It's almost here...

Halloween seems to be a six-week-long production these days. Liam has been traipsing around the house in his costume for that long already, and I had the pile of fabrics that were destined to become Mallory's costume kicking about since late summer, too. I had fully intended to buy her costume because really - you can get a Cinderella dress at any drugstore or supermarket these days. But then I found the fabrics on clearance - literally just a couple of dollars a meter - and got the itch to make it myself. I did worry because I have never made clothing and thought the slinky fabrics might have been difficult to sew with, but those engineering skills came in handy when it came to piecing it together, and the fabrics weren't hard to handle at all.

(Chad tried to talk Mallory out of being Cinderella, saying she should be Ariel instead so she could play up her gorgeous hair. Mallory would have none of it. She said months ago that she wanted to be Cinderella and once those words were out of her mouth, there was no convincing her otherwise!)

I got the dress finished before I left on my trip last week, so she was able to wear it to Cindy's Halloween party last week. (I still need to finish the hairband - maybe tonight?) I made her a size 3 and I totally lack the skill to custom-size something like that. Partway through I freaked out and thought it was going to be too small to fit her. Lo and behold, now that it's finished, it is actually quite large - I have to safety-pin it in the back to keep it from slipping off her shoulders! Ah well, she'll be able to play dress-up for months to come. Nothing wrong with that.

We got her a plain white turtleneck to wear underneath for trick-or-treating purposes, since the gathers in the neckline on this white t kind of detract from the whole ensemble and make it look less than thought out! (Liam actually has several different pieces of pirate wear that he can layer depending on the weather... the long coat he's sporting here is not my favourite among them, but if he's happy then we are (usually) all happy.) And yes, those are Mallory's flower girl shoes getting a second lease on life. I would like to get the kids dressed up and outside for a few posed pictures one day this week... something that shows the true colour of her dress, with some autumn leaves in the background perhaps. I have had some good luck bribing the kids for pictures with a Halloween treat lately. Perhaps I'll try that tack again.