Cockadoodledoo.....Project run and Play week 1

wow it is Season 9 already over at Project Run and Play and my 3rd time I am joining in on the fun. Last season was the first time I sewed all 4 weeks and I am hoping to do it again. So for week 1 the challenge is called "put me in the Zoo" You sew an outfit inspired by you or your child's favorite animal.....

Why a Chicken you might ask ?We are animal people so there is lots of favorites. Then I did the risky thing and decided to ask Isabella - I also decided that no matter what animal she picks I was going to stick with it and so the the chicken outfit was born. After she uttered the word the first thing i see is a beautiful white and red dress and a couple minutes later more than one stain all over it so I started to plan around a brown chicken.

My choice of fabrics for the top was from my Shwe Shwe fabric stash which is greatly depleted. I am glad my mom and dad is coming to visit soon. I chose brown for the bodice and red for the sleeves. You can see the brown has yellow diamonds on that reminds my of chicken beaks. The brown between the bodice and sleeves is the same brown just the wrong side.(The wrong side of Shwe Shwe is just as beautiful it has the official shwe shwe stamp on it that says it is made in South Africa and you will see it later on the sleeves) 

THE SHIRT:The sleeves are made of the wrong side of the red Shwe Shwe and resembles the red comb of a chicken. 

I used a basic a-line dress pattern to draft a new pattern to look like above.The front was gathered before I added the top panel and the back is gathered by adding 4 pieces of elastic. That way I dont have to add buttons and it goes easily over her head. The bodice is wide to resemble the round body of the chicken.

THE PANTS:   Yellow knit leggings to resemble skinny legs of chickens. I added "beak" pockets 

( I made squares turned them in the shape of a diamond and folded over the top corner) on the side of the pants.

these beak pockets is kinda my favorite. I love how they turned out and Bella loves to carry her rocks and acorns around in it.

We went over to Old Borges Ranch here in Walnut Creek to see if we can find some chickens and we sure did. There was nobody else there and we could go in and have them all to ourselves. Bella was stoked.

I hope you enjoy the pictures of Bella in her chicken outfit. 

This is my favorite picture.....