I didn't really have my heart set on any particular costume for Molly this year. She is just starting to get into the phase where I can dress her up in something that isn't as cutesy. Nothing against cutesy. See here. I just favor the bigger dress costumes.
So when Molly said she wanted to be a witch I thought, "I can make that work." I think she got the idea from a Sesame Street book about cookie monster, a witch and a magical cookie tree. The witch in the story is the traditional green, ugly, hag-like depiction. But I didn't feel compelled to stick by that standard.
Of course, I did stick with the traditional black BUT I made a long dress and smocked the skirt (which took forever BTW). I then bustled it so she could walk. Finally, I added a bunchy pettiskirt underneath to puffen the costume out at the bottom.
I lined the sleeves with a dark red embroidered flower taffeta. The upper part of the sleeves is cinched with gold trim lined black cuffs. I also filled the neckline with a black lace embellishment.
For an added flair I added an orange crushed taffeta and black velvet lined madame's cape with brown ribbon ties. I also bought the witch cone hat at the thrift store for just $1.
I really loved the way it looked put all together. I found the straw broom in my basement. Yay for hoarding!
I'm actually keeping this one. I always imagined having a trunk of dress up clothes for my girls. And that they would occasionally wear them and put on plays. Unfortunately, I give all my cool costumes away. Lily never really seemed to have an interest in dressing up until recently. Molly seems to love it....for a while. So perhaps if they start to show more interest I might save some of my creations for them and make that trunk I've always dreamed of.
Oh....my....goodness. Eloise is soooo cute. How did I get such a cute baby? I just want to bury my face into her cheeks. And I love the way she smells. And her hair is so soft. Okay. Okay. Enough about Eloise.
Eloise is so little that I thought maybe I could sew a couple Fox River Mills socks together. But I'd have to buy it online AND time was running out. So yesterday I went to the thrift store and searched for a sweater that looked like the Fox River Mills material. It actually wasn't that hard. See below. Maybe I lucked out but I only had to stop at one place, The Salvation Army. All I looked for was mixed brown and off white woven knit sweater. I also found a cream colored sweater for the feet and hands.
I then used an infant pajama pattern, tweaked it a bit and came up with this. Sock monkey Eloise! She actually doesn't like it that much though. She likes to suck on her fingers and the costume keeps her from doing that. We're taking the girls out tonight to go Trick or Treating. I hope she holds up.
So I went for more of a country farm setting. Remember in the movie Drew Barrymore lived on a quaint cottage next to a farm. So that works too.
I spray painted them with red spray paint and immediately after sprinkled the red glitter all over the shoes. I then sprayed a final clear coat to seal everything in and let it dry overnight.
And if you're wondering....yes....they shed. I think this could be remedied by dusting them off rigorously after they dry and respraying them with red glitter spray paint which you can also buy at Michaels (rather than the red paint so you don't make the glitter opaque). Then immediately re-dusting red glitter over the spots that are starting to show. Do it over and over until you don't have any patches showing after you rigorously dust them.
Like not spending money? 
