Anyway, the costume: I started with the Library Dress from Oliver and S. It's a size 8 with 10 inches of extra length. It's a bit big for J. but that was on purpose -- you never know what the weather is going to be like on Halloween but she can wear layers underneath if she needs to (which she likely will!).
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The fabric is a lovely soft purple chambray from Fabricland. *Sometimes* I get lucky there. It was on clearance and the person who cut it for me gave me almost a metre extra, that coupled with the fact that it was an extra wide bolt made this a very economical costume.
My girls prefer zippers because they can do them up themselves so I replaced the button placket in a very scientific way -- I sewed a zipper in using a 3/4" SA instead of 1/2" and replaced the facings on the bodice with lining. It worked but was not the most correct way to do it, I'm sure.
I improvised for the hat and the apron using an old sheet. J. wasn't happy with the hat and I might try again before the big day. It ended up being too puffy on top and not quite big enough to be comfortable as I neglected to factor in the wig in my calculations!
I've never been good at styling hair but I learned to do a sock bun! In a plastic wig no less. It's pretty cool, I must say because you can't see the sock at all. It stood up to a day of play and I didn't even use bobby pins.
J. is very literal and when we put all the pieces together, she wasn't totally convinced that she looked like Miss Mush. I would argue the side-by-side pictures tell a different story :)
Cost:
Fabric: Chambary used 1.5 m $3.98, white was scraps + old sheet $0
Pattern: Library Dress bought from Fabrications $18.02
Zipper: stash
Wig: $9
Total: $31
