Pattern Review Halloween Style: My Little Plumcake- Cordelia

Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday.  I love dressing up and getting my kids dressed up and begging for candy.  I’ve always made our costumes, but since learning how to sew, things have gotten much more epic.  Aurelia and Obren’s main costumes this year are the Queen of Hearts and the White Rabbit, respectively and can be seen here.  Well, she has a school parade and gets to wear a costume to school.  Here’s the deal; I don’t want her messing up her pretty dress.  She’s crazy.  She is so crazy wild that I’ve already had to replace her new shirts that I bought at the beginning of the school year at the end of August.  She only goes to school 4 days a week and only  2 hours a day, so it takes some massive skill to ruin things that quickly.  I needed her to be able to be involved in the festivities, while still being in a costume that would allow her to be a crazy kid.  This is what I came up with:

She’s a Strawberry!  Thank baby Jesus that My Little Plumcake released this awesome pattern just in time.  It’s called the Cordelia Sweetheart Peplum Top.  It comes in sizes 12 months through size 8 (including an 18 month size). The moment I saw it, I was inspired.  This pattern is a sleeveless sweetheart top with a gathered peplum  bottom and a scalloped peter pan collar.  The closure on the back is a sweet little keyhole with a ribbon loop and a button.    The bodice is lined and instructions for lace overlay are given to add a little femininity to the design.  Of course you don’t HAVE to use lace, but I think it’s very lovely. The collar is an option and looks just as fabulous without!

I would rate this pattern for a confident beginner.  It takes a few hours to put together and there is a bit of hand sewing.  Also you will be sewing bias binding, which is not hard at all and you’re given the steps you’ll need to pull it all together.  Take your time and it will come out beautifully. The designer walks you through everything from materials, to piecing and cutting your pattern, to sewing it all up.  And if you have questions, she’s just an e-mail away or you can join The My Little Plumcake Pattern Group on FaceBook.

I was going to do a tutorial for the hat I made, but my son slept a grand total of 3 hours last night and refused his nap this afternoon.  Suffice it to say that I’m miserable and not in the mood to teach you anything today.  Consider this “movie day” in class.  I’m rolling out the TV cart and falling asleep at my desk.  I will definitely try to get this up ASAP as you never know when you’ll need a strawberry hat!  But for  now, you must try to forgive me and my horrid son.

-Crystal-

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Yabba Dabba Doo!

Flintstones!  Meet the Flintstones… well just Pebbles and Bam Bamm.  Mr. Viever was a party pooper this year and said he didn’t want to dress up so no Fred and Wilma.  This is also the first year that I have made the kids’ costumes so I wanted to do something relatively simple, fun, and themed!

Bam Bamm

 I sent out an SOS to my sewing mama friends.  I needed a shorts pattern as I have none.  Sure enough they came through for me and pointed me towards Create Kids Couture’s Aidan’s Appliqued Shorts Pattern.  I followed the pattern as adding a fleece sash by sewing one edge down as I made the channel for the elastic.  The sash I cut based on the measurement from my son’s waistband over his shoulder and back to the waistband for length and then had it about 2.5 inches wide.  The bone I free handed out of felt cut two small slashes into the fleece sash and inserted the bone; I left the bone end of the sash unattached.  I also chose not to hem the shorts and just cut out ragged triangles instead. Rough and tumble kid is supposed to be from the stone age no hem required! I then stitched on several of the fleece triangles I had cut out to finish off the Bam Bamm look.  After he put on the shorts I then safety pinned the bone end of the sash to the shorts.  Gave him the club (directions on how I made it below) and we have ourselves Bam Bamm!!

Pebbles

I used a tried and true pattern for me: ModKid’s Baby Hannah.  This is the fourth set I’ve made for my daughter.  Perfect outfit for California summers.  It’s fall now but during the day it’s warm enough to wear and in the evenings I’ll pair it with a long sleeved shirt and leggings. I did learn something from doing Bam Bamm’s costume first.  This time I STARTED by sewing on the fleece triangles to the fabric THEN I sewed up the pattern.  So much easier then doing it the other way around!  To finish of Pebbles look I cut out a felt bone and attached to an alligator hair clip.

Bam Bamm’s Club Tutorial

I knew Bam Bamm needed to have his club but didn’t want to go buy a plastic one that would gather dust.  So I grabbed a small baseball bat that S got last year for Christmas and decided I would wrap it!  When S saw it this morning, he asked me what it was.  I told him it was a club for his Bam Bamm costume.  He then asked me if he could open it.  I guess my gift wrapping skill could use some work but for club making they are just fine!

Supplies: Small bat, 2 paper bags and Scotch Cover-Up Roll

I used a gift sized paper bag to start and ripped it open along the seams. Then I used that bag to cover the large part of the bat to create more bulk. Secure with scotch cover up roll.

Opening the second full sized paper bag along the seams I then wrapped up the whole bat.

Starting at the handle of the bat I made small strips and wrapped with the cover up roll.  Make it tight as you can for a good shape!

Using a square portion of the cover up roll cover up the large end and then use more of the cover up roll to go around the large part of the bat.

Squish, crunch, and “bam bam” a few things for the wrinkles and to make sure your cover up roll is sticking well.  Use additional strips as needed!

Happy Halloween!

Viever

Small FRY-Day Spotlight: Cautiously Crafty

It’s small FRY-day and our last of the month! We’ve had some amazing talent showcased and we have one more!  Today we’re featuring Paige  with Cautiously Crafty.  She’s got some awesome inspiration for ya!  Also, at the end of this post, we’re having a linky party!  Everyone link up YOUR favorite homemade Halloween costume…the one you’re most proud of.  This is just for fun and I LOVE costumes, so you can bet I’ll be checking out every.single.one!  Ok, now to Paige!

-Crystal-
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Hi everybody!  I guess I should start by introducing myself.  I’m Paige, and I’m the blogger behind Cautiously Crafty, my relatively new craft blog. I’ve got a darling daughter who is 4 years old. Anyway, I’m here today to share with you several costumes I made using the Heidi & Finn Urban Unisex Hoodie.  I’ve used this pattern for costumes for the past two years, for a grand total of 4 different costumes.   My first venture into costume making was two years ago. I made dog and cat costumes.Please excuse the shoddy pictures in this blog post, these were not taken with blogging in mind. I make no claims of being a photographer, but I promise the ones I share are usually at least marginally better than these.

Both are basically the same, just in different colors.

First I sewed up the hoodies following the pattern, except I left off the button closures, and because I made them with fleece, I did not do a lining. The tummy panels are felt from Joann’s that I (sloppily) hand sewed on.

The ears are two layers of felt sewn together, with the the inner ear color attached on top.  I drew them freehand, pointy for the kitty and rounded for the puppy. Unfortunately you can’t tell in this picture, but I folded down the edge of one of puppy ears for that cute floppy look.

Attaching them was a bit tricky. When I drew them, I drew them a bit longer than I wanted, and I did not sew together the bottom 1/2 inch or so.  I cut slits in the top of the hood to insert the ears into, then opened the loose flaps and sewed them down to the hood.  I’m sure there are way better ways to do this, but this way worked for some quickie costumes for my girl and her friend.

(The tails were done the same way as Boots’ tail, detailed below)

Now for Dora and Boots!

I’ll start with Dora.  Super simple.  Made the hoodie in pink fleece, and made some orange pants to go with it. And of course, Dora isn’t Dora without BackPack! I can’t take credit for BackPack though, I followed this tutorial to make her. (I totally just had to google to make sure BackPack was a girl. Surprisingly enough, if you type “Is backpack” into google, one of the suggestions that pops up actually is “Is backpack a girl”, so at least I’m not alone in my wondering.)

Boots was a little more labor intensive, but not hard at all.

Tummy panel was done the same way as the cat and dog, except this time I was brave enough to sew it on using my sewing machine. The boots were originally pink sequined boots that cost $10 at Wal-mart, I just slapped a couple coats of red spray paint on them. The hood was again constructed the same was as the cat and dog hoods, cutting slits in the hood and inserting the ears and waddle.  That’s what I’m calling it, because I haven’t the slightest idea what it actually is or what it should be, and to me it looks like a turkey waddle. The waddle was drawn freehand (and trust me, if I can do it anybody can, I am not in the least bit an artist), and loosely stuffed with random fabric scraps to keep it from flopping.  Nobody likes a floppy waddle.

For the tail, I sewed a tube of fabric and then slipped it over a long piece of thick jewelry wire.  I used the thickest wire available at the craft store, which I think was a 14 gauge. I then cut another slit right where the bottom band attaches to the body of the hoodie, and inserted the tail and hand sewed in. I opted not to use my machine because of the wire. Shape the tail as desired and you’re done!

In case you’re doubting my claim that these were super easy, I made 4 of them (2 Doras and 2 Boots, one set was sent to my niece and nephew) in less than two weeks, in between going to school full time and chasing my kid around.

So there ya go, 4 different costumes from 1 pattern. I’m breaking the streak this year though, unfortunately I don’t think I can transform the hoodie into Mario, Luigi, or Princess Belle. If you’re interested in seeing my versions of those, hop on over to Cautiously Crafty sometime after Halloween.  In the meantime, feel free to check out my tutorial for making the Urban Unisex hoodie reversible.   I hope you’ve enjoyed the post and have some awesome DIY costumes in your future!

-Paige

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Filed under Spotlight and tagged Animals, Costume, Dora and Boots, Halloween, Sewing, Tutorial | Leave a comment

Small FRY-day Spotlight: Diedelbug Handmade

It’s our second Small Fry-day Spotlight of the month (and of “ever”) and this one is going to knock your socks off, too! I’m telling you, there is some rockin’ talent out there. This week we have Erin from Diedelbug Handmade showing off her “super” costumes that are guaranteed to turn you into a mega villain named Jealous Man.  She was even nice enough to share some how-to secrets with you.  Grab some candy corn and read on!  Also if you missed last week’s Small Fry-day Spotlight, you can check that out here.  Thank you, Erin for joining us this week!

-Crystal-
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Well first off let me introduce myself. I’m Erin, the craftermind (inset evil laugh, well maybe it’s more of a cackle hehe) behind Diedelbug Handmade. I’ve just started to sell handbags but I mostly sew for my little monsters, umm I mean angels, 2 and 4 year old boys. Need I say more?  They’ve reached the constant picking and bickering stage. More recently I’ve started to dabble into sewing actual wearable clothes for me. I can only use so many bags you know? Ok, enough about me and back to the “angels.” The boys FINALLY decided what they each wanted to be for Halloween. I have to start asking in August because they change their minds daily. Who am I kidding? More like hourly. At one point I was going to have to come up with Optimus Prime. Really? I had no idea how I was going to make that happen for a 2 year old. Whew!

Last year Zander, my oldest, went as the Incredible Hulk, complete with crazy Hulk hair.

Cutest thing ever! So this year we’re in total super hero mode.  The boys decided they wanted to be Iron Man and Captain America.   Now I’m a pinterest addict, so of course I scoured for hours looking for inspiration for prefect costumes to recreate.  I had come across this tutorial for a muscle shirt from Sew a Straight Line. Thanks Sabra!!!! I followed the tutorial exactly last year, and used a glue stick to stick the muscles on before covering with the second layer of fabric and waited the hour for it to dry.  But this year I’ve found the wonders of spray baste! Spray baste=magic

 Who’s got time to wait? Just spray, stick and go! But make sure it’s temporary and washable. For both costumes I started out with the Scientific Seamstress All the Rage Raglan shirt pattern which includes the hood option. Gotta have the hood because both the Captain and Iron man have their heads covered.  Ronan’s Captain America costume I used the muscles from the tutorial. I modified the shirt by cutting just under the arm pits to create the bottom part of the Captain’s suit. Then I cut stripes of red and sewed the onto the bottom white part before attached to the top half.

I used this same principal for the sleeves. Now you need two pieces of the front part of the shirt because you sandwich the “muscles” in between the two layers.  I pinned the two layers together around the edges, to keep them from shifting too much while I sewed.

For the Captain’s muscles I wanted them to blend in with the suit so unlike the tutorial I didn’t just sew around them. I sewed around with the same color thread so it just looked like real muscles under the shirt. Of course at this point I realized I forgot the star! Doh! So I just sewed the star on top. Worked out just fine J.  I then tried the shirt on him to check the length to add the “belt.”

Someone, *cough* Zander *cough* was a little bent out of shape that his costume was not done yet. Well if you’d take a nap and go to sleep when I put you to bed I’d get more done kid! LOL, back to the Cap.  I cut a little off the length and added a rib knit band around the bottom of the shirt for the belt.  Same thing for the pants, except I chopped under the knee and added a band around to simulate the boots. He’ll wear red shoes and red gloves. The Captain is complete!

 You should have seen his face light up, melted my heart.  Say it with me, “AHHH.”

Now Iron Man was a little bit more of a challenge. His “costume” is more machine than man so I had to draft my own armor. I traced the top part of the shirt bodice and sleeves. I rounded out the pieces and subtracted half an inch from the edges to make room for seam allowance.

Although once I started sewing I should have cut a little more off because it didn’t leave much room after the muscles are between the layers.

A little “muscle” on my part to catch all layers and squish the muscles through the machine as I sewed and we have armor! Now on to the bottom half of the armor, I was running low on red knit and didn’t want to have to run to Joann’s for the millionth time that week. So instead of cutting two layers for the pants I just cut the “armor” pattern out of the fabric and sewed it on top. Knit doesn’t fray so I didn’t need to worry about finishing the edges.  And we’re done!

Avengers ASSEMBLE!!

Now I have two of the cutest happiest super heroes on the planet. They ask to wear their costumes daily and wear themselves out saving the world from the bad guys.

How can I say no? Score one for mom J Hope you’ve enjoyed my ramblings.

Small FRY-day Spotlight: Life of a Compulsive Crafter

Crystal here!  It’s October and that means Halloween!  We have decided to spotlight a “Small Fry” a week because we’re all small fries too and want to see what you can do. We’re spooking things up for the next 4 weeks to fit this haunt-a-licious time of year and we have some great posts coming your way from crafters just like you and me and the other SHEs.  Featured this week in our FIRST EVER “Small Fry-day” spotlight is Mae from Life of a Compulsive Crafter .  She’s going to share her super fun and wild Halloween costume suitable for the at-home crafter.  Enjoy!  I know that I did!

Hey!

My names Mae and I blog over at The Life of A Compulsive Crafter where I mostly discuss my need to create clothing as well as other random things.  Today I’m here to discuss a super cute but also easy DIY Halloween costume.

Nearly five years ago when it was my daughters second Halloween I hadn’t rekindled my love for sewing yet, but still scoffed at buying the store costumes. They were usually $20 and looked like they were made for $5. Just not my first choice, ya know?

So, following the theme of her nursery/bedroom I chose to create her a MAX costume from Where the Wild Things Are. This year, I’m showing it to you on my son who will be wearing it for his second Halloween as well!

What I used:

1. A set of white footed pajamas with a small embroidered logo on the chest

2. Grey Felt

3. 2 fuzzy boa’s bought at Michael’s/Joann’s

4. Gold fabric

5. 3 White buttons

6. Stuffing

What I did:

1. I had to get the logo off so I used a seam ripper and carefully picked the stitches.

2. I sewed the buttons next to the zipper to mimic Max’s outfit.

3. I ripped the seams at the feet, then using the grey felt I cut claws and sewed the seam back up with them tucked nicely into it.

4. I cut a tiny hole in the butt of the pj’s where a tail would be, then I pulled the string at the end of the boa through the hole and tied a few knots to secure it. I also hand-stitched this to be extra sure it wouldn’t pull out.

5. (The Crown) I measured his head, added 3inches& cut the gold fabric with points at the top to create a crown. Then I sewed it all together and stuffed it to give it character. I used the second fuzzy boa (not all of it) to wrap around the bottom edge of the crown.

&that’s it!

Seriously guys, this was one of the quickest halloween costumes I have ever made. It’s lasted us all of these years and is still cuter than ever!

Happy Halloween!