"What you see depends mainly on what you look for." -Eleanor Roosevelt

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Homemade Minnie Mouse for Halloween

This Halloween my daughter was old enough to actually have fun on Halloween. I decided she had to have a handmade costume. After much deliberation I decided she would be Minnie Mouse, as I was when a was young and my mom made my costume.



I also happened to be broke, so I was determined to make the outfit out of materials I already owned.

Here's what I used:
1 small womens pink shirt (cost $1 at the dollar tree, which I had previously purchased)
1 Large mens Black shirt
1Large mens White shirt
White thread
Fluff from a pillow we own
Cardboard from empty snack boxes (that I save for all kinds of crafting purposes)
Pink duct tape
black tights

To make the ears I made two cardboard circles and attached them to a flat cardboard rectangle with the duct tape, then I cut and sewed circle pouches out of the black t-shit to fit perfectly over the cardboard for the ears. I used hair clips to attach it to her head. (Of course, mommy had to be the guinea pig to make sure their construction was solid) Then I sewed 4 squares out of the pink T to make the bow. 2 small 2 large, stuffed with Corbyns pillow fluff. Sewed on dots cut from the white T and sewn all together and to the ears. This process took hours, but in the end it was totally worth it. The only downside is once the fluff was added, the head piece became alot heavier! Took many many more pins to keep it in her hair! (Right after I got them together, we went to the mirror to try them out..obviously Corbyn loved them! 


I spend 25+ hours hand stitching each seam, attaching each dot that I had free form cut from the white T-shirt, fashioning a little white collar, giving her one black stitched heart patch, creating the perfect (and totally made up) puff sleeves, which I remade twice out of the same material.
The first picture was my first attempt at the sleeve. I wasn't happy with it, so I pulled out the stitches and added white panels, then cinched the top and bottom of the sleeve hoping it would make it a little more puffy. It totally worked!

For the skirt, I really just had to sew on as many dots as it took to look good. There was no real pattern, I just spaced them out as evenly as possible. It was very time consuming, and made my hand hurt. :) Finally I cinched the top of the skirt in 4 placed and added a long strip of white T-shirt in order to adjust the size as needed once it was done. And also to have enough material to make a big bow in the back.


The results, a perfect Minnie Mouse. I shocked myself by how well it turned out when I have very little sewing experience. All I had was a vision in my head and a desire to make it perfect for my almost 2 year old!
















Its a lonely world, sometimes.

There are obviously a lot of great things about being a stay at home mom. But, We often don't consider the downsides.
My husband works 50 hours a week with an hour drive each way, to and from work. This means he leaves before Corbyn and I are out of bed in the morning and he gets home as the sun is going down at night. I am proud that he works so hard to make sure I can stay home with our toddler, to teach and to train her. But in exchange for that, it also means I don't ever get a break. He comes home exhausted and I obviously don't expect him to do all the baby duties after putting in a 12 hour day at work. Even tho I've made 5-6 meals today and changed 5-6 diapers, cleaned up 5-6 spills, done laundry, swept/mopped floors, dishes, bathed and played with a demanding 2 year old. I can't just take a break when her daddy comes home. Being a stay at home mom is literally a 24-7 job. It's exhausting to say the least.
Not to mention it also puts a damper on any time he and I get together. When Daddy comes home not only is he sore and exhausted but Corbyn is excited to see him and play with him. She hoards him while I clean up the dinner I've prepared for his arrival. He spend the next while unraveling from work. And usually within 3-4 hours of him being home it's time for me to lay down for at least an hour to put her to sleep. By then it's 10 o'clock and I'm too exhausted to get back up.

Staying at home with your baby is extremely rewarding, but it can also get quite lonely for the grown up mind.
I'm sure someday that will change. But we'll never get to go back to the fun and fancy free life we shared together, before. Where we could call in sick to work to both veg out, or opt for a midnight movie, laze around eating potato chips all day or spending hours glued to our favorite games.

I'm a mom now..