Halloween Horrors! Sewing with kids

Against my better judgement, I let my 13 year old daughter convince me to help her sew her costume (and shop for the fabric and notions at JoAnn's!) on a Friday night. The Friday night before the school's Halloween carnival. Jeanetta had seen the pattern over three weeks ago, but it wasn't available in town so we had to order it. Between the delay in getting the pattern, Jeanetta getting sick for over a week, and other time commitments, we hadn't been able to start. Now, it was the night before the carnival and she just had to get that costume done. I should have said no. I'm not a good garment maker and I've definitely left the days when I could pull an all-nighter and still function the next day far behind. But, I also really want my girls to know how to sew and I know that there is always going to be a reason not to start a project. Costume sewing is very forgiving, sew no time like the present (yes, I know that is a dreadful pun).


We arrived at JoAnn's at about 5:30 pm and got out about 6:45. Not bad considering the line at the cutting counter seemed to extend out the door. We started sewing around 8. Jeanetta did about half the work, letting me do the rotary cutting and some of the more precise sewing. I know, she should learn to cut out patterns by herself, but time, and the desire to maintain all of her fingers intact, was of the essence. Fueled (in my case) by Cabernet and chocolate, we finally finished up at 1:20 am. The carnival wasn't until noon, but we had to get up early for Jeanetta's orchestra practice. Then, a hasty change in the bathroom and off to the carnival. I can't quite decide what her character is. Wednesday? Morticia? Elvira? Still, definitely a great look :) The pattern, since you can't really tell in the photo, has long princess type sleeves (Jeanetta designed the bottom of the sleeve herself), an empire waist with ties that criss-cross down and tie in front, and a fancy dress skirt attached to the bodice. There is also a pattern for a skirt or pants to go under it, but the top is large enough on her that we didn't need them.

One issue I struggled with in deciding to go ahead with this project was fairness. There was no way I could also sew the costume Lynneva wanted, especially since I would need to create the pattern myself. We managed a good costume for her, though, by re-purposing the white dress I made for her old Princess Leah costume into a ghost costume. The last minute purchase of silver hair spray was an excellent touch and she was the best "exploding box" character in the haunted house (aka the fifth grade classroom). Lynneva had thought that a ghost costume would be boring, but not anymore. Of course, we'll reprise these characters on Monday for the real Halloween.