Long story short: we were a hit.
The kids loved it, every single adult we saw loved it, and the whole adventure was a marvelous family memory. My husband bought his Lederhosen in Munich, I ordered our boy’s from Amazon, and I sewed the girls’ and my own from scratch. We presented quite the Halloween sight.
My dirndl, which required an absurd number of inches of fabric all gathered up at the waist–FOUR FULL widths of fabric, all gathered to a <30″ waistline–was fluffy and delightful and much warmer than you might expect. Thank you, Denyse Schmidt, for designing the perfect fabric for this project (I got mine from Pink Castle Fabrics, along with the fabric for the girls’ dresses).
The moral of the story: some years, you buy your costumes from the store and have an amazing time rolling around in the relief that gives you. Other years, you have the interest and the energy to sew them from scratch–and you have an amazing time rolling around in the joy that gives you. Neither is better than the other–and having years that offer one and years that offer the other is the special gift of your sewing machine. Man, what an awesome reminder of why I love to sew, and how powerful that makes me feel. Whether I choose to wield that power or not, I am a superhero. And so are you.
Hope everyone had a happy Halloween!
michelle
November 11, 2013 at 1:18 pmOMG!!!!!! I’m DYING here. I LOVE it! Next year, you NEED to come for Oktoberfest! Those costumes are perfect! I don’t even have one…..
Deborah
November 11, 2013 at 8:44 pmHaha! Yes, we will have to–I didn’t do all that sewing to tuck these away in the closet forever! The girls have each already worn their dirndls to school, because they love them. I haven’t been quite that brave with mine. 🙂