Little Red

Every year, I resolve to do things in a more timely manner.  It's not exactly a new year's resolution type of thing because I have to re-resolve to do it every month or so.  And, sometimes my resolve works and sometimes it doesn't.  This past month, I planned (at the beginning of the month, of course) to make Maggie a halloween costume.  When I was little, my mother always made us costumes.  I thought it was so much fun to be able to have something unique, not something that we bought out of a plastic bag at Target.  (actually, there was no Target here at the time--it would have been more like Venture, or even Zayre--am I dating myself??).  Not that there is anything inherently wrong with costumes out of a plastic bag.  I have been known to use them myself from time to time.  But sometimes I feel that if you have the skill, why not use it?

At any rate, October would be one of those months after which I have to renew my resolution to do things in a more timely manner.  Actually I might go so far as to say I need to stop doing things at the last minute!  I finally got around to starting said halloween costume on Friday afternoon, and finished it on Saturday.  The idea all started with one of our favorite fairy tales:  Little Red Riding Hood.  Maggie loves to read that book!  She also shares our love of the movie Hoodwinked, a hilarious spoof on the classic fairy tale.  I decided that before Maggie started telling me what she'll be for Halloween, I'd take this opportunity to make a costume I wanted to make.  So, I snatched up a Simplicity pattern from JoAnn fabrics and some red flannel and made a day of it.

Garment sewing is not something that is intuitive to me because I do not do it very often.  So, this little cape probably took me longer than it should have.  But the important thing is I did get it done, and even took a few short cuts to make it go a little faster.  I was pretty happy with the results, given the fact that it is a costume.

I decided not to make the dress that went with the pattern.  It seemed like a lot of work for something she would never wear again.  Instead, I pulled out a fun Westminster print and One Yard Wonders from my sewing library.  Who said Little Red Riding Hood has to wear gingham?  I decided to make a skirt that she could wear again and enlisted the help of my friend Stephanie, who by the way, also designs patterns for Blue Underground Studios.

The skirt was our Saturday night project--talk about cutting things close!  I knew that I would have no time to sew on Sunday.  Someday, I really AM going to make good on the promise to use my time more effectively!

The result was adorable.  Unfortunately, Maggie is a little reticent to pose for pictures these days.  But I did manage to get some cute back shots of her cape while we were trick or treating and my sister held her still for a 30 second skirt shot on Sunday afternoon.

I love the way the skirt turned out.  She even wore to to church on Sunday!  So, already, it's been used more than once which makes me feel good about time spent.