A Retro Halloween: I Have Some 'Splaining To Do

Okay, I did not fall off the face of the earth. Although I am sure you are wondering how it is possible that I could go 3 months without a single post. I have no good excuses for you. All I can say is that the adjustment to our new routines now that my oldest started preschool has been a little rocky. I have had very little time for creating and even less time for posting about my fun vintage finds. Top it all off with lots of preschool germs and we have been battling non-stop colds cycling through the house since September. But we weren't going to let it stop us from enjoying one of my favorite holidays!

There is nothing I enjoy more than being able to create the costumes of my kids' dreams every year. So you cannot even imagine my delight when my daughter asked to be Lucy this Halloween. Let me repeat that, my 2 year old daughter asked to be Lucy! I was such a proud momma. 

For her costume, I worked with patterns from my favorite book of patterns, "Sew Classic Clothes for Girls" by Lindsay Wilkes. I have utilized this book so many times already and I know I will continue to do so for years to come. If you sew for little girls you have got to check out her patterns over on her blog, The Cottage Mama. For this dress I worked between the Sweet Dress and the Dainty Darling dress with some modifications to the collar. 

I also decided to make the apron snap onto the waist band so that she could also wear the dress around the holidays without it looking like a costume. When you put this much work into a dress it has to be worn more than once! 

For my own dress, I used a great reprint of a vintage pattern from 1952, Butterick's B6018. 

I created view A with one very small change. I traded out the matching collar and cuffs for a contrast fabric (in my case, white). 

First, I have to say, I have had a lot of failed dresses with fit issues and this pattern was an absolute breeze to sew. I was sooo happy with the fit and the ease of sewing. I did some tissue fitting this time around and was so happy I took the time to do so. 

The final step to completing my costume was creating an apron to wear with it. I used a vintage hostess apron that I already had on hand and traced around it to make an apron that would lay wonderfully on top the full skirt of the dress without restricting it at all. 

Once put together I was quite happy with the turn out of our costumes. 

And still so pleased with the dresses. We will definitely be wearing them again without the aprons as a cute mommy and me outfit. 

I will most definitely be sewing this pattern up again in the future! Hope every one had a safe and Happy Halloween!