Snow White

For those of you that follow me on Instagram, prepare to see a lot of duplicate images. 

 A couple of weeks ago, I put together a little princess party at one of the local boutiques.  It was so much fun to play dress up, and take a bit of a  break from all of the superheroes and robots that fill my home.  To my knowledge, this was the first time that I've ever dressed up as a princess.

The party was an Elsa and Anna inspired meet and greet, but since I'd be at the party all day, I figured that I should dress  up as a princess too. So, in order to avoid purchasing a wig, Snow White was naturally my first choice.  After all, I do live with several little men in a small house.

The costume was thrown together in a hurry, but came together nicely.  I didn't want to have to draft a fitted bodice pattern, so I used a crushed velvet with stretch.  The sleeves are satin, and though I wish I'd made them a bit puffier/pouffier, they were fine.  I'd thought that I'd cut the pieces with enough extra material for gathering, but, I was wrong.  Since it was last minute, there was no recutting/sewing sleeves.  I ended up trimming the sleeves with a gold glitter fold over elastic.  It was an afterthought, but one of my favorite details.

The sweetest little Elsa you'll ever meet!

My dress, is actually separates, the skirt has a flat front, and an elastic back at the waist.  I like elastic waistbands on costumes, just so that they can stretch and be worn by multiple shapes and sizes.

 Add some red lipstick, and of course a bright red hair ribbon, and you're set.  Now who wants to see Anna's dress?

Masha and The Bear Dress

Have you heard of Masha and The Bear?  I hadn't, not until my cousins asked me to make up a Masha dress for their little daughter's party.  Apparently Masha and Mishka is her favorite Russian cartoon, so they planned a Masha themed party to celebrate summer. 

Masha's dress is adorably simple.  An a-line skirt, and a deep necked bodice made the pattern pretty simple to draft.  The hardest part was finding the right trims for the sleeves of the shirt, and the hem of the skirt, which I ended up picking up at Joann's, not perfect matches, but they worked.

As far as materials go, I used a pink suiting fabric for the dress, and a white oxford shirting for the top. 

I added a simple button closure at the back of both the shirt and the dress.  

She made an adorable Masha, and her little brother made a perfectly cuddly bear.  

Wonder Woman Halloween Costume

Last week I finished up four Halloween Costumes. I got to choose what to make for my friend's two year old daughter.  It was harder than I thought.  Not having a girl, I felt overwhelmed with the possibilities.

Initially I thought I'd turn her into a Disney Princess, or maybe a butterfly, but then she'd have the same costume as every other girl between the ages of 2 and 10.  Then I worried that maybe she'd want to have the same costume as every girl between 2 and 10.  Finally I decided to turn her into a superhero princess.  After making her mom a cape a couple of weeks ago, I thought that she might like to be like her Mama. So the wonder woman costume was born.


The costume is complete with red leggings.  They reference her famous red boots, while still keeping her little legs warm.  The Star spangled hot pants were replaced with a simple knit circle skirt. And the bustier top was replaced with a long sleeve top with color block sleeves (because I ran out of red knit).

My favorite elements of the outfit have to be the armbands and the headpiece.  I love how they turned out.  The faux sequin fabric was picked up at Joann's.  The faux red leather stars were cut out with one of my new dies for my accuquilt Go! baby fabric cutter.  It made this costume to much easier to put together. Sew in Peltex interfacing provides the shape for the armbands and the headpiece.

I added a shiny gold applique to her cape.  I know that Wonder Woman doesn't traditionally have a cape, but in my opinion, if a kid dresses up as a super, they need a cape.  I used my Super Hero Cape Pattern, the pdf pattern is available in my shop.

I stitched the applique on the knit top.  I always trust a stitch better than a fusible adhesive, especially on stretch fabric.

It's A Pirates Life For Me: Mustache and Eye Patch Template

Yesterday we celebrated my husband's birthday.  Normally we don't get too fancy with our birthday parties, but as Clark is getting older, he seems to enjoy them more and more.  To make my husband's big day a bigger deal, I let Clark choose a party theme.  He chose a pirate party.

My husband is a kid at heart, and was more than willing to participate in our pirate bash....which really just consisted of some pirate props, and fancy jack black soda.

To celebrate in style I made some pirate party hats, using Simple Simons pattern.  Rather than do hand stitching, I attached a skull and cross bones with felt and a bit of heat and bond fusible web.

Isn't this the cutest little pirate you've ever seen?

To my surprise, Miles didn't mind wearing his pirate hat one bit. He seemed to get a kick out of our costumes.

I also fashioned some simple felt pirate mustaches for the occasion.  They were quite simple to make.  Each mustache consists of two pieces of felt, and enough elastic to wrap around the face at the center of the mustache.

I first cut out one layer of mustache, layered it on top of the second  and stitched along the sides of the mustache.  I added a couple of lines of detail stitching in the center.

I then cut away the extra felt from the back layer, and trimmed all of my threads.

I then formed a loop with my elastic, zig zagged it shut, and attached it to the center of the mustache with a zig zag stitch.

Ta da....completed pirate 'stache.  These could also be attached to a small dowel or skewer if you didn't want to wear the mustache.  

I also made some simple eye patches for the party.  I cut out two pieces of felt, and a piece of elastic that was large enough to wrap around the head snuggly, and attach on either side of the eye patch.  I then pinned the elastic in place, and stitched the layers of felt together, securing the elastic as I stitched.

Some super simple and quick pirate party props.  My boys loved them.  Here's a template for the mustaches and eye patch.

Dress Up: Super Why Halloween Costume

I just finished up Clark's Halloween costume.  Phew, it is such a relief to have it done.  I'd hoped to make it prior to Miles' arrival, but that didn't happen.  Thankfully, I was able to purchase the materials before Miles' birth. Last week when my mom was at my house helping out I got the pattern drafted and the pieces cut out.  I've spent all of this week stealing small chunks of time to come up with the costume.

We threw around several costume ideas this year.  This is the first year that Clark has had a strong opinion.  Initially he was set on being Thomas the train.  I really had no idea how I'd tackle that one, so with a bit of persuasion we sold him on Super Why.  For those of you that aren't familiar with the character, Super Why! is a PBS character that has the power to read.  Clark really enjoys the show, and I don't feel guilty about letting him watch it.  Clark also loves super heroes, so this seemed like it would be a good fit, and the costume seemed doable.

The costume consists of a sparkly green glitter foam mask, a shiny blue cape, green leggings, a green and blue top, and blue briefs with an attached yellow belt. I used a pair of tight fitting pajamas to draft the top and the leggings.  The cape is my own design, and the mask was also. I really love how the costume turned out.   We still need to come up with a Why writer, and add some lightening bolts to his shoes, but I think that I'll wait on those, otherwise they'll be destroyed before the big night.  

My only complaints are that the shirt is a bit too short and doesn't stay tucked in like I'd like it to, the orbits on the appliques are sloppy due to too much material to stitch through, and the mask is a little wonky, but all in all I like it.

 and if you can't tell....

...Clark loves it.

 I love my little super hero.  

Are you making costumes this year?  If so, what?