World Book Day - Lulu and the Best Cake Ever!

It's World Book Day again!  The day when children get to go to school dressed as their favourite book character, and the day that most parents dread... I have to confess to secretly loving it. Sorry.

This year, M decided fairly quickly that she wanted to go as Lulu from 'Lulu and the Best Cake Ever,' by Emma Chichester Clark.

She was pretty obsessed with this book for a long time.  She asked us to read it to her EVERY night for 8 months at one point, so it was the obvious choice.  (It really was EVERY NIGHT for 8 months!)

Lulu, (the little dog with big ideas!), is a blue French poodle with a red spotted bow and a red dress.  She lives in Wagtail Town and has a best friend called Alfie.  She loves dancing and is very competitive.  She gets things a little wrong sometimes, but her heart's in the right place.

As annoying as it was to have to read the same book every night, in retrospect, I'm pretty fond of little Lulu and the important part she played in M's life for such a long time.  I wanted to make her a costume, not just for World Book Day, but something that would become part of her dressing up repertoire - alongside all the Disney princesses...

The costume is made up of

• A red dress, light blue top and light blue leggings that I purchased. 
• A headband with knitted ears, a bow and a pom pom.
• Knitted furry trims for the cuffs and ankles
• A red petticoat.

It was a bit of a labour of love, but I'm going to break the bow, headband and petticoat down into 3 seperate tutorials - otherwise this post could become rather epic!

The Bow Tutorial

 Here's how I made the bow. 

Cut 35cm of 7cm ribbon.  (I used a little of the satin red ribbon left over from making the princess bows.)  Then cut out lots of little white circles out of felt.

Glue the circles onto the ribbon in an asymmetrical pattern, making sure that you don't stick spots on the centre and fold lines.

I used Hi-Tack glue as it's quick and great for sticking fabrics together. You can also heat bond it with an iron for extra stickiness.

Singe the raw edges with a candle lighter to prevent fraying. Fold the ribbon with the right sides together and then sew the 2 ends together with a narrow seam.

To make the centre of the bow, cut a 6cm strip of ribbon and then fold the outer two thirds into the middle. Press it in place.

With the seam in the centre back, pinch the bow in the middle until it is the shape you desire.  Stitch up through the folds.

  

Wrap the centre ribbon strip around the middle of the bow and stitch in place.

One really quick and easy spotty bow!  I think this could also double as a Minnie Mouse bow too.

Related Post

How to make 2 perfect princess bows

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