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.
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.