Peony Patterns Costume Party: Day 5 - Books & Nursery Rhymes

Posted by Natasha Tung on

“We're all mad here.”
― Cheshire Cat

Welcome to the final day of our Costume Party! It's been such a fun week sharing our fantastic collection of costumes with you, but at least the fun is not *quite* over! Today our roundup of amazing creations mostly revolve around the theme of books and nursery rhymes. We hope you love these ones just as much as we do! 

(If you missed our earlier costume roundups, check them out: Day 1 - Movies & TV, Day 2 - Disney Movies, Day 3 - Princesses Part 1, Day 4 - Princesses Part 2)

So, come with us as we lead you down the rabbit hole!

Alice in Wonderland

 

Oh My Goodness! Can you say Epic with a capital AWESOME?! We just LOVE Ashley Burum Culbertson's (@Aaculbertson) Alice in Wonderland family costumes! Her older daughters even created the set and her eldest designed her own Mad Hatter hat! Alice is wearing Honeysuckle with modified sleeves, the White Rabbit is wearing Jasmine, and the Queen of Hearts is wearing Sage with a lengthened skirt. Both the White Rabbit and Mad Hatter are wearing the free Foxglove bows converted into bow-ties.

Fabric: Cotton woven, crushed velvet

 

 

Tara Marie Veal Karmas's (@twoposhtoddlers) kids also got in on the Alice and Wonderland family costume fun! It's SO much fun seeing her littlest one with her big siblings!! We just love how she put this photoshoot together too - it really gives that "down the rabbit hole" vibe! Tara chose this costume collection as she loves the movies and has always been intrigued by the storyline. 

For Alice, Tara used Honeysuckle as a base. She stole the collar from Posie and added a triple skirt to avoid a separate apron. She also mashed the Sage sleeves (bottom & elastic) with the Honeysuckle sleeves (sleeve cap).

For the Queen of Hearts, she used Periwinkle and colour-blocked the skirt. She free-handed the heart appliqués and applied them with Heat & Bond.

 

Tara's biggest tip is to just try things! Sometimes things don’t seem to work in your head but if you try it out it actually works!

Fabrics: sheen sateen (Farmhouse Fabrics), Chantilly Lace (Fabric.com), chequer print cotton (JoAnn), red and black modal, chequer print scuba (So Sew English)

 

Ruth Alma (@ooh_sew_chloe_zakk) created this gorgeous modern Alice costume for her daughter. She used the Posie without any pockets and made a straight skirt using 2m (2 1/4yds) of fabric, adding applique stripes and suit of card details spaced 16cm (6 1/4") apart. She used 12 stripes with 3 of each suit.

Fabric: Homespun (Spotlight)

 

And of course, Alice in Wonderland cannot be complete without the Cheshire Cat! BJ Benson's (@Thesocialitesewist) daughter is currently into cats, and combined with favorite colours of pink and purple, the Cheshire Cat was a must! 

She used the Poppy dress to create this look, with tulle added to the flutters. She encourages everyone to be creative and have faith in your abilities! You can create anything you want!

Fabric: Cotton woven (Oh So Pretty Custom Fabric)

  

Angie Chia (@pocketful_of_rainbows88) loved the Madeline book series as a kid, and was excited to introduce this story of a carefree redheaded seven year-old with a zest for life to her daughter! She used the Gardenia pattern as her base, adding pintucks and the Posie collar to the bodice. Of course she needed to add Daisy pockets as well!

To create the pintucks, Angie highly recommends being very accurate with your measurements, and pressing them before and after sewing. She created the pintucks on a larger piece of fabric, cutting out the bodice *after* the pintucks were complete. It's also very important to stay stitch the collar so it doesn't get stretched out as you sew the dress.

Fabric: Kona cotton solids, cotton batiste (2Quilters, Singapore)  

Harry Potter

 

Laura Hilton's (@littlebonniebelle) final look this week is Hermoine from Harry Potter! She wanted to make this one so she had an excuse to puff up her daughter's hair! She used the Honeysuckle bodice, accidentally hemming the side ruffle rather than folding it over. We'll call that a happy accident! She added embellishments with trims to round out the look. The skirt was created with the Posie dress pattern - can never go wrong with pockets! 

She says there are lots of creative options when making a school uniform look, and mixing in store bought Harry Potter elements can really add authenticity.

Fabric: white shirting and light-weight grey wool (Farmhouse Fabrics); red & gold necktie fabric; Gryffindor tie (Target)

Southern Belle

 

Nazarene (@Naz.a.re.ne) lives in the South and was inspired by the puffy, pink Southern Belle debutante gowns, popularised in the region! She used the Gardenia bodice with Petunia sleeves and self drafted skirt. To fluff the skirt up, she made a Powderpuff pettiskirt. She had lots of fun creating this one! 

Cabbage Patch Doll

Squeeeee!!!!! Our jaws dropped when we saw Sarah Campbell's (@sarahcampbell89) baby dressed as a Cabbage Patch Doll! The entire look is so realistic, it's hard to tell whether her costume is on a baby or a doll! She used Baby Petunia, modifying it to have a skirt. Her little one is wearing Daffodil bloomers underneath and has Primrose hand embroidery around the collar. To create the Petunia skirt, she used the romper pieces as a guide, cutting the skirt long, and hemmed to mid thigh, using a 2 inch deep hem. Adorable!

Fabric: Polyester woven and cotton woven

Miraculous 

 

Heather Fletcher (@fletchercustomsewing) created this beautiful Ladybug from the show Miraculous - though she could easily be from the picture book, Ladybug Girl, or any other ladybug/ladybird! She used Banksia and added an inch to the flutter width to resemble wings. She suggests making your wings or flutter larger with more curves if you want! 

Fabric: Quilters cotton red with black dot, tulle

Little Bo Peep

 

Inspired by Disney's Toy Story, Kimberly Seegmiller created a Little Bo Peep costume for her daughter! And in a twist of fate, she managed to get last-minute photos in front of some very cooperative sheep! Her little one was delighted of course! 

She used Honeysuckle as the base, with Hyacinth sleeves. The tulle layer in the skirt is the Hyacinth top tier from the everyday skirt, with 1/2” removed lengthwise as she didn’t hem the tulle. She added a skirt lining with lace edging and positioned it to hang 3/4” under the skirt. Kimberly added Powderpuff pettiskirt underneath for more poufiness! 

For Bo Peep’s bonnet, Kimberly used Waratah and added 2” to the width of the brim pieces.

Fabric: Bodice & bonnet poly satin, tulle (Hobby Lobby), Skirt fabric (Amazon), poly lining (JoAnn) 

Unicorn Princess

Yulia Ashirova (@berriesandpetals) created this lovely Unicorn Princess costume for her daughter! She used the Powderpuff Skirt, Daffodil tee and Iris Hand Embroidery to make this beautiful outfit! She suggests using fusible interfacing on the back after embroidering the knit. 

Fabric: Satin, tulle, Jersey

Super Mario Bros.

We love this fabulous Super Mario Bros family costume by Jessica Lynn McCoy (@mcmamamade)! She used Peony Patterns Daisy (with covered back) as the base for her girls' Princess Peach and Princess Daisy costumes. Jessica added Hyacinth puff sleeves, Posie collar (on Princess Daisy), lengthened to floor length on both, and added ruffles and scalloped collar/arm bands. 

To create the collar, she freehand drew scallops on the Posie collar pieces and used a small stitch length to follow the lines, right sides together, then notched curves and attached like normal.

To create the hip poufs, she measured out a 20”-25” circle, folded wrong sides together and serged the round side. She ran a gathering stitch along the seam and attached the gathered side to the bodice.

Fabric: Stretch satin charmeuse (Fabric Wholesale Direct), white cotton

 

We hope you've had so much fun this week getting all the inspiration you need for your costume sewing - whether it's for Halloween, Book Week, a Spirit Day, a trip to Disney, or just for your dress up closet! We'd love to see whatever DIY creations you come up with using our patterns, so please share them in our Facebook group or Instagram! It's always so wonderful seeing everyone's creativity - whether they're a total beginner or a pro! 

 


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