The Busy Mama's Costume Shop

Mermaid costumes

June 2008: May was one of seven dancing mermaids in the elementary school play, Peter Pan. I was the costumer and den mother for the mermaids, and they were so sweet, thanking me for their outfits and giving me hugs. They felt beautiful in their costumes and enjoyed twirling around, and the little kids were enchanted with them.

The mermaid costumes were loosely based on McCall's pattern 5498. We chose the fabrics because they were dirt cheap ($6 for 10 yards of the pink at Goodwill, and $3 a yard for the floral print); pink wouldn't have been my first choice, but we had a limited budget.

I didn't want to make the attached top that was in the pattern, so I put elastic around the waist of the tail to make a skirt. I had to modify the sizing because the pattern didn't come in older girls' sizes. I cut the neckline and sleeve hems off some inexpensive craft-store T-shirts, shirred the center front and shoulder seams, and made a sash out of the fin fabric. I tied a strip of blue tulle to the girls' wrists and glued an orchid to a hair clip for each girl.

I spent the better part of two weeks working on these costumes, and for a while my bedroom looked like a Vegas showgirls' dressing room. Costume making is much like cooking in that the time spent preparing greatly exceeds the time spent presenting. You have to enjoy the process or it will make you crazy. This project was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. And the girls liked the results, so all the effort was worthwhile.

Chinese lantern costume

Summer 2007:  This was my big project for the summer -- a lantern costume for Chinese dance class. I didn't have a pattern, but I had another costume to copy. The framework is four rings of heavy-gauge wire and the fabric is ripstop nylon. There are openings in the side seam for the child's arms. The faux fringe twirls very nicely.

This costume is heavy! The original was made of lightweight polyester, and it was not holding up very well. I traded weight for durability. So far it is wearing well.

Poodle skirts

April 2008: The girls' school has a sock hop every spring. I made two poodle skirts in two days for this year's dance. The late notice was partly my fault. I thought we had my stepdaughter Abbey's old poodle skirts in our costume basket. I didn't look for them until two days before the sock hop and was disappointed to find that they weren't there. So I rushed out to buy pink and blue felt and poodle appliqués and stayed up until 11 p.m. sewing.

Who knew that kids in the 21st century would need poodle skirts? Each poodle skirt is just a big circle with a small circle cut out in the middle for the waist. The small circle has to be big enough to fit over the child's hips. The radius of the big circle from each side of the waist to the hem must be long enough to reach to the child's lower calf. I folded the edge of the small circle to the inside and stitched it to make a one-inch casing for the three-quarter-inch elastic. Since the fabric is felt, there's no need to hem the skirt. The poodle is an appliqué with a string of sequins stitched on for the leash. Remember that felt can't be washed, so these skirts have to be spot cleaned.

April 2009: Ella was sick the first year I made the poodle skirts and didn't get to wear hers until the next year. She actually danced at the dance! With a boy! The kids were very cute.

Sacajawea costume

April 2008: I made this Sacajawea costume for my daughter Bess's seventh-grade social studies project. She gave me about two days' notice, so I kept it simple. It's just a no-sew fleece poncho with ribbon-and-bead trim. She and a partner were assigned to "interview" each other as Sacajawea, so the costume needed to be easily removed and had to fit two different girls.

I cut a square with a diagonal dimension about equal to the measurement from one wrist to the other while my daughter stood with her arms stretched out to the side. She was 61 inches tall, and the poncho was about 52 inches by 52 inches. I measured the circumference of her head and cut a circle in the center just big enough for her to fit her head through. I made two-inch-deep cuts about a half-inch apart along the outside edge of the square for fringe. Finally, I made five half-inch pairs of cuts in a V-shape below the neckline and doubled lengths of tan grosgrain ribbon through the cuts. I threaded several beads through each ribbon and tied a knot to hold them on. We chose natural wood and blue beads because we had read that Sacajawea wore blue beads.

I'm not sure whether Sacajawea ever wore a poncho, but the overall effect is similar to many kinds of Native American garments, and the project was quick and easy.

Welcome

Welcome to The Busy Mama's Costume Shop. I have three daughters and one stepdaughter for whom I've been sewing costumes for the past 15 years -- Halloween costumes, play and dance-recital costumes, school-project costumes.

Judging from the number of hits I have received on my parenting blog from people searching for costumes, many of us are in the same boat. So I've moved my costume designs to this blog for easy access.

I used to complain when I would get a costume assignment from school, especially when I was working. It just seemed like one more thing I had to do. Then I thought, Hey -- isn't this one reason I signed up to be a parent? So I could make things for my children? This is the fun part of parenting. So I don't complain (much) anymore.

I don't believe children's costumes need to be elaborate. If you love to sew and design, by all means, knock yourself out! But if you're short on time, it is possible to work wonders with a T-shirt and some felt. Many of these designs are pretty simple and suitable for use when your child comes to you at bedtime and says, "I just remembered that I need a costume for school Friday!"

If you like one of my costume designs, feel free to leave a comment. Thanks for visiting.