Ballerinas

Last Saturday, Sarah finished up her summer ballet class. 

 Parents (and siblings) were invited to sit in and see 

what the girls learned throughout their time there. 

 I learned that my girl has my flexibility (or lack thereof),

 and the enthusiasm and self-confidence that only a 5-year-old can have.

 She holds her beautiful long-fingered hands with the grace of a ballerina twice her age, 

and she has those toes pointed at all times. 

 I think this might be my favorite picture, and I'm 80% sure it was snapped by Will.

  (I think he might have had a wee crush on the "ballerina teacher").

 In celebration of our tiny dancer's hard work,
 I wanted to make a dance ensemble for our AG doll, Sarah Jr.  
So, I got to work up-cycling an old dance dress 
and tights Sarah wore 2 years ago.  

Using a swimsuit pattern that I got for free from this site, 

 I cut the doll leotard out using as many of the original seams as possible 

in order to avoid my least favorite thing about sewing: hemming. 

 Unlike Sarah's dance dress, the doll has a detachable skirt that I just eyeballed. 

 The doll tights are just one leg of Sarah's old tights, cut down the middle 

and sewn up in two seams to make the legs. 

Everybody seems happy with this zero-cost addition to our AG's wardrobe. 

 In fact, now my little prima donna has requested dance slippers for her mini-me as well. 

I think that might be pushing the limits of my time and skills, but we'll see.