One Down

Our little girl stays true to her season. The Halloween books get pulled out all year long. She has yet to stop talking about trick-or-treating and keeps asking when we're going again. Just last week she asked me what I was for Halloween, followed by questions as to what her grandparents went dressed up as for Halloween. Headbands with rabbit ears or flower petals or crowns attached frequently find their way from the playroom floor to the top of her head. This week she's been stealing a whisk from the kitchen drawer to use as her scepter as she runs through the house telling me about the other creatures who live in her kingdom. I didn't have to brainstorm too long before deciding that a trunk filled with costumes for dress-up would be an Audrey-perfect gift.

Last night, I decided to spend the last few free minutes of the night sitting in front of the sewing machine rather than the computer. And, voila, today we have a pair of wings - butterfly wings. I used the Fluttery Butterfly pattern in Deborah House's Quick Costumes for Kids as my template to make this costume. House suggests that you use craft glue to create this cute costume in a mere hour. We're a bit rough and tumble at our house, so I'm not sure how a glued costume would hold up. I decided to double her pattern, so to speak, creating a front and back. I sewed each stripe and circle to the material (all felt that I had on hand) and then sewed the two pieces together, making it much sturdier. The elastic loops seen in the picture slip over the arms, while some elastic sewn in a figure-eight shape will hold the costume secure against Audrey's back. As for the hour timeline, I can't really say how much longer my version took. It's a bit like that song in Rent, which measures time by coffee cups. This project took a few bath times given by Daddy, one free night due to an evening meeting Jason had to attend, several 2-minutes here/3-minutes there to sew on one stripe or circle as Jason had Audrey preoccupied, and one final sewing session to connect the wings last night.

Now this costume gets tucked away for secret keeping until November or December. My plan is to make a costume a month until her birthday or Christmas (and to find the perfect wooden trunk to store the costumes in - if you find one, let me know). I'm hoping to have ten or so costumes (I bought a couple on clearance for a few dollars a piece following Halloween last year to add to the stash) to give her. We'll see how it goes. One costume down...