Hands up those who know that in the original Cinderella story, the illustrious princess had three gowns, one for each night of the ball?
And that the first was pink, the second blue, and the third gold-and-silver?
And that it was actually mentioned, in some versions,
that her gowns had floating overskirts (must have been written by a sewing person)?
Emily's is the last of this year's Princess Costume Trilogy. How unoriginal is that?
Every year the girls ask to be princesses, fairies or variations thereof. It never departs from this general theme. I am always hopeful that sometime they will ask to be something more unique, like a bratwurst, or ET. But it never happens. So now their closet is full of princess costumes. But I'm not complaining because while they will not wear an ET or robot costume after Halloween, they will, and do, wear their princess costumes all through the year.
But back to overskirts. I experimented a bit this year on their overskirts. Kate's Belle dress had a ruched overskirt over a gathered (ick! ick!) skirt. Pretty and luscious, but she noticed right away, at the discerning young age of two-and-a-half, that the twirl factor was very low.
Jenna's Ariel dress was a gathered overskirt over a semi circular skirt. Better, albeit unfaithful to the original Disney dress.
Emily's Cinderella dress has- finally- the swag draping that I'd wanted for Jenna's.
Hurrah, except I was using some stiff gold tissue lame remnant that I of course did not have enough of. So limited twirl. And - oh, must tell you all this - when I'd finished her bodice and before I'd put on the trim, I was suddenly gripped by the urge to slap on a communicator and intone, "Ensign Charming, Cinderella, Mrs., sir. Beam me up, Fairy Godmother!" That shiny reddish gold satin on stark white fleece in that V-layering - hellooooooooooo Star Trek.
Well, here are the princesses:
with their cousins the day before Halloween:
And here are their cloaks:
Satin on the outside, fleece on the inside:
And out they went to Get Candy. It was a warm night, thankfully - only 40++ F. And yes, those are mittens.
3 princess gowns+ 3 princess cloaks+ 8 Rapunzel (although not technically royalty till she married Prince OohILoveYourHair) dresses = I had a lot of fun with the delicious fabrics and trims but I am rather all princessed-out now. Oh for some cardboard.
I know that Cinderella story!!!
ReplyDeleteThe dresses and capes are lovely! And I think I need to sew fleece princess dresses next year; Emma was much too cold in her Tinkerbell costume, even wearing it over a long-sleeved shirt and long pants. A coat was absolutely out of the question, of course.
I've never seen fairer princesses in all my life! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm a little late in reading your post. Your daughters look exquisite in their costumes. They are beautiful girls and have a very talented Mommy. Thank you for the lovely pics.
ReplyDeleteThey are so beautifull!!!
ReplyDeletelg Pippi
Ha ha ha ha ha ha!! Bratwurst! You always crack me up; I wish we were neighbors!
ReplyDeleteSadly, I do not know that Cinderella story. But JellyBean is but 19 months old, so I have a *little* more time to check into the Real Versions of the princess-y fairytales!
Your kids look very lovely, they are so lucky to have a mom like you who makes them feel like princesses!
ReplyDeleteLove the dresses and cloaks! I never thought of the idea of a cloak until I read it on your blog. In central IL it can get pretty chilly for Halloween, too! Though next year we will be in Seattle, so it should be more mild.
ReplyDeleteI was just explaining to my MIL that I take the time to serge the edges of my daughter's costumes (princess and tinkerbell so far) just like any other clothing that I make, because she likes to wear them all of the time! In fact just today she wore last year's princess dress. Can't say that about a bratwurst costume. :)
I am just so impressed by your use of warm materials to construct princess dresses. Bravo to you!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! And I had a thought for Halloween next year ... mostly because I'd love to see how you do it :) If they love princesses and fairies what about trying the three fairies from Sleeping Beauty: Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather? Just a thought :)
ReplyDeleteThis dress (Emily's) is my favourite of the three. It looks so great with the cape (although the others do too). Great work as always!
ReplyDeleteLOOOOOOOVE the capes! The very best part if you ask me! :) Great job!!!
ReplyDelete~Lindsay
These are really beautiful princesses !
ReplyDeleteThey are so lucky to have you sewing so wonderfully !
All those dresses aer lovely, and those little girls just look great. You did a great job !
ReplyDeleteAt least your daughters want to be good. My 5 year old only wants to be bad guys. I talked her out of being the Big Bad Wolf only to have her want to be a Black Widow. It turned out really cute, but I could handle a princess. Maybe next year.
ReplyDeleteSara: I love that idea! And don't the three good fairies also have cloaks as part of their costumes? Ha! Perfect. Oh, but there are those pointy hats. And we must all practise singing Bibidi-bobidi-boo. Maybe we can say the BOO part loudly at people when we as for candy.
ReplyDeleteHeather F: Hm, I wouldn't know how to do a Big Bad Wolf costume without cutting up a large brown towel and getting very frustrated. But the Black Widow - now that would have been fun to do. I bet yours turned out fabulous (and better than the Wolf one would have been)!
I love the fabulous costumes you made for your daughters. Alas, the princess years fade too fast.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! (That's the story I grew up with, too)
ReplyDeleteMy daughter has shown little interest in Princess stuff - must be the older brother influence. Right now she wants to be a police officer when she grows up...
Tremendous sewing! They are precious!
ReplyDeleteAnd I'd like to invite you to sewingmamas.com (if you've never been there) A great place for the sewing obsessed! (ok, not assuming that you are obsessed.. just that I am! lol)
They're so cute! That cape is lovely! Any advice on making a child's cape? In my mind it's just a hood attached to a circle skirt, but I'm not sure how it works in real life :)
ReplyDeleteI adore seeing all your princesses together. Brava! Totally get you on the wishing for something a little more unique, but I guess girls will be girls.
ReplyDelete