We Like to Read - World Book Day!

This Friday 5 March is World Book Day, where children all over the world dress up as a character from a book. I love this day! Personally, I love seeing kids in fancy dress going about everyday business as if it's totally normal to be dressed as a fireman, or a frog. So seeing loads of children heading off to school in the morning in fancy dress is guaranteed to bring a smile to my face. Look out for them where you are!

Wiss has discovered the joy of Roald Dahl over the last year or so; we've read him some of the books and he has lots of them on cd which he listens to over and over. A particular favourite is Fantastic Mr Fox (and the Wes Anderson animated film is fantastic too!) It seems I'm not organised enough to make the costume AND blog about it so here is last years' costume in detail: last year Wiss wanted to be Fantastic Mr Fox, and who was I was I to argue?!

The great thing about costumes is they can be as fancy, or not, as you wish. They only really have to last that day (although it's always nice if they can be worn again.) If like me, you leave things to the last minute then make friends with fabrics like fleece and felt. These can simply be cut and don't need hemming as they do not fray. Jersey doesn't fray either and the raw edge can be...well, edgy!

Our Fantastic Mr Fox costume was made using some soft striped orange jersey, white and black fleece, two old t-shirts (one white, one orange) and a tie from the charity shop. To make the hat I used this great tutorial from Camelot Fabrics - it is clear and easy to follow but you can alter it where you like. I thought buttons may be good as the eyes?

The raglan t-shirt was made using my favourite pattern from Sewing for Boys. I've made so many of these for Wiss that they come together super quickly, but even for a beginner it is an easy pattern to follow. I cut up my two old t-shirts to make usable pieces of fabric. The white t-shirt was the body and the orange t-shirt fabric was used for the arms and the neck binding. I added black claws to the top cuff edge of each sleeve before sewing them together. The tie was a lucky find and all I did was shorten it to fit Wiss and hand sew an old hair clip to the back so that it could clip on to the t-shirt. No fiddly ties for my little man!

The trousers are models own - orange cords from H&M - as are the brown boots - Clarks.

And the finishing touch was the tail. I used the same tutorial from Camelot Fabrics but made it removable with a loop to go around the belt which fastened with a strip of velcro. Poor Mr Fox has his beautiful tail shot off by the nasty farmers, so true to the story Wiss could take his tail off when he wanted. (It also made it easier to sit down at pre-school!)

So there you have it - one Fantastic Mr Fox costume!

This year's costume is also from a Roald Dahl book so look out for it on my Twitter, Facebook and Instagram feeds on Friday (I had better get it finished soon!) I would LOVE to see your kids costumes for World Book Day - leave a comment below if you've blogged about it, or tweet me @thisiswiss. And if you're still making them like me, good luck!


You may also like to read these posts from the archive:

World Book Day Week - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7
World Book Day 2013 - Room on the Broom

World Book Day 2013

It's nearly that time of year again! In one week my twitter timeline will be full of parents either relishing dressing-up their kids as whatever obscure character they have chosen, or those absolutely hating it coming round again so soon. I'm in the first camp I'm afraid - nothing makes me smile more than children in fancy dress - and I will happily make Wiss a costume for anything!

Wiss's nursery celebrated National Storytelling Day a few weeks ago, and asked the children to dress up. It did seem a bit like starting the party early, but for a mum who wanted to blog about the outfit it was perfect!

World Book Day (7 March 2013) is a big deal all over the world, and quite rightly. I loved reading as a child and I hope that passion will be passed on to our son, especially in the digital age that he's growing up in. He does love 'reading' (he's only 3 but he turns the pages and has memorised most of his stories) and he especially loves being read to.

Julia Donaldson is a particular favourite with all of us, and 'Room on the Broom' was a new addition this Christmas. It was on the telly and we also went to see the theatre production  as a treat and Wiss was fascinated by them all.

When I asked him what he wanted to dress up as the answer came back straight away, "The Dragon!" How could I resist such a great request? Unfortunately, as things usually go (and especially at the moment in our life) I had little time, so this costume was knocked up in a couple of hours. I used fleece and felt so no hemming required!

I used a red long sleeved t-shirt as the basis of the costume: I cut up the back of the top to the neckband, but kept this intact. I cut a large zig-zagged strip from red fleece and sewed the t-shirt back together with this in the middle. The tummy was made from white fleece, with ribs sewed on for extra detail. The wings are made from pink felt and attached with velcro (so we could put a coat on to get to nursery!). Finally the red fleece head dress is based on a crown but with ears, and of course they scary yellows eyes on top. The red trousers are models own!

So there you have it, one super quick Dragon outfit! In the story the Dragon wants to have 'Witch and chips' for his tea, but do you know what he eats for breakfast?

Rice Krispies of course!

If you'd like some more inspiration for World Book Day then why not have a look at the week long series of posts I ran last year? There's costume ideas, games to play and top recommendations for fab kids books, plus more! And I'd love to hear what your little ones are going to be dressing up as this year, so please leave a comment. Until next time, happy reading!

Super Super Heroes!

Last weekend saw the 5th birthday of one of my favourite little people, my friend's son Albert. I'm not even going to go into how he can possibly be turning five already when I remember him being just a bump so clearly, because that will just make me feel even older!

His mum is super talented (remember her from here?) but when it comes to themed kids parties she is the best, and she makes everything herself. In the past there has been a Cardboard Box party, Brave Knights, an Ice Cream Sunday party and this year it was Super Heroes! There were brilliant games such as 'Pass the Kryptonite' (a glow stick!), tie up a villain (with loo roll) and jumping over 'skyscrapers'...

We were really unlucky with the weather but the kids didn't seem to mind the wind and rain. The garden shed was transformed into a Super Heroes dining room, complete with bunting made from comics, balloons, the Batmobile and 'kapow!' and 'thwap!' signs...

Wiss said he wanted to go as Batman so I duly whipped up an old-school Batman costume (mainly so I could get him to wear leggings with pants over the top!). He must have known any photos of him wearing said leggings/pants would only come back to haunt him because on the day he refused point blank to wear them. Or the cape. So in fact, my little Batman wore just the t-shirt with brown cords and his anorak instead. Damn him!!!

I wanted to make Albert something for his birthday following the Super Hero theme and I came up with...Secret Albertman! Ssssssshhhhhh, it's a secret! All super heroes have an everyday alias, so I thought Albert should be able to become Albertman easily, you know, when the time is right.

I cut two 'A's' from orange and black jersey, layered them with the black on top and sewed them both onto a black t-shirt 10mm from the edge. I love the way jersey rolls itself up in time, and thought that gradually the 'A' would become a little more prominent, but still not too obvious. I made a cape from the same black and orange jersey fabric and sewed my first ever button holes at each top corner. The cape attaches to the t-shirt using fab orange striped buttons (from Ray-Stitch) so it can be worn or removed as the situation dictates!

Every Super Hero needs a way of communicating so I made a double-sided watch from felt - grey and cream felt for the normal everyday watch which turns over to reveal a flash 'telecommunicator'. Secret Albertman laughs in the face of an iPhone! I wrapped these up along with a secret notebook and a card, 'Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept it...'

Luckily for me Albert chose to accept his mission so maybe one day, if you have a problem, and no one else can help, maybe you could hire 'Secret Albertman'. But keep it under your hat! ;)

The Jubilee Blog Build-Up - Day One

Welcome to the first day of the Diamond Jubilee Build-Up event, here on This is Wiss. As Jubilee Fever begins to build up to the long bank holiday weekend, you have two choices: detest it or embrace it! If you're doing the latter then this week will be right up your street, and who knows, we may even be able to convert some of the haters too!


It really is hard not to get swept up in all the celebrations, especially if you have children. But regardless of your opinions of the Royal Family, and even if the weather isn't as glorious as it has been lately, we've got TWO bank holidays to look forward to and that's worth a smile, surely?! Over the next five days I will be bringing you some great ideas and inspiration: things to keep the kids amused, fun recipes, crafts and to start us off, a costume.


Day One: A Union Jack Fancy Dress Outfit


It's fancy dress day at Wiss's nursery on Thursday and I'm sure lots of you will also be putting some kind of outfits together for this coming week. We had a 'Princes & Princesses' theme last year for the Royal wedding, but this year it is a little more abstract with a 'Union Jack' theme.

I haven't made any clothes for Wiss for ages so I knew I wanted to make a pair of trousers, and this fabric from Sew La La was perfect! I always use the great tutorial for Kid's Pants from Dana Made It as it is quick to follow, so easy and the trousers are a great fit.


I thought that with such busy trousers the top half of the outfit should be more restrained (plus I wanted to finish the whole costume in a couple of hours!) so I simply drew a shirt and tie onto a plain white t-shirt with a fabric marker pen.

I was aiming for an 'English City Gent with a Twist' * so the perfect finishing touch is a red bowler hat which Wiss surprisingly loves wearing. 

* Not sure if I've managed to pull off the City Gent look convincingly though - maybe more Pet Shop Boys? or a bit Clockwork Orange?


I'd really love to see any outfits that you've been making for the Jubilee, so please leave me a comment or a link below.


Don't forget to pop back tomorrow for Day Two of the Jubilee Build-Up with a very special guest blogger Stacie from Swift Somethings. Enjoy your day!

World Book Day Event Part 2

The week long World Book Day celebrations continue here on This is Wiss, and I am very happy to introduce the first of my very special guest bloggers!

Beth blogs about crafting and stitching by the sea over on Miss Magpie Makes. She is a mother of three, and now all children are at school she has found time to make more and blog about it. She can turn her hand to a whole range of crafts and is still keen to learn more skills. I love the wide variety of her posts, and look forward to seeing what she's been up to next.

To help me celebrate World Book Day she is going to share some of the outfits she has made for her children over the years. Maybe good inspiration for next year? Over to you, Beth...

"As the mother of three children, aged, 3, 9 and 15, I am well-accustomed to the annual ritual of book Day. For the first two or three years that my daughter took part, we got very excited about what she would dress up as and had lots of fun putting costumes together. My sewing skills were rather more limited in those days but we managed.

Over the last few years, my middle son has been less enthusiastic about dressing up but he informed me this year that he wanted to go as a ‘Bin Weevil’. I know it isn’t strictly a book character (although as Alfie informed me, he does have a book of Bin Weevils!) but frankly, anything that arouses his interest in dressing up and having fun is fine with me.

Over the years, Lauren has dressed as:

Rapunzel Alfie was about six months old at this time and I was still struggling to cope with going from one to two children. I took an easy option and made a very long plait out of some nasty yellow acrylic wool. This was a dressing up box favourite for a long time afterwards.

Roly Poly Bird (from The Twits by Roald Dahl) I’m not sure whose idea this one was! To make this outfit, I started by making a cape from some pink fabric. It fastened at the neck with some ribbon and I made two elastic loops at the sides for Lauren to put her arms through so that she could ‘spread her wings’! The beak was just made from card and elastic, while a few feathers stuck on a headband finished off the outfit.

Angelina Ballerina I must admit that the request of making a mouse-ballerina filled me with a certain sense of dread but in the end it was quicker than the previous costume. We borrowed a tutu, made the tail out of some white fabric and fashioned the ears and nose from card.

 

Hermione Granger  Lauren was the proud owner of a Harry Potter wand. We just messed up her hair and used a Halloween Cloak to finish off.

Mr Strong  During what would have been her last year of primary school, Lauren was home-educated so we decided not to dress up that year but instead made Alfie’s Mr Strong costume. Sadly no pictures were taken but the costume involved painting a large cardboard box red and fitting it with elastic shoulder hangers! We also made a funny hat out of a paper bowl and paper mache!

As well as Mr Strong, Alfie has also been:

Dennis The Menace We managed to borrow a stripey  jumper and then had fun with the hair gel to get Dennis’ coiffure.

Horrid Henry I bought a blue jumper and a yellow t-shirt cheaply from the supermarket and then cut the middle out of the t-shirt and sewed it to the jumper. I did it quite neatly, so much so that Alfie took to wearing the jumper as part of his normal wardrobe. It was quite big too, so it was resurrected as the following years’ costume.

This year Thom is in nursery and the children were asked to dress up. I was slightly dreading this as he is obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine but he point blank refused to have anything to do with dressing up so I had to dress him up by stealth by putting a striped jumper on him and proclaiming him to be Chip from the Oxford Reading Tree books!

Finally as a chuckle-inducing treat for you all, here is a snap of myself, circa 1989 in my final book day costume!"

I think Beth looks fab as Noddy, don't you?! Thank you for sharing your photos, Beth. You can see how this years 'Bin Weevil' costume turned out by visiting Miss Magpie Makes.

And if you would like to share any Book Day costumes with me then please leave a comment below, I'd love to hear from you.

Don't forget to look at the Official World Book Day website - there are lots of great downloads and printables in the Resources section.

Tomorrow's special guest will be sharing her Top 20 Kids Books, chosen with a keen eye for great design and illustrations. See you tomorrow!