All Buttons Great and Small

My neighbour gave birth to a little girl on Tuesday. Her third child; her first and second are boys. I had knitted her baby a little jumper and now needed some girly buttons to finish it off. What better place than All Buttons Great and Small.

It's at the 'dodgy end' of King St, Newtown and is just so completely fabulous I could hardly breathe while I was in there. Look at the 1930s cabinetry. Look at the tube upon tube of buttons stacked impossibly high. I didn't even know I loved buttons until I walked into the shop. It's that sort of place.

Being Newtown, I was served by a 20-something girl with pink hair, multiple body-piercings and dressed top to toe in black. She was so helpful in finding these beautiful buttons for my trench coat (to replace the hideous black ones on there now).

And these delightful little hearts to finish off the jumper (US: sweater) I knitted for my neighbour's, yet un-named, baby girl.

It's a Hot Cross Bun

...but not the edible kind.

Each Easter the K-2s at our local school have, since forever, put on an Easter hat parade. It's a loud colourful affair where 300 5-8 year olds parade their finest to cheesy music in front of their parents.

This year the format has changed -to an Easter fashions parade. Fashions. Children 'are encouraged' to dress up as rabbits, chickens, Easter eggs etc and remain in their costume all day. Great. I have a ready supply of Easter hats which have been recycled year on year but no, this year it's different.

And what does Padawan Learner want to dress as? You guessed it from the picture above, a hot cross bun. Different, he is.

I used Simplicity Pattern 3593 (Halloween Pumpkin) and modified it to be less round (didn't put elastic in the top and bottom), stiffer (lined it with quilting wadding) and less pumpkin-y.

Do you think it looks a bit like a hot cross bun? Firegazer thinks he looks like a Musketeer. Or a Knight Templar.

The costume stands up on its own so PL can pull his arms, head and legs in like a turtle retreating into its shell and just sit there, like a real hot cross bun.