Creating Little Red Riding Hood

So in my search to find something worth blogging about, I decided to share with you all my latest little project.

Lorelai is going to be Little Red Riding Hood for Halloween. I chose it for many reasons, but the main one is: all I need is a cape. I thought that would be easy. A lot of costumes come all in one set, but I just wasn't looking for too much extra stuff to keep. So once I searched and found out that any mini-sized cape would cost me easily $15-$20, I decided to make one myself.

I went with felt for fabric; it's cheap, requires no hemming, easy to cut, and will not be too hot or too chilly depending on the weather. I found a pattern at the store, but it was almost $15 by itself, so I went home and managed to find one online for free. You had to print it out and assemble it yourself. 14 pages worth. So, me being me, thought "I will just look at the tiny example on the screen and cut out my own on newspaper." It was a little tricky, but I made it work. Lorelai was not into modeling any sort of example I cut out, so a lot of it was done by "eyeing" it.
I cut out the pieces and my mom offered her sewing machine to sew the big pieces together, which much faster than hand-sewing it all. It had 5 main pieces. A large section for the back of the cape, 2 front panels for the cape and 2 pieces that form the hood. The large section and 2 panels were assembled together with the machine, along with connecting the 2 hood pieces. I would have to connect the hood to the cape by hand, but not before some serious nipping/tucking. The cape was a little too voluptuous for such a small body, so I had to take it in so it would not swallow my soon-to-be 2 year old. I decided to pleat the back and the sides so it wasn't too bulky on top, but still gave her plenty of room to move her arms. Pleating done by hand, then the hood attachment. I added some red ribbon for a tie, and tada, a cape! (And by "tada" I mean, 2 days of planning, 2 hrs of shopping/forming a pattern, and 2 hrs of assembly.) I now want to go get some lace to finish off the end, but that's only if I get some extra time.

I was not able to convince Lorelai to model it for pictures, so just imagine it on a little, feisty girl. I hope she will actually wear it on Halloween, something tells me if candy is involved she will tolerate it. ;)

Happy costume-planning!

M.LEWIS