When a fairy chases a pirate...

The pirate may look happy, but he isn't very happy when caught. Maybe it's because pirates shouldn't be caught by fairies? Maybe it's because he wasn't happy getting hit by the magic wand? Maybe it was because he's barefoot and stepped on many acorns while running? What did this pirate do? He dropped his leather belt and sword (maybe they were slowing him down) and kept running.

This year D wanted to be a pirate again. I was very cool with that idea because I loved his costume last year. He makes for a very cute pirate and loves to go around saying "arrrrrrr matey." I did add the foam sword and the leather belt across his chest. Everything else is the same as last year. There are "boots" that go over his shoes, but he didn't want to wear those for the pictures.

The hat is actually from a pattern for toddler hats. I used the basic hat pattern, but made the brim a lot larger. Then I tacked it up in three spots. The shirt, vest, and pants are from various sewing patterns. I bought them on sale for .99 and picked the pieces that I thought went together. The "hair" is just a piece of fabric with yarn sewed to the inside. Two strands of the hair have beads on them, very similar to the movie pirate.

E wanted to be a princess. Then she wanted to be a good witch. Whatever it was, she wanted to it to be pretty and in a girly color. I suggested a fairy since she's been into the Barbie movies lately. She has been a fairy before, but I was unhappy with the way the wings turned out that year. This year, I wanted to see if I could make better wings. So, we started with the wings and went from there.

For the wings, I used various tutorials over on craftster. I decided not to sew a dress. Instead, I went with a skirt that you can see with the Monica pattern at Knitty. The instructions for the very easy skirt are at the Barefoot Knits. The top was store bought and then I added some stones to it to match the wings. The crown was recycled from another old costume. It's actually a plain comb-like headband that you can find in the crafts section. On the headband section, I tied on some tulle that was cut from the ends of the skirt. To the comb section, I weaved in some beaded wire and formed the crown.

The lighting in these pictures changes so much. These were all taken on the same day and all around the same time.

In knitting news, I'm working away at clue 5 on the Secret of Chrysopolis shawl. I have 12 rows left of that clue. I'll work on the Secret of the Stole next. I have been sewing too! My poor sewing machine has been neglected this year. I made myself a new bag. I like it, but it's a bit bulky. I'm thinking of making it again, but using different fabrics.