Who are you? Nancy Drew?

Lucy is a girl who loves to read.
And last year she told me early on, Mom I know what I want to be for Halloween.
Oh yea? What? (bracing myself for the variety of teen costume ideas)
I want to be Nancy Drew!

Ahhhhh. Yes! What a fun idea.
It’s the perfect literary snapshot of Lucy.
Like Nancy, Lucy is one who loves to go on adventures. She likes to try new foods (at least a bite or two). She’s up for roller coasters. And she and Casey love to solve riddles and puzzles and all that kind of stuff together….which is funny since I’m more of the, Okay just tell me the answer already so I can move on to something else, sort of person.  There’s a need for both in this world? I think.

So we gathered all her Nancy Drew books, and studied the various outfits and accessories that Nancy uses when solving mysteries.

And, Oh. My. Gosh. I want to be Nancy too! Look at her amazing clothing! I’m pretty sure I need the yellow and green dresses in my wardrobe.

This artwork is awesome. Lucy pointed out her favorite dress features and I thought, well….why reinvent the wheel? Let’s just tweak the First Day Dress again (which I also used for her LaLa Loopsy costume).

And what would be better than pairing a ‘60s dress design with BLUSH fabrics??  I let Lucy pick from the collection and she and I were thinking the same thing—-teal Hex fabric.

The dress is kind of a combo of all the dress designs from the books.
And I’m not sure which part I love more….

The back:

Or the front:

I made a few tweaks to the original pattern (which you can find here in the shop)

And this is not a full-on tutorial….But here’s what I did:
FRONT – I extended the neckline out to be more of a boatneck.
• BACK – I drew the back neckline quite low (but high enough to cover a bra strap) so there was no need for a button closure.
• COLLAR – I added a small peter pan collar by drawing a collar piece similar to the new neckline I created.
• SLEEVES – I made the sleeves even skinnier and smaller, so they’re just little caps.

And I love how it turned out!

We purchased a simple cardigan sweater and cut out the initials ND from felt and hand stitched them to the sweater.
Then we added some accessories: belt, a watch, flashlight, magnifying glass, and a sweater. And Lucy was ready for the night!

I always meant to take more “staged” pics of her costume for the blog, but never got around to it. So this is the only picture I have!…along with her Harry Potter and Hermione siblings. How crazy does Owen look with black hair??I have to say, her costume wasn’t super obvious. But people loved it when we said Nancy Drew! And she loved it. And I loved that it was her idea. There was a lot of love going around.

She insisted that we trim her hair a bit so it would flip out at the bottom. Again, this is the only pic I have (which I probably took to show her how the back looked). But there you go. And I had to include the post-halloween-candy-sorting pic because this scene just makes me smile. Happy kids, a cozy fire, and the Dodgers playing in the world series (last year). Good memories!

I’m not sure what the kids are going to be THIS year. But after 10 years of blogging I’ve finally got this costume/blogging thing figured out—-just wait a year to post their costumes and then you can do it a month early!….instead of scrambling on Oct 30th to share the details.
Live and learn.
And twirl.
What are your kids going to be??? I need some Clara ideas…..

  1. 1) bdaiss

    I love it! My daughter (8) just started on Nancy Drew. I offered up both Nancy Drew and Laura Ingalls Wilder as ideas. Unfortunately, she’s determined to be “something scary” this year. So far we’ve gone through Elphaba (only acceptable if someone else is a flying monkey), a scary clown, and a zombie ballerina. I told her she has a week to nail it down if she thinks I’m sewing something. My son (11) of course wants to be a Fortnite character (Drift to be specific). Most of that is going to be regular old clothes we modify to add the pizazz to. Which is fine with me since they both also have birthdays in October I have to plan/execute!

    • 2) Dana

      hahahah. Elphaba actually crossed my mind too ..because I think it would be totally fun to completely cover one of my children in green makeup!
      But sorry there is no Laura Ingalls in sight for you! I love that idea 🙂
      Lucy wants to be a 50’s girl this year, which I love. I’m trying to talk Clara (the 6 year-old) into joining her….but of course in a weird alternate universe, she’s the one that wants to be some teenagery costume. I guess we can’t control everything 🙂

  2. 3) Jen

    So cute! I’ll have to see if McKenna (10) would like Nancy Drew….. last year she was Hermione, this year she wants to be Luna Lovegood…. lol, total Harry Potter Fans, my youngest (7) is going to be a Detroit Lions Football Player and my 9 yr old wants to be “A girl on the Dance Team” we are super in love with our local high scool Dance team (the girls are crazy good) and I think my oldest (12) is repeating last year’s Percy Jackson Costume lol.

    • 4) Jen

      And since the Lions are so bad, it’s scary we have at least 1 scary costume this year ;).

      • 5) Dana

        Haha. Love them all!….especially repeat costumes 🙂 I need to incorporate that!

  3. 6) Beverly

    I love her idea! I read all the Nancy Drew books when I was in elementary school (the 70s versions, not the actual originals though which are different), and I still have my entire set of them. I also read most of the Hardy Boys, but not all because we never got a complete set of those. But my favorite books in the world were Trixie Belden. Random House re-released the first 15 of them in the early 2000s. You might check your library or used book store to see if you can find a copy and see if Lucy likes them.

    • 7) Dana

      Ah nice! We will totally have to check out those books! Thanks for the recommend 🙂

  4. 8) Lisa // Cucicucicoo: Eco Sewing & Crafting

    Oh, what a fantastic girl, coming up with such an unusual but incredibly cool costume choice! Love it! 🙂 Lisa

    • 9) Dana

      Haha. Thanks Lisa!

  5. 10) TOni

    Nice Nancy Drew costume! I like subtle costumes and my kids always have a dress as a book character day at school in January, so it would get double duty in my house.

    I talked my 7 year old out her teenagery idea (Mal from Descendents) and into a Rainbow Dash costume, which seems more appropriate and way more adorable! Good luck with Lucy!

    • 11) TOni

      oops, Clara not Lucy! I have friends with a Clara and Lucy but their ages are reversed–Clara is older than Lucy and that’s where my mind must have been 😉

    • 12) Dana

      Oh my gosh that’s so funny….Clara wants to be Mal and I’m also trying to talk her out of it. haha. And she was Rainbow Dash a few years ago! Good luck over at your house 🙂
      And fun to find another family with a Clara and a Lucy!

  6. 13) Sandy

    Love the idea, I have been toying with t for a while too. Not sure if you know this but there are some different covers for some of the book with the original release. They are a different style but so much fun to look at. How many of the books has she read? There are 56 in the original series and many more different spin offs. Some being way better than others.

    • 14) Dana

      I think she’s read about 20 of them. I guess she still has a lot to go! 🙂

  7. 15) Sheila

    Lucy’s costume is adorable!! I LoVED Nancy Drew when I was a young girl and Trixie Belden–thanks for the great memories!
    I made pumpkin costumes for my trio one year and every year after that, that’s what they wanted to go out as!! We got lots of mileage out of those pumpkins 🙂

  8. 16) monica

    My Claire (10) is going as Rosie the Riveter. My son (5) as michael Jackson. Will be fun????

  9. 17) Missy

    I love Lucy’s costume because I was such a fan of the Nancy Drew books as a kid. I think I read them all. She looks so darling! My daughters are being Minnie Mouse and Little Red Riding Hood. We are planning to make a cute cape and she is excited to carry a basket and use it for collecting her candy. 🙂

    • 18) Dana

      Ooo. I love both of those costumes!
      I think I need to steer Clara toward the literary ideas….rather than the Descendants 2 characters 🙂

  10. 19) Mikea

    LOVE!!!!! You lined up that front panel perfect!!

    • 20) Dana

      Hahah. Thank you for noticing!! 🙂

  11. 21) Cheryl Gray

    All three costums look great!! I was surprised that the Nancy Drew books didn’t make PBS’s Great American Read. Anyway, super cute!

  12. 22) Mindy

    How did Lucy get to be such a grown up young lady?? Seems like yesterday that she was going off to school for the first day..

  13. 23) Tammy

    How adorable and cool! Nancy Drew and Little House on the Prairie were my favorite books as a girl. Very creative as a costume and she can still use that beautiful dress for other occasions, too. Love your creativity and your blog and your patterns and of course, your tutorials! Can’t wait to see what they pick for this Halloween.

    • 24) Dana

      Thank you Tammy! I want to sit down and watch old Little House episodes now 🙂

  14. 25) Allyson

    This is such a cute costume! I sent the link to my friend who is going to actually be Nancy Drew this year! I am going to be Little Red Riding Hood, and my grandma is making a red circle skirt using your tutorial on youtube!! The circle skirt is actually one of my favorites. I have like 6 of them in my closet, and one of them is from my costume from last year, Maria Von Trapp from The Sound of Music!

  15. 26) Susan

    As a big fan of Nancy Drew growing up I LOVE this! She is just so precious and bless her for choosing something so original and literary! My 3.5 yo son wanted to be a touchtone phone for Halloween (?) so I busted out the cardboard, felt and other supplies and made his dream come true! Last year he wanted to be a pumpkin pie with a witch hat (he has an active imagination) so I see a lifetime of never going to the store to buy costumes for him. 🙂

    • 27) Dana

      Hahaha….a touchscreen phone! And pumpkin pie! Oh man….I might have to try that one. We all LOVE pumpkin pie around here. Great imagination indeed!

  16. 28) Karina

    I would wear this everyday! Haha, could I make this for an adult? 🤔🙊

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