Our Little Troll

When Bethany was very tiny, Shad and I noticed that she had special facial features.  Features that made us realize that she looked like a little troll.  Not an ugly troll.  A cute troll.  You know the little dolls from back in the day that had crazy, standing up hair?

 

Ya, like this.  She had a very pronounced nose and that little crease under her eyes.

The picture's a little fuzzy, but do you see what I mean?  We have always meant it in a loving way.  I used to love my little troll dolls.  I use to carry one in the front, top pocket of my overalls at school in the ninth grade.  Hey, don't judge, it was 1990, overalls were in.  I remember accidentally dropping it in the toilet out of that pocket as I was pulling up my overalls.  It was a sad day.

Anyway, back to Bethany.  After watching the movie Gnomeo and Juliet I was struck by how much Bethany looks like Juliet, the garden gnome.  So much so, that I just knew that that was going to be her costume for Halloween.

I looked online for a cute gnome costume, but none of them did it any justice and they were all going to be too big.  I even considered making, yes sewing, one myself.  Oh it was going to be fancy.  It involved some felt material, tracing Bethany's body then hand sewing two pieces of Bethany shaped material together to make a dress.  Ya, I have no sewing/crafting/designing/building skills.  That was when I decided to see if my friend, Jill, over at Made it on Monday would be up for another project.  I say another because the girl has major sewing/crafting/designing/building skills and seems to be working on something at all times!  So much so that she has two Etsy shops, Ruffles N Such and Jilly Beans Babies.  You have got to check them out!  Anyway, much to my delight she said yes.



This was our inspiration. 

And this is what she came up with!  Oh my!  She blew me away.  I love the details that she included that I didn't even notice in the original picture.  (I guess you could say I have poor attention-to-details skills too.)  Look at the eyelet lace ruffle on the bottom of the dress. 

The corset top and apron are all one piece and can come off.

Then you just have an adorable red dress.  I love the ric rac trim.

(In case you were wondering, yes, Bethany did put her finger in a light socket this morning.  No major damage, but she did end up with some insane hair.)

You can head over to Jill's blog and check out the technical details, from a sewing person's perspective.

Thank you, Jill!  I am totally excited for the costume contest at the school fall carnival tomorrow.  I think we've got the 0-12 month category in the bag!

Next time I'll show you the bride veil I made for Hannah's Halloween costume.  Hot glue and tulle, good times.