Well, we had ourselves a marvelous Hallowe’en at our church with gobs of carnival games, giant inflatables, pony rides, laser tag, and–of course–candy!! Big Bro wanted to be a ninja. Li’l wanted to be a knight. And Sis wanted to be… Li’l Bro. Oi.

So, when someone in our neighborhood was giving away this costume the other day, I jumped on it! It was an adult size Tinkerbell costume, but I knew that it could be perfect for Sis with just a little tweaking.

So using one of her shirts as a guide, I cut the sides and arm openings.

I cut around the shoulders and neckline, adding about 1/4″ as I went for seam allowance, then I tapered out from the armpits to the waist.

Sewing right sides together, I closed the sides of the dress and the top of the straps, leaving the arm openings and neck opening open. I left the neck and arm openings raw.

I could have stopped there, and it would have worked.

But I went one step further and added an elastic waistband. Make sure to use a zig-zag stitch for this step! You could attach this to the inside of your bodice, just above the skirt…

…But I decided to add the elastic to the outside just above the skirt, and then fold over the bodice and sew down to cover the elastic (back to regular straight stitch for that second part).

Next I moved on to the wings, a simple fix. I just snipped the fabric-covered elastic strap down to a better fitting length…

…And reattached the straps, making sure to capture the elastic in my stitching.

And there you have it! One uber easy costume downsize! [Um… I added a pair of shoe overlays, too. They are SEW simple… I might share that tute soon so you can make little elf shoes for Christmas if you are so inclined.

And Sis approves! And good thing too, ’cause I’m not sure how I might have pulled off her looking like her buzz cut brother for Halloween.

So what did your munchkins dress up as this year? Are you a coordinating costume sort of family, or does each child choose a unique costume for himself? Do tell!