sewing skills to the rescue

so an email yesterday afternoon tells me that it's red ribbon week, giving the kids at school a free dress day as long as they wear red.  yesterday. afternoon.  and then we proceed with the rest of our day, homework and dinner and bedtime routines and such, and i promptly forget all about it.

until my alarm goes off at 6:30 this morning and i realize, SHIT.  the bean doesn't have anything red to wear.  and i don't have anything in my closet that i can lend her (because yes, she and i are already at the we-can-share-clothes-and-shoes stage, holy crap).  but then i think, well, i have over an hour till we have to be out the door.  and so i hightail it over to my fabric stash to see what i can find.

of course, i don't have much.  there's a scrap of solid red that i can already tell isn't nearly enough to fashion a top out of, let alone a dress.  i have some red plaid that i picked up with christmas in mind.  and a huge piece of some other sort of material that has zero stretch to it, which i'm totally going to have to go back to at some point to figure out what it's for or why i even bought it.

and then i lay out that scrap of fabric to see exactly how much i've got.  and i pull out one of my favorite quickie patterns, appropriately called the laundry day tee - for those days when it'd be quicker to make a new top than do a load of laundry.  i realize that i've got enough for a full back piece, sleeves and at least the top portion of the front, and so i head back to the stash to see if i have any fun scraps i can use to colorblock that piece.

a full 20 minutes later, i shut off the machine and find the bean halfway through her morning routine. the first thing she asks me is if she has a top to wear with her skirt, and i hold up the shirt i've just finished (well, mostly finished.  i ended up leaving the hem raw because i knew i didn't have time to change thread and stitch it up) and watch her face light up in delight because that scrap i used to colorblock the front features baymax, one of our most favorite characters like ever.

we throw her hair up into a ponytail, add a red bow, and voila:

haha, you can totally tell this was hastily thrown together.  whatever.  she loves it.

oh, and do you remember my costume from a couple of disney halves ago?  my vanellope von schweetz from "wreck it ralph" ensemble?

well...it's found new life as this year's halloween costume.

see, i knew there was a good reason to save all my crap! the hub calls me a hoarder, which i guess i am, but  it comes in handy when you least expect it.

SO THERE.