Greek Heritage

Harmony Day, celebrated in March each year, is when schools encourage their students to celebrate their heritage. It's about recognising we are different, but that together we can all be a part of the same community. I love it. It's a glimpse of the world that God wants for us - every tribe, every tongue, every nation, coming together. 

Previously, the girls have worn yukata since I have so many on hand, but this year they wanted something a bit more about who they are, rather than just another culture that we also love. Luckily we have Greek heritage, and the girls (particularly Sophie) are super into Greek myths and legends, mostly thanks to the Percy Jackson book series. 

So I offered to make them a Greek costume, and when I stumbled across this post/tutorial on Make it Love it, the girls were on board. I did specify that I was probably only going to make the dress, though they still have dreams they will get a cape, bow and quiver too.

To the cupboard and the plethora of bedsheets I've been given to find what would suit a Greek costume. Turns out I had plenty to choose from and quickly transformed them into some flowing gowns. The girls chose the trim from my stash so no purchasing anything for this project. 

After we were finished though, Sophie told me nervously that she wasn't sure she wanted to wear it after all. Not that she didn't love it, but talking with kids at school, she'd noticed that many of them weren't going to bother dressing up. While I'm sad about it, I know the reality that when kids get to grade 5 and 6, they are somewhat less excited about things that could bring potential embarrassment. I did however, specify that since I'd made this costume, if she wanted something for halloween, or book week in August, that this was likely to be it. Sophie was happy with that and hopefully some of her friends will decide that costumes can be cool so she feels comfortable wearing it then. We shall see. 

These were very straight forward to sew, Rachel's was trimmed with some random satin bias binding in my stash from who knows where, and Sophie was trimmed with self made bias tape left over from my tragic Harmony Day costume. You'll have to come back another day to read about that. I'm not over it yet.