Happy Halloween: 1881 Bonnie

Bonnie got a lot of mileage out of her Halloween costume this year.  Her 4th grade class got to visit a one room schoolhouse in Waterford, VA this month.  I made her costume because of course I am obsessed that way.  She was able to wear the costume to several Halloween parties and will wear it tonight. 

The dress is silk taffeta that I have had in my stash forever.  I think I got it at Fashion Fabrics at least 8 or 9 years ago.  I underlined it in muslin to give it some body.  I used Simplicity 3725 view A.  I omitted the stand up collar and added the lace collar shown above.  While searching through my stash I came across the collar.  I think a friend gave it to me in college - like 25 years ago (yikes!).

I barely had enough fabric for the dress, so matching plaids was SUPER fun.  It took me far longer to cut out the fabric than it did to actually sew the dress.  I had to fudge a little, but at least the lines across the bodice and skirt look reasonably straight.

I also omitted the zipper and added buttons down the back.  Buttons are a little bigger than I wanted, but it's what I had in the stash.  I had to create a placket for the buttons below waistline because there is no center back seam. 



The lace from the cuffs was from the stash.  I actually have lots of white lace in my stash, unfortunately I either didn't have enough or it didn't look right for the hem.  I ended up buying the lace for the hem and Bonnie's hair ribbons from JoAnn's.  Total cost for Bonnie's dress was $12 (excluding sunk costs from years ago).

I attempted to french braid her hair.  Bonnie informed me throughout the process that Aunt Ann (my sister) did a much better job.  I can sew - but I can't do hair.

The chaperons were asked to dress up, so here is my ensemble.  Nothing like a shawl and full skirt to make you look svelte.

Happy Halloween from Princess the Guinea Pig!

And Katie!

Bonnie the Alien

Bonnie played an alien in her school play this year.  I am all for an elaborate costume, but this is a no sewing costume that really turned out great.  Bonnie and I put together this costume.  The top, skirt and slippers are from the preteen shop, Justice.   The slippers were a huge score! 

The green boa, face mask and Styrofoam balls were from Michael's craft store. The antennae headband is from a St. Patrick's Day headband that originally had shamrocks.

 Bonnie and I painted the Styrofoam balls and the face mask with paper dye.  Bonnie glued googly eyes on the mask.

It was a big hit and Bonnie loved it.  Best part is that Bonnie was able to wear the top and skirt all summer.

Circus McGurkus

Bonnie came home from school and said "Mrs. K asked me to ask you if you would make a tent for Dr. Seuss Day.  Apparently Mrs. K is using 3rd graders to do her dirty work.  The 3rd grade theme is Dr. Seuss' book If I Ran the Circus.  

I told Mrs. K. that I didn't think I could make a tent and that I would be afraid it would collapse on the kids.  We finally settled on curtains for the three 3rd grade classroom doors.  I saw the 3rd grade room mother who is a stay-at-home mother with waaaayyyy too much energy at Author's night.  She said she was thinkinig of an awning and maybe a tunnel.  When she saw my eye start twitching and lip start curling, she decided that curtains would be just fine.

So here is what Mrs. K got...

Curtain #1 

I got the cotton quilting fabric and tension rods at JoAnns. 



I used a saucer (as in cup and saucer) to trace the scallops for the valance and tie backs. 



Curtain #2



I used my ruffler attachment for the valance and tie backs.  There is a nice video of the ruffler in action at the Bernina website.

I serged the ruffles of the tie-backs with red thread. 

Closeup of the valance.

Curtain #3



This curtain has a scalloped valance and ruffled tie backs. 

The book actually shows yellow stars on red fabric.  I couldn't find any fabric with yellow stars.  I thought the polka dots looked pretty circusy. 

I was pretty happy with the results and the Mrs. K was thrilled.  The only thing that took any skill was pressing the scallops correctly.  I actually don't clip my curves for scallops.  I find the clips seem distort the smooth curves.  I just trim very closely and carefully press out the curves. 

Not too bad for 10 hours of work. 

Bonnie's Plaid Skirt

I had some left over pink and purple wool plaid from this skirt so I made Bonnie a skirt. 

I actually started Bonnie's skirt last winter.  It was too big for her last year, so I put it in my alterations pile and promptly forgot about it. I pulled it out and low and behold it fits! 

All I had to finish was the hem.

I used Butterick 4593.

I used an invisible zipper.

Here is a shot of the back of the skirt. 

I used some lining I had in the stash. 

  I used hem lace for hem. 

 

Sewing a dry clean only skirt for an eight year old girl probably isn't the best idea.  We had a long talk about how this skirt can't go in the wash.  I think you can tell Bonnie enjoys the life of a model.



I Made Pants!

At least I can say I finished one of my resolutions for 2012.  I made the above pair of pants from a pattern I made from a pair of ready-to-wear I own.  I made the pants from evil, evil wool gabardine.  Yes, it looks innocent enough, but if you get it slightly off grain, it looks like crap.  The pants are pretty successful.  They certainly fit.  You can see the pocket lining in this picture.  It didn't look that obvious when I looked in the mirror.   

The fabric is from one of my stash inheritances.  This was a 100% stash project.  I like to think of it as free, though I must have bought the lining, thread, and seam tape at some time. The buttons were from a jar of buttons my cousin gave me. 

 Here is a close-up of the pocket.  I stabilized it with twill tape.

 I tried to sew button holes, but couldn't get them to look right, so I gave up and sewed the hook and eyes.  The buttons aren't functional. 

 I hand-stitched the lining to the fly.  I never can remember how to construct pants flys.  I had to go get a pair of my pants to jog my memory. 

I did a hong-kong finish for the waist band and then stitched-in-the-ditch from the right side. 

 I used hem tape for the hem. 

Here is a close-up of the the fit - hmmm you can still see that pocket lining.  

The blogged about my top here.

Bonnie's Blue Skirt

Apparently this skirt was a big hit at school.  I guess lace and satin are all the rage for 3rd graders.   I didn't use a pattern.  I sewed three 18 inch lengths of the fashion fabric together to form a tube.

I think I got the fabric from a going out of business sale at Hanocks for under $2 a yard.  It is made from panels of different shades of blue poly satin sewn together.  It is covered in a layer of black netting.  The seams between the panels are covered by black ribbon.   

I finished the hem by serging and sewing black lace around it.  

I bought the lace at JoAnns with my 50% coupon making it about $6. 



I added an elastic waistband.  I tried to gather the fabric and then stretch the elastic, but it was just too much to gather and looked like wads of fabric.  I ended up using my ruffler attachment.  Did I tell you how much I love my ruffler?  It is awesome.  I zigzagged the elastic to the satin. 



I took this picture of Bonnie right before her bedtime and I think she was about to drop. 



Here is a shot Bonnie and Gus with cast.  He broke his arm sledding while we were in Colorado over Christmas.  Fun times....