Alana is 11 Today!

Well, my youngest finally is growing up.  It seems like just a minute ago that we brought her home from the hospital (on Valentine's Day), with a pit stop at PC World - her first out of the hospital experience would be a computer store!  She is so grown up now and alternately driving us crazy and delighting us with her fun personality.  

This school year, at her new charter school, she has had the opportunity to be in the drama club.  This has been good and bad for us.  Good because she gets to exercise her dramatic talents and bad because there is alot more work for mom.  I am not the world's fastest or most confident seamstress.  Her drama instructor sent out notices that all costumes were going to be provided for their production of Beauty and the Beast, so I wasn't worried.  Then, with the state of the economy being what it is, I got a note about 10 days ago asking all parents of the non-principal parts to provide their costumes.  Alana's was not so bad, I thought.  As a Village Girl, she was required to wear a sort of medieval inspired peasant blouse and long skirt in a brighter color but not too bright - in other words, not black.  This didn't seem to be a huge problem until I started looking at patterns.  There are NO junior size patterns these days, especially in the costumes!!  

I found a nice pattern at McCall's (no. 5582) but had to go with a size 4 and hope for the best.  I'm going to make the little basque as well, even though it isn't required, but this thing has driven me nuts!  Why is it when something looks straightforward it never is??  The pattern was easy to cut out and I had my skirt going and almost finished by Saturday.  However, when I came to the waistband, it was fastened by pulling 1/2" twill tape through a casing and tying in the front.  That is a no-go as far as a 6th grade play is concerned.  How easily could you untie a girl's skirt and have it drop to the floor?  Of course, this wasn't obvious from the initial pattern instructions, so I had to go and get some wider elastic and redo the waist.  Then the hem was a bite because it was an A-line skirt.  

The blouse was fun to make until I looked at the neck.  All of this (sleeves, neckline) was elasticized and when I put in the elastic night before last, well, even thought it was a size four, that neck would have fallen off Andre the Giant!  I had to wait until yesterday afternoon to have Alana try it on and then, like Mammy in Gone With the Wind, I had to pull that elastic (like stays on a corset) another foot through the neckline in order to get it to fit like it showed on the pattern.  I finally finished this beast last night -- and it is due for rehearsal today!  I have to say, despite my reticence about sewing, I did a good job.  I just wish I was faster.  It would help if I didn't have to move my sewing machine for each meal.  Oh, well.

There are times when I think I have had most of the challenges of motherhood figured out.  Of course, my oldest (27 year old son) never had to have a Beauty and the Beast costume made on short notice - ha ha!  Life makes you laugh at yourself.   Now, off to the store to get things ready for the Birthday Dinner tonight!  Have a great day, folks!