If I were a Minibeast

Two weeks ago, Child 1 needed another costume for another class assembly performance. It's the first term of grade 1 and the theme is Minibeasts - the little creepy crawlies that live in your garden: spiders, ants, stick insects, beetles, butterflies, and many more. With a defeated sigh worthy of Kif from Futurama, I stressed over what Child 1 would be, and where the costume would come from.

I'm a single mother of two children. I work part time, but most of my income is from benefits. I don't have spare cash to spend on frivolous costumes that will be worn for half an hour. What would be easy without being expensive? I was tempted to wrap her in a brown sheet and say she was a caterpillar in a cocoon, or maybe a dodgy worm, but being a girl she naturally wanted to be something 'pretty'. I wanted to choose something I could sew, but I wasn't going to invest the hours I put into those damn wings, and if possible I wanted something I could alter easily to reuse later if needed. Not asking much, really.

Then it came to me: a Red Riding Hood..hood..with some black spots basted on for easy removal later. Paired with black leggings and a black top and - voilà! - a simple ladybird.

I used this free pattern courtesy of Fleece Fun, and over a couple of hours (distracted by the tv) I came up with this:

{ Yes, that's Tinker Bell peeking out from behind it. }

Made entirely of fleece (apart from the ribbon), and cost about $10 all up. Marvellous.

Considering I'm crap at sewing, it was pretty easy. The most difficult part was figuring out which way to attach the hood and getting it to sit properly when sewn. Needless to say, mine didn't sit quite right. And the ribbons were badly attached. But, like the wings, no one was going to look too closely, so who cares? I may just make that my motto: Who Cares?

And, of course, Child 1 was happy. Out of the 9(!) other ladybirds in her class, she was easily the best :P