costuming

I love making my kids' Halloween costumes!! We start looking at patterns online the day the Fall pattern catalogs come out and the kids all have so much fun deciding.

This year I will have one Egyptian Princess...

 One Belle (Natalie has wanted to be Belle almost since last Halloween--she has the next several years' costumes already planned out too. Ha!)

 And one cute, cuddly, green T-Rex! I think I'm most excited about this one. I don't get all that excited about the princess dresses anymore, to be honest, but they sure do make my girls happy :)

I cut them all out yesterday and today so I can get started sewing! As I was cutting out that Belle dress, though, I was lamenting the recent demise of my serger (long story, with this lesson learned: do not buy a used serger on Ebay). I've been saving parts of my allowance for a new one and have it all picked out on Amazon and I've saved quite a chunk. I was hoping to use my b-day money (in November) to complete my stockpile, but after telling Casey I was a little bummed about the prospect hemming all those ravely, slippery layers of princess dress, he generously told me to just order it a little early. YAY! Happy dance. Let me tell ya, once you get used to having a serger, it is hard to go back!!

Anyway, back to why I love making costumes! I am not the kind of mom who stores the Halloween costumes away in a basement box for future Halloweens--no way, my kids like to wear them as dress up clothes all year long! Which makes it that much more worth my time :) I take extra care with the seam finishing just for this reason. The dress-up clothes I have made have outlasted even the "real thing" Disney Princess dresses that we've owned (which are crazy expensive and thus, we have only owned them via hand-me-downs or the result of some oober clearance at the Disney Store, haha.)

As for me, I'm hoping to be Jane Austen for Halloween, because what woman doesn't want to wear a Regency era dress once in her life?? We'll see if I have time, though ;)

What are YOU going to be?? Or your kids? Are you making costumes??