"Auntie Sandra, I know what I want for my birthday!"

How I've learnt to dread that cry! However I made a deal with Katie (youngest neice, and usually instigator of said cry) that she would be able to have any princess dress she wanted this year as long as she never asked me to make another tutu. I'll be blogging about Christmas tutus sometime in the future, but my nerves still aren't up to it.

Back to the war cry. It's Katie's birthday at the beginning of March and she made her announcement a few weeks ago. My heart sank. Who would she want to be this year? We've been through most of the major princesses. Her first suggestion was that she could have another mermaid's tail. But that was only because she'd temporarily mislaid the one I made two years ago. Final decision? Elsa from 'Frozen'. "The blue one though, not the other one." Quick search for pictures on the internet to see what we were talking about (I haven't seen the film yet). And order a book from the library just to make sure.

First impressions weren't too bad. I thought I could adapt the pattern I used last year for Merida (these children just don't seem to grow! Not outwards anyway, and barely upwards). The only snag I could see was the cape. It looks like it goes under the arms and I had no idea how to insert a usable zip. I'm sure lots of other people could have figured it out, but I'm ashamed to say it defeated me. The only solution I could see was to make the dress stretchy so she could get it on and off. You'll soon learn that most of the time I just make stuff up as I go along. I've never been to any classes (I'm mainly scared they'll laugh and tell me I'm doing it wrong!). I learn from books and the occasional internet tutorial. But I mainly just wing it. Fortunately the one thing Christmas tutus did teach me (apart from never, ever try to sew another one) is that sewing with lycra is nowhere near as bad as I thought. After searching the internet I found this lycra

It was more than I really wanted to pay, but I fell in love with the sparkly one. It's a bit more turquoise than I had in mind, but it's just soooo pretty! I ordered way too much as normal, but Katie's just started dancing lessons, so I'm thinking she might get a leotard or two from it. I had some white net lying around the house, as you do. There was about 2 1/2 m. I've no idea what I actually bought it for! Is it just me that manages to do that?

The pattern I used for the Merida dress was Simplicity 5520 (view A ish). I always trace the patterns I use. It started when I was making the first costumes for the girls. I needed two dresses the same but slightly different sizes. Now I just trace because I end up with weird sizing (for this dress I traced age 3 width (and that's only because it was the smallest) and age 5 length). But I think I'll sign off now and bore you with pattern and dress contruction another day!