The Singing Costumer

Thrift stores are a wealth of treasures, waiting to be found. True, you have to dig deep sometimes, but these gems do exist. Take for example, this wonderful Walt Disney World sweatshirt. The bold, gorgeous blue! The adorable embroidery of Minnie Mouse! And in brand new condition, too! Love it. I would've worn it proudly, but it was an XL. Which I am not. It never was worn and eventually, I just put it away. It sadly languished in my fabric stash for way too long. Recently, I was reorganizing my fabric stash and I really wanted to do a quick project to get my creative juices flowing. And then I recalled seeing free patterns for fleece warm winter accessories on recent favorite patterns websites; Patterns for Pirates and Made for Mermaids. The two are sister companies, both literally and figuratively :-) One sister owns one, and another owns the other. I love it. I made a neck warmer. https://www.madeformermaids.com/product/neckwarmer/ Some sweet littl...

Minnie Mouse was not on my list of costumes to make. But I was asked to appear at a Minnie Mouse-themed birthday party with only 1 week notice, so I had to hustle! I didn't have ANY ideas, so I searched pictures for inspiration. I sent one to the birthday girl's mom, and she approved. So, now to get to work!!! Minnie has several signature elements to her look. 1. Full-skirted red dress with white polka dots. 2. A matching hairbow 3. White gloves 3. Yellow pumps For item 1: I took Simplicity 8523 for the blouse and made a few modifications. I first added the same fish-eye darts I used last time I made this pattern. I took the red polka dot fabric and a plain white cotton for a underlining and sewed them as one. I added width to the sleeve to make them quite full. Lastly, I added some lace trim to the sleeves and the neckline. The dress is in two pieces. I chose a simple circle skirt for maximum fullness. It is trimmed with lace matching the blouse. My ...