When I asked Our Dear Girl what she most dearly wanted for Christmas she said in a wistful voice, ‘Anything princessy, just anything’.
Ah yes, she has reached that stage. She has worked out that she is a girl and now she is working out what girls are. I really want her to have more options than pink fairy princesses carrying handbags wearing lipstick eating cupcakes whilst being beautiful all the time.
The Christmas wish meant it was time to tackle the Princess thing head on. We talked about a special costume and she told me all the elements that were required for a Princess dress.
I used the Simplicity 3725 pattern I had for her Laura dress, altering the sleeves and overskirt swag. Apparently these were critical Princess components. The sleeves could only be short and puffy. She also gave me a rope of silver Christmas balls that had to be incorporated too.
The bodice and swag were made from an apricot poplin destashed from a friend and clearly from an earlier time, quite possibly the eighties. The underskirt was from an old curtain that we had been using as a pirate sail. There is also a handy sword belt for defending the kingdom and a treasure pocket for dragon hoards.
The cloak is magic and gives the wearer the ability to move unseen in the forest. It attaches with velcro to the inside back neck of the bodice.
We also gave her some great picture story books about princesses who put out fires, play soccer and open their own pizza shops. Hopefully, we are steering this Princess thing in the right direction or maybe we are headed straight for the rocks where the mermaids will tear our boat to shreds and Our Dear Girl will do battle with her Witch Queen mother who has stolen all the pink and cupcakes from the world and made it forever winter.
After all that excitement, I wanted to make Our Dear Boy a costume too but he is rather disinclined that way. At his sister’s age, he was rather partial to a special whirling dress he said was for dancing, some butterfly wings and a crown made out of cockatoo feathers but generally his version of dressing up in costume is a sword belt or some overalls. He has the firstborn’s birthright of being ‘sensible’ and an awareness of embarrassment.
After suggesting wizards and knights, I was permitted to make an Explorer’s Vest with lots of pockets and tags to hang things off. I got the idea from the fabulous sweetjuniperwoodcraft blog.
The pockets all have velcro closures and the lower pockets have a gusset to fit in bigger things. It is made with an Indian furnishing cotton that had been destashed from the same friend as the apricot poplin. The vest is fully lined with a woven cotton check.
There is even a secret pocket inside with a zipper. But it is so secret that Our Dear Boy said I could not show it in a picture. Fair enough!
You can see one of the tabs here for hanging handy stuff like scissors, saws or perhaps a bag of pink cupcakes which both my children tell me are the best kind.
Was there something special you made for Christmas?