Hey there, my beloved Sunflower Seams community! Rachel here to bring you another stop along the 2021 Costume Tour! My daughter Megan here has never really been one for the sweet costumes, but instead has always been fascinated with the spooky side of dressing up. Even when she was little, she always wanted to step out of her usual quiet, sweet shell, and use Halloween as a way to really have some fun. She has asked me for a solid 3 years to make her a costume to be Pennywise the Clown, from the movie “It”, and this year, I figured it was time to oblige her!
This costume started with Rose as a base. Even though Megan is only 11, she’s already 5’4”, and falls in the size 14 chest, and size 8 waist, so I had to play around with grading a little bit. I used the long sleeve from Rose, but rather than cutting on the fold, I moved the sleeve pattern 3” off the fold to add more volume. I knew I wanted a gauzy feel to the sleeve and had these sheer crinkle cotton curtains on hand from Amazon that had never been used, so I used them for my sleeve fabric.
Once the sleeves were cut, I decided it might be cool to have them be a “cold shoulder” style, so I layered the sleeves on top of one another, matching up the top curve, and eyeballed it to cut out a dip, removing the top curve of the sleeve. Wanting to keep a “torn” quality to the sleeve, I zigzagged over the raw edge and called it a day. I then found the middle of the sleeve, and sewed a 3” gather along both sleeve pieces to help the cut out lay better. I then added strips of bias across the middle and again along the bottom, 2.5” from the bottom edge, and threaded elastic through them to achieve the Bishop look.
I knew we were going for more of a “girly Pennywise”, so rather than using the Rose Cut Chart for the skirt, I turned to Magnolia, doubled the circle skirt from Magnolia so that we had a gathered circle skirt that would accommodate a store-bought pettiskirt underneath and allow for some serious twirl!
The fabrics used were all from the quilting cotton section in Hobby Lobby. The gray solid was a Kona Cotton, and the red stripe was just a simple quilting cotton. The sleeves were a crinkled cotton sheer curtain panel from Amazon. The wig, shoes, tights, and red pettiskirt were all purchased from Amazon.
Thanks for reading, and I can’t wait to see what all of you are inspired to create this year! Have fun and happy sewing, friends!!
