Minnie Mouse and Strawberry Shortcake

Both my girls love to play dress up.  They knew what they wanted to be for Halloween for over a year and let me know often.  I had no idea how I was going to pull either of these costumes off and I didn't want to spend the $25-$35 plus for each of the costumes that never seem worth the asking price.  I set out to find a pattern of some sort for Strawberry Shortcake and found a blog here that was perfect.  I had to make some modifications.  I could not find a visor to save my life so I used a hat and cut and sewed it back together to fit her little head.  Also, on the leggings I used a pair of her old tights that had a hole in it.  Sewed the hole up and painted stripes on them.  Macey stayed by my side watching the creation as it came together and could hardly contain herself.  She is absolutely in love with her costume!

Now Maryn's costume was a little more difficult because I did not have a pattern specifically for the Minnie Mouse Costume so I took a dress pattern from Simplicity and made it to look like the classic Minnie Mouse. She has wanted to be Minnie Mouse ever since her friend was Minnie a few years back. I learned a lot from making this dress and it's fun to see her twirl around in her fluffy skirt. My favorite part of this whole dress was the petticoat skirt underneath. And this is not your fall apart costume you paid twenty bucks from the store. I actually may take this pattern and make their Christmas dresses because the cost of the dress ended up being just around $18. And there are a lot of ways you can modify the design.

For the ears I re-purposed a head band that was used in years past as kitty ears.  I love it when you can use old things to create new cool stuff!  I un-stitched the sides to round out the ears and hand sewed it back together then made a bow for the front.  Super glued the bow to the ears so they weren't floppy.  Thanks to hubby for the idea because I was stumped on what to do and was ready just to pay $15 dollars for a pair of ears I saw in the store even though it was a pink bow.  He has patiently allowed me to work on these dresses so I can get happy faces like the ones below.  Why do I beat myself up making things like this?  I hope that I can make my kids childhood memories magical when they look back.  For that purpose is why I do this.