Who Are We Today

 We pretend here, we pretend a lot. So I knew that our one 'fancy dress', tutu skirt, and couple of hats for dress up wouldn't get us far. Back in October I started collecting items on my thrifting trips. Bigger sized fancy dresses (one sailor outfit - ahem, cute!), colorful scarves, clip on ties, and various hats. It took me about two months to collect enough things to be a true dress up set. In addition, I sewed a few pieces. Two crowns, two capes, and a waitress apron.

Years ago, while searching the internet for clothing storage ideas for Piper's itty bitty closet-less room I came across the cutest hanging branch clothes rack. I didn't end up using it then. Recently, I came across the idea again. I thought it was the perfect solution to storing the dress up set. Fit the bill for something compact and accessible. Moving to a bigger house hasn't really left us with loads of empty space, we're still eking out 'extra' space where we can. Dress up would be sharing space with the book nook.

My sister brought the littles this stick. The thought of her getting on and off the bus toting this stick still makes me giggle. To use as a walking stick. It's really the perfect size for a pint size walking stick. Unfortunately, many fights ensued over its use. Along with things and people getting accidentally clobbered with it, led me to retire it from its use as a walking stick. When planning out our dress up installation I thought of searching the yard for a good stick. Then remembered the perfect stick.

We hung it from the ceiling with eye hooks and twine, for a natural look. I slipped on a set of curtain clips before we hung it to hang the hats, scarves, crowns, etc.

What gets used most is the 'fancy dresses' and crowns by Piper. Calder likes to go the farmer hat route. Quite the pair. Piper is usually the instigator in Calder's part in playing dress up. I'm sure he'll be at it full bore soon enough. For now, Piper helps him unclip his hat from the rack. Then they dance in the mirror.

Piper's other favorite is the waitress outfit. I made an apron with pockets from a cloth napkin, some fabric scraps (recognize the vintage sheet?) and some trims. Looks more like the cafe waitress apron, after all the kitchen is her cafe.

To go with it I ordered some guest check pads from the internet. Piper loves them! Real waitress pads! And she's such an attentive waitress. Always asks for drink, meal and dessert. Then off she goes to make it up in her kitchen. Bringing back exactly what you ordered. The best part is when she gets this scrunched up sad face and tells you, 'oh, we don't have that today.'

We've had it up for over two months now and it's getting plenty of use. That makes me happy.