Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween!

This year after much thought, Emily decided to be a witch again this year. But not just any witch, it had to be a witch like the ones in her Johnny Gruelle books. (which are my old ones!) I love these witches too! Here are a few:

halloween inspiration

halloween inspiration

halloween inspiration


The Raggedy Ann witch disguise was the one we were mainly going for. To get the cool border and the Cats On Hat, we went with the previously seen Spoonflower fabric, which was attached to the bottom of the skirt fabric and sewn as part of it. Then I needed to find patterns that would approximate the style of the outfit. I was worried about the lace-up portion of the bodice, but then I realized that a vintage Butterick pattern (8283) I had sitting out was perfect -- it's for a vintage jumper with an inverted box pleat at the center front of the skirt. All I had to do was extend the box pleat into the bodice, then add grommets to the pleat edges and lace it closed. The Spoonflower panel was incorporated into the skirt at the bottom. Ta-da!

The underdress was a pettiblouse made from another vintage pattern (Advance 6936, which I've made the dress from several times). While I wanted the overdress to be close to the original, I didn't want to make an underdress similar to the one in the illustration -- I wanted something less costume-y, since I know from experience that this outfit will be worn regularly for the next year or two. I wanted a much more basic girl's blouse and petticoat look, and the vintage Advance pattern was perfect. I did add some little cat buttons to go with the theme though!

Here's the finished outfit, hanging up:

halloween costume pics


And finally...the hat. I had hoped to find a hat I could buy and just decorate, but I found nothing I could use. I ended up making the hat myself. It was not fun, but I didn't have much choice. I took poplin, fused a very heavy home deco interacing onto the back, made a cone and a "ring" and sewed them together. Before attaching them, I added a band of orange and fused a row of cats into place with some steam-a-seam. Finally, I added bias tape at the edge and ran a wire pulled out of a cheap ($2) witch hat I bought somewhere. I really didn't think it was going to work, but it came out pretty well!

The final result?

Ready...
ready...

Set...
set...

Jump!!
jump!

Happy Halloween!!

6 comments:

  1. I Love it!! What a great costume idea and I love the fabric!!

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  2. Absolutely beautiful! I'd wear a dress like that all the time. Great idea for the lace-up bodice. and I love that second witch's dress, wonder if I could get away with wearing something like that for general use?

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  3. Your child is beyond lucky to have such a mother. This costume is superb. So, so cute (as is the child).
    Hope you had a lovely Halloween!

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  4. That is a wonderful design and well worth all the effort. I am not familiar with the work of Johnny Gruelle, but the illustrations you've posted are fabulous!

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  5. Sarah! so great. And just as an aside, as a kid (an adult too, now that I think about it!) I was always so annoyed when I had to wear the stupid footwear (like winter boots or running shoes) with a Hallowe'en costume. Sweet E is perfect from smiling head to kitten toes.

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  6. She looks SO adorable! Such an amazing costume-I'm loving that kitty fabric, it makes the costume!

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