Halloween Costumes ~ Princess Witch and Princess Ballerina

Every year I have made my kids Halloween costumes.  It’s something I looked forward to ever since Savannah was born.  I have some of the best memories of the costumes my mom used to create for my brother and I.  I loved those costumes and always felt really special wearing them to school and showing them off to my friends.  There’s nothing quite like handmade.  I know they only wear the costume for a day, but those memories will last forever.  Trust me, I still remember being Daisy Duck, a clown, a bird, a bunny rabbit, ect. 

It took my girls a little while to decide exactly what they wanted to be for Halloween.  They started out both wanting to be witches, then they wanted to be hummingbirds, then some sort of insect……..but they eventually made their final decision ~ a princess witch and a princess ballerina.  I was pretty surprised that Matilda chose a different costume than her sister, but pleased that she seems to be developing her own sense of self.

I wasn’t exactly sure what these costumes were going to end up looking like, but I figured they couldn’t be too tough.  So here is the finished product……….

I didn’t use a pattern for either of these dresses.  I went to Joann Fabrics and let the fabrics just kind of guide the way.  I do that a lot.  I go into a store having no idea how something is going to turn out, but once I start pairing fabrics together a vision starts to form.

Miss Matilda loves her princess ballerina costume.  When I finished the look, I tried it on her to make sure it fit and she danced and twirled around for about an hour.  I think she might be my little ballerina, but only time will tell.

This dress was incredibly quick and easy to make.  I simply measured Matilda’s chest and measured from under her arm down to where I wanted the dress to fall.  Then I added and inch on the top and bottom to allow for hemming.  I cut a piece of elastic 1″ smaller than her chest measurement for the top of the dress and added a ribbon to act like a halter top.

The flower detail in the front of the dress was all stitched after the elastic had been threaded.  These were flowers that I found on a long branch at Michael’s craft store.  I simply cut them off of the branch and arranged them on the front of the dress.

The head piece has a backing made of felt and the flower trim and lace is hot glued to the felt.  There is a clip through the felt to hold the head piece in place.

One of my favorite aspects of this dress is the flower trim around the bottom hem.  This is something I happened to already have and I think it adds a nice weight to the dress and makes it really fun and special.  The entire dress is lined because the outer, sparkle fabric is pretty rough on the skin.  Plus I didn’t want the dress to be too see-through.

The princess witch costume was really fun to create!  It took a little more time than the princess ballerina but that was because there was more detail involved.

The princess witch costume is a double layered skirt with a solid cotton bottom layer and a spider-web top layer.  The top layer is somewhat stiff so it adds a nice volume to the bottom of the dress.  The bodice has a corset-style detail and ties with black satin ribbons on each shoulder. 

I used a large artificial flower I found a Michael’s craft store for the detail at the waist and on the hat.  I cut all the petals apart on the flower and placed them how I wanted them.  It’s amazing how far one giant flower will go and I still had some petals left over.  The dress is completed with the plaid ribbon around the waist and the coordinating bow on the hat.