House Elf Fashion

In the summer of 2007, I posted this on my family blog.

This stunning ensemble was put together by Lisa's grandpa. He called it her 18-second-swimming-suit. Apparently she visited their house in her Sunday dress and wanted to get in their pool even though she didn't bring a suit. So this is what she ended up with. Sadly, she's also been out in public dressed like this. She insisted on wearing it to the store on multiple occasions and I don't have the energy or willpower to argue with her over stuff like this. Who cares if people think that I routinely dress my children in household linens? They did it in the Sound of Music and everything thought Julie Andrews was a genius. Yes, we did get a lot of weird looks. That might have also been because she and Bart were playing a toy recorder as loudly as they could in the shopping cart. But if I can watch you stuff your screaming children full of grapes and bananas that I know you're not paying for, then you can listen to my house-elf band without complaint.

If J.K. Rowling had portrayed her house elves this cute, I bet S.P.E.W. wouldn't have any problem getting proper representation.
Since this post, Lisa's brief stint as a house elf has become famous. When groups of mothers discuss the appalling outfits their children put together, someone invariably asks "well have you let your child out wearing a pillowcase?" And not just any pillowcase. The uneven arm-holes. The ragged, tattered bottom. I'm sure this picture will be a favorite of mine for many, many years.

Fortunately, recent trends in handmade fashion have come to my rescue.

That's right, YOU TOO can dress your child in a pillowcase and still hold your head up high. An entire summer wardrobe of adorable, one-of-a-kind dresses is probably waiting for you in the linen closet right now. The downside is that it might take you longer than 18 seconds to make them.

For the entire tutorial, visit Susan Petersen's blog at Freshly Pickled. She also did a lovely article that was printed in the June issue of Simply Handmade, which you can download in its entirety on their website (only $5 per issue - how's that for savings?!) If you make one of these dresses, I want to see it!