Halloween 2013: Mad Bird Judge

I guess it plays out this way for a lot of parents and kids at this age (check out this volcano!). 

I knew this would be the first year she would have an opinion about what she would dress up as for Halloween.   She started talking about it about two months ago.  A princess.  A “princess of the sea”, aka mermaid.  A pirate.  It changed so often that I figured we would just let her pick on the day of and use her dress-up box to make the costume.  But then one day she came home from school listing a bunch of things she could be, a doctor, a judge…  I jumped on it.  A judge, for Halloween, cool! 

Her first image about a judge was from a Bible book but then I showed her a clip of Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor on Sesame Street several times and she was very excited to be that kind of judge.  I listened to her autobiography earlier this year and I truly admire her—so this costume really makes me happy.

I used Juan’s graduation gown but only the middle placket-thing is really left from the gown. 

The costume uses a rough combination of the Oliver + S Ice Cream dress and the Hopscotch top.  Basically I made the bodice of the Ice Cream Dress turning it around so the opening is in the front for the zipper.  Then I placed the Hopscotch pattern on top and used that to cut out the armscye.   The sleeve is the Hopscotch top too but several inches wider.  I used several rows of gathering stitches on the sleeve head before I sewed it to the bodice. 

The lace at the front is a doily I bought at a garage sale sewn in half to a piece of elastic.  One side is sewn down and the other forms a loop that attaches to a button on the inside. 

She wore it to Halloween party this weekend, it was a hit. 

Oh yeah, the “mad bird” part.  That was her idea just after we agreed to the judge.  She loves Angry Birds even though she has no idea what it is (she calls them Mad Birds).  So to appease her and give her something to do, I printed out an a coloring page of one on card stock and made her a mask after she colored it in.  So now she is a Mad Bird Judge.  If she adds her fire fighter hat she is going to be a “mad bird judge fire cheater”. 

Next, Elena as chancho.