Knight outfit

Today Charlotte was going to a Knights and Damsels in distress party, she excitedly went through the princess dresses and chose to go as Ariel. Emma was allowed to tag along, and decided 1 hour before the party started that she didn't want to be a damsel, she wanted to be a knight. I decided that I would take up the challenge, and rifled through the airing cupboard for an old pillow case.

None of the outfit is hemmed, so it is unlikely to last that long, but in the time I had I was very pleased with my effort. I cut out a neck hole and folded the corners in to make the shoulders. I sewed a silver button on to the point of each folded corner to secure it. I then cut from the hem of the pillowcase up to just under the folded corner, about 4cm in from the side seam on the front of the pillowcase - this gave a cloak at the back and the front of a tabard at the front. I cut the front a little shorter and the back too, as Emma is quite little and I didn't want her to trip on it, then sewed a couple of lengths of chain from under one button to under the other one. I then used felt tip pen to draw the cross on the front (the fabric pen had conveniently run out). Ta-dah, one knight costume.

She wore a grey t-shirt and grey leggings underneath, then a belt of mine looped twice around her waist to hold the tabard part to her body. She made the sword and shield herself at her birthday party earlier in the year.

And so it begins...

I tend to find myself thinking "I like that, I could make one of those" and so I try, with very mixed results. I am a creative type, I see junk as materials for making the next project, and often rope my children in to the process, whether they like it or not. I decided it was time to start cataloguing my making experiences, and maybe I can inspire somebody else to be a little bit more creative than they realised they could be.

I'll start with the 4th birthday party that we threw for Emma, my rather eclectic little princess. She announced that she wanted a Princess party and so I looked online at entertainers. I balked at the prices and found myself muttering "I could do something just as good for a lot less money" and things escalated from there. We hired the local village hall and hired a bouncy castle with the theme for the party being "Princesses and Knights".

We also bought a helium canister from the local party shop and blew up loads of balloons, bought a big re-useable fairytale backdrop and put together a making table:

Making crowns and shields

1. Design a jewelled goblet (bought on Amazon, but no longer available). You can always use clear plastic ones.
2. Create a crown (using stick on jewels and stickers).
3. Design a shield (I cut out cardboard ones and let them colour these in and stick things on them)
4. Colour in themed pictures, printed at home after a google search to find relevant images.

I bought loads of cheap stickers and stick on jewels from amazon and eBay, and brought crayons, pens and wax crayons from home.

My friend Karen helping with the goblets

I made simple fairy cakes and themed the icing to the party and, ta-dah! One very happy princess.