A Fun Pirate Costume

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 When I originally wrote the story Prince Taylor's Corn Maze Halloween, ( one of the Princess Jelisa children's stories) one of the characters was dressed as Captain Hook.  In editing the story for publication, the character was changed to a simple pirate captain, which I felt made him more relatable.

When I started looking at clothes for the dolls, back in 2016, one of the articles I read suggested using clothes made for preemies.  In order to see how they fit, I  purchased  an outfit that my grandson liked.  The print on the shirt (a on piece that was long enough to snap over a diaper) was a teddy bear with a pirate scarf and eye patch.  Although it was too long for the doll's torso, I saved it, thinking I could use it later or remake it.

I searched Pinterest and online costume retailers and found a variety of ideas.  I decided I wanted something simple, the kids could see themselves as.  The shirt was a perfect beginning.   I cut the bottom off the shirt, keeping it a little long to go over his pants.   Next, I made a red scarf from some red cotton and tied it around his head.  The eye patch was made from black felt and held on by a piece of black elastic.  I was planning to pair the shirt with some blue pants but Lilly, my granddaughter, insisted he needed red pants.  So I used a basic pattern to make him a pair of red pants.    We used some boots, previously purchased for one of the other dolls.   Jilly, another granddaughter told me real pirates always wore a vest.  So she helped me find some felt squares to make a two-toned vest.  Finally no pirate would be complete without a waist sash.  His ended up being black satin.

This has ended  up being one of my favorite outfits to make for this particular doll.  Next to the camouflage outfit, it is also a favorite of my grandson.  I hope you like it as well as he does.

A Princess Inspired Costume

My 4 year old daughter hardly ever goes a day without wearing some kind of a princess dress.  Some days it is one of her favorite Sunday dresses, but most days she can be found prancing around the house in a dress-up costume.   For Halloween, she wanted to be Cinderella.  She found a dress at a local thrift store she decided was "perfect".  A week later another dress arrived, purchased by her mother from Amazon.  It was a brighter blue with an organza overlay. I thought she could wear the new dress for Halloween and the used dress for play, she insisted the first dress was her costume.  However it was the second dress which became my inspiration for a costume for one of the characters in my newest book. 

I bought some scrap pieces of blue silk and white organza from our favorite fabric store.  Since I was short on money and didn't want to purchase a new pattern for just one outfit, I used some creative knowledge to change a pattern I already owned.   Cutting the sleeve wider than the pattern I ended up with a full puffy sleeve.  I  figured out that two  half (1/2) circles would make a simple flounce. Jilly's dress had gold braid trim down the front, which I didn't have any of, but I did have about twelve (12) inches of ruffled lace,I could use.   I decided would look just as nice. Jilly was thrilled with the new princess dress for the doll.  Jilly wanted to wear long gloves with her costume, so of course the doll had to have the same.  Luckily I already had a pair of gloves which Princess Jelisa was happy to let us borrow for the night. A pair of clear sandals worked as her glass slippers.  

Here is a picture of the finished princess costume that one of the book characters wore in the book, Prince Taylor's Corn Maze Halloween.( one of the Princess Jelisa children's stories).

Sewing- My Unusual Step in Publishing

Time has flown since my last post.  I could say I wonder where the time went, but I know where most of it was spent.

Many of my fellow writers spent October facing a blank computer screen or paper, writing everyday and building their stories.  Others prepared for NANOWRIMO (National Novel Writing Month,) and the challenge of writing 50,000 words during the thirty days of November.   I hope they felt my encouragement as I replied to their comments on Facebook.

 I also spent time in October working on my Princess Jelisa stories, but it looked it little different.  During the first of the month I edited the story I had chosen to publish as the 8th book, and formatted the basic wording of the book I had in mind. I was hoping to publish the book by the week before Halloween, and was so far on schedule, with the next step being the illustrations. Under normal conditions I may have made my personal deadline, but not this time.

I love sewing.  I used to sew a lot, making clothing for my husband, my five children and myself, as well as things to make our home more presentable or comfortable.   Over the past year I had found a few hours,  when my granddaughter was not using the sewing machine,  to sew a variety of outfits for the dolls I had purchased.  At the time, I didn't really know exactly how I would use the dolls or the clothes they would need.  I still don't know how or when I will use what I already have.

Although the dolls have a variety of outfits, I realized they did not have the right outfits for the particular story I was hoping to publish in October.   In the story, I described several costumes which the children wore to Prince Taylor's Halloween celebration, most of which they did not have. So as part of publishing I now had the opportunity to enjoy the creative experiences of sewing some fun costumes, or adding pieces from former outfits to  make them part of a costume.  

In the end I ended up sewing all or part of the following costumes:

• Pirate
• Witch
• Cinderella
• Clown
• Victorian Vampiress
• Doctor

As part of sharing my writing experience, it seems appropriate to share the outfits either as I create them or as I use them in the stories.   Please feel free to submit your comments regarding the writing or sewing shares.