Jake and The Neverland Pirate Costumes

Halloween costumes have been a topic of conversation since early summer in our house.  We tossed around several different costume themes.  Initially Clark wanted to dress up as the Wild Kratt's from PBS.  Next we were going as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, then ghosts, and finally, nine days before Halloween Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

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Hook's costume was definitely the most involved, though I dumbed it down as much as possible.  Fortunately my husband already had maroon pants, and white socks.  I bought a plain long sleeved tee added some satin ruffles to the top, trimmed with lace.  I added a bit of gold ric-rac down the front, and then made some separate felt cuffs for the sleeves.  They are completely detachable, which was great when eating.  The hook was a thing of genius, a black glove with a felt/peltex hook sewn on the front.  My husband could make a fist to expose only the hook, but it also allowed him to carry a baby or two when needed.  The hat is a double thickness of felt, and the feather has four layers of felt and a wooden dowel for stability.

I'll be honest, I really pushed for this theme.  The pirate costumes would be relatively easy to construct. And who doesn't love dressing up as a pirate.

Miles played the role of Jake.  He was adorable, but unfortunately very difficult to get a decent picture of.  The boy hasn't been trained to pose for pictures.  

His costume consisted of a white muslin pirate shirt, a blue and gold vest.  Red headband with a Jake-esque fauxhawk, black sash, and a wooden sword. 

I was Izzy, one of Jake's right hand men.  My costume was simple.  A pouch full of pixie dust, a pink lace trimmed bandana, pink shirt, purple pants, and brown boots.  I didn't have the purple pants, and my pink shirt was more of a coral, but no one called me out on it.  I threw on some gold earrings, and wore my hair in braids and it was done.

Clark chose to be Peter Pan, which made me happy.  His costume was fairly simple as well.  A pan inspired hat complete with red felt feather.  Green knit leggings, a green fleece tunic, brown belt, and a felt knife. He wanted to be Peter over Jake because "he is more magical".  

Gus Gus got to play the role of Smee, Hook's loyal pirate side kick.  A cropped blue and white knit shirt, blue leggings, sandals, and a red knit cap completed this look.  The very easiest to put together, and the most adorable.  A big baby belly will win over anyone.

I hadn't planned on making costumes this year, but I'm glad I did. Family costumes are so much fun, and  I was able to use up A LOT of materials from my fabric stash.  I only purchased hook's shirt, gold ric-rac, and the green fleece for Pan's tunic.  Everything else we already had.  A last minute Halloween Costume success.

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.

Top-toberfest: Lil' Pumpkin Appliqued Onesie Template

I thought that I'd share a Harvest/Halloween applique with you today.  I call it the "There's a pumpkin on my bumkin applique".  There are very few times in life when it's okay to have pictures or words plastered on your bottom, but the baby stage is one (if not the only) acceptable stage. Having boys, I don't get to indulge in ruffled bottom tights and bloomers, so an appliqued onesie will have to work.

It's a simple little applique that I designed.  I'll share the file with you so long as you respect that it is for personal use only.  The template is designed to fit a pre-washed Carter's 0-3 month onesie.  You can feel free to adjust it to different sizes.

My applique is done with some scrap knit fabric that I have had stashed away, heat and bond fusible adhesive,  some embroidery thread, and lightweight fusible interfacing.

Begin by applying the heat and bond to the wrong side of the fabric.  

Next transfer the image to the front side of the fabric using pattern marking/transfer paper. Cut out your pieces.

Adhere the applique pieces to the onesie.  I had the small pumpkin in the front, and the large pumpkin on the behind.  It should fit right in line with the seams and snaps on the onesie.

 I used my embroidery thread to do some hand stitching.  I feel that it adds some visual interest to the applique.  You could do some machine stitching around the images if you prefer.  If you are using a fabric that frays (knits generally won't) you will want to ensure that you either satin stitch (tight zig zag) around the image, or apply some sort of fray check or fray block to the raw edges.

Once I was done with the applique and hand stitching I used some fusible interfacing to secure the embroidery threads, and prevent the thread from irritating babies chest.

That's it.

A fun little applique for the season.

You can find the template here.  Once again, the template is for personal use only. Please link up the tops that you've been working on this year in the Top-toberfest link party.  

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?

Candy Corn Halloween Bunting

Those of you that have been reading my blog for a while will know that I rarely share holiday decor projects.  It's not that I don't like the holidays, but it seems like so much work to set up decorations, and convince Clark to leave them alone. So you may be surprised that I'm posting some holiday buntings or garlands.

Aside from being one of my favorite halloween candies, I think that candy corn is rather cheery.  This bunting started out with orange felt triangles, and then I stitched on the white and yellow pieces.  The individual flags were then sewn to a piece of extra wide double fold bias tape.

I also made a few trick or treat garlands for my bazaar booth.  I love the font, and think that it is perfect for halloween.  The font that I used was Arcanum, and it can be downloaded for free from urbanfonts.com.

What Halloween decor projects have you been working on?  What is your favorite holiday to decorate for?

Halloween Costume: Elephant

I love the the legs have extra room, I think that it adds to the effect.

Well I'd hoped that I'd be able to get a few better shots of the costume, but my model was a bit less than cooperative.  I don't have high hopes for this weekend.  I have a feeling that the headpiece will not stay on any longer than thirty seconds. The headpiece was being ripped off in just about every photo (which explains the blurry shots and off centered trunk).

I used the McCall pattern M6105.  It was fairly user friendly, and it turned out how I'd hoped.  I also found that the sizing was fairly true, which was a big relief.  I ended up making the suit and headpiece out of polar fleece.  Idaho Halloweens tend to involve snow, so I figured that I'd play it safe and make it as warm as possible.  My only real regret is lining the headpiece with fleece.  Clark's ginormous head would have probably appreciated a thin knit in place of the added bulk of the fleece.

I ended up finding all of my fleece in the remnant section (while fleece was on sale), making it 75% off-booyah!

I figure that this is the last Halloween that I will be able to choose the costume.  I wanted to make his costume as cute and cuddly as possible.  He makes a pretty cute elephant (complete with elephant noises.

I'll be linking here.