today and as promised…

…and apart from the assembly and having to dance to the hokey cokey, it was just fab!

So, book week next year… any ideas!

Thanks for looking

Rachael

Book week 'day' THE COUNTDOWN – part two

…what was I thinking!

How cocky was I with my fancy ideas and my fancy drawings! Made a few outfits for my kids and I think I've become a full on tailor!

Making clothes for kids is easy, they are like making boxes to package them up in… I hadn't accounted for the fact that grown ups have curves and although my curves may not be very prominent …they're still there!!!

Laying on the floor and drawing around myself was not going to work, I needed a plan!!!

…and the plan came in the shape of Bin Bag Me!

You know how your best ideas always come to you when your trying to get to sleep? Well mine do at least, and I released that I needed a model of me so that I could attempt to make the top part of my outfit!

…and here I am as a plastic bag…

Book week 'day' THE COUNTDOWN – part one

I have been so busy this week trying to get both mine and Tinks costumes ready for Friday, and I'm pleased to say that I'm oh so nearly finished!

…just a few more little finishing off bits to do with Tinks outfit and for mine all thats needed is the contents for my basket!

It took Tink and I a while to decide what she would go as. I had managed, after a considerable amount of persuasion, to convince her, that it would be good idea to go as Lola from the Charlie and Lola books only to have this idea blown out of the water by the wicked witch of the west, whom I think, had an ulterior motive …under her evil spell she made the idea of Princess Eliza from the Princess and the Wizard seem a wonderful idea, and a very familiar outfit to that of Princess Evie which she would be attempting to make for her daughter!

Actually it wasn't really like that, well maybe a little, but it was me who told the wicked witch that she would be no longer attempting to piece together an outfit but to make it from scratch and with a vague picture of the princesses in my head we set of to go fabric shopping! 1 hour later, and after a hysterical visit to the shop where we were served by two very strange women who were really not very competent and had me in tears, we were finally equipped with cheap lining fabric, glittery fabric, netting and for me black velvet! Max looked a little daunted by the prospect but I knew we could do it, I love the way she always raises her eyebrows when I say "it'll be easy!"

Tink drew me her idea of what I needed to make…

Book Week – Aaarrrhhhh!

It's that time of year again when I'm reminded with only a week (give or take a few days) to go, that costumes are needed for book week.

"Okay!" I say, with slight relief that my boy has moved up schools and no longer needs one for that day so I can concentrate on one costume, "…so what would you like to be this year Tink?" to which, with a wicked smile I might add, someone who I consider my friend says …without being able to control the delight in her voice "and what are you going to go as?"

"Me? Me?, Oh yeah, ME! (I have deleted the rude word from my actual response!). I forgot I have to dress up too!"

How to make a Snowman costume!

I am up to my eyes in my new range of sock monkeys at the moment but I did have to take a break…

…a break that I had been putting off because I wasn't quite sure how to do it… "mummy – I'm a snowman in the school play!"

Not so difficult I hear you say and that's what I thought when I set off to buy my lovely fleece fabric last Wednesday morning with the ambition of having it finished that afternoon!

I lay the fabric on the floor. Looked at it! Umm'd and err'd for a good 10 minutes… and then folded the fabric back up and decided to get on with the monkeys!

My task was only made difficult because of how I wanted the finished costume to look. I could have quite easily just made a little trouser like suit, but I wanted a costume that was shaped… and that's when it came to me! Saturday morning, 2am, I sat bolt upright in bed… 'it needs to be made like a pear!' All I needed was to see a photograph of a pear pin cushion and I knew I could do it.

I went straight back to sleep but was wide awake at 7.30 (which is unheard of on a weekend) googling images of pear pin cushions and drawing round my daughter on a piece of wallpaper.

For all you people out there who have no idea how to sew from a pattern… I'm with you! I make it up as I go along, but the more costumes I have made the easier it gets… so here is my first 'very professional' step of making a snowman costume…

…draw round the child in question – ta dah…

Step 2…  using aforementioned child template make up some kind of pattern! Feel free to just make it up and change it at any point! I do!

Book Week

I had two very excited little children this morning… there's nothing like going to school in disguise. Both of them became their characters – My boywas jumping off walls and running about. Tink was very dainty and skipped along! 

I had to re-make the bottom half of my boys costume yesterday, so the pants, legs and boots are all new. It would have been easier to make the whole costume from scratch but apparently I am now "the best mum I've ever had!" Thanks son, I think!

Little Red Riding Hood - Part Three

So yesterday I made the apron. I was a little pre occupied due to my MRI scan appointment… so I didn't take photographs of my progress and I spent most of the day unpicking. I'm sure it all went wrong because it was my unconscious trying to keep me busy.

So I started with a rectangle, I hemmed it on the bottom with some lace from my mums stash and used my old favourite elastic running stitch across the top of the rectangle to gather it.

I cut a really long thin rectangle to be the waist and form the tie back, and I pinned the bottom part of the apron inside this. I then stitched it closed along the outside.

Little Red Riding Hood – Part Two

The cape…

Not as complicated as the dress. I knew how I needed it to look so I took a guess at how I may get to that point.

I cut a large circle and then took just over a quarter out. I put binding round the edge so that once again I didn't have to hem it, and the small circle in the middle is to go around the neck.

I then cut a smaller semi circle for the hood, it was still quite large because I wanted the hood to be very loose.

Little Red Riding Hood – Part One

Book week is coming around pretty quickly for us and this year Tink is going as Little Red Riding Hood.

Luckily I had some red gingham in my fabric stash and a finger puppet for inspiration.

With no pattern, and I'm not sure I would be able to follow one anyway I decided to cut two rectangles and stitch the short sides together as a start to the skirt.

Then I moved on to the top, I drew around TInk to get her size and came up with a shape that I thought would work for the top panel. I then cut another one out for the back which I was going to make in two pieces, I cut the neck slightly higher and overlapped the two pieces so that I could have buttons up the back.

Pinned the front and the two back pieces together and stitched at the top and side seams.