I feel quite sad writing this, but this is Bunny’s last Book Week. Next year she will be in High School and they don’t do Book Week anymore. I have loved making her Book Week costumes each year – bringing her requests to life has brought me so much joy and I’m a bit gutted her time dressing up as her favourite book characters is over. Of course this means that when she asked me to make her a very detailed Wings of Fire Moon Book Week costume I was determined to make it work. Even though I had no idea how to make a dragon haha.
Easy Calvin & Hobbes Book Week Costume
This year Buddy wins the prize for the easiest Book Week costume! I must admit after making quite detailed costumes for my girls and I was so grateful to Buddy for choosing something that was pretty easy to create in an afternoon and honestly could be done quicker if you’re a better shopper than I am. I can’t wait to show you how we put together this super easy Calvin and Hobbes costume (which he’ll also be using for Halloween).
The Paw Book Week costume
Birdie decided what she wanted to be for Book Week over a year ago, and has been biding her time waiting for this moment. The Paw is one of Chris’ books from his childhood and has now become Birdie’s favourite book! It’s the story of a little girl called Leonie, who becomes a cat burglar at night, stealing caviar from the rich to feed stray cats. I was so excited to help bring her dream to live and I had so much fun making The Paw Book Week costume with all it’s over the top details!
BUNNYS BOOK WEEK 2018 COSTUME: MARY LENNOX / THE SECRET GARDEN
It’s that time of year again! I love book week so much. I often complain about having to make costumes, but truth be told, ignoring the stress of sewing at the last minute (it’s ALWAYS the last minute) i really love it. My kids love it too and they look forward to it each year. I think that’s what is so great about book week – it isn’t just a time to dress up and come to school – it’s celebrating books and the wonderful characters they contain. It’s wonderful to see all the discussions between kids about their characters, and i often wonder how many of them discover a new book just because their friend dressed up as a character.
This year Bunny decided she wanted to be Mary Lennox from The Secret Garden, and I really love that she chose a character from one of my personal favourite books! I remember reading this book at her age, and it’s actually one of the books we gave her for her 10th birthday. I get a big thrill from knowing my loves are enjoying the books I carefully chose for them.
Bunny is a very fast reader, and she goes through books at lightning speed. Weekly trips to the library are a necessity to keep up with her pace. But the she is taking her time with The Secret Garden – she doesn’t want it to end!
Her dress is really simple – it’s a hack of the Mini Darling Ranges dress I’ve been developing forever (sorry) and hope to release at some point even though i’m not quite done yet (sorry again). It’s made from creamy linen and some ruffles that I had in my stash. Instead of buttons I used snaps – because as per usual this was very last minute. The sleeve cuffs are elasticated – again for speed and ease of sewing. I made the sleeves gathered as it seemed more period appropriate? I don’t know honestly. As with all the costumes I make my kids, I tried to make this one practical, customized to her tastes, and inspired by the period in question as much as possible without killing myself. The Secret Garden is set in the Edwardian era, so we are calling this “Edwardian-ish”. All the costume and history buffs are cringing at this point i’m sure ;) But at the end of the day, historically accurate or not, it’s just the way Bunny wanted it and that’s all the matters to me.
The best thing about making her costumes is how much she loves wearing them, and she had a fabulous time showing all her friends at school today and posing for these photos. She was fully in character and determined to behave as Mary-like as possible. She kills me with her cuteness! Her one disappointment was that she forgot to take her watch off for photos – and she wants everyone reading this to know that she knows that Mary couldn’t possibly have worn a bright pink watch… but she needs to know what time recess and lunch are, so here we are ;)
So there we are my friends! Another book week done and dusted!
ps. You might be wondering about Buddy. Unfortunately he is sick and home from school at the moment and had to miss book week – but he wanted to dress up as Peter from the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, and had planned to wear the knight costume i made him a few years ago :)
Buddy’s Book Week 2017 costume: Robin Hood
One of the things I really love about Buddy is that he thinks things through really carefully. He is more likely to try and find a solution himself than ask for help, which is sometimes good and sometimes not hehe. When the kids and I started to chat about Book Week costumes this week, Buddy didn’t really want to throw around ideas, so knowing he needs his own time, I left him to think about what he would like me to make him. To my great surprise he came back to me a few days later and told me he had figured out a costume using things he already had. I didn’t have to make a thing? Enter, Robin Hood!
He completely made my day! He used the tunic and hat from his Peter Pan costume a few years ago, and these pants which i made him three years ago and actually fit Bunny better at that point and a ready to wear long sleeved tee, a belt he found in my cupboard and his bow and arrow set. I couldn’t quite get over the idea of not having to make anything in his costume! But in the end we did make a belt (the leather one that he wanted to use turned out to be too uncomfortable) and it is just a strip of felt. And we also made the quiver of arrows and the bow out of sticks at the last minute because I couldn’t bring myself to let him take his toy bow and arrow set to school, because those arrows actually hurt when they hit you! I figured the teachers would thank me for sending him to school with a non functional set. They did :)
I had to work very hard to get a smiley photo because he was hunting the Sheriff of Nottingham and that is serious business mum. But i’m pretty good at finding the smiles :)
Of course this post wouldn’t be complete if it wasn’t for some very Buddy very serious in-character posing, so here we go, enjoy: