Little Green Fairy

Here is my little green nature fairy!



These photos are all in the con hotel, so they are not ideal. I am hoping to get dressed up sometime this summer and do some photos in the nature park.

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She loved wearing this costume and got tons of compliments! She even got a hall costume award ribbon for it less than 5 minutes after we registered.

I was pretty happy with it, too. Two issues: the glitter from the blouse shed A LOT. I had to quarantine it in our luggage so it wouldn't spread. Also, the dupioni strips in the skirt frayed like crazy and got stuck on everything. I know dupioni is shreddy but I didn't expect this level of thread-tangled mess. It's too bad, too, because it looked so pretty in there. But that's a lesson for later.

I might do a post about this on my serious blog, I'm not sure.

Little House Dress for The Girl

This is F's other new costume, a cotton 1860s/70s dress for Little House dressup.

She is doing her "Sunday face."





Again, these are from the hotel at the con so they are not great pictures. But you can see the dress, more or less.

I used the Truly Victorian princess dress for girls pattern (TV600) and used it pretty much as it came out of the envelope. My girl is a little slim for her height so even though she is 6 1/2 years old I cut a size 4 in the chest and waist (and that even came out roomy!) but lengthened all the bodice pieces to the size 6. I cut the skirt extra long in order to sew tucks. The tucks are 5/8" deep and about 3/8" apart (from fold to next stitch line). I like these as a cheap and easy skirt detail but also for practicality - I can pick a couple of them out next year to lengthen the skirt if needed.

The fabric is the one she picked out last year on our fabric and candy store trip down at Reproduction Fabrics. The apron is a Moda print from work. It was totally last minute. The dress is very plain and I knew it needed something. Plus what's more Laura Ingalls than an apron? I planned to make a bib section for it but ran out of time. It needs it, because as you can see, the half apron slides down. I still have the fabric set aside for it, though, so the bib section will be easy to add later.

It buttons up the back with antique shell buttons I got from a coworker, and she is wearing it over two fluffy petticoats.

Frida

And here is one of me from the weekend.



This is the only picture I got of my Frida outfit. My friend Patti took it and I found it on facebook. As you can see, I was trying to emulate Frida's iconic Vogue cover by posing sitting down on the floor. Not sure if I quite got it.

The skirt is a mix of thrift store finds and work fabric. The mustard-y cotton and the handwoven multi-color bits are from work, and the black embroidered piece I cut off a thrifted skirt. The white ruffly bit is half of another skirt. Altogether I wish it had come out fuller, but the colors and basic shape are pretty much there. The blouse is another thrift find, silk/cotton with short puff sleeves, a woven dot print, and a vaguely 1930s feel. The shawl is just my same crappy old shawl. Hair/flowers/makeup pretty much the same as my test run.

I ended up really loving this costume. I was worried people wouldn't get it but lots of folks did and I got a lot of compliments. I am thinking this might be a good choice for a future "lazy Sunday at Costume College" outfit.