CLASSROOM DRESS UP ...

My cousin teaches littlies (3-5 year olds) at a school in Vienna. The best age group to teach in my humble opinion. I was teaching 3 -4 year olds just before we left South Africa for the States ........ I still list it, as my MOST favorite job ever. I absolutely LOVED it ................ and that was after working for 10 years as a radiographer !!!
She asked me if I could help out by making some dress up items, to coincide with units she'll be teaching. There are a lot of educational companies around, that sell these kind of items, but on doing some investigation, two things became really apparent to me ...
(1) The items are not very well made, and I don't think would stand up to too many years of wear and tear,
(2) These items are horrendously over priced for what you get.
So that being said, I am more than happy to help her out ....... it also gives me the opportunity to use up bits and pieces I have lying around.

First up .... some safety vests !!!

I used THIS PATTERN to get my basic shape. I added 1 inch to the sides, and 2 inches to the length. I also rounded the center front corners. I finished off my edges with black bias tape. The safety vests needed to have reflective tape on them ...... have you ever tried to buy that stuff ..... impossible !!! I made my own layering neon yellow ribbon onto a wider grey ribbon ...... works a charm !!!!

Next up .... a Captain Safety Cape !!!

I love how this turned out. For its lining, I used the little bit of the yellow fabric I used above. Again it's finished off with bias tape, and a velcro closure at the neck. THIS PATTERN is what I used for this. I extended my cape to measure 27 inches from where the pattern piece ended, and it is 24 inches wide at the bottom. I appliqued the "Captain Safety" design on .... I used Lite Heatbond to hold it steady before I sewed it on.

Celebrations, is one of the units she'll be teaching, so Bunny Ears was the next request up ...

These were a ton of fun to make ....
I used THIS TUTORIAL to make these. There were a few things I did do differently ......
I used a piece of stiff white felt in combination with the sticky back felt, and I used glue to secure the ears to the headband, instead of relying just on the sticky back felt.

Last up to share with you today is Farmers Market Aprons ...

This is my own butchers apron pattern. They are VERY quick and easy. I did 5 of them in about 45 mins. They are made of denim and finished off with binding.

There is still lots on the list to do, but oh, how I'm enjoying making all of these items ...... so much fun.

I have included the tutorials I've used, in case there are any teachers out there who may have need of these things. Halloween is also just around the corner ...... who knows, the world may be full of superhero's in need of capes that night !!!