Princess Leia

I showed you my Cinderella dress for KL for favorite character day- KK chose to be Princess Leia.

I know what she really wanted was to make her teacher smile and wear her hair like Leia (because every little girl loves the side buns, right?). 

I didn't even start working on a costume for her until Monday night when she needed it Tuesday- talk about procrastination!! Luckily I came up with an idea to make it super easy. 

I looked online for costume ideas, and then wondered why bother when I knew I didn't have enough plain white fabric to make anything for her- but I did find this tutorial and pattern for her belt that came together pretty easily. I had a gray sheet with a worn spot that was recently thrown into my recycle fabrics and I had dark gray (think charcoal) felt. I know her belt is more silver but I figured the gray would work just fine. I used the felt to help the "patches" on her belt stick out some (and I added length because my 10 yo does not have a 20 inch waist). I also opted for elastic instead of Velcro- it just seemed easier than adding so much length that it could potentially sit funny. 

As for the gown, I took 2 of daddy's plain white t-shirts. I cut one of them right under the sleeves and stitched  them together. No fuss, no muss, no late night run to purchase fabric (and dad will take any excuse you give him to buy new clothes). 

Now, I didn't get a photo of just her in costume, but here's a picture of all my K girls before school- and in full costume. 

I love this photo. I'm pretty sure there's a little bit of everyone's personality showing through. Even the twins are showing just how different they can be, even when dressed alike- or maybe it's just me. 

Anyway, they had a blast. KK was a little worried once we started walking to school that she would be the only one in costume, or at least a little more elaborate than everyone else (and she was) but it only took a few minutes of being in the building and getting lots of compliments before she was okay with it. My little KL kept the dress on until supper time. She didn't want to take it off!! (KK took hers off for lunch, PE, and recess so it wouldn't get messy or hinder movement.) 

That's it for costumes, but here's a quick shot I took this weekend of KL in her squared-circle skirt I finished a few weeks ago- she just looked too cute. However, she was also wrestling with daddy while I was trying to get a picture so it's kind of blurry. 

That's all for now, 

Jo! 

Cinderella Dress

We are in the beginning of our ABC countdown to summer for my big girls, and Tuesday (F) is "Favorite Character Day". It says to come dressed as your favorite book character. 

KK has decided she wants to be Princess Leia, and really just wants the hair. 

KL, after changing her mind a million and half times, decided on Cinderella. We may have gone with the typical Disney design but the story line came from a book originally, right? Plus, after a movie gets famous Disney makes a few dozen story books using the characters anyway. 

So here's what we came up with :

I used the same concept as the tutu I made for KO a few weeks ago. 

I know Cinderella's dress is all blue but Hobby Lobby only had white, black, and hot pink options for the bandeau (and I didn't have time to order one online), so we went with the white. 

To give the tufts I added 3 strands of tulle in middle and tied them to the back. To hide the knot I just tucked them under the other rows of tulle. 

Also different is the straps. I knew she wouldn't be able to wear it to school without some sort of straps. (Although, I already told her she will wear shorts and a shirt underneath in case she gets hot, or itchy, or tired of wearing a big puffy dress.) So we too a left over length (same as the skirt of the dress) and looped them the same way at her shoulders, and in the back they go through a hole and then I tied them together, so the shoulders could be adjusted, if desired or needed depending on how long it lasts. 

My biggest fear was that people would assume Elsa, and according to a Facebook poll, that's the first assumption everyone is making. But I've decided once we get a black choker on her it will be easier to tell. 

Here's the only in progress shot I took, it's poorly lit and wasn't planned on being added here, but KM was just too cute in it, and got very mad when daddy took it off for supper. 

But this photo shows why I decided on two layers instead of just one. The single layer was pretty see through and left a gap near the top of the skirt/bottom of the bandeau that the second layer (along with a little help from a small white strip that I weaved through the middle) took care of.

That's all for now, 

Jo!