Sewed Her Mind: Halloween Is Coming

When I packed away Abby's sewing station before school started, I went a little overboard and packed away all of my sewing stuff as well. So there hasn't been a lot of sewing going on around here lately, but Halloween is coming so the dolls needed some costumes.

Here is Julie dressed as a witch. Her dress is made out of some black taffeta I used for my own witch costume a few years ago. I combined patterns from Kirsten's school dress and Josefina's holiday dress--my two favorite American Girl patterns.

She also has a black felt hat trimmed with a red bow and a spider. And she has a tulle cape trimmed with red rick-rack. I bought the tights at my favorite doll shop and should have bought some doll-sized trick-or-treat pumpkins, because Julie is not the only trick-or-treater around here . . .

Here is Ivy as a black cat. Abby insisted that Ivy insisted on being a black cat. So there was no negotiation. But that's okay, because this costume was pretty easy. It's just one of my "groovy" housecoat/go-go dresses made out of black knit and trimmed with sequins. The mask also came from the doll shop as well as the little black headband I used for gluing on the felt ears. It's not easy to see, but Ivy also has a black sequin tail. She's all ready to ride along on Julie's broom if Julie had a broom--I was going to make one, but got sidetracked with this:

I told myself I was sewing this costume for Abby, but let's be honest. This is my doll and this is my costume. I used the apron dress pattern from Kirsten's Pretty Clothes and the cape is from Butterick 5661 (which I think is out of print.) I made the bodice thing out of black felt. The hood doesn't really fit over Kirsten's hairdo, but oh well. It won't stop her from trick-or-treating through the woods to Grandmother's house.

Here is Josefina's costume. Its not new--it was Julie's costume last year. But I added the head bandana because I still had scraps of the fabric left. She makes a pretty cute pirate.

The funny thing is that I usually sew over-the-top costumes for everyone in the family, but not this year. Instead of planning elaborate costumes, Abby and I are making do with what we already have. So I guess my enthusiasm for sewing for Halloween has manifested itself in the doll costumes. At least I had all of the material and trim in my stash already--I really just used what I had. (Although having that much red cotton for Red Riding Hood's cape was a bit on the lucky side.)