Little Indian

Tess has been really crazy about dress up these days. Usually before when we leave the house to go anywhere she has to put on some kind of hat, grab a purse or bag, sunglasses and every piece of plastic jewelry she owns...plus some of mine. We are deep into pretend play phase.

Last week they announced it was going to be Western Day in Tess' class and I asked her if she wanted to be a cowgirl or an Indian and she chose the later. I only had a few hours to whip this up so I was thankful the child chose the easier out of the two. I made my own pattern for this one by just laying out a dress she already had and tracing around it to get an approximate size. The beauty of this project and key to creating it quickly was the fabric, we used ultra suede so there was no hemming or binding involved. The last dress I made for Tess called for bias trim around the arms and neck and I am still traumatized by the memories of that sewing project. I tried to keep the costume unisex and big enough so that she could get a few years of play out of it and baby Theo would be able to wear it when he gets to be her age. Next week we are tackling a pirate costume which means learning to sew elastic pants. By summers end I am hoping T will have a whole closet full of mommy made pretend play clothes.

The project from start to finish took 1.5 hours and cost only $8.99 - we were able to use remnant ultra suede from the fabric store.

Materials:
1 yard Ultra suede
.5 yard decorative ribbon trim
Feathers
Elastic for the headband (I pulled the elastic out of my old maternity shorts)