Princess Cloak

The weather in Vancouver for Halloween 2012 was 13 degrees Celsius and very wet.  In order to protect our little "princess" from the elements, I decided that she required a cloak to keep her dry and warm.  I decided to adapt the cloak from the Red Riding Hood Cloak from Make It and Love It.
I used a kitchen bowl to form the neckline of the cape.  I then measured 24" from the edge of the bowl and using a string and compass method I cut 1/3 of circle from both the satin and the purple fleece.  I stitched these two pieces together (not including the neckline of the cape).  I left the neckline of the cape open.  I flipped the cape right sides out and basted the neckline.

I cut the hood out, in both the fleece and the satin.  The height of the hood was 12" tall and 11" wide at the widest part.  I sewed the two pieces together down the back, right sides together in both the satin and the fleece.  I then joined the two hoods together and flipped them right sides out.  I serged the hood neckline to the capes basted neckline.  

I cut some of the crushed velvet material on the bias and used it to cover the serged joining seam.  I added the two ties to each end of the neckline.  I had bought some silver decorative trim, that I used to line the back seam and then decorate the two ties.  I wanted to add some velcro to the ties but opted to just tie them for the sake of time.

This cloak was so cute on Isabella and really gave the princess costume the final touches that it needed. It also helped to keep her dry and warm.  The outside of her cloak was wet, but her dress was dry and her hood kept her head dry.

Halloween Princess

This year for Halloween, my four year old decided that she wanted to dress up as a princess.  I was actually really looking forward to making this costume and embellishing it with all sorts of rich looking details.  To begin with I found a tutorial of something similar to what I was going to make.  I chose the Cinderella dress from Make It and Love It.  This dress had enough princess flair to make my little "princess" happy.  I would need to make some alterations, to account for our colder climate.
My daughter and I began with a trip to the fabric store.  She had mentioned she wanted her dress to be purple, so we chose some crushed velvet for the bodice, a bright pink lycra for the centre of the bodice and some blue satin for the skirt.  Once again, I was doubtful that the colours would all work together, but it ended up coming together quite nicely.

I began with the bodice and chose a shirt from her closet that fits her well, traced this onto freezer paper and cut out the fabric for the front piece on the fold.  For the back pieces I added an inch to account for the overlap of the velcro closure.  For the sleeves, I chose to do a puffed cap sleeve out of the satin and then a longer sleeve out of the crushed velvet.  This would keep her warm when she went out trick or treating.  I measured the diameter of her bicep, wrist, the length of her arm as well as the opening for the sleeve.  The crushed velvet sleeve looked like this.  I cut out 2.

The puffed sleeves were made to be 12" wide at the widest part and about and 4" tall.  I then tried to match the curve to the opening of the sleeve.  I cut the band for around her bicep to be 10" and allowed for a bit of gathering on both sides of the puffed sleeve.  I basted both the top of the sleeve and the long end, that would be attached to the band.  

I began by joining the front and back pieces together at the shoulder.  I then pieced in the sleeves, sandwiching the puffed sleeve in between the long sleeve and the bodice.  I cut out the centre pink piece for the bodice and sewed that onto the bodice and used some purple sparkly rick rack to crisscross across the chest.  I hemmed the sleeves at the appropriate length.  After attaching the sleeves, I stitched down the sides of the bodice and sleeves, closing the top part of the costume.

I closed up the back of the costume by folding over the hem and then adding velcro to both the front and back pieces.  

To finish off the collar, I cut some of the crushed velvet on the bias (about 1.5" wide and the length of the neckline.  I then sewed this strip around the neckline, folding in the rough edges.  

For the skirt, I cut two rectangular pieces from the satin, (24" by 45").  I serged the short edges together and basted the top edge of the skirt.  

Turn the skirt right sides together and slip the bodice inside right sides out.  Pin the skirt to the bodice and sew around and then serge the edges.  

Flip the skirt down and hem the bottom according to the length needed for your little princess.  

                   

                   

My little princess was thrilled with her costume.  We were able to put warm pants underneath as well as two long-sleeved shirts to help keep her warm on our rainy Halloween night.  We topped the costume off with a little tiara.