Happy Halloween!

Halloween is here. And I have approximately...hmm...nothing done in terms of decorations and prep work.

• There's only 2 (small) bags of candy in the house
• There's 1 pumpkin out on the front yard, whose paint has washed off during the snowstorm we got this past weekend
• The only "decoration" we have is a spider that we got from a playdate when they were doing crafts (I didn't even make it -- I've left by then, but they made one for Isabel)

BUT...

At least I have a semi-homemade costume for Isabel.

As I've probably mentioned, she's fascinated with princesses now. And she wanted to be a White Princess (switched from a Purple Princess. AFTER I made what I made. Tough kid, you're wearing it)

Using the Poncho pattern from Emma Hardy's "Making Clothes for Children" book as the base, and adding a hood that I altered from this tutorial that I found through Ucreate, I made a velvet princess cloak with fleece lining (because it's COLD out). I hemmed and hawed between the Emma Hardy pattern and the O&S red riding hood cape pattern, but eventually went with this one as the armholes slits on the O&S didn't jive with the mental picture I had in my mind.

To me, the cloak is probably the best part of the princess ensemble, as I love coats and outerwear in general, having grown up in a tropical country where I've had little chance of wearing anything heavier than a cotton cardigan.

It was a huge sigh of relief that it all worked out, as there was a lot of winging-it moments, and the fabric wasn't exactly cheap.

She was on the fence about it -- so I had about a week to convince her that yes, princesses wear cloaks when it's cold out. So, we've been reading Beauty and the Beast on repeat for the past week. Multiple times a night (her request)

We'll be going trick or treating tonight - will update with full costume later.