Happy Halloween

Crafting has been slow the past few months and I must admit I searched high and low for Hansel and Gretel costumes online and couldn't find any so alas, I was forced to make them myself. Yes, it's true I didn't want to do it. But here they are, and of course after they were done I was so glad I made them myself.

I was a little concerned no one would be able to tell who they were dressed up as, but everyone recognized them as Hansel and Gretel right away.

I used M6187 Misses'/Children's/Girls' Storybook Costumes pattern from McCall's view D. Can I just say how ridiculous the retail price is on these patterns now a days! $18.95! I did get at the "normal" 40% off price at the local chain sewing store, but that is still $11.37. Two days later, all McCall's patterns were on sale for $1.00 but of course this one was gone in the kid's sizes. I did buy the misses size at the dollar price in case I decided to make myself a costume later. Now, I see you can get this online from McCall's at a sale price of $4.99; much more reasonable.

Although the instructions were good, the bodice of the dress was huge as usual. I made the 5-6 size (my daughter just turned 6). I even took in an extra inch and half or so in the back along the zipper line and I still had to fold it over when I tied it in the back for it to fit snuggly. The skirt was also a bit on the sort side and not very full, I thought. So, if you are looking to make this, measure your child well and I would go down a size on the bodice and up one size on the skirt. Also, the pattern called for a ridiculous amount of yardage on the skirt. I'm still trying to figure out if I misread this somehow, but you only need less than half of what it says.

We're always running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to get out of the house. I took these pictures with the car running, baby in the car and just noticed my husband buttoned the suspenders to the wrong front button on the lederhosen. Typical. Also, ignore the white leggings on Gretel; they were just for the cold.

For the Hansel costume, I didn't have a pattern so I used the oliver + s sailboat skirt and pants pattern. I only had the 4-8 size and my little boy just turned three but he's more like the size of an infant. He can barely manage to keep a size 2 pant from falling down his bum. So, I tried to size the size 4 pattern down to a size 3 the best I could, knowing at least that oliver + s patterns are well fitted and not ginormous like McCall's. I crossed my fingers and hoped it would work. At first my goal was just to make brown shorts but I started adding little details I copied from my husband's childhood lederhosen. Yes, he really had some. And they weren't for a costume. At the end, I was actually impressed with my little lederhosen pants which doesn't usually happen. Most of the time, I have lofty goals and the reality falls short of my vision. I'm still patting myself in the back on this one.

At the last minute, I decided to dress as the with from the Hansel and Gretel story trying to scrounge up my old clothes which wasn't too hard except for the skirt. I had just gotten rid of all my skirts from the 90's. So, I sewed up the bottom part of the storybook Misses pattern using the largest size for fullness and adding length to the skirt. I added a yellow piece of fabric to the top of that and used a white embroidered apron I have as decoration in kitchen. The sweater unfortunately is my own, as is the hair.

My little boy took some convincing that I was still mommy, but he kindly insisted that I not put on the "gump" which after two days we figured out was the witch's warty chin.