MALIFICENT SLEEVES

The sleeves are complete! I had some major problems with the sleeves. The main problem is I'm using cheap stretch velvet because I didn't want to spend the money on real velvet. I ran into a problem when I had to line them with the cheap purple satin. One whole sleeve had to be redone. Lots of cussing involved. It fits great and is quite heavy. When I hold my arms out it is quite dramatic. All that's left is hemming and steaming the dress.

I haven't decided  if I like the idea of a cape. I'm afraid it might completely obscure the dress. I'm going to start my daughters sleeping beauty dress and think about it.

MALIFICENT COSTUME

I've attached the collar to the front and back of the dress. Next up is to sew up the side seams and start working on the sleeves.

THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN!!!!

Yes, it's that time of year again. Halloween!! The time of year where I spend 2 1/2 months working on costumes and decorations. Halloween to me is like Christmas to most people. We officially have more Halloween decor than any other holiday. I think it's every artists favorite holiday. The only holiday where you can create costumes and become someone else.

So this year our costume theme is Sleeping Beauty. One of my favorite Disney films. I have always loved the backgrounds, which were all designed by Eyvind Earle. Look him up! Below is concept art painted by him for the film.



I will be playing the part of Malificent and my 4 year old will be Sleeping Beauty. All she really cares about is that she gets to be wear a pink gown.





So there is no Malificent or Sleeping Beauty costume in print. So I have decided to create my versions of the the films costumes. I have decided to use Simplicity pattern 9891. Mainly because of the collar which resembles that of Malificent's.

Below is a sketch of how I hope it will look like in the end. There will be the dress as well as a cape.





Here's what I've completed so far. The collar, pretty cool. It is black velvet lined with purple satin.

Below is our past Halloween themes. Last year was by far the most detail oriented and time consuming costumes I have ever made. My husband loves it so much he wants to wear it again this year and maybe add some better props to it.



2011



2010

The Leia and Ewok costume was pretty simple to make. The Storm Trooper, not so easy. My husband spent months on this.



2009

MARY POPPINS DRESS

Below is my take on a child's version of a Mary Poppins dress.



I choose a white cotton eyelet fabric. Bodice and skirt are lined with a white cotton fabric. I could have gone with a satin, sheer or lacey material, but decided on cotton because of the durability. After all it is for a 4 year old.

I simplified the look a bit. Decided to not add the high collar. I could see complaints of itchiness around the neck being an issue. Went with a short sleeve instead of the 3/4 length sleeve and also left off the frilly collar/chest piece. If I had been making the dress for myself I would have gone all out to recreate the look. But on a 4 year old I think it would be a bit much.



The red corset/cumberbun is detachable. It is secured with velcro in the back.



I used Simplicity pattern 2989 in a size 4 width and size 5 in length.

 

PRINCESS DRESSES

:::click image to see larger:::

Princess dresses complete!!!! I finally got the velcro put in them. These were all made using Simplicity patter 5705. I have one three year old who is gonna freak out!!



 

 

SNOW WHITE & HARRY POTTER

Snow White dress is finished. Love how the collar turned out. Made from costume satin and velvet.

This is Simplicity pattern 2817 in a child's size 5.  I did alter the sleeves.







Harry Potter robe is also complete. This is a child's size 8, Simplicity pattern 5512. I altered the sleeves on this too. I cut them down so they wouldn't be so wide.

Made from cotton. Found a Gryffindor patch for the front.

GUSSET OR PLEAT?

I finished the bodice of the Snow White dress. I used Simplicity pattern 2817. I cut out a 5 in width and a 6 in length.

Sleeves are costume satin and the bodice is blue velvet. I thought a different material for the bodice would be nice and keep it from looking to "slick" or "cheap" because of all the satin.



I didn't like the idea of appliqueing the red tear drop shapes on the sleeves. I know that over time that will not hold up. I am very happy with how the sleeves turned out.  I cut the sleeves into three sections and added red satin inserts. I'm not sure if this is called a gusset or a pleat. It definitely makes the sleeve puffier.

MINI PIRATE COSTUME

Daughter's costume is complete and she is SUPER excited. She couldn't wait to try it on last night and kept looking in the mirror.

Costume was made from Simplicity pattern 2561. The hat I made from a floppy hat pattern I had found on line. I just tacked up the sides.

You can see better pics of that here.

ARRRR MATEY!

:::click images to see larger:::

I am officially done with my husbands pirate costume. I don't have a dress form in his size so it looks a little funny on my size 4 dress form. The shoulders are a bit droopy.

The shirt is made of muslin that I tea dyed, coat is made of black velvet and the pants are made of a brown micro fiber polyester. I was in such a hurry to get this done that I forget to take pictures of the costume before I distressed the material.



This pattern calls for 24 buttons. Buttons are expensive. The larger they are and the more ornate they are the more expensive they get. So, because it is just a costume, I decided to make the buttons. They are made out a a 1" dowel rod. I used a miter saw to cut slivers of dowel rod. I must have cut about 40 of them to get 24 decent looking ones. I sanded them, painted them, sanded them again and then drilled holes in the center. I think they turned out great, perfect for a pirate. $2.00 spent plus my time of making them was totally worth it since it would have cost over $30 to buy buttons.



Coat closed without pistols and sword.



I went to Hobby Lobby last night to pick up some vinyl and red cotton. I decided to search for stuff that I could add to the costume to plus it up a bit. I looked all over the store. I came across these metal keys in the home decor area. PERFECT! I bought them, brought them home and added a leather loop to them so they can slide onto the belt. Looks pretty cool.



While at the Renaissance Festival a couple of weeks ago we noticed a lot of the actors had metal tankards, beer steins, whatever you want to call them, tied to dresses, belts and satchels. No where were they selling these. Bummer. It would have created a nice sound with the keys and a cup clanging around. I did find some nice corked bottles at Hobby Lobby but didn't get any. I was afraid of something like that getting broken.



Used Simplicity pattern 4923.

SCALLYWAG

:::click images to see more detail:::

I finished up the pirate costume last night. When I finished the initial sewing the other day I decided it looked to pristine. Pirates aren't clean looking. So I decided to distress the fabric and make it look a little old. I was kind of nervous about messing it up, but it turned out pretty good. I didn't go crazy with rips and tears because I don't want it to fall apart. I used sandpaper, acrylic paint and dusted it with a little black spray paint.





Once I added all the "extras" the costume really came to life. The sword, though it looks like metal, is in fact plastic.

"extras": pistol, sword, leather belt, long black scarf, coin pouch, and 3 necklaces. I will also be wearing a red scarf around me head and earring.

PISTOL REPAINT

I bought three of these plastic flintstock pirate pistols as props for our Halloween costumes. They were SUPER ugly and cheap looking. Plus they had the orange caps on the front of them. Don't tell anyone, I ripped those off.

I paid $3.99 for each gun. I decided to repaint them. I figured they couldn't look any worse.



I managed to get most of the gun apart. It has tiny little screws holding most of it together. What I couldn't get apart I taped off with blue painters tape. I just used brown, gold and black spray paint. Nothing fancy. It was whatever I had in the garage. I think they were each a different brand. I also used a little bit of black shoe polish and a black sharpie to get into some of those grooves.



Doesn't it look AWESOME!! It almost looks real. I sprayed a bit more black spray paint at the end of the barrel. Figured it would be more black from the firing and gunpowdery smoke.



The gold turned out great. Really looks like brass.

I was at our local Renaissance Festival this weekend and saw a vendor selling replica weaponry. They happened to have some Flintstock pistols. The cheapest was $45. Now I REALLY like my $3.99 ones.

TRICORN HAT

I finished sewing on the trim to the pirate hat last night. The official name for these hats is a Tricorn hat. I did a little research about hat making and found it very interesting. I kind of came up with my own pattern because there really isn't a pattern available for this hat. A true Tricorn hat is made by stretching wet wool over a hat block. My version is just a floppy hat pattern. The crown consists of six pieces and then the brim is sewn on seperately, folded up and stitched in place.



I used acrylic felt because that's what I had laying around and it is only for my three year old. If I made another one I'd use wool felt. All the ribbon and trim is sewn on by hand. I had to hand pleat the red ribbon because my sewing machine decided to crap out on me the night I was using my pleating foot. I only got about 6" of ribbon pleated.



If you are ever looking for feathers like this at your local hobby/fabric store, they are with the flowers.



Hat in action. Let's hope she continues to like pirates next Halloween! I can see an awesome red velvet coat to go with this hat.

SANTA’S IN MY HOUSE!

I've been meaning to post these pics of how the Santa suit turned out.  I was very happy how my husband looked. We did end up putting a pillow under the coat. And at the last minute I made a bag and stuffed a bunch of pillows in it and then we just put the gifts on top of them.



I have quite a few projects I'm working on simultaneously. None of those are plush related though. I tend to use late winter, early spring to work on other projects I'd like to get done before the big plush show season starts up again. At some point I'd like to make some plushies for myself. It seems like I only make for other people and never myself. I'll see if I can squeeze that in too.

SANTA SUIT

I just finished up the Santa suit my husband will be wearing Christmas Eve to surprise my 2 1/2yr old.  I used Simplicity pattern 2542, chose option B but shortened it about 5 inches.







Instead of buying expensive Santa boots, I found some cheap rain boots and added fur trim that is removable.



Not to bad of a wig.