Yet more Butterick B4320

The starting point for this costume was a moment of weakness in Dress Sew in Vancouver.  I was drawn to this beautiful brocade because of the colours but also because of it's lovely weight and drape.  In my head, I justified the $10/metre cost with the thought that the girls' dress up dresses get more wear than their regular clothes do.  I gulped at the thought of spending $30 on a Halloween costume but bought 3 metres because it's only 36 inch wide.

Again, I made View C, this time with the matching sleeves (on a side note: isn't it amazing how totally different it looks with different fabric?)

I don't care how pretty it is, never again will I sew with brocade!  You just have to look at it and it ravels.  I used a Hong Kong seam  finish for seams that have to lie flat and bound (binded?) the other seams in bias tape.  I started off with high hopes for how pretty this was going to be but got lazy and messy after only a few seams. 

It's not that I begrudge the time this type of finish takes (although that is part of it), it's that I started having this sinking feeling that even after all this work, this dress is not going to make it much past Halloween.  I hope I'll be proven wrong but the topstitching is already looking iffy and it hasn't even been worn yet. 

I will definitely try a Hong Kong finish again, though.  I think with the right colour binding, matching thread and a bit of patience (all conspicuously absent in this project!) it could look fantastic. 

More Ghastlies -- Halloween bags!

I am still not working (boo!) so have time to do silly things like make bags for the kidlets to collect their treats in on Halloween.  This one is about 14" wide by 14 1/2" high and is lined for durability -- if we let them my girls will trick-or-treat long past the time most kids have given up!! 

 

More Butterick B4320

I have made this pattern before . . . several times in fact.  The first time was Snow White in 2009.   I cut and mostly made a size 4 for my then four year old before realizing that she was going to be swimming in it.  I had bought fabric according to the fabric requirements on the envelope and had enough to make a whole new dress (which was good since I had no clue how to alter it.)  Gosh she looks so little here!  No word of a lie, she wore this dress everyday for six months!  She would get up in the middle of the night and put it on.  She even wore it to our Christmas eve open house. 

The third time was for Thing 1's fifth birthday party.  She wanted to be Alice.

The fourth time was for Thing 2's for halloween last year.  She and Thing 1 called it an Odette dress (an obscure Barbie princess).  I can't believe this is the best picture I have of it!!  Man it was cold last year.  She had to be lifted up stairs because she couldn't get her legs high enough between the dress and the snowpants!

This year, Thing 1 wants to be a witch, just like on the Ghastlies fabric I've been obsessing over!   When she described what she wanted to me I realized that view C could work.

The main fabric is a really soft polyester something-or-other that I bought on clearance from Dress Sew when I was in Vancouver in the summer.  I used the sleeves from view B and added a bell sleeve in hallween net underneath.  I used that fabric over the inset panel as well (but it's kind of hard to see) and I hand stitched silver stars over one side and the back of the skirt (they're pretty and hopefully they'll reflect the light!). 

I made a petticoat for underneath (partly because it was requested and partly because I spent hours handstitching the hem only to find it a good inch too long.  Oops.) 

The other oops was that I extended the bodice too much even for my long waisted girl.  I had to rip out the zipper and instead of ripping off the skirt, I added pintucks.  Unfortunately, I didn't think it through and they don't match up at the back.  They do the trick of shortening the bodice and add a bit of interest, though. 

As you can see, Miss Thing is quite excited about it!  She went to a movie with her daddy this afternoon and he wouldn't let her wear it, the meanie!

Ghastlies Skirt

Thing 2 loves dresses . . . as long as they are 100% polyester and of the store-bought variety.  Momma-made dresses and tops have been soundly rejected of late but handmade skirts are most definitely acceptable.  

I am so in love with the Ghastlies, I'm glad didn't hold back when I ordered it :). The band at the top is Kona Cotton in Coal from the Fabric Depot and the bottom band is Ring Toss in Grey from Hawthornethreads. I questioned myself about the waistband colour (and am questioning it even more after seeing it in pictures) but hubby insists it was the right choice as it needed a little bit of solid to balance out the pattern (!!).  Also, the Ring Toss looks a bit creamy in this picture but I really like it with the Ghastlies.  

I based it loosely on the Moda Bakeshop Patchwork Skirt tutorial but I reworked the dimensions and left off the ties. I also made the waistband with just two pieces instead of four and it seemed to work out fine. (I would have made it with one but I cut my piece too short and the proportions were off. Oops). I would have preferred to make an Oliver + S Sunday Brunch skirt to really show off the fabric but I'm pretty sure Thing 2 would've found it too constricting.

Although she was very excited to have it and wanted to wear it right away, typically she did not want to model it for me so I had to settle for a picture of her from behind in her K-way and gumboots.  Oh my goodness, I love this kid!!