the costumes

My tree hoods. I am very excited about the way they turned out. I had different plans for them originally but the paper ribbon was a much faster method. Don't they look great on my girls? I think that i am going to need to make a few for halloween. The hood is made out of extra fishnet... leftover from the bodysuits... and the paper ribbon (or paper twists) are woven through and opened up to make broad leaves. The long curlicues i made by ironing two layers of satin together with heat n bond and then cut "swirls" out of the fabric. I got this idea from layla actually. She had recently made some paper swirls with this method.

Layla's various "kitty faces." When asked to look like a kitty you would typically get the pose below. 

I really like the way the kitten costumes came out. I think they are adorable. I designed the kitten hoods and another wonderful mom helped me sew them all (thirty something total... whew!!) but besides the hoods i didn't have anything else to do with the kitten costumes other than pinning fur to my daughters leotard. 

I just love the way that they all came out just a little bit different. Such an adorable group.

All in all i'm not sure that i will do this again. There were times when it was very exciting and a fun challenge and an all around wonderful thing to be involved in. I felt like i met a lot of really creative people in my community. But there were also times when this whole thing was a gigantic source of stress for me and a level of commitment that i never imagined. I did learn quite a bit so we will see what happens when next fall rolls around. But for now... it's back to swimming lessons and sewing just for fun!