I think this will go down in history as the costume that almost made me go insane. Maybe it is cursed? It wouldn’t surprise me as it is actually a My Little Pony character that is evil (or gone evil). She is originally known as Princess Luna but goes by the name Nightmare Moon when she is transformed by the Nightmare forces. So far I have made this costume twice and it almost made me throw a full blown tantrum at Kindergarten. It also made my four year old throw a major tantrum. Yeah there are some evil forces there.
So how did I get myself into this costume mess. Here comes the long story since I feel the need to get it off my chest.
Before Halloween my little girl came with a strange request. I was expecting her to want to be Elsa but no she wanted to be Nightmare Moon. I had to google that. I think I was quite delusional around that time being almost 9 months pregnant and couldn’t really sit, website walk or think. I hobbled through Stoff and Stil on crutches and set to work on the most complex costume I have ever made despite not being able to sit for more than 10 minutes at a time. Halfway through I find out that I hadn’t read the pattern description well enough. What looked like fleece in the photo was actually stretchy velour. Not surprisingly it was too small. With only few days to go I had to throw in the towel and tell my four year old I wouldn’t make it. She took it well and used her Elsa dress. I felt like a complete failure (and a whale).
After Christmas I figured I would give myself ample time to make a costume for the February carnival dress-up they have here in Norway. I was really surprised that my four year old was still set on wanting to be Nightmare Moon. So I started planning again and against better judgment made the plans even more elaborate. Then I started sewing in the midst of colic. It was a painful process with lots of small obstacles. I even managed to vacuum the pony ears at some point…
It looked like I wouldn’t make it for a while. Then a miracle happened and my little one slept well for few hours and I pretty much finished it up. I went to pick up my girl at Kindergarten in a good mood and and told my girl I was almost finished. Right after I find this note.
In short it says Carnival this year is themed: The wood and insects. I bit my teeth together and made sure to leave before I would explode. A pony is really insect isn’t it?
On that same day my daughter is having a particularly bad day. She had just spent the last week sick and probably wasn’t feeling well. She wanted to try the costume when we came home but something about it bothered her so she exclaimed angry that it was all wrong. She was so upset that she was unable to explain what was wrong and just threw a major tantrum. Lets just say I was quite close to throwing a tantrum myself. I swore through my teeth I would never make another costume in my life (something that my next blog post will prove wrong).
So this is a ridiculously advanced costume that might never get used. I forced myself to finish it despite it being “all wrong”. That day she was in a better mood and wanted to wear it. So we took some photos.
The costume was partially based on a pattern from Ottobre 6/2010. I used it as a base but changed quite a few things. I created the hood myself and drew all the stuff I appliquéd by hand. They were intentionally appliquéd quite rough as this was just supposed to be a quick costume. The jewellery is just fabric with some stiff interfacing and attached with velcro to the suit. I used velour for the suit and some jersey rib for most of decorations. Almost everything was from Stoff og Stil. The mane and tail are yarn. The wings aren’t quite stiff enough but can’t be bothered doing anything about that. I based the design on the toy version of Nightmare Moon and she got one as a gift with the costume.
Helt fantastisk kostyme, og historien er like fantastisk!
Jeg må si, at hvis barnehagen skal ha tema for karneval, så får de jammen lage kostymene selv, slik de gjør i barnehagen til min niese og nevø!
De må i alle fall gi beskjed gooood tid i forveien så man ikke havner i en sånn situasjon som du.
Takk 🙂
Burde kanskje ikke ha stresset så mye. Det var i hvert fall en Elsa, en ridder og et par andre dyr som ikke regnes som skogsdyr i Norge i barnehagen i dag 🙂 . Men men gjort er gjort. Klok av skade så spør jeg neste gang før jeg setter i gang med noe…. eller vent… jeg skal aldri sy en kostyme igjen :).
Er nok ikke dumt for barnehager å ordne kostymer sjøl når de har tema. Blir litt bortkastet penger for mange.
It looks amazing, well done, even though the journey was difficult one 😉
Thanks you! I guess the difficult journey will make it more special in the long run 🙂 .