World Book Day Cometh - BFG Ears if you want them

This Thursday is World Book Day. A day that is greeted by groans throughout the country. If you don't know it, then let me tell you about it.  Parents panic buy, or use what they can, or make a costume for their poor child. This costume is based on a character from a book (but somehow characters from films , albeit books, crop up often). It is not a competition. But it is! And it really is, as many classrooms and schools have prizes for the best costume.  God bless the poor child who's parents forgot and goes in school uniform.

So, this last year of my daughter's primary school, the school gave a list of books to choose from (but of course you can choose any book, they said). So my tall daughter is going as the BFG, as that is her nickname at school.

Panic buy rubber ears and a bald cap. Cut up a black t shirt into a vaguely waist coat shape and bleach it so it is brown. Beg, borrow, not steal, my sister's green trousers. Use an old white school shirt. Find a tiny doll and make her some glasses so she is Sophie.

Have you ever bought those plasticky rubbery false ears? They have a hole that you are supposed to be able to manipulate your ear into and hope they stay on.  Nope and nope.  And anyway they are too small.

I have sewn a couple of bits of string onto each ear in the hope that she can tie the ears on. But they are still too small.

So I have copied and changed some BFG ears and am glueing them onto the rubber ears.

But I thought you might want to have the ears for your own use so here is the image. There are two ears and two ear backs. It is up to you how you stick them to the head but please no staples.

I have put mine in Word. You can fit the right and left front onto A4 landscape and they come out a nice size.  If you cannot copy the images from here then contact me with your email address and I will send you them.

Have fun and let me know if you use them.

World Book Day 2013 - A Witch but not just any witch.

Here we are again. World Book Day.

Now we thought Mary might go as Cleopatra, she said she wanted to. And I was designing the outfit in my head.  But then I forgot when World Book Day was.  

One evening I had a text from Mary's friend's mum asking if Mary wanted to go with them to buy things for the Julia Donaldson costume for World Book day.   'What Julia Donaldson costume?' I texted back (or words to that effect).  Well, it turns out that this year the school had decided the whole school had to dress up as a character from a Julian Donaldson book.   

I was a bit annoyed for various reasons.  Looking back now I can see that it might put a halt to the 'Disney Princess dress-up' of previous years.   However, at the time I was angry because I thought it was supposed to be the child's favourite character from their choice of books. I also was angry because Mary stopped reading Julia Donaldson ages ago.  

I was mostly angry because this was two days before World book Day and my child had not been given the letter informing us of the school's decision.

So easy option  -  go as a witch. We had witch stuff.  But, you know me, it cannot be any witch. No, it has to be THE witch from Room on the Broom.  So my shopping, sewing, making instinct that every parent has come dressing up day, came into the fore. GO MUMS!!

Here is the book witch:

Here is our Witch:

Yes, I made the skirt (complete with blue dots all over it); yes I made the brooch; yes I made the hair and stuck it onto the hat; yes I put red dots all over the yellow ribbon; yes I glued gold sequins to the star on the wand. She did have a black cloak but we forgot to take the photo of her wearing it.

I am sorry if I appear a bit proud of myself but frankly I am.  The lovely red cardigan is handmade by my mum. 

There were plenty of witches at the school, but there was only one witch who was THE witch.

Bring on World Book Day 2014, baby. 



(*cries*)

Snowy Dog!

It is World Book day again.  This is a day when children are encouraged to dress up in a character from a book. Ignoring the Disney Princess dresses, my girl decided to be Snowy.  If you do not know Snowy is - he is Tintin's dog. 

Last year she was as Tintin himself.  Next year she is thinking of going as Captain Haddock!

Anyway over the last couple of days (as I always leave things to the last minute) I have been busy sewing. Mary has been getting more and more excited..and at last the day has arrived.

Here she is in the hood.

This photo shows the big paws.

 Over the years, I have lots of Mary dancing down the garden.

Int his photo you might be able to see the paws in more detail. I made, out of the white fur, a pair of fingerless mittens.  Then I made the paws separately and stuffed them. Then sewed them on top of the mittens. Hopefully she will be able to write without taking them off.

Looking forward to next year. Maybe I should start sewing now? Nah.