By now, it should be a well-known fact that Halloween is my favorite holiday. I prepare for the occasion, beginning in August, and hope to be finished with the last stitch of my costume before I emerge for my night of trick-or-treating on October 31st. Since working in grocery retail, I have to be clever in the selection of my costumes so that they fit the parameters of my various job class roles. In 2025, I was a chef.
As I began to ponder my potential costume for the year, I recalled several customers and managers along the way who had related to me that I had an unmistakable “Mary Poppins vibe.” Whether the comments were drawn because of my throwback aesthetic or my penchant for controlled chaos (or something else !), I haven’t a clue, but the idea had me thinking… I had never played a nanny character before… it would be fun to make a period costume again… the outfit should be suitable for my job… My decision was made ! Even better, I knew I could convince my friend, Jacob, to be a soot-faced Bert, adding to the charm of the ensemble.
With so many different cinematic outfits to choose from, I opted to style my costume after the blue skirt suit that Mary wears in the beginning part of the film. Featured on both the skirt and jacket are piped princess seams with contrasting fabric peeking through.
Pattern selection has always been one of my favorite parts of the design and sewing process. Although there were a plethora of Edwardian/Titantic style patterns available, I chose Folkwear’s 216 Schoolmistress’ Shirtwaist and Skirt pattern for the blouse and the skirt.
The beautiful heirloom blouse came together marvelously with my own added ruffle at the neckline to better emulate Mary’s blouse. However, after reading scant reviews of the 7 gore skirt, I felt I needed to revisit my cutting plans─ many had noted that the skirt was very slim fitting through the hips, so I cut my front and back panels in the largest size possible (3XL) while leaving the side panels as my standard Medium. This allowed for better placement of the front princess seams and gave me needed wiggle room. With excess fabric at the back, I decided NOT to follow the instructions for making a sewn pleat along the back seamline and opted to take up the extra folds into pleats at the waistband, giving the skirt more of a traditional “walking skirt” look.
For Mary’s signature wavy-brimmed boater hat, I used a pattern from a blog, which I modified to fit my adult head. Then I adorned it with daisies and cherries. The double bow tie was fashioned from red velvet ribbon and safety pinned at the neck.
I debuted the completed parts of my costume at a special needs Halloween dance where everyone jived to all the best tunes.
With two weeks until Halloween, I needed to focus my attention on the jacket. For this I turned to Black Snail Patterns’ Edwardian Coat 1910 pattern.
Like the skirt, the jacket would need alterations. Not only did I dislike the puffed sleeves, but the notched collar also needed to be redrafted to be a shawl collar, like Mary’s jacket. These modifications tried me as a seamstress ! The hours spent fiddling with the paper adjustments and corresponding mock-ups for the sleeves alone were almost enough to make me throw in the towel and cut the pattern “as is”. But I persisted…
With the help of online resources and friends with greater knowledge and expertise than myself (thank you, Katrina !), I managed to redraft the collar to my liking and swapped out the Black Snail sleeves for another historical pattern’s sleeves.
While the jacket body came together fairly easily, I struggled with attaching the lining to the back vent in a professional way. Resignedly, I left an unsewn opening in the back lining of the jacket, but who would have known ? It was time for me to fly !
Because my workplace allows its associates to dress up for the holiday, I wore my costume to the store, white gloves, and all.
For Jacob’s costume, I bought a brand new men’s jacket on eBay for around $25 (retail price of $199 !). I hemmed his sleeves so they wouldn’t get in the way of sweeping the chimneys.
Halloween was a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious success ! Just look at all that candy…
Toi, Toi, Toi,
Mary Martha
