I Just Can't Wait!

So, I really got into the sewing groove last night and went to town finishing up Elsie's Halloween costume and at 2 am I finally finished it. I am in love that I just can't wait til Halloween to show it to you guys. I tweaked it a bit so that it was different that the Pottery Barn costume and Ty keeps telling me that it is better than the Pottery Barn one, which really made my day.

There is no doubt that this costume was an adventure because there were many times that I just wanted to throw it out the door and never touch it again but because I had already blogged about doing it, I had to follow through. From the second I saw this picture:

I couldn't stop thinking about how I was going to construct the whole thing. That was how I would fall asleep at night and it was the very first thing in my head when I woke up in the morning. It haunted me, which is pretty appropriate considering it is for Halloween right? Here are some thing that I learned through this adventure:
1. When I was starting out and I thought it was going to be a breeze (bah, what a joke) I was so naive I actually said to Ty, "I may actually sell this pattern when I am done." 20 hours and several yards of felt later, I hope to never have to duplicate this pattern for any other size other than a 15 month old named Elsie.
2. I regret ever saying in my geometry classes in middle school and high school, "When will I ever need to know this crap?" OH MY GOSH!!! I actually had to look on the Internet for the formula to figure out the diameter of a circle when you know the circumference. I actually had to bust out Ty's compass to get a perfect circle. I actually had to use geometry.
3. I learned that we actually have a compass in our house, all these years and I had no idea. And I actually remembered how to use it. Amazing!
4. I am not a pattern maker. There are people (my sister, several of my SSC sisters) who can make up their own patterns with no problem and the end result looks amazing. I am not one of them. I'm okay going to the fabric store to pick out cute, coordinating fabric for a project while someone else figures out the hard, boring, mathematical stuff.
5. I can't believe all that I have learned about sewing just from making aprons. I suggest to anyone who wants to learn to sew, to start with an apron. They are so easy and yet a great way to get introduced to the sewing lingo and techniques.
6. Working with felt is the only way to go. I wish everything can be made out of this glorious material. No need to finish edges, no ironing. Except picking out mistakes is not the greatest thing when you have battle the felt fuzz.
7. Getting measurements from a 15 month old is just plain insane. Trying to get her to stand still for a fitting is probably the dumbest idea I have had through this whole thing. Here's hoping it fits right and that she will actually wear it on Halloween.
So there you have it, lessons learned from a crazy, overly ambitious, silly-to-think-she-make-her-own-patterns, Halloween obsessed, mother who is going to have the cutest, little Cupcake on Halloween night.
Here's one last picture for your enjoyment: