My Own Project Runway

A debated Halloween costumes for weeks. She was for sure going to be a fairy. I was all for that. The costume consists of her pink ballet leotard & the fairy wings and skirt I bought at the dollar store last year.

Somehow last week, she changed her mind. She was waffling between a gypsy, a genie, a revolutionary girl (a la Felicity the American Girl doll) and an Egyptian princess. I told her last weekend she needed to pick and pick soon if it involved me sewing. She decided on an Egyptian princess & I asked my mother if she would sew. I went shopping at Joann's, bought the pattern & fabric and had everything ready except I never quite made it over to her house. My mother dropped by on Thursday night and mentioned she was going away quilting the next day. Uh-oh, that meant mom would not be sewing the costume.

Friday afternoon, I picked up the kids and came home to sew the dress. I soon discovered mistake number one. I picked up a pattern sized 12-14-16. It was way too big and although I had delusions of using my mathematical powers and downsizing the pattern, it soon became apparent the only ruler I could find was too short. I packed the kids up and headed back to the store.

By the time we got home we had to head to soccer practice. Then feed the children. Then put children to bed. It was 8:30 before I started on the dress. Luckily, my replacement pattern (they didn't have the original one in the 6-8-10 size) was See 'n Sew pattern. It was suppose to be another 1 hour design. I think 4 hours is a better estimate.

By 10:30, I had the dress 80% complete. I had to hem it & slip stitch the shoulders.


This is where it felt like I was on project runway. I only had about an hour between soccer games and the party to finish the costume. I had several little things I needed to do on the dress plus I still had to figure out how to make a collar. I used a tupperware lid, a pen, a piece of thread & finally my mathematical powers can came up with this.



I made six wedges and sewed them into a circle. The gold fabric was fraying so I backed it with extra material from the dress. It was like the show when Tim Gunn tells them he's just not sure about the outfit an hour before runway and they remake the whole thing. I worked it out.



I need to sew the bottom edge of the collar to make it neater. Overall both A & I were pleased with the result. There were several other Egyptian princesses at the party and A has already requested a belt and wrist cuffs to complete the outfit. The party was a blast too. Here is DH (in his groovy disco shirt & wig) holding up B to hit the pinata at the party.



And here's J taking his turn