French Frock up

A friend had a fortieth last night that was French inspired. The invitation read a french flair, but when we got tot talking it seemed everyone was dressing up,  so a simple neck kerchief wasn't going to cut it. 

A bit of a look on the internet for inspiration gave us these two gems. Marcel Marceau and Coco Chanel. The total cost was $20 and that was for the clown makeup. Between us we had the rest of the stuff. 

The big squirrel was quite a hit. The shirt was in his wardrobe. The pants were my dads and the hat from the boys magic trick box. Even the fake flower was at my parents place. The suspenders were appropriated from a pair of ski pants. (Yes a little short and did play tricks with the big squirrels nuts)

 The gloves were dusting gloves from the cleaning section of the supermarket. All done with the exception of the face paint. A quick Internet search on where to buy it lead us to facepaint.com which coincidentally was walking distance from my parents, where I was collecting my outfit.

Whilst we are on my outfit, I had a choice of 2 from mums place. This one I wore is straight out of her wardrobe. She made the jacket and skirt and had a good bit of wear out of the jacket. It is an upholstery weight fabric, and we accessories with the pearls.

The glasses are my new prescription ones from Spec Savers and the piece de resistance was the hat. This is a felt hat that mum made when we were doing millinery classes. They weren't made to go together, they just look that way.

Two funny things from the night - the big squirrel caught powering his nose in the bathroom.
Me having a friend introduce themself to me (mid way through the night) as they had no idea who I was. Then his jealous wife coming over to find out who I was!! Very funny.

And even more hairspray

I didn't get out to our school 80s bingo night last weekend as I was sick. There was no way I was missining this weeks opportunity to wear the waterwash taffeta gown made by my schoolmate IN the 80's.

Here tis.

 And the back

 This was last seen in public circa 1989 at our year ten formal- at the National Art Gallery. We were in the room with the stained glass ceiling. My "date" at the time was in the courtyard climbing on the Henry Moore sculptures! No wonder we weren't allowed back there. My dress then, was more classic (of the time) black velvet bodice with 3/4 sleeve and sweetheart neckline with a green shot black skirt.

This however is my date for the soccer trivia night. 

Yes - that is an original parachute tracksuit from our archives. The tshirt is the one we made for Xandy. Its not exactly a cropped shirt on him - but you don't need to see all of it!

I 80's up my look with some lace fingerless gloves and matching headband. The massive clip on earrings were found in an old makeup case along with the blue eyeshadow!

Dress up t-shirts

My boys are a bit partial to a dress up. That is probably a bit of an understatement. But as much as they love dressing up, I despise taking kids out dressed in costume. I have been seen wandering around Camberwell Market with a full suited Fireman Sam and a dinosaur trying desperately not to get his tail trodden on. A good compromise are these t-shirts. These are ones I bought from Best & Less. They were labelled $9.99 but scanned at $7- who am I to complain!! The boys will happily wear the printed variety and feel suitably dressed up.

The other thing we have is caped t-shirts. For those caped crusaders we have the cape that simply velcros on or off the t-shirt. This alleviates any choking potential of the regular cape variety, and from the front doesn't look particularly like a dress up.

The fronts of the tshirts. Batman is a printed variety that I got from Cotton On Kids some time ago. Superman is a cheap t-shirt from Kmart or Best & Less with an embroidered (machine) Superman Logo. You could add a logo using painting or even felt applique. Then we add the cape.

To make the cape use some interlock in the appropriate colour - here black for batman. I cut the shoulders based on the t-shirt. I usually fix the cape below the shoulder seam towards the back and cut the shoulders and neck of the cape to fit into this space. I do a small hem around here as it can pull a little - but it isn't madatory. To measure the cape it is best to fold the fabric and the t-shirt in half. The cape needs to be wider at the base so the kids can grab it to fly. It also works best if it is longer than the t-shirt. This is for my (big) three year olds.

For the width I add about 7 inches past the t-shirt.

For the length I add about 5 inches.
Just so you don't get into any trouble from your children (like I do) Batman has inverted scallop hem and superman is straight across the bottom. I leave the hem raw as it is best for flying.

Finally the velcro. You can see here that the cape is attached with velcro on the back of the shoulder. Here I have used grey and black velcro simply because I had it lying around. There is no real need to match. The grey velcro which is attached to the tshirt is the soft furry side of the velcro. This way if they wear the t-shirt without the cape it isn't scratchy. The sticky velcro is added to the cape (along with every piece of fluff). These shirts are in high rotation in our house and even were good for Supergirl when we had a playdate - and sadly no girl dress ups.

Enjoy

To infinity and beyond!

Still on my experience crusade this holidays, we packed up the car and took the kids off to the drive in at Coburg to see Toy Story 3. On a Tuesday night it only cost us all $21 to see the film which is far more reasonable, although we were in our car with the radio on. We were late (I know you're shocked) but there was also a massive queue to get in so we did miss the start. The kids liked it but they probably enjoyed the car more than the movie. We backed the station wagon in, put the back seat down and filled it with blankets and cushions which was nice and cosy. The best bit is with winter, the movie actually started at 6:50 - hence why we were late.
I am personally not a fan of the Toy Story movies, mainly because they seem to me to be about selling merchandise - more so than other similar shows. The characters are all toys - therefore you can easily replicate the movie at home. I had only seen the first one - at an old cinema in Gladstone Qld which seems like a million years ago - but the kids hadn't seen any of the previous movies. This situation I have since rectified and Benji in particular is loving being Buzz. This is his costume - orange stickers on his arms, an Ikea alien hat and his swimming backpack. There are skull gumboots that go with the ensemble but I don't have them pictured. At least he is using his imagination!!!

Princes and Princesses and a ?

So my prince is ready with his adapted crown from our dress ups, new jacket (which is burda pattern 2452) I added the cape which I wanted to look like two little blue birds had draped it in a very disney manner - it was easy as it is just a square caught at the corners, but looks quite effective. The bottoms are knickerbockers in the same pattern, with long white socks and school shoes.

So I had spent a good time working on Alexander's outfit when yesterday I got a call saying that the twins were also invited! Luckily we have enough of Alexander's old costumes to do the trick. Spencer wore the same style jacket - which we made for Alexander's 4th Birthday when he was a pirate. It gets a lot more wear now it is in the dress ups. While I had clothes for Benji he is on the fussier side...

And not as much of a poser as these two..........

We all went off to the party and the birthday princess was beautiful in all of her regalia. We were overdressed as I had suspected (but it didn't matter). All the kids had fun being entertained by a Princess.

The very busy birthday girls mum not only made her beautiful princess dress (complete with gloves and diamond necklace)- with a beaded bodice. (I suspect these were beads from her wedding dress?? But, she also made the cake with a matching dress - all while nursing a very new baby boy. A good day was had by all - even Benji who was dressed as a ...

...well we called him a dragon for theme's sake!

Ridicule is nothing to be scared of!

Prince Charming, Prince Charming, ridicule is nothing to be scared of.... the old Adam Ant song is on a loop through my head as I am working in this project.

Alexander has been invited to a Princess Party. He has grown to big for his old outfit (and worn it a few times already too!) that I felt he needed a new one.

I know this is all going a bit over the top, but once I start I just cant help myself. I did break my Febusave promise - just a little bit - I needed the velour for the pants and a little bit of blue trim - the rest I actually had in my stash. Yes all those plasticy crown buttons which I picked up somewhere along the way were actually perfect. See I told myself that one day they would come in handy. As too for the lightweight curtain fabric that I got the end of roll from in November 2008 was just perfect. So I think for $10 I can be forgiven. I could spend $10 with the kids at a coffee shop and not even notice a dint. Now I will have photos, memories and I think lots of people will have a few laughs - but all in good fun.

Party is tomorrow so finished just in time. Oh- she is getting a fairy door...but shhhh its a secret.

costuming

It seems festivities over and back to the real world. The big squirrel is travelling again so its back to life as a single mum. The other job of the day is a costume. Mr P is planning a film festival entry, so he and a friend are off to Mildura to film. My job is costuming and I have a whole day to do it. Mum was helping me, and with dueling machines we managed this multi piece sci fi inspired outfit. I really like the pants - think I may have to work with this idea.
While these are only progress pictures (I hope to get movie stills!) you can see the pants, there is a singlet top, shrug style thing, and a two part jacket, so that the top part with sleeves and hood come off and the waist piece with the belt stay on. Best of all we managed to finish not only this but also another similar jacket. WOW Intense to say the least , but complete.

fireman sam

I have spoken before of the twins' obsession with fireman sam. It has actually been quite difficult to find any thing with his image on it, or toys or dress ups. Having said that spotlight had a dressup but at $40 and then times two, we figured for $80 we could do a pretty good job ourselves. So the challenge - to make two fireman sam costumes.

I made yellow tracksuit pants out of fabric I had in my stash. It is yellow track and field that I used for the lion costume. I picked up the end of the bolt for only $5 with no intention of using it - and now it had done three costumes!

Mum made the jackets, again from fabric she had. It is suiting that has been lying around for years. The buttons were some I got at another sale years ago, where I was charged by the bagfull, and were just perfect for this. Even better there are no button holes - just velro under the top flap.

Finally to top off the ensemble, Mr P gave them the hats - complete with visors from the ELC at the Glen. Rare to find hats which aren't red flat ones. And the absolute hit of the evening was the torches - which not only have lights at the front, but flash different colours at the back - like a siren. All in all very successful fireman sams, two very happy little boys and a real team effort.

The race that stops the nation

You should all know by now I love a bit of dress ups. It needn't be in the costume sense either - just any excuse and I am this way with my kids too (poor, poor boys!!)

Today we had a Melbourne Cup Day party. In the olden days, this would have been at the racetrack, but now its in the backyard of a girlfriends house - however the same dress code applies. With the big squirrel at work, off we went all frocked up. I had a green dress and jacket with a small top hat I made many years ago, and the boys looked very dapper.

Alexander in his tweed coat - a la nana.

Spencer -

Benji - in outfits supplied by Popeye. They even managed to stay respectable most of the day. We didn't make it to the actual Cup race - we headed home with two little boys asleep in the car - so tired that they actually transferred into their beds for a long time. Oh - and the other win of the day - the big squirrel met us there which is a great help wth the boys at a generally child free party.

Happy Halloween

We had a busy day - firstly we caught up with some good friends for a BBQ. Sometimes life just gets in the way and you just concentrate on what you have to do rather than put effort into maintaining friendships. So today was about that and it was a lovely day - simple food and just playing and chatting.

Then we went out trick or treating. I know it is a day late and all, but it is not a big thing here. We had the best time. A neighbour from America walked the streets inviting the locals to participate. She was thorough and planned and with lots of young children in the neighbourhood, she arrange for daylight and a specified time when both parents would be home. We only called on houses that chose to participate, and they indicated this with decorations, or a pumpkin sticker on their letterbox.

Again we walked with some friends and all the kids were dressed up - robots, batman, dinosaurs, witches, fairies and princes. My only criticism is TOO MANY LOLLIES - but it was great to be outside walking the streets with your family and friends - meeting other people on the street and visiting your neighbours. It really did a lot to build that community feeling which is too often lost in these busy times.

Dino tails

These are gifts - which are almost finished - but done enough for some pictures. She too has three boys, with her twins a year older than mine. They are all into dinosaurs and these will be great for them. There are three tails which will velcro around the waist. I cut the polarfleece the wrong way so it actually stretches around the waist - but this means it never actually gets tight enough. I will recut this the other way, which will actually hold the tail up better and the belt will look thicker. Then they need to be finished with velcro.

We have the tail in green which was for a dress up party as a crocodile - but was also our dragon tail. It is really easy to play with as they can easily put them on themselves. The hoods are a new addition. She didn't ask for these, but I thought they would be great additions to the dress up box - but could also be funky winter hats. I was thrilled with how they turned out and they were really easy to make.

If you want to make your own I slightly adapted the McCalls pattern - 2335. If you are using a stretch be careful not to over stuff it as the tail can warp.