Sh-h-h, it's a secret

Our elementary school may be the last of its kind

We still have a major dress up parade for Halloween

Pretty much everybody dresses up

Teachers, kids....and even some visiting parents

It is a colorful riot of a tradition!

OK....here's the "don't tell" scoop . . .

The secretaries at my school plan a different secret costume theme each year for the office staff

It is hush hush . . . . a surprise for the kids and the rest of the staff

The principal barely knows....

And he's the star!

He is such a good sport

(You should have seen him as Scooby Do two years ago!)

So this year's big secret is

STAR WARS!

I volunteered to sew the dress base for the secretary's queen costume

This is the inspiration

As I sewed, I kept telling myself

It's a costume.....it's a costume......don't fret!

She brought me dyed sheets

I borrowed a basic dress pattern that looked nothing like this

My imagination coached me on how to lay it out to magic it
into something long and flowy
to represent Queen Amigdala

Sort of . . .

This is the result
Still waiting for more black ribbon
I am imagining some red poster board attached to a wire hanger bent over her shoulders
as the front fancy yoke part
(Can't wait to draw a shiny gold design and black outline on that!)

Reality check:  no matter how many times you iron an old sheet
it still looks like a rumpled sheet

Repeat mantra....it's a costume, it's a costume

I stared at the skirt design

Hm-m-m-m

I sketched my rendition on stiff felt

. . . and painted away
(kind of reminds me of altered candy corns....or a weird toucan)

That was fun

I black outlined the designs and cut them out

We plan to staple them to the bottom of the skirt

We may figure out a way for her to wear a hula hoop underneath
to hold the skirt out a bit

Someone else is designing the headdress----whew - - -

using dark foam pipe insulation as the hair bun part
(Oh my, I saw it....it is fabulous...I hope to get some pictures)

For my costime, I am whipping together a sort of C-3PO look

Last secret you must keep:

The principal is . . . .

you guessed it
Darth Vader
with dark headgear, music and voice alteration

Yikes . . . Do you think the tiny kiddos will need some counseling therapy after that?