Friday, November 27, 2009

Dress ups and pondering




I have been hard at work crafting away, trying to be organised for Christmas. It is verrrrry hard keeping a handmade present under wraps. I usually like to do a big "look what I made! ta da!" on completion of an item. So this secret squirrel business is pretty challenging. I can't even do my ta da! here in blog land for the literate among my recipients might have their surprise spoiled.

But this I can show you... Caleb
asked for a "hoodie dress" a little while ago, and once I had surmised he meant Jedi robe, I did a quick google search and found this tutorial. I want this to be a surprise so I couldn't get him to lay on the fabric to get my measurements, so I used my simple servant dress pattern and added the hood and cut and hemmed down the front and added a little velcro attachment. I still need to hem it. I took a sneaky measurement to help in this- I want it to be good to go from unwrapping, not fussing with hemming it on Christmas morning. I hope it fits!

And this is not Christmas craft, and I am also not sure how I feel about it....

I found the veil that came with my second hand wedding dress in a big closet cleanout on Tuesday. I didn't wear it on my wedding day, but the sales assistant gave it to me anyway since she had no use for it. The kids spied it, and both had a go at trying to wear it, but because it was on a hair comb it wouldn't stay put. So I chopped off one of the layers and sewed it to a yellow headband we had lying around and then to cover my shabby hand sewing, sewed some flowers I had made with no purpose in mind, on top. When I finished it, Jemima said in her usual fashion, "I am not wearing that!", but about half an hour later put it on and didn't take it off for about 2 hours. There have been a lot of weddings to attend in her short life, and she is all about the "bride". She even has pretend weddings during her "rest time", that of course have no suggestion of a groom. When I ask her who she married at her wedding, she looks at me blankly or says "Uncle Tim and Aunty Kate."

It's quite funny because I was never "all about the bride". 8 years ago when I was the bride, I was looking forward to being married, but didn't really want to have the "wedding". I don't like being the centre of attention, and it's something that you really can't avoid on your wedding day! But I did want to mark the occasion with a celebration with lots of family and friends, and our service was certainly that. For our reception we had an afternoon tea in a hall in the adjoining retirement village which was just right for us.

I don't want to encourage Jemima to be focussed on her wedding day, but in the end, she equates being a bride with being a princess, a ballerina, a robot or a fairy, so into the dress up box goes the veil!


3 comments:

Gina said...

Well I LOVE the jedi suit, and I get the ambivalence about the veil. At this point in time I confess I'm kinda glad not to have a girl (yet!) in my family as I would find it hard to know how to navigate all the different role-model and focus issues that seem to crop up! But at any rate, your 'refashion' looks like a fun dress-up.

Madeline said...

I'm seeing jedi robes in my future. As a child, my brother would have given his right arm for one of those. Something tells me Levi, eventually, would be very into that too.
The veil is adorable. And, like you said being a bride is like being a princess. It's just for fun and pretend.

Christina Lowry said...

How cool is that?! You must be the coolest Mum ever to make a Jedi robe! I know someone who is quite obsessed with Star Wars, he is going to turn green with envy when he sees this!

:)