Halloween Angst

I have it...angst that is.  This year's costumes are giving me fits.  Little Lu wants to be Snow White.  Well that one is not so bad.  I wish I could buy the cheapo version at WalMart.  But (call it an illness) I just can't bring myself to spend $20 on a costume that probably won't even make it through the night.  If I am going to do this costume thing--I am going to do it right.  By gosh.  So then I spent hours yesterday pricing out patterns and fabric.  It was going to come to $20+.  Hmph.  Then I went to a crafts mall and found a nicely made costume for $29.  I probably should have just bought it.  But once again "the illness" took over.  If I just tweaked one of the patterns I already own I bet I could make it for much much less.  (You see the patterns are what kill the pocketbook.  Especially when you are making costumes a week before the event and have missed all of the great pattern sales.  Hmph again.)  So I walked out of that store and headed back home.  I did end up finding a pattern that I think will work in my vast home library.  So we went to the fabric store again today and purchased all of the prerequisite red, yellow, and blue fabric.  Now I just have to make it.

But that isn't the real angst-y part.  You see The Lady wants to be Nancy Drew.  Nancy Drew??  OK.  What exactly does a Nancy Drew costume look like.  I have no idea.  But she does.  It involves making an exact replica of one of the dresses Emma Roberts wore in the 2007 Warner Bros movie.  The one shown in  this trailer (with sleeves somehow inserted).  This is nigh unto impossible.  First of all I can't find any fabric that comes remotely close to what she wants.  Second of all, I can't find a pattern that comes remotely close to what she wants.  Third of all--my Mom the wonder seamstress lives a million miles away.  HELP!  I think we are going to have to just settle on a similar 60s retro pattern and fabric and call it good.  I don't even want to venture a guess on the cost.  Even if I do get this all figured out--I bet you my allowance that it is going to be freezing on Halloween night and she will end up wearing a coat that covers up the whole darn thing!  But she has informed me that if this is the case--no problem--Nancy has a darling white poncho that matches this dress!  Figures.  Now I just have to make the poncho.  She also wants a sleuth kit.  With lemon bars included.  Do you get the feeling she reads/watches too much Nancy Drew?