Stella was invited to a circus themed birthday party recently.  She announced that she wanted to go as a “trapezist”.  I suggested acrobat, or trapeze artist, but apparently “trapezist” is the term she prefers.  So we headed off to Rathdowne Fabrics to examine their sparkly shiny remnants, and came up with these.

So, the next day with the help of some stash patterns, I came up with this:

The leggings made from holographic lycra something that was absolutely HELLISH to sew and skipped stitches no matter what needle I used (but was okay through the overlocker).  I used the Go To Leggings pattern in size 6.

The full circle skirt was super easy. Fabric folded into four, radius for waist calculated using the circle skirt calculator.   The length was entirely dependent on the amount of fabric available, but seemed to be about right. It was then sewn onto a ring of elastic measured to fit the waist, then I hand-sewed sequinned trim over the outside of the elastic.  The cape is another circle skirt, cut in half then one half cut slightly shorter and layered over the other.  The two layers were sewn together around the neckline, and tie ends attached.  Much faster to make than to describe.

The short sleeved leotard was made from an obscurely branded pattern that I picked up in an op shop hoping that it would be useful one day – it was! Stella only measured size 4 in this pattern, but it fits her well. I hand sewed the sequinned trim onto the ends of the sleeves – after having tried to sew through it and breaking overlocker needles (and dulling the blade, no doubt) in the process. I had to pick off any sequins that were on the inside, as they scratched, and oversewed down some of the trim to ensure that it wasn’t scratchy. Stella was very keen for the leotard to have a “bra” type of piece on the front similar to some of the costumes that she had seen online. It was very difficult to applique in place, despite using a teflon machine foot and a sharps needle. It kept on skipping stitches and I was about ready to throw the whole thing at the wall at that stage.

Luckily, the overlocker made the leotard a breeze and it wasn’t all that difficult to sew the elastic around the neckline and legs. Hooray! All that was needed to complete the outfit was some sequinned trim to go around her bun.

Stella has been so happy with this outfit. As well as wearing it to the party it has been to the local shops, and to her gymnastics class.

I have a feeling that the leotard pattern is likely to get some more use in the future.