"Arrrr!" Sneak Peek

I must admit that I have a love hate relationship with Halloween, costumes, and my sewing machine. Every year I have BIG plans...BIG I tell you! I sit down and imagine the coolest costume ever (I tend to be an overachiever when it comes to crafts), and although I start out having a blast challenging myself, my joy quickly turns to disgust as I run out of time, steam, and patience. Case in point...Emily's ballerina shoes 2 years ago. I for some reason thought it would be fun to spend 2 Saturday's toiling over those 2 itty bitty shoes. And although after 2 prototypes I was frustrated, I was also very proud. I made ballerina shoes without a pattern. Go Me! (never mind Emily's frustration with me at the end of the experience)

This year though, I promised myself that I would practice restraint. Nothing extreme...nothing overly complicated. Just simple.

So my preparations started out like any other year - me sitting down thinking about all of my fun options. I thought for sure that I had one more year where it was all about my choice, but it looks like after 3 years, Emily actually has an opinion. Golly O Molly!

And so she has spoken...

I'm not sure where her love of pirates came from, but it was evident after listening to her talk about them incessantly that I needed to give her two choices - she could either be a pirate or a fish. It was of course pirates all the way!

So there's your little sneak peek. And this year, I can promise you that I am only pulling out the sewing machine for 3 little pieces. The ruffly sleeve extensions (we already own the ruffly shirt and black ruffly skirt. Yay!), the sash, and the felt boot covers (which by the way, I have already made some in my day...so I know how to do it. Woo Hoo!). That just leaves me buying some nice black church shoes (who can't use some of those anyways), a cheap party store pirate hat, and some sort of "pin" type item that I can use to make the sash extra special.

Now...I just have to figure out how she's going to carry her candy. Maybe I should go simple with a Jack-o-Lantern??? Nah! A homemade fabric bag that looks like a treasure chest with sewed in jewels sounds so much better (and down right cute I might add!)...

Yeah...that sounds simple, right???