One little, two little, three little...

...Indians!

Elisabeth requested an Indian costume this year, and since we're still all about the matchy-matchy, James quickly followed suit. (He really would do almost anything to be like his most beloved older sister. At least for now. It's so sweet!)

I don't know what the original seed for this costume inspiration was, but Elisabeth had something extremely specific in mind. Given the fact that this isn't very popular costume choice anymore, there were only two pattern choices among the major pattern brands carried by our local craft store. This one (McCall's M5953) was selected because it looked slightly more acceptable than the other choice. ;)

I had all the supplies (which included that cool embroidered faux-suede and four spools of "Native American" ribbon) in hand by the second week of October, and began tracing the patterns and cutting out the fabric. But some complications arose over the last 10 days or so -- some stresses that don't really have a place here, but suffice it to say that my mind was elsewhere -- and I didn't start sewing until 9pm on October 30. Yes, that's right. 9pm the night before. I sewed until 4 in the morning. And then I got up at 8:00 and sewed for 8 more hours. (With breaks to nurse the baby and not much else.) I would not recommend this.

However, I love, love, love these costumes. You all know that I am a rather extreme perfectionist and tend to be pretty critical of what I make. Sometimes I go back and read what I've written here and it sounds like I find fault with all of my work! However, I assure you that these costumes were impressive even to my eye. I was so pleased with them!

And, even more fortunately, they met with approval from my toughest little critic, as well. And what a fantastic Halloween evening to set out in a mama-made Indian costume with a belly full of soup and a neighborhood full of kind people. I was surprised (happily so) to see how little gory, gross, creepy stuff we encountered. Nothing like a sweet, happy, neighborly, handmade Halloween to restore your optimism and faith in the goodness of the world. 

PS: Fiona's costume was just a little raglan sleeve tunic that I came up with. I bought all the faux-leather fringe they had at our local JoAnn, and it still wasn't quite enough for her little dress to have any, and I ran out of time for pants. But she only wore it for 10 minutes, so that's OK. A few more photos of the kids in their costumes here.