Emily's Halloween Costume

Halloween has come and gone and Emily got to go trick-or-treating 

in costume after all. And now that all the doorbell-ringing and 

pumpkin decorating are over, I am finally sitting down to post 

pictures of that elusive dress Emily asked for. Here's the first 

picture just to prepare you for the color it is. 

We started out with this

and ended up with this.

Drats, I should have ironed the skirt. Mumble..mumble......mumble......

But I must say it turned out better than I'd expected. I was planning to 

sew her a fabric tiara but surrendered at the last minute and braided 

together remnants from the dress to make her that 

headband/pretend-garland.

In case anyone is wondering - er, what is she supposed to be? 

Tamborine dancer? Crown-less princess? Hippie?

A ballerina. 

But not the tutu kind. People just don't go out in the dark 

in tights and a tulle belt in October in this part of the world. 

That's hypothermia waiting to happen. 

So Emily got fleece. And long sleeves. And a semi-circular skirt. 

The skirt is the main thing- at the very least it had to twirl properly. 

And a fleece skirt, while warm, is not fancy, and therefore not fun. 

So it had to have floaty shimmery layers. Not organza, which would 

have been easier to work with. Chiffon. With sparkles. And satin in 

the bodice to make it princessy. Thank goodness for a serger.

But I like how it turned out, the skirt especially. It has nice movement 

to it, even for fleece. A full circular skirt would have been spectacular 

but it would have also been too heavy for a little girl. 

The assymetrical layers in the skirt were fun to do, especially 

considering that I carelessly bought too little fabric 

to do it the easy way.  

The best part of this? If last year's princess costume was anything 

to go by, Emily will probably wear this over and over again 

throughout the year. All that mileage is good for a dress 

with that much pink in it.