Princess Kitty

When my co-worker Courtney asked, pretty please, if I could make a Halloween costume for her niece Bakail, I jumped at the chance. I remember, with such happiness, making Harleigh's costumes when she was little. Bakail wanted to be Princess Kitty. This is not a real cartoon or television character but one that a child comes up with which gives them free reign to bark or meow all the time instead of talking. (I remember as a child mimicking Henrietta Pussycat from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Meow meow, remember meow meow her?)

Bakail's mom was originally going to have her wear last year's princess dress without much fanfare or a nod to the kitty portion of the character, but was told by her sister that that was lame. And that's when I was asked to intervene.

Rather than create a Princess Kitty costume from scratch, I decided to repurpose the princess dress as the base for Princess Kitty. I started by cutting off the scratchy shoulder straps and replacing them with white "fur" that also framed the neckline. I bought the scepter and headband, both already adorned with little crowns (and with purple accents to match the dress). I made kitty ears out of felt and attached them to the headband. Then I used the same "fur" from the top of the dress and made the tail, giving it shape by inserting a coat hanger. (Had to rig a cushion inside the dress so that the hanger would not poke Bakail or prove to be uncomfortable.) I also made a kitty collar with a bell (not seen in these pictures).

Here she is visiting us at the office. She and I had a lovely meow meow conversation and I was showered with lots of sweet thank-yous and even got a bippity boppity boo blessing with her magic wand. I truly had just as much fun crafting the costume as Bakail has had wearing it. (The last picture shows her with funny glasses, not a part of the costume, but, hey, even a princess can have a sense of humor.)

Meow.