Firefly Shindig

A friend of mine had a Firefly themed 40th birthday party last weekend.  What a great excuse to make costumes!

I went as Saffron.  I made my own peasant top!  After making only kid clothes for so long, anything my size seems ridiculously huge.  It doesn't go over so well for my ego, but I actually like the top and will wear it again.  

I was asked by the hostess to create this jumper for a little girl that would be attending the party.  She knew I'd be able to do it after seeing all the other sewing projects I've done.  She had no pattern for it but thankfully the girl's measurements were really close to Cupcake's, so I was able to reuse the Easter pattern.  I just HAD to add a zipper.  My very first one!  I put it in at the wrong time and had to finish it all off with bias tape, but it actually turned out alright.  I really need to remember to add seam allowance, and figure out how much to add for zippers.  I have exactly enough fabric to make one for Cupcake too, so I'll get more practice.

The most memorable outfit from the entire show is Kaylee's layer cake dress from the episode Shindig.  The birthday girl wore a beautiful gown, and I had permission to make a mini (kid-friendly) version for Cupcake to wear.  There were plans to make Aaron a gold vest to make him a proper "Captain Tight Pants" like the above photo, but it didn't happen, so he wore a blue vest we already had instead.

 I was able to borrow a serger to help with all the ruffles - thank goodness, or else I would have gone crazy.  It is now on my list of things to buy (eventually).  It was fun to learn a new machine.  Because of the weight of all those ruffles, it was much easier to make a separate skirt and shirt.  For the top, I mixed a t-shirt pattern with this ruching tutorial, and added a little leftover ruffle on the sleeves.