Halloween Edition: The Sanderson Sisters
Guest Blogger: Donna Sturgis
Hi everyone! I’m Donna, owner and designer of Allyna Anneliese Boutique! A small handmade boutique based out of Oregon, USA!
I’m here to share with you a little something I enjoy creating! When you look at clothing patterns, many see them as ‘everyday’ wear. I envision things a little different and get creative with patterns!
My girls and I wanted to get into the Halloween spirit early this year, so we decided to watch the 1993 fantasy movie: Disney’s Hocus Pocus! While the girls laughed and screamed over the movie, I was admiring little details of the costumes they used in the movie and dreaming up how I would like to create them! Then I went off to our fabric vendors and shopped around for what I felt would work well with what I imagined.
So let me share with you some fun costume ideas inspired by the movie we just watched! Meet our version of the Sanderson Sisters!
Let’s start with our Winifred set. For this little witch set, I used the Amsterdam pattern and Cape pattern.
Modified with a little extra, this particular one has 4 skirt layers. You can just do 2 if you prefer. I had a lining for my skirt so that the next layer wouldn’t be itchy for the child wearing it (subtracted 2” from the main skirt length), netting to make the skirt look more full (same length as lining), then the purple skirt and finally the top layer using a decorative green fabric. The top layer on the bottom front skirt, I gathered 2 parts of the skirt which is about 10” from front center point and sewed on small black bows.
The bodice is decorated with gold trims and black lace trim over an upside down triangle that I sewed onto the bodice front. Then to finish off the look, we created the green hooded cape.
Now for the Mary set. For this little witch set, I used the Phoenix pattern for the dress, the Astoria Blouse sleeves and Cape pattern.
For this particular set, I used both skirt versions of the Phoenix pattern. The straight for bottom skirt and the top skirt is the square skirt. I added a little apron to front of top skirt (which is half the size of the straight skirt in length and 4” shorter in width than front skirt) and sewed on pockets. The sleeves are the Astoria blouse ¾ sleeves modified. I added 2” to width so that the sleeves would look puffy. After hemming the sleeves, I sewed on elastic about 2” up from finished hem.
The bodice is decorated with gold trims over a 2” width strip of gold fabric that’s centered to give a corset look. Then to finish off the look, we created the red hooded cape.
And last, the Sarah set! For Sarah, I used the Ruchie dress pattern and Cape pattern.
The skirt has 2 additional layers. In this particular set (Size 7), the 2nd is 4” shorter than the main skirt and the 3rd layer is 4” shorter than 2nd (measurements vary depending on desired length). For the little pouch, I found this tutorial on YouTube that was easy to follow. Instead of using the measurement that she provided, I just cut two 10” x 10” squares. Here’s the link to the video: https://youtu.be/n6awpWCo39Y
The bodice is decorated with purple lace trim, gold braided trim and purple trim. Then to finish off the look, we created the purple hooded cape.
