Costume Makeover: From the Girly Girl to the Tomboy

It never ceases to amaze me how different my children can be from one another. My two oldest daughters are a prime example of this.

Sara, total girl! From age 3-6 she insisted on wearing a dress every day. Really. The fact Sara means “princess” is so apropos.

Elena, my second daughter, would only put a dress on for Sunday and even then it was a struggle. Her preference was for jeans and superhero costumes.

 

You can imagine the problem with hand me downs. When it came time for Sara to pass on her clothes to Elena, Elena would look just look at them and say, “No way, I’m not wearing that!”

It was always a challenge to accommodate their personalities and make the most of their wardrobes.

In 2006 I made this costume for Sara.

 

She was Marie Antoinette.

I loved this costume! It is still one of my favorites of all the ones I have made. I really wanted to get more than one year out of it but I knew “Marie” would be a tough sell on Elena once she could fit into it in 2009. With some thought for Elena’s interests, I was inspired by Pirates of the Caribbean and Elizabeth Swan. Elena loves this movie. Here’s what I did using the same dress:

Tip: It’s all in the accessories!

- I bought a plain black velvet pirate hat from Value Village and dressed it up with inexpensive laces and a left over piece of a gold filigree iron-on from another costume.

- I made a pair of pantaloon bloomers with lace and ribbon at the bottom and added two strips of ribbon to the inside and outside of the dress at the top of the shirt. This allowed her to tie up the front of her dress for some swash buckling!

- Added “cuffs” made from gathered fabric to her pair of black boots.

- Bought two belts from Value Village that had interesting buckles and studs on them. One red and one black. I tied one around her waist to hold her pistol and the second across her torso to hold her sword.

Here she is, Elizabeth Swan. I was so excited with this transformation!! Elena loved it too which made it that much better. She even came up with the idea of putting an earring of mine on a chain to make her own pirate medallion.

The result: One dress, two completely different costumes for my two completely different girls.

Which one is your favorite? I can’t decide.

-Tara