Scottish Highland (sort of) Vest

Dorothy's school sent a note home that their final show of the year was to include songs from several countries/cultures and that the children were to dress in a traditional costume of their heritage or choice.  *blink, blink*

Ummm...well, I had a kilt when I was a kid, so maybe I could come up with something based on that.  I looked at pictures and decided that it would be simple enough, so we ran with a "Scottish" theme.  There is a chance that there is some Scottish heritage somewhere in our backgrounds, but I have no idea for sure.  Whatever, I could get close enough.  Here is what I came up with.

My mom made the kilt for me when I was little, from some fabric that her dad brought back from a trip, but I was pretty sure that it was bigger than what Dorothy wears.  I called her up and asked if she could find it and ship it to me.  The kilt was a little big, but not as bad as I thought it would be.  I added an extra hook and some velcro to tighten it up around the waist.  Then I took up the hem about an inch and a half.  It made the bottom a bit thick and heavy, so it didn't lay quite right, but it was fine for a school show.

The shoes were also mine from when I was little.  My mom had brought them up a couple of years ago as part of the Raggedy Ann costume, but they were huge on her then.  Now they fit, but I did need to re-glue the insoles that were pealing up.  I also needed to buy new ribbons for the shoes.  She loves these shoes and had asked to wear them more.  Free shoes?  yes, please.

I made the vest, using the pattern and tutorial from this site.  I just left off the lapels and added some trim to make it look a bit like the vests highland dancers wear.  The navy fabric is left over from some pants I made for Malcolm when he was 2 or 3.  It's a no wale corduroy and I just barely had enough.  I would have preferred to have the grain going the other direction, but I couldn't argue with free.  You can't see the lining, but it was also fabric left over from the same pair of pants.  It's a blue and green plaid flannel.

 She was pretty upset with me that she wasn't going to be wearing a "fancy dress" to her show and complained that the costume didn't have any sparkles.  I didn't have any diamond shaped buttons for the vest, but I did have some cheap acrylic gems, so I used those and told her that those were her sparkles.  I also didn't have any gold braid to trim the vest in, but I did have a large amount of gold ribbon, so I used that instead.  It didn't want to go around the sharp corners smoothly, but it was close enough from a distance.

I did not alter the pattern size at all and it seemed to fit pretty well.  I did add small hooks and eyes to the front to keep it closed.

 The knee socks didn't show well in the other pictures, but they were super cute on her.  I found the blouse on clearance for less than $6, and I figure she will be able to wear it with a jumper or something next fall.

Just to show of the cute braids.  I really should do her hair like this more often because it is so cute.

I was pretty happy with how her costume turned out and how little I needed to buy to pull it together.  It wasn't super authentic, but it looked good on stage.