Princess Red Riding Hood

Thursday 13 September 2012
No I haven't got my fairytales mixed up - "Princess" Red Riding Hood is the compromise reached with a very strong willed 3.5 year old!  I don't know if this is a worldwide thing, but here in Australia there is an annual Book Week, celebrating reading and books, and practically every school (and daycare centres it turns out) has a Book Week parade where the kids dress up as their favourite book character.  I have fond memories of the costumes I wore when I was kid as my parents were very creative, and as an overly crafty mummy with skills and resources I've been itching to get into the costume thing!

However Anna's favourite book is called "Mutt Dog", about a stray dog that gets kicked out of various places before finding its forever home with a family in the country.  Anna delights in yelling out "go away you mutt dog" at the top of her lungs at the appropriate points in the story, but I couldn't see any costume possibilities in that book! Luckily we've also been reading a beautiful pop up version of Little Red Riding Hood, so she agreed to go as Little Red Riding Hood for her book week parade at her daycare.

I found an easy pattern and tutorial over at Fleeefun.com and using a mystery tube knit that had been in my stash for ages that was both the right shade of a deep red and a soft fluffy feel almost like minky, this is what I came up with:



I lined the hood bit only with a cherry print cotton voile, and used a big red ribbon tie at the neckline.  This was so simple to make, seriously just a few seams and probably an hour's worth of sewing at most.    I had been thinking of making a little gingham apron to wear over a dress to complete the look, and was looking around for a basket for her to carry when Little Miss Three arrived home from daycare the night before the parade and said she now wanted to go as a princess like all the other girls, and she wanted to wear a frilly pink dress I bought from an op shop a while ago.  A discussion about standing out from the crowd, and being a leader not a follower held no sway with a 3 year old who has princess fever, so I pretty annoyed.  Threats of never sewing her anything ever again didn't work (she knew I wouldn't follow through on that one!).

Luckily in the morning before daycare her dad mediated a compromise, and thus Princess Red Riding Hood was created:


Ahhh kids, it's a good thing you love them because they can be ungracious little mites sometimes!


18 comments:

  1. Great compromise on this one! Bonus is you will be able to tuck Little Red away, then whip her out next year all ready to wear!!! We had our Book Week parade last week (yes, I am a teacher who also dresses up!!!)Nothing as spectacular or creative as your little Princess Red....

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  2. hehe, love those photos - the cape is stellar!

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  3. Oh, she looks so sweet - like a little doll!

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  4. I have to share the story of my daughters senior prom. I have always made every special occasion dress for her since birth. For senior prom she picked out a pattern and fabric. The month before the prom, and right after I finished the muslin, she announced that she wanted to (gulp) buy her dress. She said she felt like she has missed out on the experience of shopping for a dress like her friends had. That was a knife to my heart.
    Talk about ungracious.

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  5. haha she is adorable! That cape is precious!

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  6. She is just priceless!!! Tell her we all think she looks wonderful!

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  7. She's so cute! I love the cape and it's totally fun with the dress too.

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  8. You'll forgive her everything because she's so cute!

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  9. Princess Red Riding hood is a terrific costume.
    The cape will have great longevity as a dress up. It is very pretty with the printed voile hood lining.

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  10. And the arguments with a headstrong young lady will be the reoccurring theme of your life! I'm glad that a compromise was reached because she does look really good in the cape!

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  11. Super riding girl! I can see that you will have to lower your presser foot soon.

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  12. That is so adorable. She looks so much like you in the photo with her arms down!

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  13. Nice thaw from the Deep Freeze Stash--it really turned out lovely, and you got the pattern online! Then good on your DH for figuring out a nifty compromise to save the day. *Sigh*, here I was hoping my 2.75-yo would be growing out of her terrible twos in January and three would be a shining new day. Oh no! --Katharine (in case it's my husband Bruno's Gmail account logged on)

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  14. Lovely costume, adorable girl, and very enjoyable story. Thanks for sharing!

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  15. You may have started a new trend! Now all girls will want to go a princess red riding hood! Quite impressive to have such a strong will at 3. She will take on the world by a storm I am sure!

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  16. Oh.... I remember when my mom made me a "Little Red Riding Hood" cape and dress. Her dress goes perfect... I mean LRRH had to wear a dress anyway right? Why not be a Princess LRRH? Maybe she can wear it for Halloween? I forget... do you guys Trick or Treat? Way Cute!

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  17. I LOVE Mutt Dog. Seriously, that's a great book, but I can see your point about the lack of costume opportunities.

    My DD went as Little Red Riding Hood to the Fairytale Ball her school has each year. I was soooooooooo glad I'd made her costume as the ones that had been ordered off the internet made those little girls look like hookers! It was seriously scary. Who even makes costumes like that for an 8-year-old?

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