Ahnalin As "Cinderella's Mother" for "Into The Woods"- McCall's 5499

Back in May, Ahnalin performed the role of 

"Cinderella"s Mother" 

in her school's production of 

"Into The Woods".

Since Cinderella's late mother is also the

"Fairy Godmother", her teacher

requested that her costume would be rather "ghostly".

Yet she wanted her appearance to reflect youth and beauty,

as Cinderella's mother was still young when she died.

Ahnalin chose McCall's 5499 for her costume.

As usual, I made a few changes.

I purchased all the fabrics from the red tag racks
at Joann Fabrics.
The shimmery ivory fabric was a very soft and flowy acetate
that I found for $1.50 per yard.
I don't usually love acetate satin but
the price was right for a school costume!
As the fabric was nearly transparent,
I lined the entire gown with the same fabric.

In addition, I found a very soft
cotton drapery organza for the sleeves and overdress.
The drapery organza was 120" wide so I only
purchased 1 yard.

The slit in the neckline was MUCH TOO LOW
so I added eyelets and laced the opening closed.
I love this look and it made the dress much more comfortable for my girl.

Because I lined the dress completely,
I used twice the amount of yardage required on the envelope.

As I had only one yard of the organza,
I had to cut the overdress much shorter than the main dress.

I cut the hem at an angle so that I could use
as much of the fabric as possible,
while adding to the "ghostly" appearance of the gown.

The overdress pattern calls for the bodice
area to be lined.
But I felt it the sheerness added to the ethereal look of the costume.
I shell hemmed the entire overdress,
including the neckline and arm openings.

Here she is with Cinderella during the show.

Ahnalin is very slim but growing taller.
I cut the Child's size 5-6 but lengthened
the satin gown to approximately a size 10.
She will be 10 years old next month.

Ahnalin was the youngest and smallest child in the whole show.
The cast ranged from 4th grade through 8th grade.
This was her first school musical and she loved every minute!

India even got in on the act.
She was the assistant director!


Happy Sewing.

Sivje

Ahnalin as Jane Austen

We love Jane Austen.

When Ahnalin had to choose a 

"Famous dead person" 

for her 3rd grade "Live Wax Museum" history project,

she chose to do her report on our beloved novelist.

Well, I must be honest here......

I LOVE JANE AUSTEN!

Ahnalin loves beautiful dresses and 

playing dress-up with her dolls.

She told me that she was considering

doing her report on Walt Disney or Lucille Ball.

Walt Disney lost out because she didn't want 

to dress up like him for the wax museum.

Lucille Ball ran a close second,

because she would have had fun portraying her
and she adores "I Love Lucy".

But in the end,

JANE WON!
(All right, it wasn't really a contest, but Go Jane!)

And that meant that mama needed to get busy

making a regency style gown.

And Ahnalin suggested

(well, more like agreed to....)

a smocked empire style. 

As research, (cough cough)

we watched most of my BBC versions

of Pride and Prejudice, 

Sense and Sensibility,

Emma

and Persuasian.

 I suggested Mansfield Park

and Northanger Abbey,

and had to watch them on my own time (again)

as she felt she had enough of a feel for the times.

We actually did real research on Ms. Austen,
but the movies were my favorite part.

Two of Ahnalin's favorite findings about
Jane were:

1. Jane's father was a minister just like
 Ahnalin's daddy has been.

2. Jane was proud of her stitching and
handiwork skills, just like Ahnalin.

The dress fabric was rather see-through,
and she wanted a new petticoat,
so I cut a quick yoke style bodice
and long skirt out of some cotton muslin from my stash.

She was practicing her posture with a book on her head
in this picture.
Goofy girl!

I found just enough cotton lace in my stash
to trim the neckline and armscyes. 

I added a long embroidered cotton batiste trim
to the hem of the petticoat.
I had planned on enclosing that seam in a
growth tuck, which is my oft used hem treatment.
However, Ahnalin wanted it to be left
as long as possible.
So we left it alone.
Her plan is to wear it as a nightgown
after the wax museum project was finished.

Ahnalin kept cracking up while Grandma Barbara was
taking pictures from one angle
and I was taking them from another angle.

Yes, there it is.
My favorite cheater hem style.
But I do love growth tucks.

And the long petticoat is peeking out.
And how cute are those pink ballet flats.

I truly love the fabric I used for this dress.

It is "Juliet-Coco" by Anna Griffin,
and can be purchased at the Martha Pullen Company. 

I drafted the pattern and designed
the smock plate based on various
gowns from my favorite
Jane Austen movies.

And, well,
you know I had to include smocking!

I am working on the pattern for this dress
and it will include the smocking design.
 

Ahnalin wanted you to see her hair.
She knew exactly how she wanted it to look.

The back of the bodice is simple and pretty.

I like the lace of the neckline of the
petticoat peeking out.

 I had not stitched the grosgrain ribbon
in place so it fell off when Ahnalin
was frozen in place at the school wax museum.
But it probably looks more authentic without it.

 She got tired of being frozen in her standing pose,
so she sat down and read her "prop".

Good thinking, my brilliant girl!
 

I am so proud of my little one
for working so hard on her Jane Austen project.
Her research paper was very well written
and she enjoyed the process.

And I am so glad she gave me a good
excuse to create a regency style gown for her.

Now she wants one for her American Girl doll.
I guess I had better get busy!

Happy Sewing!

Dresses for Cherish and an Angel

This little dress is for my precious, 

adorable, 

and in-every-way-wonderful niece Cherish.

I want to see her in it so much!

You see, it is red and white

and reminded me of 

Olivia the Pig, 

 so of course, I had to add 

some Black Rick Rack.

And,

well, 

I loved it so much,

that I had to make one for a little

girl whose tag we picked off 

the Angel Tree at First Pres. Church. 

So this one is for a precious little girl

who I will probably never meet.

And Ahnalin found this "Sonya Lee" Little Peoples set

that we had gotten for her when she was little.

But she only ever played with her wood blocks

or her babies, 

so it was still in the box.

She decided to give it to the 

little Angel Tree girl. 

I am proud of my sweetie for thinking

of this little one.

Well, and then Ahnalin

decided that she wanted a dress

JUST LIKE the dress for her
Christmas dress!!!

But, I had to shake things up a bit....

So this is just a teaser of Ahnalin's dress.......

When I fell in love with this fabric

a few years ago,

I bought the rest of the bolt!

It has been in my stash

just waiting for me to decide to cut into it.

It's Michael Miller Iron Work

and I even have enough left over 

for another dress or two!

I need to take photos of Ahnalin

in her dress before

she gets "Christmas" all over it.......

And yes, 

I did. 

I made ANOTHER Rapunzel costume!

You see, 

next summer we plan to 

visit Cherish

and her Mommy and Daddy

and Ahnalin is dying to play dress-up 

with Cherish. 

I decided to simplify Cherish's Rapunzel 

dress and chose not to use grommets for

lacing the bodice. 

The ribbon is actually sewn in place

for the sake of comfort and simplicity.

The lace overskirt used every last inch

of the purple embroidered lace.

(well, I do have a skinny bit left for a doll dress...)

I machine sewed the hem so that it would 

be sturdy for 3 year old dress-up action.

The lace is vintage hem tape

that had a price tag of 65 cents on the wrapper. 

I love using my stash goodies!

So, one of the red dresses and the little Rapunzel

dress are on their way to my precious niece 

for her birthday and Christmas.

And the other red dress and the Little People

are on their way to another little angel.

And one more red dress

will be posted in a day or so

on my wild Ahnalin.......

Next project........

I get to start on India's 

Christmas dress,

which will be made from a gorgeous

length of vintage Pendleton wool

given to me by my Hot Rockin' Hubby's 

Aunt Dona Vee. 

After that.....Christmas Jammies

and then some mittens, hats

and slippers from felted cashmere sweaters.

And......Ahnalin wanted some new
doll clothes for Christmas!
Yep, I think that Santa can fulfill
that request....

Oh fun!! 

Happy Sewing!

Sivje

Dueling Rapunzels

Once again, 

my princesses have chosen

to dress up as the same character 

for Halloween.

Do you remember when they both

wanted to be Alice in Wonderland?

You can see more pictures

of those costumes HERE.

But this year,

they both wanted to be Rapunzel.

Now, you will notice, 

in the above photo, 

that neither girl is wearing 

an enormous blond wig.

Well, India made one for herself.

It was beautiful!

But it wouldn't stay on her head.

So, she is holding it on in these pictures.

Oh, and I finally took these photos

yesterday, after both girls had

worn their costumes several times.

Yeah, bad photos.

I have to say,

these costumes frustrated me!

I made each girl's costume differently,

based on their preferences.

India, with her love of corsets,

got a boned and very structured

bodice for her top.

I used McCalls 4107 and added sleeves and a front panel,

as well as lace, to make her top.

I had to re-cut the bodice because the original was much too low.

India's daddy would have put her up in Rapunzel's tower

before letting her out of the house

in the original low cut bodice!

We found every single fabric

for these costumes in the Red Tag

area in Joann's Fabrics. 

And they were all 50% off the Red Tag

price when we bought them.

Nothing was over $3.00 a yard.

The fabric for India's skirt and upper sleeves

was a polyester crepe.

I really struggled with the colors and fabrics

for these costumes, because I wanted

them to really look like Rapunzel's in 

the "Tangled" movie.

That wasn't going to happen for us,

so the bargain bin worked fine!

I was rather obsessive

about the sleeves.

I liked how they were close-fitted

and appeared to be knit.

So I found this nylon tricot knit

for $1.00 a yard and it worked perfectly!
I drafted the sleeves to fit 

the armscyes and then then cut the lower

sleeve to India's specifications.

 

I used a gorgeous polyester and metallic

tapestry brocade for India's bodice.

This is actually the back side 

as it showed more of the purple

and pink colors and was less glitzy.

This is an awful picture,

but India painted on the skirt designs

with paint pens. 

I tried to machine embroider the designs

on the skirt, but it didn't work out.

But I think her designs were lovely.

I used Butterick 5421 for the skirt, 

but I cut the skirt larger,

so I could add pleats, and 

added a waistband.

I was not thrilled with how badly

the crepe wrinkled, 

but then, I had to remind myself 

that these were costumes 

and my girl was happy with the result.

For Ahnalin's costume,

I used Simplicity 2065

But, as usual, I made alterations.

First of all, I cut a size 4 around

and a size 7 in length.

The pattern called for organza for

the lower sleeve, and the overskirt.

Well, as above, I preferred the look of

the knit sleeve, so I used the tricot.

And Ahnalin absolutely refused

to allow anything "itchy" in her costume,

so there was no organza or tulle

allowed anywhere near her.

And, she reminded me, 

that the "Real Rapunzel" didn't have

a poufy skirt!

She had a "swingy skirt". 

We found this great embroidered border

lace yardage in the clearance section for $2.00

a yard, and it was relatively soft.

So we nabbed the last 2 yards they had.

This is actually pretty different from the
"Real Rapunzel" dress, but she liked 

the sequins and it saved me some

time, so we went with it!

And besides that, it twirled well.

I loved the pale lilac sparkle satin

I used for the underskirt.

It had a tiny bit of lycra in it so it 

draped very nicely. 

$2.00 a yard was nice too!

The lace was something that I have had in 

my stash since high school!

I think I have actually used the last of it now,

but it was perfect!

Did I mention that I am crazy about these sleeves?

Aw yes, the Classic Ahnalin pose!

Aw....food dye in Halloween candy!

Thankfully she is not affected by blue!

Most of her candy was thrown out

due to her issues with corn syrup 

and red food dye. 

But she was livin' it up with the blue!

Oh, and a note about the lack of

a long blond wig......

she refused.

She said a wig would make the costume

"too obvious". 

Heehee!!!

I wish this wasn't fuzzy, 

because my dueling Rapunzels were

so cute together.

Disneyland- My Favorites!

 Yes, I love Disneyland.

If you have followed my blog for any time at all,

you are pretty aware of that fact!

And if you happened upon my little blog

because of the Pink Ear Pixie Blog Hop,

go ahead and poke around a bit.

You will find a lot of Disney love here!

 So, I had a hard time narrowing down what

I wanted to talk about in this post.

I love it all!

So I decided to talk about my favorite things!

Well of course!

My favorite place to stay at the Disneyland Resort

is the Disneyland Hotel!

After many trips to Disneyland over the years,

we finally got to stay at the Disneyland Hotel 

last Summer for our family vacation

when we celebrated India's high school graduation.

It was Magical!

Who is my favorite Disneyland employee?

Why, that would be my beautiful daughter,

India!

She is a tour guide (or "Bookie" as 

they call themselves)

on the Storybook Land Canal Boats 

in Fantasy Land.

India is in the Disney College Program.

She works there full time, 

takes college classes, 

and lives in the DCP student housing.

She LOVES this program

and we are so proud of her!

Currently, my favorite ride is

"Soarin Over California"

which is a hangliding style adventure

where you get to experience the beauty 

and fragrance of our beautiful state.

Yes, I said fragrance, because you can actually

smell the orange groves, ocean air,

vineyards and desert dust!

However, "Soarin" just may be moved

bumped off the pedestal on

May 21!

Why is that?

Well.........

The Little Mermaid  MY princess.

Why?

Well, of course,

she is a redhead that sings and loves the ocean!

She is me!

This was my Mother's Day present from India.

Do you see what is peaking behind the

pin cards?

That would be a preview ticket for me!

YES!!!!! 

I get to ride the new Little Mermaid ride

in Disney California Adventure

before it opens to the general public!!!!!!!!!

You see, my Hot Rockin' Hubby

and my India put their heads together

to buy me plane tickets to go next weekend

for a special time, just India and me!

And the previews for the ride are that weekend!!!

YAY!!

Oh, and look closely at those pins India sent me.

The Tinkerbell pin on the right 

is a special pin that only cast members can purchase.

Special me!

My favorite food in Disneyland

is Dole Whip. 

When we were there visiting India in March,

it rained like crazy on her day off.

So we donned our lovely pink ponchos

and got our Dole Whip at the 

Tiki Room anyway!

SO YUMMY!

Because I sew most of my daughter's clothes,

and all of their costumes,

it is hard for me to decide which is my favorite

Disneyland outfit.

This one is pretty close to my favorite!
For Halloween 2009, 

both of my girls chose to be 

Alice from Alice in Wonderland.

Ahnalin has worn this in Disneyland several times!

I made her this outfit for our trip last summer.

I LOVE the appliqued I made for the top!

I was able to customize it to make

the little girl look like my Ahnalin!

And this one......

do you have any idea how hard it is to find

Dumbo clothes for little girls!

Dumbo is Ahnalin's favorite movie.

I have sung the lullaby

"Baby Mine" to her every night

since she was placed in our arms.

So she begged for a Dumbo dress

I loved making this special outfit for my baby!

I have made many more.

And as I love to design

custom garments for clients,

I love to make special Disney 

outfits for other little girls!

If you would like to talk to me

about creating a special outfit for your 

little princess,

You can leave me a comment

and please include your email address.

Or, you can convo me through my

Etsy shop!

I will contact you and we can create

magic together!

And look, do you see me?

I mean, the Goosegirl?

When we went in January,

we got to see
It's A Small World 

still dressed up in it's holiday finery.

I was thrilled to see the Goosegirl all fancy!

I could go on and on. 

Disneyland is a special place for our family.

We have made many wonderful,

happy memories there over the years.

Thank you for letting me share a few pieces of Disney Magic

that are so special to me.

Thank you for reading the very last blog in the May Disney Blog Hop. But this is not the last stop! The Pink Ear Pixie has a special surprise for you. Follow the pixie dust!

http://www.thepinkearpixie.com/follow-the-pixie-dust.html
 

If you did not see all of the other stops on the
Pink Ear Pixie blog hop,

you can start over by going to the first stop!

"Pixie Stop" #1 ~~*~~*~~* Coupon Savings in the South - http://www.couponsavingsinthesouth.com/
"Pixie Stop" #2 ~~*~~*~~* A Bunch of Hicks - http://abunchofhicks2.blogspot.com/
"Pixie Stop" #3 ~~*~~*~~* Sports Parenting - http://jbmthinks.com/
"Pixie Stop" #4 ~~*~~*~~* One Year to Disney - http://oneyeartodisney.blogspot.com/
"Pixie Stop" #5 ~~*~~*~~* By Word of Mouth Musings - http://www.bywordofmouthmusings.com/
"Pixie Stop" #6 ~~*~~*~~* Ellie Inspired - http://www.ellieinspired.com/apps/blog/
"Pixie Stop" #7 ~~*~~*~~* Living In the North Pole - http://followinggod-northpole.blogspot.com/
"Pixie Stop" #8 ~~*~~*~~* Goosegirl Sews - http://www.goosegirlsews.blogspot.com/

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