Playing Dress-Up

I think I don't want to see my sewing machine for at least a month! That's probably not reality, but it has done it's fair share of work lately. I love creating funky stuff with it, and was luckily asked to come up with a "Rainbow" costume for a sweet friend of mine who is headed to the oh-so-funky desert festival, Burning Man. I thought and thought and couldn't figure out how to actually sculpt a rainbow short of old-skool cardboard fashioning. So instead, I made a rainbow-themed outfit. This was 99% fabric from the thrift store bins down the street ($1.10/lb!).

I'd like to mention that just after I took this photo of the fabric sorting, Blossom, being oh-so-helpful, burrito-rolled herself into that purple fabric she's lying on :)
I even found a green tinsel wig to go with it!
So, I made the basic skirt, and it still needed something. Perhaps some "clouds" under the rainbow? A thrift-found wedding dress will do just the trick - and keep the baby entertained in ruffles...
Then to make the top and have the Burning-Man-bound mama come try it out...
She likes it! And those ruffles gave it excellent twirling weight! Yay!

Okay, so that was a project over the last couple of weeks, with most of the actual work being done in the last couple days (procrastinators unite!). This morning I woke up and had to make two more costumes!

The kids were invited to a Harry Potter-themed birthday party and asked to come in costume. I altered Clay's grim reaper costume from a couple years ago, added a white shirt, clip-on tie and magic marker on the forehead, and Reed was transformed into a fantastic Harry Potter!

Blossom was a bit more complicated. For her, I found a long-sleeve onesie, cut a huge heap of triangles out of an thrift-found towel and hoodie, and made her into Hedwig the owl. It would have been a LOT cuter if I had made a little hat with cute ears, but time was short at this point, the party was also today! Turned out pretty cute though (and the insta-fraying on the unfinished edges actually looked kinda neat)...
I wanted to share some photos from this birthday party, too, as it was easily one of the most fabulous I've ever attended! Cassandra, I am infinitely impressed by your party-throwing skill!! Here's Reed getting sorted by the Sorting Hat (rigged with a cell phone inside the hat, that had a parent inside the house talking through it ... "You seem brave... Gryffindor!!")
Potions Class:
"Did everyone measure out their Peruvian Beetle Extract??"
"Now you must stare menacingly at your potion for 30 seconds..."
Thanks for having us out, and Happy Birthday G! And one more pic of my cute little owlet...
Have a lovely weekend everyone!