Happy Gnome Halloween Costumes

I’m so glad I started preparing for Halloween last week, because I spent quite a bit of time working on the dresses for my Happy Gnomes!  First, did you know that gnomes come in pairs?  That little detail was what sold the girls on the costume idea since they’re always playing and pretending they’re twins.

Starting at the top with the requisite pointy gnome hat is the Happy Gnome and Elf Hat by Danielle Wilson.  This is a really great pattern, fitting sizes 6m to adult XL.  It’s drafted and instructed just like you’d want from a more involved garment pattern – digitally drawn, all the information you need on the pattern pieces, and great illustrated instructions.  It’s currently free in her shop, or on Etsy for $3 which I think is a very fair price and worth your support.  Arden was with me shopping for the felt and, par for the course, chose pink.

Next, let’s talk about the blouses I made.  Arden is wearing a white Lillian Pintuck Dress and Top*affiliate link blouse by Mouse House Creations that I made for this costume.  Of course she’ll be able to wear it after Halloween since it’s neutral.  This is a really cute pattern.  I had a few cutting hiccups of completely my own doing, but once I got over myself it was smooth sailing, and remarkably fast sewing considering the precision needed for nice pintucks.  The shirting fabric is from JoAnn’s and is Swiss dot with tiny silver threads running through it.  The neckline binding is with a picot edge bias I got from Etsy, but it looks like the shop is now closed.

Hadley is wearing the Haven Acres Blouse I made for her during the testing of the pattern.  It’s a little small on her now, but I thought it worked well with the costume and kept the sewing queue a little shorter.  The fabric is Art Gallery voile I bought at my local quilt shop, Rock Paper Scissors.

The little aprons are just thrown together.  They’ll make great dress up accessories.  Simple rectangles gathered and sewn to the ribbon and then ties added.  I just used the rough selvage to keep a rustic feel.  The linen is from Jo-Ann’s and the ribbon is from The Ribbon Retreat.

The Dresses!!  These were a bit of a labor of love.  The bodices are quilted, which I did over a few evenings watching television.  The pattern is from the Japanese sewing book Carefree Clothes for Girls
by Junko Okawa *affiliate link.  The pattern instructs to sew the shoulder seams after the bodice is constructed, but coming off a few hours of hand sewing and being the rogue sewist I am, I chose to wrangle the whole quilted bodice through the shoulder seams instead.  Aside from construction preferences, this book was typical of Japanese sewing patterns with no seam allowances, minimal instruction and only a few diagrams.  It was easy to follow and I do recommend the book.

The fabrics are both linen blends from Jo-Ann’s and will make great holiday dresses.  I made sewn button loops using the same perle cotton embroidery floss that I used to quilt the bodices.  I scoured through my button jars and found some appropriately gnome-ish buttons to use.

Smooching sisters!  A lady driving by stopped to say how adorable she thought they were in their costumes.  I have to agree!

Anyways, Verona is a very Halloween focused town so there are loads of elaborately decorated houses and I’ve heard trick or treating here is quite an event.