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my mom’s creative space

My daughter loved her St. Patrick’s Day outfit. She wore it yesterday and today. When I dropped her off at school this morning, I started thinking about the Irish dancing costume my mother made for me when I was younger.

Seems I wasn’t the only one thinking about it. I received this comment on my blog this morning…

“Does this take you back to your Irish dancing days? Wonder if you still have that dress?”

…and within in minutes, I received this photo from my mom via text:

Irish dancing costume

Isn’t it amazing? She sewed the dress and cape and then embroidered all of those motifs. (Larger photo here.) I wore this to dance at festivals and in competitions. I even wore it in the Baltimore St. Patrick’s Day parade!

I know there’s no comparison between this gorgeous costume and the little outfit I whipped up for my daughter. I just happened to think about it this morning and wanted to share her beautiful work with you. She totally deserves her own Creative Space, don’t you think?

Visit other creative spaces over at Kirsty’s blog.

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last-minute abby cadabby fairy wings

abby cadabby fairy wings

My daughter insisted she was going to wear her Abby Cadabby costume again for Halloween. I was a little worried she might change her mind at the last minute. Yesterday I asked her what she was going to wear underneath the skirt. She told me the pink leggings and silver fairy shoes she wore last year. I reminded her that she no longer fits in those and suggested jeans and her school shoes.

Well, that was not going to work. Abby Cadabby does not wear jeans or regular shoes, she told me. Oh, and she needed fairy wings this year. Last year she didn’t need them because she had a wand, but this year she had to have both.

I tried to go the easy route. Thankfully, Target had silver fairy shoes and pink leggings in her size. The costume area was totally picked over and there were no wings to be found. I came home and dug through my stash for some felt, stuffing and ribbon. Luckily, I wound up with something that could pass as fairy wings. She loves them. I like that they aren’t attached to anything so she can wear them over a sweater or coat if it gets cold.

What on earth would I do without a sewing machine and fabric stash?

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handmade, no-sew abby cadabby costume

abby cadabby sesame street

I hope that all of the handmade costumes in my future are as easy as this one. Remember the tulle I found at the thrift store awhile back? Even then I had a feeling it might make its way into an Abby Cadabby costume.

handmade abby cadabby costume

Tutu
I found both of these tutorials very helpful: how to make a ribbon tutu (video) and how to make an elastic tutu. The first one is totally no sew. The second one needs a little bit of hand sewing— you need to sew the ends of the elastic together. I made my strips 40 inches long, so folded and knotted they fell right above the ankle.

Magic Wand
I had never used a glue gun before and borrowed husband’s for this project. Why was I so intimidated by hot glue? It was so easy! I used this tutorial for the wand, and the wooden dowel was the only part of this costume that wasn’t from my stash.

Hair Poufs
These are just smaller versions of the pouf I made for the wand. I tied them to elastic hair bands.

Wings
I didn’t make wings. Actually, I don’t know if my daughter even realizes that Abby has wings. She is all about the magic wand. I figured they’d just get in the way, especially if she wore the costume all day, which she did.

Everything Else
The shirt, pants and shoes all came from my daughter’s closet. The trick or treat bag is from last year’s Halloween crafting.

no sew abby cadabby halloween costume

stash: My whole family was sick the last week in October and I didn’t start this until the night before Halloween. I was thankful that I had everything I needed in my stash, as I was really not up to shopping for costume supplies with a sick 3-year-old. Luckily, we were all well enough to go trick-or-treating on Saturday!