What kind of music do they play at the Hamster Ball?

Meet Speedy. This is Caleb’s cuddly buddy.

And Tumbles. She’s Kristi’s little ball of cuddles.

Speedy has invited Tumbles to the Hamster Ball (hamster ball – get it? Caleb thinks that play on words is hilarious!)

Tumbles was thrilled with the invitation (apparently) but she needed a dress for the occasion. This is where the refashioning comes in. Caleb picked out an old princess valance from my stash as Tumbles soon-to-be ball gown. We chose to use the bottom so we didn’t have to create a new hem. And it says '”Princess” – that’s perfect for a hamster’s ball gown, don’t you think?

I gave it a quick press, and then we very carefully and accurately (ha!) measured what we needed to create a simple gown. (Very simple, given Tumbles…um…unique body type.)

(Thank you to Caleb for taking this picture.)

Our gown is cut out.

I was just planning on an elastic waist, so I pulled out some reclaimed elastic in my stash. Once again, I carefully measured the elastic – or maybe I just stretched some around Tumbles and cut what I needed.

I thought it would be more time-consuming to create a pocket for the elastic than to just stretch it and stitch it in, so I got Caleb to help me while I pinned the elastic with the top of the fabric folded over it – an extra hand is very helpful.

I stretched as I stitched and got a nice gather.

One seam up the side, and our ball gown was done!

We tried it on her below her hands, and didn’t like the way it looked. We decided if we covered her hands up she’d keep them to herself during the dance. As you can see, we also gave Tumbles a sparkly headband to make the ensemble shine.

Here they are, all ready for the ball. Speedy got all gussied up in his best tie, and they headed off to dance the night (or day) away.

Oh, and in answer to the title question, I suspect that these were included in the playlist…