Camilla Takes on Homemaking

I don't really see myself as a crafty person, so activities like making cakes and costumes and wreaths and any other Pinterest-y thing doesn't really appeal to me. HOWEVER. My sister showed me these adorable costumes on Pottery Barn and when she showed me the pumpkin costume below, I was appalled for several reasons. First, observe the costume:

Cute, right? My first thought was that I could make that myself, it was that simplistic. You have to understand--I don't MAKE things, so to tell myself I could make it meant that I thought it was an incredibly simple design. And it is. Also, Pottery Barn, being the mecca of well-off homemakers that it is, was charging a whopping $79 for this simple getup, which offended my sentiments.

So I decided to steal the design and make the dress myself. I went to a fabric store for the first time in my marriage and bought what I hoped would be enough fabric and supplies. I really should have brought a picture of the costume with me, but I figured all I needed was some orange material, some orange tulle, and at the checkout stand I threw in some orange thread. That night I spent maybe three hours hand-stitching pieces of fabric together (I don't own a sewing machine because I don't sew) using the few sewing materials I got as a wedding present from Josh's mom. 

I had to sort of guess how to make buttonholes and it didn't even occur to me to buy buttons, so thank goodness I had a few in my sewing kit. I also HUGELY overestimated how much fabric to buy. I bought six yards of tulle and two of the orange cotton-ish stuff underneath. I could have bought half of each type of fabric and still had tons of extra. I guess I erred on the side of caution. Measuring Scarlet proved a difficulty as well. If I'd been smart about it, I would have taken some of her form-fitting clothes and used that as a basis, but instead, I tried to measure her while she was awake (big, wiggly mistake) and ended up creeping into her room after she went to sleep like a creeper and holding up a tape measurer to her still form. I finished the costume this morning after buying ribbon and the other accessories from Michael's. 

This is what the finished product looks like:

It looks ridiculously homemade, but I'm ridiculously proud of it anyway. Plus, it's trendy to make things, so whatever. I just saved $50. Take that, Pottery Barn.