Fairy Costume

I'm a very lucky grandmother right now, because I am in Seattle helping to take care of my granddaughter, BabyStitches, for three weeks. It is really a treat for me. She is 18 months old now, and running everywhere. She's really a lot of fun. We dance and play silly games and play with toys, and play with the dog, Nala. We go to story time at the library on Thursday mornings, which takes me back to when I used to take my own kids to story time, and what a treat it was for us all. When it's not raining we go outside and scribble with chalk on the sidewalk, or throw a ball for Nala, or pick up small rocks and move them all over the yard. Everything is fascinating to BabyStitches.

The other side to the story is that--it is really exhausting!!! Taking care of a child is really hard work, so I guess it's another good reason for not having babies when we're in our 50's. Besides the fact that we would put them down and forget where we put them...

DaughterStitches asked me if I would mind sewing a Halloween costume for BabyStitches while I am here, and of course I said I'd be glad to. The pattern we're using is Simplicity 0544, shown below. BabyStitches is going to be a fairy for Halloween! A pink fairy!

Sewing this costume is rather a departure for me. I used to sew clothing, and use all kinds of different fabrics, but now I do mainly quilting. With good, solid cotton fabric!

For this I'm using tulle, and sheer fabric, and satiny stuff--fairly messy fabrics.

They are flimsy,

they shift around,

they ravel,

and they melt even when the iron is set on the coolest setting!

For the bodice I had to re-sew it three times because I melted the first two attempts.

But here is BabyStitches, trying on the bodice to her fairy costume. (That's Nala, my grand-dog, behind her. You'll see more of Nala soon.) I hope BabyStitches doesn't grow too much in the next two weeks or the costume won't fit her!