Halloween Costumes 2013

I've known how to sew longer than I've known how to read.  My mom taught me the basics of sewing when I was about 4 years old. I vaguely remember sitting on her lap while she taught me how to sew a straight line, how to raise and lower the presser foot, and how to use the back stitch switch.  I was too short to reach the pedal so she would do that for me.   

She taught me how to sew my first skirt when I was 5 or 6 years old.  I always enjoyed going with her to the fabric store to pick out a pattern and fabric to go with it.  Then we would come home and she would help me cut out the fabric.  At first she would help me every step of the way.  But as I got older I would usually do a lot of it on my own.  But my mom was always there when I came across something new.  She taught me how to set in sleeves, how to place a zipper, how to do darts, how to create pleats and so on.   

Over the years I've sewn many things, including three prom dresses.  But, even though I have my own sewing machine, I haven't really sewn a lot since moving out on my own.  

The exception is that I always sew Halloween costumes.  So even though I knew things would be nutty around here with a new baby I still wanted to sew costumes for the girls.      

And I did!

They were quite a project.  In retrospect I probably over-committed myself.  I wasn't sure if I would get them done in time for the Ward Halloween Party last night.  But thanks to 10 hours of almost continuous sewing yesterday I got them "done" in time.  (They were missing zippers, but that's what safety pins are for.)

The dresses count as a birthday present for the girls - which is one reason I was willing to put some much effort into them.  I used McCall's pattern # 6141 as a starting point.  But I made some modifications.  I also made the dresses slightly big so the girls can wear them as dress-ups all year long.

Originally I wanted to do the dresses in the girls' favorite colors.  At the time their favorite colors were pink (Lydia) and blue (Charlotte).  I didn't have any fabric in those colors so I was going to buy some.  But then the girls' kept changing what their favorite colors were.  So I decided to use fabric that we already had.  My friend Danielle gave purple and green fabric last year.  The sheer fabric and the lace came from my friend Nanette.  I figure that part of the point of Halloween is to give me an excuse to use up fabric.

I bought the crowns at K-Mart.  I was so excited that they were the exact same colors as the dresses.  I also bought new tights for the girls to wear because they needed bigger ones anyway.  The girls wore their puffy tutus from last year's costumes under their dresses.    

Here is a video of the girls twirling around in their dresses.













They were so excited for their dresses.  Charlotte later gave me a big hug and said, "I LOVE my dress!"  That's what I was hoping for.

Way back when I first came up with the Princess idea I thought I'd dress all my girls as princess.  (I also toyed with the idea of them being the three fairies from Sleeping Beauty.  Because one loves pink, one loves blue.)  But I decided that Veronica could just go in Charlotte's parrot costume from 2011.  It was a little big for her, but not that big.  (Veronica right now fits clothes that Char and Lyds wore at 6 months)

Brandon spent the day watching the kids and cooking a treat for the ward party.  He made a graveyard out of homemade brownies and shortbread.

The ward party was a trunk-or-treat and chili cookoff.  I wasn't thrilled about the idea of getting brand new homemade dresses anywhere near chili, so we brought along some of Brandon's old t-shirts for the girls to wear as bibs.

Brandon went as a Mountain Man.  But everyone thought he was Indiana Jones.  We dressed Derrick as Dash from the Incredibles because he loves to run fast (and we already had the costume.)  We tried to slick back his hair with gel, and it worked pretty well considering all his hair grows forward.

After dinner they put away all the tables.  Derrick had lots of fun showing off how fast he can run.  He ran back and forth all over the gym.

Then they did a costume parade.  I'd dressed up as a pirate to go with Veronica's parrot costume.  I'd assumed that she would be attached to me all night.  But actually the Military Relations missionary couple took care of her all during the party.

Then we went outside for the trunk or treat.  I don't really see how walking around a dark parking lot and getting candy from people you can't see is safer than walking around a well-lit neighborhood, but we got a lot of candy so whatever.

When we were done walking around we sat down outside and enjoyed the wonderful weather.  The warm night was such a nice change from all the freezing I did as a kid on Halloween.  The kids enjoyed their candy.  (We'd forgot to bring their trick or treat buckets so the kids just used trash bags I found in the cleaning closet.)

The kids all fell asleep on the ride home.   We took their bags, but gave the candy back after church.  Then the girls enjoyed the time honored tradition of trading/discussing the Halloween Candy.  (They call Starbursts "squishies.")

The party last night was the first of the "Birth-o-ween" activities for this year.  We have something fun planned for every day leading up to Halloween/ the girls' birthday on Thursday.  I'm so excited.