I was asked about 6 weeks ago to make a Pippi Longstocking costume for a friend’s daughter for Hallowe’en.  I’m familiar with the character from the books, but I’ve never seen any shows or movie versions.  So, off I went to search the web for ideas.

There are a lot of images on the web for Pippi, but I liked this one for all it’s colour.  Several pictures had drab earthy colours for her costume, and I just didn’t think it would suit my little client.

There is a Fabricland close to my DD’s dance studio that has an incredibly large selection of remnants, odds and ends, and generally crappy quality fabric that I would not look at twice.  Don’t get me wrong, but why buy cheap T-shirt material when you can just go to your favourite RTW haunt or thrift shop and pick up a decently made one for less than material costs?  Anyways, I found a denim blue linen that must have been an upholstery remnant, because it’s quite heavy and about 1 metre of pink ribbed knit – all for a song.  I pulled the patches, buttons and other notions from my various collections.  But what to do for the shirt pattern?

Enter Young Image Magazine.  I have Tanit-Isis to thank for bringing its existence to my attention.I chose the tunic (Y1165), and left off the front yoke pieces, which actually are a mock tied shrug attached to the front.  This was my first foray into Young Image patterns, and I was pleasantly pleased.  It’s similar to Burda, but the pattern pages are a lot simpler to read and follow.  The English translation is understandable, although sometimes the syntax is interesting.  I used my regular sewing machine for this top.  The last few knits that I’ve sewn up using the knit stitch hold together much better than using my serger.  And I finished it quickly with a mock lettuce edge hem.

The jumper was a “wing it” project.  I measured my DD3 and loosely based the dimensions of the garment on her measurements.  I added two godets to the side seams for extra jump-and-run-around-on-Hallowe’en room, and used velvet, pique and duppioni remnants for the patches. The fun part of this costume was experimenting with all the decorative stitches on my sewing machine.  My DD3, who is around the same age as my little client, agreed to model it for this blog post.

Et voila!  She’s providing the wig, stockings and shoes.  I hope she has fun!