Little Prince Costume

Last November my son wanted to dress as The Little Prince from Antoine de Saint-Exupér's novel for his school Bookweek parade.  I loved that this beautiful classic had caught his imagination over Ben 10 and Zac Powers, but obviously a pirate would have been easier.  My other son picked the Jabberwocky, but this was so ambitious I didn't feel much pressure.  

This shade of mint green was really fashionable last summer so I thought I could pick up a pair of mint trackies, but all I could find were leggings with lacy trims, which would never have been approved.  I bought some mint green fabric and Butterick B5572 pyjamas pattern.  I also bought a soft green t-shirt and my boys are serious soft clothing addicts, so he was very happy with that.   I would have preferred to make the whole pyjamas set, but when it comes to making stuff for kids I find the less effort you make, the less bitter you are when they don't appreciate it.  Plus it would have had to happen in the midnight hour.  So, for Bookweek I only had to make the trousers.  

I did however think the whole costume would be very cute, and had the fabric, so have finished it off despite my suspicions it will never be worn.  I haven't even dared ask him to put it on yet, that's my challenge for tomorrow.  I'm not scared of my son, I'm just not keen to have my suspicions confirmed.

I'm just happy he didn't want this costume

The all important lesson......  This was actually very easy and satisfying to make.  However, either patterns always make clothes ridiculously loose or I always choose too big a size.  In this case my son was larger than the size 5-6 measurements and smaller than the size 7-8, so I went for the latter.  When I got out the trousers pattern I realised that they were size 5-6 and still too big, now the shirt seems humongous.  But at least he'll grow, this is more a problem when I spend time and money making something for myself which is too big.  I can only grow one way, and it doesn't make sense to do that just to fit into clothes I made to the wrong size.