Silvermist fairy costume

If you don't have a preschool-age girl in your life, you are probably unfamiliar with Silvermist. But everyone probably knows her good friend Tinker Bell, of Peter Pan fame. The marketing wizards at Disney apparently figured out that they could make Tinker Bell a star in her own right, and sell more stuff. So there are now movies that feature Tinker Bell. She has an entourage of fairy friends, each possessing a different talent. Silvermist is a "water fairy."

Like many other preschool-age girls, Littles adores Tinker Bell. In fact, when we went to the pumpkin patch with her preschool class back in October, out of maybe 10 girls in our group, three of them planned to be Tinker Bell for Halloween. Littles was one of them, and she insisted that I sew her costume.

I used Butterick 4632 as the pattern. It's not as pretty as the official licensed Disney fairy pattern (Simplicity 2559 for sizes 1/2 to 4, or Simplicity 2872 for sizes 3-8), but it is very easy to sew. I didn't make the included wings; instead, I picked up green wings at Dollar Tree. Here is the finished costume:

Littles loves her Tinker Bell costume, but she also requested a Silvermist costume and a Vidia costume. (Vidia is actually a bit of a villain in the Tinker Bell movies, but Littles likes her because she wears purple, which is Littles' favorite color.) So I decided to sew them for her as a Christmas present. Noob's gift ended up taking so long that I could only do one, and I chose to do Silvermist. Thankfully, this one came together much faster. It took less than 2 hours of sewing time.

I made the original Tinker Bell costume out of some relatively expensive "special occasion" fabric (for the top) and stretch satin (for the skirt) from Joann's. I figured out afterwards that I could use crushed panne instead, which I picked up on sale for $2.99/yard at Hancock Fabrics. Score! And it worked really well!

Here is Littles wading through her other presents in her new Silvermist costume on Christmas morning:

I like how it turned out, for the most part. I messed up the elastic casing on the skirt, but the top covers it anyway, so it doesn't really matter. Also, the neck hole is too big for Littles, so the costume tends to slide off one of her shoulders. I had this problem with the original Tinker Bell costume and I thought it was because I had sewed the neckline incorrectly... but I did it right this time and it's still a problem. I think the size small (which is what I made) might just be a little big for her. Oh well, a safety pin in the back of the top holds it on her shoulders for now, and it gives her room to grow.

Littles could care less about the big neck hole, and has now worn this costume for three days straight :) But she has asked for blue wings. Darn, Dollar Tree only sells fairy wings around Halloween. I might have to learn how to make them myself...