50's Poodle Skirt

Pattern: Simplicity 3836
Fabric: Satin from JoAnns
Cost: ~ $40.00 (I had enough skirt and lining fabric left over for another skirt)
Size: 7 with skinnier waist
Age: 10

[Shoes: $4 lucky thrift store find. Shirt: old Land's End altered for toddler pirate shirt last year. Fit perfectly! It used to be a 3/4 sleeve girl's shirt.]
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So, um, I made this for Halloween. I came up with the 50s theme for Halloween this year because my MO these days is to figure out how I can get away with the least amount of work. I can't make three new costumes for every Halloween, throw great kid parties, and everything else all the time nor do I want to. (I even convinced my kids not to have parties this year. Yay for me! Really, it's better this way. They'll be able to appreciate them more this way). My son had an Elvis Jail House Rock costume I made for him last year for dance. So I figured he could get another wear out of that. I dressed up the little guy in jeans, a white t-shirt and a bomber-jacket which I made from an Ottobre pattern a while back for the older brother. So that just left me with only one costume to make.

So, Jail House Rock guy was not in a good mood here. We were in a super hurry. What else is new. We had to leave for dance class. He had gotten in trouble for flushing many hours of the day down the toilet and not being ready. He had no shoes because I had to buy them on our way to dance class. AND, my niece, who was doing his Elvis hair, apparently thought people in the 50's had perms. What?!  We were all ready on the porch, and he comes out with THAT hair.

Of course, I had to make it harder on myself by buying tule fabric for the petty skirt with plastic beads. WHY WOULD I DO THAT? I think I was sick, I was dumbstruck by how pretty it was and I was too tired to think about it anymore. It was also really expensive, I thought I had coupon, but I guess I didn't, and I totally screwed myself over with the cost of this skirt. I also bought way too much fabric by listening to the stupid pattern yardage requirements. The skirt is really simple but the petty skirt took FOR EVER. I had to cut all the plastic beads one inch from the edge so I could gather the fabric. My clunky, generic gathering foot apparatus caused me to break two needles and also made the thread guide fall off. It was a miracle I was able to put if back together as it is tiny and has the tiniest screw in the world.  So after the self inflicted aggravation, (I was also sick the entire time I shopped for and worked on this skirt) I was so happy with the end result on my little Tom Boy. Looking at this picture, you would never know.  I only convinced her to wear a skirt because she was going to be Jail House Rock girl (which is a thing I totally made up). Also, I felt the need to paint her face like a cat, because, let's face it, who hasn't seen a 50's poodle skirt costume a bazillion times.

And here she is again pulling off all these cute poses.