I made a costume!!

This year the girls started with a theme in mind for thier costumes. From the beginning Jade knew she wanted to be Padame from Star Wars and Cambrie was set on being Princess Leia. Hailey started out wanting to be Princess Leia as well, then she wanted to be Padame, then I showed her a Super Girl costume that I borrowed from a friend, and she was sold. (especially since her birthday party this year was a super girl theme) Originally they wanted to make Colby a wookie, but when Hailey broke the theme, which I was almost grateful for, Colby was allowed to be what ever he wanted.- Which in the end was a Dog, because that's what a friend of mine had on hand. But he did have the sound down perfectly. Still Jade and Cambrie were absolute on what they wanted. Luckily I found a Padame costume at Toys R Us, but there was no decent Princess Leia costume to be found. The night before our ward trunk or treat, I was at a loss for Cambrie and started asking her what else she would like to be. With a sad look on her sweet little face she said " I guess I could be something else."

That was it. I would be making a Princess Leia costume. - oh no- the sewing machine was coming out. Well actually mine stayed packed away and I went over to my friend Karen's house to use hers. It wasn't buried quite as deep as mine was. Karen also had experience making hoods, which was one of Cambrie's favorite parts of the costume, so I knew I would be needing help!! With a quick trip to JoAnn's for some fabric, I was off to meet up with Karen. We grabbed some dessert first at Applebee's where I sketched out what I thought I wanted to do on a scrap paper, and we tried to figure out the best and easiest way to make the dress. I didn't have a pattern of course, that would have been to easy. I almost never do things the easy way. So we head back to Karen's and started laying out the fabric. We used one of Emily's (Karen's daughter Cambrie's age) dresses to sort of trace. After a few interesting cuts, I decided to just start sewing and see what happened. As I got started sewing, Karen started on the hood- I tried to describe the type of hood that I was hoping for... I kept telling her it would be cool if it was one of those big plush hoods. For some reason I kept using the word plush, which to me meant one that billows down and is really full at the bottom, to Karen it meant something more along the lines of softness. At the time which was already fairly late in the evening I couldn't find any other word to describe it. Finally after searching for every synonim for plush to get my point across, she crossed over to the "dark side" and saw the vision I had in my head. So as far as late night projects go, which is usually have cocked and with much laughter, we actually were doing pretty well. Although at my first attempt at sewing a sleeve on I sewed it on inside out, but what's a sewing project without a little seam ripping? I did in the end get it sewed on correctly, and I was so proud... I SEWED A SLEEVE!! Yes this was a first for me. You can call me super mom. Anyway last but not least was the best part of the whole costume "The Hood". Karen had folded and pleated and done all kinds of things that had me confused and lost. When it was all pinned together and ready to sew onto the dress, I carefully took the hood. It was like handing a new born baby to it's mother for the first time. I was careful and unsure, but so excited. (I know, all this over a hood... but yes, it was like a right of passage for me!) Anyway, on a wing and a prayer I somehow sewed the hood with all it's pleats and gathers to the dress and... Tada!!!! I made her Princess Leia costume. Granted we finished it about 3:00 in the morning, but hey it was done!! Not only that but since her hair is still pretty short I got some brown yarn and made her some serious Leia buns. The next morning when I showed her the dress, her face lit up!! "You made me a Princess Leia dress, Mom?" It was all worth it for that!!!