Little Red Riding Hood (with castles!)

Hi there! Sorry there’s been a little radio silence around here. I’m actually in the fortunate position of having a few makes to show you which just need photos taking. But I finally made it back to work this week and in honesty, I’m shattered, so I’m going to make this one quick. Well, quick for me!

So this post is about the costume my daughter had for World Book Day. Her school celebrated this with a film night after school to which the kids were invited to wear book-related fancy dress. After initially declaring her intention to go wearing one of her supermarket bought Disney princess costumes, clutching a related book if needs be, she announced very late in the day she needed to be Red Riding Hood. Thankfully without the wolf!

I once again turned to Love Sewing magazine and a very early issue (6 possibly?) which had a free cape pattern precisely for this purpose. Hurrah! Worth the subscription to save me any last minute drafting! I trundled up to Hobbycraft (it’s half a mile away and I wasn’t well) and bought a metre each of some plain red and some lovely pink Makower fabric printed with castles. Quilting cotton of course but perfect for a cape.

The cape is reversible: basically, sew it all together wrong sides out but for a very small opening in the bottom hem through which you then tug everything else.  I top stitched the bottom hem although I think the instructions just had you slip stitch the gap closed. I figured top stitching would help it keep its shape if multiple washings were needed!

The pattern also called for a button fastening. I ran out of energy at that point and couldn’t face setting up the buttonhole foot on my machine so Beth ended up with a large, hand sewn press stud instead. I actually think this works better for a child this age as it’s easier for her to do on her own.

Final result?

Happy five year old! She even went in to the event with the red side showing although she soon swapped it round in order to show her friends how she could be a castle!!

As you can see, the hood sits really nicely.  I did make this pattern piece slightly deeper just by redrawing the curve: Beth had a very deep head front to back so she often has problems getting hats the right size.

If I were making it again for her, I would split and spread the pattern pieces to make it larger. She is at the very top of the suggested size range and I think it would fit better on her shoulders if slightly bigger. But she cares not a jot and for fancy dress, neither do I!

I was also rather smug that her dress was also me made, last winter but she’s really only grown up, not out so it’s still fine and she still likes it. Parenting win!

Becca x